Hannity’s ‘guilt by association’ problem

I’m no stranger to Malik Zulu Shabazz, chairman of the New Black Panther Party. Back in his Howard University days (my journalism days), Malik led a rap group called Defiant Giants.

Matter fact, at a Howard hip-hop conference in 1991, Malik Shabazz referred to me as an “Uncle Tom.” (Guess why?)

I ain’t mad at him. Because Malik – clever Malik, beautiful Malik – CLOWNED SEAN HANNITY on “Hannity & Colmes” last week! And it went a little sumpn’ like this:



For the past week, Sean Hannity has been waging a campaign of “guilt by association” against Barack Obama, drum-beating the names of Jeremiah Wright and Louis Farrakhan to smear Sen. Obama as a black militant.

Even Jack Kemp, a Republican, whacked Hannity on the snout Friday night for his constant “ad hominem attacks” against Obama.

The problem with playing the “guilt by association” game is... it puts one’s own associations on the table.

Today, Malik Shabazz’s artful jiu-jitsu was spotlighted on the Huffington Post.

So let’s talk about Hal Turner, one of the most notorious bigots on the Internet. Turner’s blog and radio call-in show are a phantasmagorium of race-baiting, Jew-baiting, queer-baiting and immigrant-bashing.

“Jews hate this program,” Turner said on his show last Wednesday night, “because I expose them for the scumbags that they are.”

Before we get to Turner’s connection with Sean Hannity, I’d like you to hear a few snippets from Turner’s radio show last week. I’ve done a 4½-minute edit. Turner’s theme for the evening was the imminent economic and social collapse of the United States.

Click here to listen. (WARNING: Foul language and epithets.) It ends with a surprising mention of Malik Shabazz’s appearance on “Hannity & Colmes” that same evening.

Now... what does this deranged individual, Hal Turner, have to do with Sean Hannity? During the 1990s, Turner was one of Hannity’s favorite callers to Hannity’s radio show. And a friendship grew from that.

Liberal writer Max Blumenthal documented their relationship three years ago in an online article for The Nation.

And Turner himself blogged about it this weekend. “Yes, we were friends and yes, Sean agreed with some of my views,” Turner wrote.

“In 1993, My wife got pregnant and around a month later, Sean reported that he and his wife were expecting their first child,” according to Turner. “We got to talking about things expectant dads talk about and the relationship grew. ...

“Over the course of the next three or four years, Sean and I spoke regularly off the air about our kids, politics and news of the day. My on-air calls to his show remained regular and welcome.”

Around 1997, Hal Turner says, “Sean invited me and my then-three-year-old-son, to come to Fox News Channel to be in the studio (NOT ON THE AIR) during a live broadcast of ‘Hannity & Colmes’. I accepted the invitation and my son and I went.”

According to Turner, his phone calls were no longer welcome after he ran for a New Jersey congressional seat in 2000.

But dig this: “I can tell you from my firsthand, personal experience that Sean Hannity does, in fact, agree with many of my political and social views,” Turner blogged.

“[H]e and I exchanged the kinds of views that most White, Irish-Catholic guys hold, but won’t speak in public.”

Turner continued: “It seems to me that a big difference between Sean and me is that I am willing to say publicly what I think about savage Black criminals, diseased, uneducated illegal aliens and the grotesque cultural destruction wrought by satanic jews while Sean and many others keep quiet to protect their paychecks.”

What say you to this, Sean Hannity? Do you “denounce and reject” the bigot Hal Turner? Or do you, in fact, share his world view? And is that the reason you persist in smearing Barack Obama?

For now, Mr. Hannity, all we have to go by are Hal Turner’s own words. Including these: