Blogger Debbie Schlussel has allowed her bizarre and seemingly obsessive hatred for radio and television host Sean Hannity to take herself, and likely the American Spectator blog, down in flames.
It all started this morning, when Schlussel – who has had a grudge against Hannity for years based on reasons I still don’t fully understand – wrote that diva-style demands by Hannity had cost the Freedom Alliance charity hundreds of thousands of dollars, that Oliver North had distanced himself from Hannity due to Hannity’s treatment of the charity, and that the charity was basically a sham because they were providing a pittance to the families of the slain and injured soldiers the charity was set up to help. Like most of Schlussel’s recent work, her writing ability and the sheer volume of words kind of obfuscated that the piece was thin on facts.
Schlussel thinks Hannity uses her ideas without crediting her, or something. I think I remember reading that she was bumped for time from Hannity and Colmes back in the day and has held a grudge since then. I don’t know, really, except that she has been going after Hannity with myopic relentlessness for at least four years.
Par for the course any time any conservative or pseudo-conservative slams a conservative media star, Schlussel’s Hannity hit piece was picked up by several liberal blogs. Strangely, it was also highlighted by John Tabin at the right-leaning American Spectator blog. Several anti-Hannity commenters immediately piled on.
The Freedom Alliance responded pretty forcefully later in the day with a piece signed both by the Alliance’s President and Oliver North, followed by a retraction and apology posted to the original piece by AmSpec editor in chief R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., a follow-up by Tabin and finally a full apology by Tabin that links to FrumForum’s complete, point by point debunking of the original Schlussel story.
The long and short of the debunking: Hannity pays for his own travel and for the travel of his staff and family and is uninvolved with the Alliance’s day to day operations. He has also donated $200,000 of his own cash money to the Freedom Alliance, $100,000 to the Wounded Warrior Foundation, and tens of thousands to other veterans charities. A lot of the money the Freedom Alliance has raised is still in a trust because the kids of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t old enough to go to college and don’t need scholarships yet.
Whether or not there are problems with the charity – and at this point it’s pretty clear there are not – Hannity has nothing to do with how the charity is run or what they do with their money. His role seems to be promotion and bringing star power to the concert series, as well as donating an ass load of his personal money, all of which he does in spades.
True to form, Schlussel blames the entire backlash on right-wing anti-Semitism in an update to her original post, which she stands behind. She has also posted a comment on Tabin’s AmSpec apology defending her indefensible smear and at the FrumForum debunking of her smear.
Schlussel has been kind of a joke for years. Tabin now says he should have known better, but that doesn’t erase the damage his histrionic retelling of Schlussel’s smears (“This is disgusting!”) has done to Hannity and to the Freedom Alliance. Hannity and the Freedom Alliance should sue Schlussel, and Tabin should no longer hold whatever position he holds at American Spectator.
Like That? You'll Probably Like These.
- Open Mic Fiorina: Sean Hannity Is A Tough Interview
- Colmes To Leave Hannity & Colmes At Year’s End
- Hannity To Announce New Book: Conservative Victory
- Hannity Theme Song Writer Gives Proceeds to Left
- Hannity: Jesse Jackson Slams Obama on Tape
Tagged
Sean Hannity4 Responses to “Schlussel Humiliates Self With Baseless Hannity Smear”
Comments posted are the opinions of the individual poster and do not reflect the views of Bucks Right. Comments are only moderated to prevent spam. No legitimate opinions are altered for content, although we reserve the right to delete any comment for any reason. VALID e-mail address required.
[...] Bucks Right: The long and short of the debunking: Hannity pays for his own travel and for the travel of his staff and family and is uninvolved with the Alliance’s day to day operations. He has also donated $200,000 of his own cash money to the Freedom Alliance, $100,000 to the Wounded Warrior Foundation, and tens of thousands to other veterans charities. A lot of the money the Freedom Alliance has raised is still in a trust because the kids of soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t old enough to go to college and don’t need scholarships yet. [...]
Heh, just be prepared for La Schlussel to come angrily storming onto your comments. She must have a google alert for her name, cause she’ll stalk any sie down that dares mention her in a negative fashion and start throwing her anti-semite bombs.
It’s pretty funny, actually.
It’s a shame what’s happened to her. I used to have great respect for her and her War on Terror related work. This apparent Hannity obsession, though, is really odd.
[...] And just for some fun reading about Schlussell and her motives… Schlussel Humiliates Self With Baseless Hannity Smear | Bucks Right [...]