Hannity vs. Reality: The Cold War

Sean Hannity seems to think the Cold War began in 1981, and ended in 1989.

I say "seems to think..." because even someone so intellectually dull and prone to oversimplify as Sean Hannity knows the real life span of the Cold War was much longer than eight years.

But in a world where the daily examination of an almost wholly-conservative leadership's failed foreign policy is unavoidable, the delusional pundit must work overtime in detailing his or her latest spin.

Or, as in the case of Mr. Hannity, at the very least he must have a few prefabricated responses locked-and-loaded for confrontations with his political foes. This is a much easier tactic, you see, than actually thinking things through.

(Indeed, the “fair and balanced” pretense notwithstanding, FOX News is not an entirely incompetent organization; its singular talent lies in its ability to crush inconvenient fairness and logic with, among other tools, commentators who excel at ignoring their opponents while barking repetitive, preloaded buzzwords – or, “buzz concepts.”)

One of Sean Hannity's favorite, pre-assembled responses to those who oppose our presence in Iraq is, "You guys were wrong about the Cold War, and you guys are wrong about invading Iraq" (though it’s no feat of political science, I seriously doubt Hannity came up with this assertion on his own).

In more cases than not – perhaps in all instances – when he grasps for this particular cookie mold, Mr. Hannity is referring to the massive buildup of military might by Ronald Reagan, the reaction to this buildup by most liberals at the time, and the subsequent fall of the Soviet Union.

However, a full examination of the history of the Cold War – much unlike the selective sales pitch you'll get from a Hannity or Ann Coulter book – reveals that America won the 45-year Cold War in spite of knee-jerk jingoism like that so commonly touted by today’s hysterical hardcore right wing collective.

For instance,
• James Schlesinger, Richard Nixon’s Secretary of Defense, has confirmed that during the 1971 India-Pakistan War, Nixon planned to nuke India if either Russia or China entered into the conflict. Thank goodness the war ended before either China or Russia could get that far.
• In 1954 General Curtis E. LeMay, Commander of the US Strategic Air Command, expressed the desire to drop nuclear bombs on “proper places, like China… and Southeastern Russia.” In the 1960s he lamented never being able to “raise the ante” of nuclear war. Fortunately, cooler heads kept this man’s fantasies from becoming fact.
• And lord knows the world today would be tragically different had the administration in place during the Cuban Missile Crisis been the current administration. For starters, you’d be reading this on a stone tablet.

I think FNC should drop the "News" from their name until it can find commentators who know the entirety of what they claim to report in a “fair and balanced” way.

This is a well-written piece.

sw

I put it here knowing it'd be exposed to a lot of eyes.

I also posted it at Bartcop and... HANNITY.COM

LOL!

I'm glad to know your piece is getting exposure, thanks for bringing it here!

sw

I think he should be a bartender for the troops at an Enlisted Man's Club in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Trust me

;)