Answers to Sean Hannity, No. 1 
As a politically independent member of Political Cortex for five months now, I would like to begin publishing a new series of controversial essays which I originally drafted more than two years ago. Since late 2005 I have submitted this twenty-five part series to dozens upon dozens of political magazines and websites--neoconservative, conservative, independent, liberal, Catholic, secular and every outlook in between--both paying and not-for-profit. I have received hardly a single response, and no replies whatsoever indicating any interest. So finally, to dispel my growing impatience, I have decided to share this series with Internet readers by publishing it myself on a weekly basis.
"Answers to Sean Hannity" is a formal debate with the popular neoconservative radio figure based on excerpts from his bestselling 2004 book,
In the summer of 2005, after sporadically tuning in to The Sean Hannity Show for two years, I delved into the popular radio figure's straightforward, tough-minded book written the previous year entitled, Deliver Us from Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism. Mr. Hannity's unswerving vision of the reality of evil in this book clashes head-on with our modern culture of moral relativism, and struck me as tremendously refreshing.
But on the other hand, I found the book deeply disturbing for a number of reasons. For instance, Mr. Hannity presents numerous "facts" which are either unfounded speculation or vicious lies. Second, logical flaws proliferate. In addition, Mr. Hannity failed to adequately describe and confront the numerous arguments leveled against America's post-9/11 foreign policy, especially those of Pope John Paul II against the Iraq war. Furthermore, in direct contradiction to the teaching of the Catholic Church (of which he professes to be a member), the language of the book dares to equate evil with evildoers or the sinner with the sin, suggesting a seething hatred of both. Hannity takes no prisoners, regarding critics and opponents of the "War on Terrorism", of the war in Iraq and of future wars as unpatriotic. But the biggest failure of this volume is its pernicious assumption that international "Islamic" terrorism is a much greater threat to the well-being of the Untied States than abortion, or homosexuality, or the torture of prisoners, or any other intrinsically evil act committed in or by the United States. In other words, Hannity seems more concerned that Americans be safe from terrorism than that Americans be safe from Hell. To sum it all up, Mr. Hannity`s book is a classic exhibition of a new and remarkably insidious form of totalitarianism that has gripped the American government, mega-business world, media, intelligentsia, and culture--namely, neoconservatism.
After reading Deliver Us from Evil, I sent Mr. Hannity no fewer than ten emails throughout the autumn of 2005, broaching my deep concerns about the book. I called special attention to his failure to even mention the denunciations of the "War on Terrorism" and the war in Iraq by the high-profile Pope John Paul II. However, Hannity never once sent me a response. Apparently he does not like to confront uncomfortable facts that his own political worldview cannot account for. So I decided to give a fair exposition of the weaknesses of his ideology in the public square, in reply to what he has written in the book.
(Part 2 will begin the debate next week.)
KEYWORDS: terrorism, war, Iraq, neoconservatism, Sean Hannity
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