Hannity Vs. Anderson: Live Blog

It's about 9:00 and I'm watching Rocky Anderson slam dunk a case for Bush's impeachment in the context of his lying to get into the war and his high crimes.

It boggles my mind how every time Rocky busts out facts a number of people in the audience boo. It's crazy.

Just now, he said Iraqi's are worse off now than at the beginnning of the war and half the audience started booing.

Jesus.

Who are these people?

UPDATE 9:10 pm: He's getting booed on his stance against torture. This is frustrating. I'm dying to see what bullshit Sean Hannity busts out.

UPDATE 9:12 pm: Rocky's getting into FISA and damning Bush with footage of himself lying in public forums. And is comparing him to Nixon and it's a pretty convincing argument. I'd be interested to see how much of the crowd has gone in on the fence and how many of them come out in support of impeachment.

UPDATE 9:15 pm: Rocky is wrapping back up with his theme of common American values and, I swear to God, he should be running for President.

UPDATE 9:16 pm: Hannity is up and I'm dying to see what vile comes out of this guys mouth. People began chanting Rocky's name as soon as he came up.

Christ.

The first words out of his mouth were personal attacks on Rocky.

UPDATE 9:18 pm: Hannity is going off on rhetoric and his video presentation, honest to God, cut to the toppling of the Saddam statue.

He's actually name-calling liberals.

UPDATE 9:20 pm: He's wrapping himself up in a big American flag of rheotric. He's telling everyone the troops are fighting for our way of life. And maybe they are, if by protecting our way of life, he means protecting the oil fields and the interests of giant American corporations like Halliburton.

UPDATE 9:23 pm: I think the rhetoric of American exceptionalism is pretty scary. And it's amazing, after Rocky Anderson in his presentation about how Iraq had NOTHING to do with 9/11, Hannity continues to treat the both of them as though they were the same thing.

And then he's going on now to say essentially that Rocky Anderson, bu his dissent, is contributing to the 'toxicity' that undermines the troops and causes terrorism. Harry Reid is in on it now, too, apparently.

UPDATE 9:28 pm: I just realized how preposterous it is that Sean Hannity is ridiculously off-topic. I was under the impression this debate was about whether or not Bush should be impeached and whether or not the War is right or not. He's giving an anti-Kerry stump speech.

UPDATE 9:31 pm: What the hell does video of Clinton and Kerry have to do with whether or not Bush should be impeached?

UPDATE 9:34 pm: It seems as though the gist of Hannity's speech is to attack as many messengers as possible.

UPDATE 9:38 pm: Hannity just asked: "Does anyone doubt that an unholy alliance between Iraq and Al Qaida with a nuclear weapon would result in harming America?" Or something like that. And this is following Rocky Anderson's offering of National Intelligence Estimates on stage outlining how there were no links in any capacity between Iraq and Al Qaida. Instead of engaging in rhetoric, why doesn't Sean Hannity instead offer proof that they were in cahoots?

Oh yeah, because there isn't any.

UPDATE 9:40 pm: They just cut back to the statue of Saddam coming down. Again.

Jesus.

UPDATE 9:42 pm: Just as Hannity was evoking the fear of another 9/11 and wrapping himself up in another "fight the terrorists there so they won't attack us here" American flag, his cell phone rang.

UPDATE 9:45 pm: Hannity said something I agree with. "We can do better with this war." I don't think we agree in the same way, but we agree in that.

UPDATE 9:46 pm: He just called for Rocky's impeachment. What a classless guy.

UPDATE 9:47 pm: Oh God, it's time for them to question each other. This is going to be good.

UPDATE 9:49 pm: I like Rocky, but he needs to ask a goddamn question.

UPDATE 9:53 pm: Rocky asked a good question and Hannity danced around it. It boggles my mind. When I was in debate, you couldn't win an argument by ignoring it and answering some other question that no one asked.

UPDATE 9:59 pm: This is just frustrating to watch. The moderator is a saint and has probably the hardest job in the world.

UPDATE 10:03 pm: Hannity's turn. He just put his foot in his mouth by calling Anderson out on voting for Kerry and Anderson said "I voted for the Green Party candidate, Ralph Nader."

UPDATE 10:08 pm: Like I said, this is just painful to watch. Listening to Sean Hannity speak always makes me sick.

UPDATE 10:11 pm: Why does withdrawal equate to surrender in the eyes of men like Sean Hannity? I really want to know. He just asked Rocky for 5 specific proposals to make the situation better and leave Iraq at the same time. I don't think he expects an answer, but Rocky's giving it to him.

UPDATE 10:17 pm: Audience questions now.

UPDATE 10:23 pm: Why do neo-cons like Sean Hannity blame the Democrats for Bush vetoing the spending bill? I don't get it. They authorized every penny Bush asked for, but asked for a timeline. Bush vetoed it, not the Democrats.

UPDATE 10:26 pm: When asked who they wanted for '08, Anderson jokingly said, "Well, I'd like to announce..." and then moved on to endorse Bill Richardson. Hannity couldn't commit to anyone but made sure that he didn't want it to be Hillary.

UPDATE 10:30 pm: Closing arguments. Hannity goes straight for the troops again. He reminds me of Schwarzenegger in Total Recall, grabbing innocent bystanders as human shields.

I admire the fact that Hannity thanked Rocky Anderson for the free exchange of ideas, despite their disagreements. Finally, something else we can agree on.

UPDATE 10:33 pm: Rocky Anderson's closing.

"America's greatness is not a given." 'Nuff said.

Rocky Anderson really should run for office.

UPDATE 10:36 pm: It's over. It's good to see Hannity and Rocky have the respect for the process enough to shake hands and embrace.

FINAL THOUGHTS: I'm biased in my opinion. I know that. I don't like Sean Hannity. But I think Rocky Anderson made a very, very convincing argument. He laid a very well-thought out, well-researched case against the Bush administration. And instead of rebutting it, Hannity just started name-calling. It was really frustrating to watch Hannity dance around the issues.

In the news-recap, Hannity said that he laid out the best case he could and that is sad. He said Anderson's case lacks moral strength. A case that involves truthfulness, integrity, transparency in government and a strong stance against torture lacks moral strength in Sean Hannity's book.

Neo-con's like Hannity are beyond belief.

The local Fox News anchors subtely called the debate for Hannity and they interviewed people leaving the debate and everyone they talked to seemed pretty sure Hannity lost the debate and that he never responded to any of the compelling issues Anderson raised.