Hannity Demands Presidential Transparency

A giddy Sean Hannity related the charges against Illinois' newly indicted Governor Wednesday, taking aim at President-Elect Obama and his transition team over contradictory statements issued concerning Obama's contacts with Gov. Blagojevich.

Hannity ridiculed Obama who has been touting his administration's intent on a new standard in transparency, publicizing a "Your Place At The Table" feature on his change.gov website in which thousands of comments and questions from ordinary citizens are posted publicly and reviewed by his team. Also posted are white papers and letters from industry, unions, local governments and other organizations so the public can see who is contacting the team and what they are saying.

Mocking Obama's move toward transparency with sneering cynicism, Hannity demanded the transition team immediately turn over all records relating to any and all contact with Blago, despite the fact that prosecutors already have this correspondence in hand.

It is refreshing to see Hannity at last taking a stand in favor of, even demanding transparency. He railed against corruption and despicable pay-for-play by elected officials throughout his broadcast, breaking his years long tradition of looking the other way while the Bush administration has refused to turn over records on a number of monumentally crucial issues.

Hannity's "highly principled" challenge for voluntary compliance by Obama may have been completely sarcastic, made knowing Obama is currently stalling or stonewalling. But Hannity nonetheless opened up a radioactive Pandora's Box: the topic of Presidential transparency on possible ethics violations.

In this regard, not only has President Bush and his cabinet blatantly defied Congressional subpoenas probing allegations of criminal wrongdoing, Bush and a petrified mainstream media has completely brushed aside Articles of Impeachment filed in Congress suggesting 35 criminal acts, described in air-tight legal terms and accompanied by mountains of compelling evidence, comprising entire sections of bookstores for years.

Aside from alleged war crimes including illegal torture and rendition, the acts that most closely mirror the violations Governor Blagojevich stands accused of today would be the accounts by convicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff who claims he had close, longstanding personal ties to George Bush. Though Bush denies this, the President has steadfastly refused to reveal the very same White House visitor logs that would exonerate him.

We heard many more allegations that Bush's DOJ hirings and firings were based on specific expectations of partisan allegiance and performance, winding up in a toxic scandal that has seen Attorney General Alberto Gonzales resign in disgrace. The Bush administration has also reportedly trashed entire hard drives in violation of the Presidential Records Act, deleting myriad records of correspondence that could also have exonerated the administration of crimes for which they stand accused.

Though Vice President Cheney's attempt to claim PRA exemption was laughed out of court, Bush has explained massive quantities of emails concerning pre-war intel, Plamegate, the DOJ firings and more were "accidentally deleted", the equivalent of "the dog ate my homework" - not just once, but twice.

So let's all cheer Hannity for the common ground we now share. He has now weighed in on how he feels about government corruption - he feels it is shameful. Amen, brother Sean! He feels Obama must come clean and provide documentation of his role in Blagojevich's sale of the available US Senate seat.

So too then, must Bush, Cheney and their staff now reveal any and all documentation pertaining to the crimes alleged against them (now handily bound in book form). Will Hannity listeners call him on this double-standard? Not likely, because they probably don't even know the extent of the crimes Bush has been accused of and the evidence already uncovered - it's been almost completely buried by the mainstream media for years.

And finally, what about allegations of illegal corruption in Sean Hannity's own industry? Neither Hannity or Rush Limbaugh, the #1 and #2 talk radio personalities in the nation have responded to the allegations by Bush's former Press Secretary that friendly talk show hosts were directly given broadcast materials by a "massive operation" run by Karl Rove's office at the White House. If not disclosed on air, this would violate the same covert propaganda law used against Armstrong Williams when it was discovered the White House hired him to fake news reports.

Together we wait, my fellow Americans, for these matters to be cleared up. Will Obama yet be besmirched by Blagojevich's fall from power? Will the fog surrounding the Bush culture of corruption be lifted this January? And will Sean Hannity ever hold Republicans, his beloved George Bush, or even himself to the standards he lectures us about?