There He Goes Again

I don't want to say Hannity's interview with Bush was friendly, but let's just say you could imagine them going out for ice cream sundaes afterwards and making eyes at each other.

Look, Hannity makes no bones about the fact that he's a Republican activist. He goes out and campaigns and raises money for GOP candidates. You know where he stands.

But if you're interviewing the president of the United States in the final week of an election campaign, isn't there some obligation to press him with skeptical questions? (I won't even draw the contrast with Chris Wallace's aggressive conversation with Bill Clinton.)

Here are some of Hannity's questions:

"You think the GOP holds both houses. You're confident. You made the statement that your opponents, Democrats, are picking out the drapes a little bit too early."

"That's what you want voters -- before they go into that voting booth, you want them to compare and contrast?"

"Karl Rove used the term 'pre-9/11 mentality.' You said, 'I question whether they understand how dangerous the world is.' That raises the question about Democrats. If they're elected, do they make the country more vulnerable, more susceptible? Are they weaker?"

Now that's a fastball down the middle !

"Nancy Pelosi, the woman who'd love to be speaker, she's against the NSA surveillance program. She's been against the Patriot Act, voted against the creation of the Homeland Security Department, has cut intelligence, voted against the border fence. Is it then fair to say she is weak on national security issues?"

"When we go and look at the rhetoric that has been used -- specifically, you've been a big target of the Democrats, as you know -- some of the rhetoric has been really harsh. Let me give you some examples and get your reaction to it. Nancy Pelosi [said] you're mentally unstable. Harry Reid called you a loser in front of schoolchildren. Ted Kennedy [said] you're a liar. He's said you concocted the war for political gain. Al Gore screamed at the top of his lungs that you betrayed your country. When you hear that -- these are the leaders, the prominent leaders of the Democrats -- does that offend you? Does that bother you? What does that say to you?"

"But rhetoric like that, though, coming from leaders, do you think it -- our enemies hear it, our allies hear it, our troops hear it?"

"There was a controversy as it relates to the words 'stay the course.' Do you want to explain what you meant?"