Originally published in this week’s TriCityNews! If you live in Monmouth or Ocean County, NJ…pick up a copy!

In this Monday’s New York Times, there was a remarkable piece on the fifteen year anniversary of Fox News by Brian Stelter. The article starred Mr. America himself, Sean Hannity. Stelter managed to objectively slice into the body of the cable station with precision, opening up it’s chest to present the cold blooded mechanics.

One has to marvel at the beast. Roger Ailes has succeeded in creating a propaganda machine so sleek, so efficient, that it has taken the masses nearly two decades to realize their country has been thoroughly intellectually corrupted. 

Centuries from now, we will be identified as the society brought down by misinformation delivered by an army of hot chicks. The comedy of it howls loudly, though not loudly enough to distract from the cost. The cost of this intended-confusion has been American Lives and American Life. We can only hope to restore the latter.

Stelter notes “Mr. Ailes and Mr. Hannity share many of the same conservative core values, like a belief in American exceptionalism and an aggressive counterterrorism stance. Both have written off Mr. Obama as a socialist.” 

Indeed, Mr. Hannity glows with a sort of “Leave it to Beaver” purity. American politics for him is a game of Cops and Robbers, where rule of law need not apply when it comes to the “bad guys” and questions of morality are for those other people. I think of a statement made by Camille Paglia in 2003 at Salon:

“it’s distressing to me as a teacher to listen to Hannity. Even though he went to college, his world is amazingly simple — as if he learned the absolute truths of the universe from Catholic catechism. He seems to be blissfully unaware of his automatic and sometimes servile deference to male authority. Of course he’s emotionally pro-Bush and pro-war in Iraq: the Bush administration has made no mistakes and never stretched a fact. Anyone who questions Bush is a traitor who is undermining our troops. Liberals hate America. And America is always right, especially when it selflessly brings the joys of freedom to the down-trodden serfs of the world. Hannity seems to have had absolutely no experience of any country or people beyond our borders. For him, America is a blessed, sunny islet in a dark sea of oppression and ignorance. It’s frightening because Hannity has such mental and verbal energy. What we’re hearing from him, I’m afraid, is the future of America. His view is persuasive because it’s so simple: The world has become too complex for people to take in. 

When I listen to Hannity, which I do a lot, I feel like I’m being swept back to the rigid, conformist 1950s of my youth… 

As a culture critic and intellectual, I am in despair about the immediate future of American thought. The window has closed, and we are in Sean Hannity’s America, where everything is so elementary and so crystal clear.“ 

Which brings me to Occupy Wall Street. 

Much of Mr. Hannity’s very identity is hinged on the belief that this country is exceptional. So I ask him, as I have previously asked Rick Santorum, what is it you believe makes America exceptional?

Certainly, you do not believe it is our Constitution. If you did, you would respect our Freedom of Assembly. Mr. Hannity has shrugged this off, instead smearing a protester on his radio show with the claim “you don’t believe in liberty, you don’t believe in freedom.”

Freedom, it seems, only matters to Mr. Hannity as it applies to him and those like him. Fox News has pushed our First Amendment to the brink, yet the cries from those who deem their practices amoral and destructive have barely broken into our mainstream discourse. 

Those demonstrating at Occupy Wall Street are utilizing their basic civil liberties. The right to peaceably assemble is a fundamental one. Without it, we are not the United States of America. 

I affirm Sean Hannity does not believe in America’s exceptionalism, he merely believes in the exceptionalism of Americans. Well, not all Americans… Just him and those like him. Therefore, those great gifts granted to us by the Constitution are really just for Mr. Hannity and his friends to play with. 

If Occupy Wall Street is an unpatriotic threat to freedom, we are not free at all. Sean Hannity and Roger Ailes cannot truly believe in American exceptionalism because they do not seem to understand why we warrant the designation. 

Before I go to sleep, some quick thoughts.

I’ve been catching a lot of shit from liberals for not being 100% sure about Occupy Wall Street. While I certainly agree that those responsible for this sorry United State of Affairs need to be held accountable, I have a big problem with the execution:

Occupy Wall Street now has the attention of the world. A platform is a privilege, and what are we doing with it? Had economists (sane ones) and strategists been brought on board to carve out a list of demands prior to the protests beginning, we would be having a completely different public discussion right now.

The conversation would not be “well, what do they want?” it would be “well, why can’t we have that?!!?!?!? That makes sense!” 

I understand the argument that nothing wrong has ever been changed without someone first pointing out that it was wrong. I get it, I do. However, we are dealing with a media that possesses the attention span of a speedfreak in a funhouse. We now have their attention! We are wasting time.

A hundred thousand smart suggestions? That’s great, now what do we do with them? When will we figure that out? After the media and the general snoozing public moves on to the next story? We have wasted time. 

Without demands for slowest among us to mull over, this will crater and collapse.

At the protests, I was heartened to meet so many smart kids my age who CARED. However, I could not help but think - and continue to think still - that if this collapses, those who have just become politically engaged will disengage, swiftly. They will harden. They will become the problem for the rest of us.

We have wasted time, and it is ticking still. 

Originally published September 25th, 2011 at More Monmouth Musings.

As noted here, six of LD11’s seven legislative candidates have come out in support of gay marriage. They include Democratic Senate candidate Ray Santiago, Democratic Assembly candidates Vin Gopal and Kathy Horgan, and independent Assembly candidate Dan Jacobson. 

Also on the list are Republicans Senator Jennifer “Romney” Beck and Assemblywoman Mary Pat Angelini, both of whom pledged - Angelini after significant hesitation - on September 18th during an interview with Garden State Equality at Monmouth University, to override Governor Christie’s veto of a same sex marriage bill should the opportunity arise in the next legislature. 

Conveniently, Caroline Casagrande, Beck and Angelini’s running mate, could not attend the event at Monmouth because she was busy with a “family commitment.” I suspect her family committed to travel far, far away from anyone asking her about gay marriage, an issue she has refused to take a stance on.

One of the many jobs of a public figure is to know a thing or two about public relations.Everybody, public figure or otherwise, knows that “no comment” is, more or less, always a confirmation. Evidently, no one forwarded that memo to Caroline Casagrande who has adopted a strict policy of “Don’t Ask me about gay marriage and I won’t Tell You a bunch of evasive nonsense.” 

Her refusal - while inexcusable - is understandable, given that without question, there are a significant number of voters in newly formed LD11 who are not going to agree with, accept or respect a politician who opposes gay marriage. However, no one can respect a coward. A coward, as it stands now, is precisely what Caroline Casagrande is.

If you want to be a social conservative, go ahead and be one - your base will revere you for it, and your ideological enemies will have no choice but to respectfully disagree. 

Instead of taking a stand, Ms. Casagrande has skirted around the issue of gay marriage, going as far as to employ Senator Sweeney’s regrettable history as a cop-out. 

By asking the “tough” questions that anybody who knows anything about the fight for marriage equality already knows the answer to, she is doing the best she can to make this seem complicated. “What about protections for religious institutions?” she challenged, as if the Big Bad Gays are planning to storm into Sunday mass to force the congregation to Vogue in unison. 

Ms. Casagrande is attempting to slide under the radar. She is hoping that this massive insult to the intelligence of those that she hopes to represent goes unnoticed. In adopting dishonesty as her policy, she has succeeded in fooling no one, she has merely made a fool of herself. 

You could call her running mate, Senator Jennifer “Romney” Beck, many things (a lobbyist or a liar, for instance), but a cowardly ideologue she is not. Ms. Beck at least had the guts to flip-flop as soon as LGBT-supportive Asbury Park and Ocean Grove became her problem. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer the audacious displays of dishonesty to the panicked whispers… I’m a romantic, what can I say? 

Beyond embarrassing herself with her stunning lack of bravery and admission (however fabricated) that she cannot comprehend a simple issue, Ms. Ummmmm? also managed to miss an opportunity to follow the wide path of Declare and Defend set by her Messiah, Governor Christie. Aw shucks, what a shame.

We elect people who we believe possess the skills necessary to handle the many issues that NJ faces at once. If Ms. Casagrande can only handle one issue at a time, perhaps it is time for us to reevaluate her competence to serve. I say this only because I care about her well-being. After all, it would be cruel to continue to overwhelm her with the many complex legislative responsibilities that rest on her shoulders in Trenton. 

By Olivia Nuzzi

Our Great American Insanity has blessed us with things to talk about before. This latest episode, however, has implications so gross that it’s difficult to find the words to address it.

With the popularity of Death Cheers these past two weeks, it has become clear that the Republican party is exactly what “radical liberals” have long suspected them to be. A mob of faux patriots, they do not have the slightest idea of what it means to be an American, let alone what it means to be a Christian. 

American Freedom is not about roaming alone on the side of the road in the middle of the night, waiting to get mowed down by a freight truck, as Ron Paul would have you believe. American Freedom is about existing freely with the comfort of knowing that the truck will see your reflectors and move to the side. 

That is what health insurance is: A reflector in the dark. Lest these imbeciles forget… If an uninsured American ends up in the hospital, who do you think is footing the bill? People who, with their freedom, choose not to buy health insurance are a burden on the insured, who shell out, on average, $1,017 a year in premiums to cover them.

The state of mind that has you believe a fellow human being should die simply because they aren’t rich enough has no place in the United States of America. 

Republicans should be flattered when we call them mentally ill. The alternative is that they are evil, disgusting people who wouldn’t reach out a hand to stop you from falling if it would strain their wrist. 

By Olivia Nuzzi

Scheduled to brief the media from recently scorched Bastrop County, Texas Saturday, Mr. Frontrunner instead ran from his responsibility. He ran to Austin, according to his spokeswoman Allison Castle. He didn’t want to make everybody wait, according to another spokeswoman Catherine Frazier. His dog ate his car, according to Mr. Perry himself.

His office neglected to inform reporters that he would be absent from the event, surely giving the local officials who took over the press conference a taste of what it must feel like to be Perry the Lone Star.

“Hey man, who am I, the Governor?” Well, yeah, but don’t let it get you down. To the grownups and buttoned-ups, this may look like Less Than Presidential behavior. To the kids, however, it’s no big thing. He didn’t start the fire (cue Billy Joel), and he sure as hell can’t stop it, so what’s the fuss?

In a stunning display of dumb luck, Mr. Perry has accidentally stumbled into the most brilliant play for the youth vote that the Republican party has ever seen. The stuffy they are on his back, too. Bush 3.0 is speaking to the Conscienceless Kids because he is one. 

Word to Camp Obama: Never underestimate the power of a pretty cheerleader. 

By Olivia Nuzzi