5:16 pm Jan. 16, 20132
State Senators Michael Gianaris and Greg Ball debated Andrew Cuomo's gun control bill on Sean Hannity's television show last night.
After airing a clip of Cuomo during his State of the State speech, deriding the idea that someone would need an assault weapon to hunt deer state, Hannity said, "He just made sure he will never be president." (Hannity, unlike Fox News' owner, Rupert Murdoch, is not a fan of banning assault weapons.)
Hannity's analysis conflicted somewhat with the point being made by Ball, who has accused Cuomo of pushing new gun regulations precisely because he wants to be president. As Blake Zeff noted today, Cuomo has latched onto what is now the default position of every potential Democratic presidential candidate.
Later, Ball accuses Cuomo of wanting to confiscate guns. Cuomo did float the idea before, but has since backed off, which hasn't stopped Ball from pushing the idea that lawmakers in New York want to send police into gun owners homes.
When Gianaris objected to Ball's characterization of Cuomo's position, Ball accused him of being on drugs.
The two reprised the argument this afternoon on Hannity's radio show.
Hannity didn't even bother to learn how to pronounce Gianaris' name. That's a special kind of lazy journalism.
It appears that Hannity is taking a play from the Limbaugh playbook to improve his ratings which have fallen off sharply since the election. Can good Journalists and Bloggers please refrain from reporting on Hannity's new brand of outrageous statements? If people want to know what Hannity says, they should be forced to endure his show. I love the days when my search engine looking for current news stories regarding Hannity returns only links to FOXNews.