Hannity Extends Olive Branch to President Obama
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," February 10, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: And tonight in "Your America," now, you may know that I have extended a peace offering to the president many times. Beer. Now I'm going to buy it if he'll sit down with me and drink it because there's nothing personal here on "Hannity."
Well, one lovely lady asked the president about my offer at his town hall meeting yesterday. Let's take a look.
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TARA NISLEY: I'm one of those that thinks that you should meet and have a beer with Sean Hannity, so tell me why, from my side...
AUDIENCE: Whoa.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, that's OK. That's OK. No, no, look. I think it was a perfectly legitimate question. Now with respect to Sean Hannity, I didn't know that he had invited me for a beer. You know?
(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: But I will take that under advisement.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}(LAUGHTER)
OBAMA: Generally, his opinion of me does not seem to be very high, but I'm always good for a beer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: All right, now that's not all. Robert Gibbs followed up on the president's comments this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE DOOCY, CO-HOST, "FOX & FRIENDS": OK, Hannity officially says he's in, and he will buy. Robert, what.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Wow.
DOOCY: Just out of.
(LAUGHTER)
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}GRETCHEN CARLSON, CO-HOST, "FOX & FRIENDS": Is that more shocking than anything else for the entire day?
DOOCY: Out of curiosity, what is — you know, because this way we can buy a six-pack in advance. What is Barack Obama's favorite brand of beer? I'm sure it's domestic.
GIBBS: You know — get him a six-pack of Budweiser, and we'll meet Hannity wherever he wants to go.
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HANNITY: All right, Mr. President, I went to the store today and I bought something. It is a six-pack of Great American Beer and I'll bring Bud as well. Here it is. For yourself. All you have to do is bring yourself. Anybody else you like. As a matter fact, you said anywhere. I think maybe the oval office would be the perfect encounter, we can bring our cameras, let the world see that it really happened.
Now joining us to account her experience yesterday at the town hall meeting is the person who asked the president that question that you just heard, Tara Nisley is here.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}• Video: Watch Sean's interview
Tara, thank you for being here. Appreciate it.
TARA NISLEY, ASKED PRESIDENT OBAMA ABOUT SEAN: Thank you for having me.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: All right, first of all, beyond the beer, I'm going to send you — I'll send you a case to your house, too. But...
NISLEY: Thank you.
HANNITY: The more important question was now, you knew that this was a very favorable Obama crowd.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NISLEY: Yes.
HANNITY: And the first part of your question was, you know, you used to promise no lobbyists, he's put lobbyists in his administration left and right. He promised an ethical administration, and we have tax cheats and conflicts of interest.
So this was an obvious area of concern to you. Why did you decide to go down there? Tell us that story.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NISLEY: I knew going into this that it was pro-Obama support, but I felt like, although I was excited to see the president, he is my president, it was time to ask some tough questions, and I feel like Washington holds themselves up to standards that we as Americans aren't on the same level with them, and it needs to change.
I am such a proud American, and I appreciate all that we're given, but it's time that we hold our leaders accountable and ask tough questions.
HANNITY: Yes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NISLEY: We want America to succeed, and Americans to succeed, but I feel like we're being pushed with this package, and I want everybody to take a step back and say let's breathe, let's find out what works, what doesn't work, and take it one step at a time.
HANNITY: Tara, first of all, I'm amazed at your poise when you asked the question, you were booed and there was a hissing sound.
NISLEY: Yes.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: By the way, that happens to me a lot. I'm used to it, but this is my job. So you handled it with real grace yesterday.
NISLEY: Thank you.
HANNITY: And to the president's credit, he said no, no, no, that's a fair question.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NISLEY: I did appreciate that.
HANNITY: Yes, he did, and that calmed the crowd down a little bit, and I thought that was respectful on his part, and I thought he gave you a fairly interesting answer. Not the one that I would have liked. But it raises a question. You — I was watching this, and I thought you asked a tougher question than the media had asked him for almost two years.
NISLEY: I agree.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: What does that say about the media in your mind?
NISLEY: It concerns me. This isn't party lines. Whether you're Democrat, whether you're Republican, you need to ask the tough questions. This is someone along with his administration that is going to make the decisions not just for me, but for my children, and for future generations.
We have to hold the same standards for everybody involved. And I was really concerned that as I'm asking a question that is completely valid, that I'm being booed, and that was OK because I laughed when I — when I heard the boos, I knew I was asking the right questions.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: Yes.
NISLEY: But it's too bad the media can't do the same.
HANNITY: Yes, I agree. Now I will say that. In all seriousness, the president said I don't want to turn down a beer, and Mr. Gibbs, his press secretary, said that he'll meet Hannity anywhere he wants to go.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}NISLEY: Yes.
HANNITY: My choice is the White House, and if he'd allow you to come, I'm all in favor of it. You could be there with us, but I would like to have that meeting. He's willing to meet with Ahmadinejad, he's willing to meet with rouge dictators, I would think that little old Sean Hannity, conservative talk show host, you know, I don't quite rate up to that level of meanness, but I hope, I hope you facilitated it, and I'm going to send you a case of Great American Beer.
NISLEY: Well, thank you. I hope I can join you boys over the beer.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}HANNITY: All right, hang on a second. Well, I'll take a sip. I don't know if that's allowed. But anyway, thank you for being with us. And thank you very much for being with us.
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