Franken-Lies-And-the-Lying-Liars-Who-Tell

"When you look at schools in relation to the accountability system, New York City
schools have a long way to go."
Now for a little context. Richard Mills was the person who had created that accountability
system. In fact, just the year before, Mills had been presented with the prestigious Corning
Award for Excellence because, among other things, he had set tough new academic standards
and required rigorous testing of all students' progress. The difficulty of the tests that Mills
himself had imposed had led to the low test scores Hannity cited. Back to the article:
"There's no simple fix," he said. "I would peel the onion. I would ask questions
about all the fundamentals that go on in school."
And that's where Hannity started quoting him—when Mills started asking questions about all
the fundamentals. So when Mills asked "Is it teaching?" or "What are they reading?" he didn't
mean it literally. He was using what's called "a rhetorical device."
But you knew that, Sean. And still you presented it as if the man had no clue what
was going on in his schools. Do you see why that's obnoxious? And not just obnoxious, but
also dishonest? And, frankly, stupid?
Let's do another one. During one of his endearing liberal-bashing jags, Hannity spits
out: "They tell us that fuel-burning SUVs are bad for America, but flag-burning SOBS
aren't." Well, Sean, fuel-burning SUVs burn fuel. And there are about fifty million of them.
They contribute to global warming and our dependence on oil from countries like Saudi Arabia,
which fund the very terrorism you profess to be so upset about. Flag-burning, on the
other hand, is relatively rare. And what's more, Saudi Arabia does not produce American
flags. Most American flags are made in Taiwan, a staunch ally.
Here's another ridiculous thing he says. In keeping with his uncompromising stance
against terrorism, Hannity takes a tough principled stand against John Walker Lindh, the
American Taliban. I'm with Hannity when he calls Lindh a traitor, but what really irks me is
when he uses Lindh to malign an entire county. No one man can represent an entire county,
unless that county is Climax County, Montana, which does indeed have a single resident
Gerard Wagner of County Rd. 1. Ho there, Gerard.
Here's Hannity:
Named after John Lennon, 1 John Lindh was born in Marin County, a wealthy, liberal
suburb of San Francisco. He grew up in a veritable ideological Disneyland of
1 Who was named after John the Baptist.