Fox News Is Outraged: Obama Is Trying To Steal Lincoln’s Identity!
Fox News Is Outraged: Obama Is Trying To Steal Lincoln’s Identity!
Conservatives are outraged that President-elect Obama has the audacity to invoke Abraham Lincoln when talking about his vision for the presidency. They point to the fact that Obama often talked about the Doris Kearns Goodwin book “Team of Rivals,” and said that he would like to put together a similar Cabinet. They’re also outraged that Obama uses Lincolnesque rhetoric is his speeches and is holding part of the inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial.
Yesterday on Fox and Friends, for example, Glenn Beck and the show’s hosts were saying that it was “amazing” that Obama has the gall to have a “Lincolnesque celebration.” “It’s another building of the Pantheon,” said Beck. Similarly, last night, Sean Hannity and his guest, conservative author Larry Schweikart, said that Obama is trying to steal Lincoln’s identity:
HANNITY: And in Your America tonight, Barack Obama is doing everything he can to convince Americans that he is the rightful inheritor of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy.
SCHWEIKART: Lincoln, though, had a war to deal with. Obama doesn’t. Lincoln is known as the great emancipator. If Obama spends money the way he’s planning to, he’ll be known as the great incarcerator because we’re all going to end up in debtor’s prison.
Hannity also claimed that Lincoln would be “on a very different side on the Gitmo issue” from Obama. Yet less than an hour later, in the same episode, Hannity showed part two of his interview with Bush, in which the President talks at length about similarities between himself and Lincoln. Pointing to a painting in the Oval Office of the former president, Bush said, “I have studied Lincoln a lot during my presidency.” He later added, “I’m not trying to compare myself to Lincoln, but I do believe in the universality of freedom.” Watch it:
Beck’s outrage at presidents equating themselves with Lincoln is disingenuous. After all, in December 2007, he said that Bush has “Abraham Lincoln-honorable reasons…he has chosen not to say certain things.” Even Fox News has said that Bush is “trying to equate himself with Lincoln.” Evidently, a heavily unpopular president trying to disingenuously convince the public of his greatness is better than an incoming president striving to actually model himself on a successful presidency.
Transcript:
HANNITY: And in Your America tonight, Barack Obama is doing everything he can to convince Americans that he is the rightful inheritor of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy. [...]
HANNITY: I — first, off the top, I — just remember Abraham Lincoln was a Republican.
SCHWEIKART: Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. I guess they see a similarity because Lincoln spent a lot of money, and Barack Obama wants to spend a lot of money.
Lincoln, though, had a war to deal with. Obama doesn’t. Lincoln is known as the great emancipator. If Obama spends money the way he’s planning to, he’ll be known as the great incarcerator because we’re all going to end up in debtor’s prison. [...]
HANNITY: Yes. Well, one of the other things that I found pretty interesting is, you know, where would Abraham Lincoln be as it relates to Gitmo? Didn’t he put aside civil rights and even shut down press outlets and issues of habeas corpus as it relates to those issues? I think he’d be on a very different side on the Gitmo issue, don’t you think?
SCHWEIKART: He would be on a totally different side. [...]
BUSH: This is where the president puts the most influential president.
HANNITY: Abraham Lincoln.
BUSH: Abraham Lincoln. In my case, I am conflicted about the most influential president, so I say that the portrait of the 41st president is in my heart.
HANNITY: Your dad.
BUSH: And Lincoln on the wall. I have come to greatly admire both men, but — but I have studied Lincoln a lot during my presidency. I’ve read a lot about him and a couple of things that he teaches.
One: he teaches that the president must speak with clarity on certain truths. He said all men are created equal under God. He could have hedged a little bit and said, Well, maybe some of us aren’t equal in 1864. But he said all men are created equal under God.
I — and believe me. I’m not trying to compare myself to Lincoln, but I do believe in the universality of freedom. And I have said consistently in my presidency, there is a God and a gift of that Almighty to every man, woman and child is freedom.
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Hannity also claimed that Lincoln would be “on a very different side on the Gitmo issue” from Obama
– - Sean, Sean, Sean, you’re a man of all gesture and no conviction.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:14 amSean, Glen…? I hate to break it to you fellas, but Abraham Lincoln wouldn’t recognize today’s Republican Party – he’d be horrified.
Oh — and while we’re at it, who better to personify Lincoln’s freeing of the slaves than our first African-American president?
I guess you boys are just going to have to suck it up and deal with it. *snicker*
January 14th, 2009 at 11:15 am“SCHWEIKART: Lincoln, though, had a war to deal with. Obama doesn’t.”
Huh????
January 14th, 2009 at 11:16 amIf Fox News is outraged, then we can be sure that Obama is doing something right.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:17 amNo, Obama doesn’t have a war to deal with.
He has TWO wars to deal with.
Dipsticks.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:19 amWhat do you expect from a Bartender playing Journalist. To compair Lincoln to Obama is right out of a bottle of booze.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:20 ami understand the need to keep an eye on these yahoos but don’t you give them just a little too much oxygen?
let them suffocate in the darkness.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:20 amThe fight over the stove pipe hat is comical. I thought Bush wanted to be Churchillian?
It’s but more verbal tonic spooned out for the populace to ease or divert their minds. “nonideological” is patently vacuous? “Doing anything that works” is driving using the rear view mirror.
Words to appease the masses, and poor management theory.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:20 amHow, exactly how, is this an issue that impacts people’s lives?
January 14th, 2009 at 11:20 amHey George! Guess what? The people of the U.S.A. are not conflicted about whom the most uninfluential president was.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:23 amHow did he get Lincoln’s pin number?
January 14th, 2009 at 11:25 amTwo simple truths that faux will always ignore.
Abe was a progressive…….not a conservative.
no one has spent more money than the republicans in the last 8 years. bush has put us in a hole that will take decades to dig our way out of.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:27 amvinylspear Says:
Hey George! Guess what? The people of the U.S.A. are not conflicted about whom the most uninfluential president was.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:23 am
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Absolutely. That’d be William Henry Harrison, without question. I mean, the man was only in office a month before dying of pneumonia.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:28 amBush is the polar opposite of Lincoln. FOX seems convinced that just because Lincoln was a Republican he would have been as morally corrupt as the boy king.
“The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This, our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us.”
“I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crises. The great point is to bring them the real facts.”
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power.”
“Allow the president to invade a neighboring nation, whenever he shall deem it necessary to repel an invasion, and you allow him to do so whenever he may choose to say he deems it necessary for such a purpose—and you allow him to make war at pleasure.”
ABRAHAM LINCOLN
January 14th, 2009 at 11:28 amThe best they could do was Palin as the inheritor of a doddering, former actor who thought playing a serviceman in the movies meant he actually saw combat…
January 14th, 2009 at 11:29 amOBAMA DOESN”T HAVE A WAR TO DEAL WITH????
January 14th, 2009 at 11:32 amWTF????
Let these talking butts drown in their own excrement. They just keep digging the hole deeper with their asinine attacks. The fools are falling more and more out of power.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:34 amPoor lil ol Foxfreex – they don’t even know what to say about anything anymore….
It’ll be fun in the coming months to hear about their contracts being torn up and invalidated as their ratings continue to tank.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:36 amSo the second Illinois president shouldn’t relate at all to the first Illinois president. Got it.
This is almost as amusing as mAnn Coulter arguing that biracial clebrities are “race baiting” by not mentioning their white parents. I didn’t hear too many righties pointing out that Obama had a white mother from Kansas during the election. All I heard was that he was a black Muslim and and/or a militant black Christian who was not a legitimate citizen.
And I don’t believe it was African Americans who began labeling anybody with even a speck of black blood a negro, was it.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:36 amSCHWEIKART: Lincoln, though, had a war to deal with. Obama doesn’t.
I know it’s been pointed out before, but I wanted to copy/paste that again. These are the people FAUX News believes are qualified to explain current events to us. The guy who said that, and the guy who didn’t correct him. Dear screaming Jesus on a dildo, they should be wearing helmets and playing with crayons in a corner.
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Leftside Annie Says:
Oh — and while we’re at it, who better to personify Lincoln’s freeing of the slaves than our first African-American president?
That’s just what I was thinking. Including Lincoln in some form in the inaugural proceedings is appropriate for that reason alone.
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Hannity also claimed that Lincoln would be “on a very different side on the Gitmo issue” from Obama
The Constitution allows for suspension of habeus corpus in case of “rebellion,” which is what Lincoln was dealing with. But I doubt if he’d agree that Presidents just get to make stuff up any time they want.
You know, I just fell for their trap. There isn’t a “side” of an “issue” here. Unconstitutional crimes aren’t even up for debate to begin with. You don’t get to “argue” with me that people should get to commit crimes.
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stateofthedivision Says:
The fight over the stove pipe hat is comical.
Perhaps, but here’s an awesome idea if there ever was one.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:40 amIf Hannity, the Jr. College Drop Out and construction worker, turned reichwing talking head, had a brain, he would use it as a play toy.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:40 amThese three gas bag’s are so small on the snooze radar the don’t even deserve thread space here, much less comment’s…P.B. & J.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:41 amHannity & Hannity, heh
Let these talking butts drown in their own excrement.
Well said, jb.
Hannity proclaimed history will judge Bush kindly.
What will history have to say about Bush being afraid of an 80 year old woman? Would Lincoln have called on Helen?
January 14th, 2009 at 11:41 amAnd Lincoln would approve the repugs of today?
These morons have no idea how stupid they are.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:43 amIt shows again how desperate they are to bloviate about something.
So, Obama is not allowed to admire Lincoln, because why? I don’t get these guys.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:44 amSCHWEIKART: Lincoln, though, had a war to deal with. Obama doesn’t.
________
You’re absolutely right. Obama doesn’t have a war to deal with. He’s got three. Maybe four, if India-Pakistan blows up in the next week.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:47 amDebtor’s prison? Have we reverted to 1830s England and nobody told me?
January 14th, 2009 at 11:47 amScrew those idiots.
The vindictive part of me says “Suck on it! Now you know how I, as a member of the Jackson County Missouri Democratic Party, have felt for all these years as der Chimpenfuhrer has tried to lay claim to the mantle of Truman.”
January 14th, 2009 at 11:48 amAt least Obama wants to get this country going in the LEFT direction and not in the REICH direction which is to do nothing while people lose their homes and jobs.Lincoln couldn`t manage to recognize his party now.
As for being fiscally responsible……….it`s the current administration with this melt down in our country`s infrastructure to invade two country`s at once and spending $12 billion a month illegally.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:49 amOnce again more overt RASCISM from the REICH………..
January 14th, 2009 at 11:50 amMy guess is that Fixed Noise is mortified that they no longer will have unbridled access to the White House, the Cabinet room, and even the royal toilet so they are grabbing at any and all straws. Let them whine. The next 8 years will be hell for Fixed Noise and deservedly so.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:51 amIts going to be a very very very looooooooooooong 4-year-period for fixed news! They’ll have lots and lots of “nothings” to rant about !
BTW: does Hannity look uglier and uglier to anyone else? He just seems to ooze ugliness, doen’t he ?
January 14th, 2009 at 11:51 amBush has sampled around trying to be, Lincoln, Churchill, Truman, Reagan, and ends up being less than Hoover. But he does suck.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:52 amWho gives a rat’s ass what an ex-bartender with no education thinks?
Hannidity, the fascist ignorant moron, is irrevelvent!
January 14th, 2009 at 11:54 amBush is a lot like Hoover….the vacuum.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:55 amMr Blifil Says:
Debtor’s prison? Have we reverted to 1830s England and nobody told me?
__________________
Well, at the very least, I’d say these *sshats WISH they were living in the 1830’s… ya know, when slavery was still legal, women couldn’t vote, and the good ole US of A was basically a White Man’s Paradise.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:56 amLet’s offer a tax break to all those who don’t tune into fox for a years time.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:57 amWhen the year’s up, we just get a blank look and say sorry, we lied.
Correction:
Perhaps, but here’s an awesome idea if there ever was one.
January 14th, 2009 at 11:59 amdbadass Says:
How did he get Lincoln’s pin number?
January 14th, 2009 at 11:25 am
____________
I’m guessing it was something like this:
January 14th, 2009 at 12:05 pm
SCHWEIKART: If Obama spends money the way he’s planning to…
_____________
Uhhh… wouldn’t that make him the 2nd Coming of Botch?
‘Cause Li’l Georgy has run up the biggest deficits in the history of the country.
What planet do these clowns live on?
January 14th, 2009 at 12:06 pmI do believe that 2009 will undoubtedly be the year that exposes Beck, Hannity & Coulter as nothing but bitter losers who gladly put their political and idealogic interests ahead of the country and have nothing to add to any debate except virtiol targeted toward a very, very popular commander in chief.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:07 pmthis year marks the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birthday, Feb. 12, 1809…
of course that’s why an Illinois Senator elected President of the USA is including Lincoln in the inaugural celebration…
jeesh…
January 14th, 2009 at 12:09 pmEffing idiots.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:13 pmSo says the closet gay Sean.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:20 pmI am sorry, but I am losing patience with this site as it becomes more and more irrelevant. You discuss things as though they are important to anyone but the choice of subjects? You report the ranting of people most of us believe to be imbalanced, and act as though they are worth considering as they spew.
bachmann, inhofe, hannity? Who in the hell cares about these cretins? Why do you care? They are nonsense peddlers and work the 4% of the insane into a fervor.
The center for American progress would seemingly care about progress, not trying to do psychological counseling for those that can’t decide for themselves. History is fine. But it is not “progress”.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:27 pmI am thrilled at anything that puts Fixed Noise people in a snit.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:27 pmoldtree – see the next thread to understand the relevance…
gotta keep up with the lies… and ignorance…
January 14th, 2009 at 12:32 pmFirst of all, stop playing “what if”, Mannity. “What if Lincoln had to face Gitmo?” “What if Sarah Palin was Obama’s running mate?” “What if Jesus was a Democrat?” Stop focussing on past figures in the present. Start to focus on present figures learning from the past.
Second of all, what is wrong with trying to learn from past leaders? What is wrong with emulating your idols? Everyone has people they look up to, even you, Mannity. Unless you already think you’re King of the Free World, you megalomaniac.
Finally, let’s not forget that Obama has greater challenges than Lincoln. Not only must he unite the country, but he has global policies to be concerned with. Stop belittling Bush’s failures and Obama’s inherited concerns.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:32 pmGod these people are stupid.
Obama announced his presidential campaign at a rally in Springfield, Illinois. Where Lincoln too begun his campaign. The “news” that Obama is an admirer, and sometimes emulator, of Lincoln is news that is over a year old.
I swear Joe the Plumber could join Fox and raise the average IQ a good 20 points.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:34 pmoldtree says: Why do you care? They are nonsense peddlers and work the 4% of the insane into a fervor.
The answer to your question is in the statement that follows your question.
I think exposing the nonsense to ridicule helps marginalize it. Your hypothetical 4% was probably more like 40% just a couple of years ago. Further, I, for one, enjoy some nonsense along with the serious, as presented here at TP. You’re free to think otherwise. If you don’t like the subjects here, you are free to start your own site or visit the myriad of others.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:35 pmoldtree Says:
bachmann, inhofe, hannity? Who in the hell cares about these cretins? Why do you care? They are nonsense peddlers and work the 4% of the insane into a fervor.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:27 pm
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Though I’d agree that there are some more pressing issues to discuss, we should never underestimate the destructive power of cretins and nonsense peddlers when left unwatched.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:36 pmJust to witness Sean’s fat head explode I wish President-Elect Obama would show up at the inauguration sporting a Lincoln like beard and wearing a stove pipe hat.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:45 pmIn Bushworld, if the uneducated Hannity hadn’t got a break and subsequent employment on call-in Talk Radio – odds are that he would be bankrupt and unemployed……..
January 14th, 2009 at 12:47 pmExcellent comment #51!
January 14th, 2009 at 12:48 pmFOX News – Mouthpiece for Israel, Zionists, Jews, and Neoconservatives around the world.
I wonder what Obama’s marching orders from Israel hold for America.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:52 pmIf Obama spends money the way he’s planning to, he’ll be known as the great incarcerator because we’re all going to end up in debtor’s prison.
We are already lined up for debtors prison! Just look at how much money the idiot squandered and still does on a failed criminal war . A WAR THAT HAS MADE THINGS SO MUCH WORSE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND AT HOME AS WELL.
January 14th, 2009 at 12:57 pmAdd to that the direct consequences of waging a CRIMINAL INVASION and murdering innocent civilians FOR PROFIT!! The ZIONIST FREAK FAILED UNELECTED PRESIDENT AND HIS SUPPORTERS ARE LINED UP FOR WAR CRIMINALS’ PRISON! Go join them Hannity! you zionist freak!
Hannity is the biggest whinebag in American media. Of course Barack Obama is the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. what did Lincoln go to war for? To free slaves! Once they were free his hopes were that Blacks would have entree into society. He was killed before he could complete the transition. It took a while, but Eisenhower and Brownell finally put together civil rights legislation, enlisted Johnson to move the southern democrats and got it done. Barack Obama is EXACTLY what Lincoln had in mind for his legacy. Blacks having access to every part of American life. Hannity is a repubtard.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:05 pmdrew3rd Says:
Hannity is the biggest whinebag in American media. Of course Barack Obama is the legacy of Abraham Lincoln. what did Lincoln go to war for? To free slaves! Once they were free his hopes were that Blacks would have entree into society. He was killed before he could complete the transition. It took a while, but Eisenhower and Brownell finally put together civil rights legislation, enlisted Johnson to move the southern democrats and got it done. Barack Obama is EXACTLY what Lincoln had in mind for his legacy. Blacks having access to every part of American life. Hannity is a repubtard.
You’re right about fannyhanny only.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:11 pmSo when will these losers stop whining and report real news and not fluffy nonsense.
It is truly remarkable that President elect Barack Obama and Vice President elect Joe Biden will start their trip to Washington DC in Philadelphia, the birthplace of the Constitution of the United States. This is symbolic after 8 years of Bush and Cheney doing their best to trash and undo this Constitution.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:42 pmA Fox News pundit talking out of both sides of his mouth? I’m Shocked. Shocked. I tell you!
January 14th, 2009 at 1:47 pmFaux news is outraged because they are now on the outside looking in. No longer do they have the executive power in their hands and unlike other outlets, Obama does not recognize them.
January 14th, 2009 at 1:57 pmPatriot Acting,
I LOVE those Lincoln quotes–would you tell me the source? I’d like to read all of it and then bombard the few die-hard Bushies among my friends with it.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:06 pmNow, now, my friends. . . would you have me believe that the media are NOT the “liberal” bunch so scorned by the Right Wing? Your examples don’t SOUND liberal. . . could it be that the anti-press stone-throwers live in glass houses?
January 14th, 2009 at 2:10 pmI see what is going on here, these neocon nutjobs are now trying to retcon everything in Republican history to have it match current (poor) standards.
And since dullards like Hannity and Beck don’t touch history books with any truth to them…or what they call a liberal slant…they wouldn’t know the true histories of the Republican and Democratic parties.
It’s no surprise this is happening. Obama represents the type of person who is educated, ethical, moral, polite and easy to get along with; a threat to wedge their viewership with…dare I say…good policies we haven’t seen in 10 years!
If anything happens to Obama, I have 1:5 odds the plan will have hatched because of Faux News.
January 14th, 2009 at 2:34 pmConsidering the possible criminal actions of the Shrub Admin – they had sure better hope that Obama quotes Lincoln “With Malice toward none.” Otherwise, we’ve got international crimes and RICO on the national side.
Of course, Lincoln said that, and the carpetbaggers still came south. So the words sounded good at least. And maybe the best plan for Obama is do the same as Lincoln but let others spearhead the investigation.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:07 pmThe right wingnuts are coming out in full force. What a waste of oxygen. It is really a shame none of them seem to have lives or jobs.
January 14th, 2009 at 3:22 pmwith all the bantering back and forth doesn’t the independant party or mit romney look good in hindsight \ mcain being a stooge \obama and hillary elite left\ where does this actually leave the taxpayers and our kids\ralph nader even looks good now god help us grassroots america wakeup
January 25th, 2009 at 1:40 pm