After a provocative call Tuesday night for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore to address looming allegations of sexual assault of minors or drop out of the December race, Fox News host Sean Hannity backed off the ultimatum.
Instead, reports Politico, he ended his Wednesday show by reading a letter to him from Moore and with a call to Alabama voters to make their own "informed decision" at the polls.
Hannity had seemed to take a harder line on Tuesday, when he altered his original position insinuating that Moore's accusers could by lying. He ended Tuesday's show with a firm statement that Moore should explain himself or drop out of the race.
Wednesday evening's show began under a chryon, "Day of reckoning for the Clintons." Hannity spent much of the show focused on past scandals involving former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
Clips of interviews with multiple women who have accused Bill Clinton of sexual assault and unwanted sexual advances since the 1990s filled the first 20 minutes of Hannity's show. Other segments included Hannity and guests calling on the Clintons to seize the moment to "reverse" their "mistake" in the midst of accusations of sexual assault and harassment plaguing the country.
It was an anticlimactic ending to a self-generated television drama. Hannity played out the string, waiting until the end of his one-hour show to discuss Moore’s response, according to The AP.
Hannity is generally among the most reliable and consistent media supporters of President Donald Trump and the conservative cause, and his ratings — he had the most-watched show on cable television news last month — speak to his influence. After last week’s Washington Post story about Moore’s involvement with teenage girls when he was in his 30s, the candidate gave his only detailed interview about the matter on Hannity’s radio show.
Two panelists on Hannity’s Fox News show Monday, Jeanine Pirro and Geraldo Rivera, both said they could no longer support Moore.
Also Wednesday, The Wall Street Journal editorial page, another conservative bellwether, wrote that “a famous country song aptly summed up where the Republicans are with Senate candidate Roy Moore in Alabama: You’ve got to know when to fold ’em.”
“Mr. Moore’s credibility has fallen below the level of survivability,” the Journal wrote.
No comments:
Post a Comment