Last week Sean Hannity welcomed to his Fox News program Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson, a frequent guest with whom he has a close association. Here is how Hannity introduced him:
“He’s the founder, president of the group BOND Action, Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny, of which I’m a board member, Rev. Jesse Lee Peterson. I say that just for Howard Kurtz because he whines about it like a big baby every time I don’t mention it.”
It’s ironic that Hannity calls Kurtz a big baby when it’s Hannity who is whining about having to exercise the ethical practice of disclosing personal affiliations with his program’s guests. It is apparently too big a burden for Hannity to behave honestly or professionally.
However, that is not the real problem with Hannity’s “reverend” pal. It seems that Peterson recently delivered a sermon in which he demeaned women as whores and bemoaned that they were ever given the right to vote:
Peterson: “I think that one of the greatest mistakes America made was to allow women the opportunity to vote,” Peterson says. “We should’ve never turned this over to women. And these women are voting in the wrong people. They’re voting in people who are evil who agrees with them who’re gonna take us down this pathway of destruction.”
“And this probably was the reason they didn’t allow women to vote when men were men. Because men in the good old days understood the nature of the woman,” he adds. “They were not afraid to deal with it. And they understood that, you let them take over, this is what would happen.”
Peterson has a long history of misogyny, as well as some other repulsive views. For instance, he thinks it would be a good idea to bring back slavery so that blacks would learn the value of work. This is the sort of caliber of guest that Hannity not only invites to be on his “Great American Panel,” but also serves on his board.
Hannity’s other guests that evening included Indiana GOP/Tea Party senate candidate, Richard Mourdock, and Fox Democrat Kirsten Powers. Uncharacteristically, Powers actually stood up for principle by objecting to Peterson’s presence on the program. Powers blasted his hateful rhetoric and told Hannity that had she known he would be there, she might not have been. Neither Hannity, nor Mourdock, had anything to say about Peterson’s open hostility toward women.
If this is a “Great” American Panel, I’d hate to see Hannity’s idea of a crappy panel. Or maybe that is what Hannity has every night.
Allen West has already distinguished himself as a