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In an epic interview for the ages, a Democratic congressman unloaded on Fox News anchor Sean Hannity Tuesday night with a non-stop verbal assault on the popular host.
Hannity opened up a segment on President Obama’s tactics regarding budget issues by saying, “Our alarmist in chief, President Panic himself, he did not feel the need to be at the White House today, nor did he think it was important enough to visit Capitol Hill and try to hammer out a bipartisan solution to the mess that he himself has put the country in.”
He showed a montage of recent Obama remarks with a soundtrack of ominous music behind it.
Hannity then introduced U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, who took little time to insult the program’s host.
“Quite frankly, you are the worst excuse for a journalist I’ve ever seen,” Ellison told Hannity at the outset.
“What you just displayed was not journalism. It was yellow journalism. It wasn’t anything close to try to tell the American people what’s really going on. It’s just shocking to me.”
“Yellow journalism?” responded Hannity. “To play Obama in his own words is yellow journalism?”
Ellison tried to label Hannity as a champion for Republican causes, saying, “You are a shill for the Republican Party and you alibi them constantly. You alibi them 100 percent of the time.”
“I am not a registered Republican. I’m a registered conservative,” Hannity explained.
At one point that became somewhat comedic, Ellison told Hannity, “You said I could rant, and I am.”
“I’ve given you plenty of time to rant,” said Hannity, as Ellison took a brief moment to let Hannity speak. “Oh, you’re so nice to give me a word on my own program.”
At which point Ellison said, “OK, I changed my mind,” talking over the Fox host once again.
“Why are you so angry?” asked Hannity.
“Why are YOU so angry?” Ellison shouted back.
“You’re a broken record,” said Hannity.
“YOU’RE a broken record,” responded Ellison.
Hannity also asked the Democrat whether America’s massive debt was “immoral.”
“You are immoral!” Ellison fired back.
“I’m immoral?” Hannity said. “I didn’t do anything that’s immoral.”
“You say things that aren’t true!” Ellison said.
“Congressman, you are a total waste of time,” Hannity concluded. “I’m moving on because our audience deserves better. Thank you for being with us. I tried to give you a fair shot.”
“No you didn’t,” Ellison said.
The Atlantic noted on the exchange, “What’s amazing about this is that Hannity and labelmate Bill O’Reilly work best when they bring in guests and steamroll them, giving them little time to respond and throwing them off balance. Ellison turned the script around.”
