Gov. Perry Causing Controversy?
Author Ann Coulter on liberal media's attempt to smear 2012 candidate
This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," August 17, 2011. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: He's only been a candidate for five days but Texas Governor Rick Perry already has the White House and the mainstream media in a frenzy.
Now asked about a comment that Governor Perry made on the campaign trail, White House spokesman and propagandist Jay Carney told reporters, quote, "When you're president or you're running for president, well, you have to think about what you're saying." You know, like clinging to your guns and religion?
Plus, this coming from an administration whose vice president just weeks ago reportedly called members of the Tea Party Movement a bunch of terrorists.
As for the Obama-mania media, well, they are doing some so-called vetting of Governor Perry. Now The New York Times is running a front-page series of stories about the latest entrant into the GOP race. And we check in at the Washington Post political page today where most of the day Governor Perry was the subject of all of the papers' top headlines.
And this is strange because I just don't recall the liberal media looking that closely into then-Senator Barack Obama's background when he was a candidate. And joining me with reaction to all of this, the author of the brand new, New York Times best seller "Demonic," -- Satanic -- sorry, "Demonic," author and columnist, the one and only Ann Coulter is back. How are you, Coulter?
ANN COULTER, AUTHOR, "DEMONIC": Fine, how are you, Sean?
HANNITY: I am very good. All right. First of all, they want kill Perry, they want to kill Romney, and so the media does all the bidding for the White House. They even edited NBC News as I'm sure you saw, you know, the comments that Perry made which were very innocuous, talking about, you know, the black cloud that's handling over the economy and the country. Is that how desperate this is going to get?
COULTER: No, that was amazing. That should have been played for comedy. The other exciting development is, it happens every few years, liberal New Yorkers have discovered evangelicals. So, we got lots of paranoid articles. The new Halliburton is dominionism (ph) I guess based on the writings of some evangelical who lived 50 years ago and none of us have ever heard of. But he knew Francis Schaefer who evangelicals have heard of and like. But apparently, we evangelicals have a plot to take over the government, the media and Hollywood. And there are a plethora of utterly paranoid articles about this, you know, evangelicals are 40 percent of America. Maybe they should use journalists with, if they left the upper Westside once in a while, they would meet some.
The attacks on Perry and Bachmann, I might add, are so thorough, so astonishing. There was a New Yorker article on Bachmann that went back to her ancestors in 1861, in order to establish -- they didn't actually settle in Iowa, but near Iowa. What were Obama's relatives doing in 1861? You know, the media can't even walk into the Trinity United Church and get a video tape of Obama's minister. But they are going back to Michele Bachmann's relatives in 1861.
HANNITY: And Chris Matthews at NBC suggested he better be squeaky clean. Let me give you a few headlines beyond saying that. Matthews, Rick Perry, Bull Connor with a smile. New York Times, Perry's swaggering tone toward Bernanke may not play well outside of Texas. Obama to Rick Perry, you've got to be a little more careful about what you say -- clinging to guns and bibles? Confederate plates could be a touchy issue for Perry. Perry's colorful tongue takes national stage. And you're right, I'm looking, no vetting of Obama. Zero, I've never seen anybody in the political arena get away as much as this guy with as little scrutiny.
COULTER: Right. And just a little footnote here, Bull Connor was of course a Democrat, as were all the southern segregationists. But the silver lining to all this is, when we do elect a president because the media will investigate back to our ancestors in 1861 for our candidates and investigate the relatives not only of the candidates. But look at how Karl Rove was investigated and ripped apart. Even advisers to Republicans will be investigated.
The bright side though is, we don't end up with a Republican president who is suddenly having an affair with an intern. Or a Republican president who votes present for his entire term as the economy falls into the toilet. You know, Democrats are always surprised when these scandals develop.
HANNITY: All right. Let me ask you this.
COULTER: Maybe if the media did five minutes of vetting of their candidates, the same level they will do to a Republican presidential adviser, it wouldn't be such a big surprise to them.
HANNITY: You have been all Christie, Christie obsessed, Christie, 24/7, Coulter-Christie, Christie-Coulter. All right. I got it.
COULTER: Correct.
HANNITY: Now, we saw this debate last Thursday night. I thought the candidates looked stronger. I think they were more passionate. I thought we got a better look at them. And I think the field is getting stronger, it is like "American Idol," every week the candidates get stronger. Did you have the same impression and who stood out in your mind?
COULTER: Absolutely. I mean, of the top three announced running for president, I guess that would be Bachmann, Perry, Romney. I like them all. I still think if Christie doesn't jump in, it is going to be Romney. I could be wrong. That's only a prediction. And I mean, all of them -- and if Christie jumps in, well, he will be the greatest thing since sliced bread.
HANNITY: You keep talking about Christie, I'm going to start talking about your boyfriend.
(LAUGHTER)
COULTER: No one believes you, anyway.
HANNITY: No one believes me? Oh, I met him.
COULTER: But, you know, Romney I think has a great advantage because he is a businessman. And we were just talking in the last segment, and a lot of people I think have noticed this. You have Christie and Herman Cain who are real businessmen. And I think there is no question but that the economy is going to be the number one issue in this election.
And also, I mean, you keep seeing all these polls on how generic Republican beats Obama. Well, that's basically what Romney is. He's generic Republican. You have Perry and he's very appealing and a governor. I don't think you can run from the House. And then of course, people will be dancing in the streets, the birds singing and the sunshine, when Christie jumps in.
HANNITY: You know, and sort of like, we can put his face up on Mount Rushmore.
COULTER: Excellent idea.
HANNITY: And the skies will open up. Remember Hillary talking about Obama?
All right. Ann Coulter, it is always an interesting pleasure. From now on you talk about Christie, I talk about Mr. Wonderful. That's our deal.
(LAUGHTER)
All right. Thanks, Ann.
COULTER: The line just went dead, Sean.
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