This is a rush transcript from "Hannity," September 2, 2009. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.
SEAN HANNITY, HOST: New video of one of President Obama's most controversial advisers was recently uncovered on the Internet. Now, the video shows Van Jones, the former communist turned White House green jobs "czar" in an expletive-laced rant against Republicans.
Now, he was asked by somebody in the audience why Democrats don't use their overwhelming majority in the Senate to push through legislation. Now, the questioner claimed the Republicans used that strategy for years. And according to Van Jones, well, here's why.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VAN JONES, GREEN JOBS CZAR: Well, the answer to that is they're a--holes.
(APPLAUSE)
Barack Obama is not an a--hole. So now I will say this. I can be an a--hole, and some of us who are not Barack Hussein Obama, are going to have to start getting a little bit ugly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HANNITY: All right, unbelievable.
Well, there's no question that video is still going to get a lot of outrage from a lot of Americans. And somebody who has seen a lot of outrage lately is our own Griff Jenkins. He has been on board the Tea Party Express from day one. He joins us tonight from El Paso, Texas — Griff.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(HORNS HONKING)
(MUSIC)
GRIFF JENKINS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Welcome to El Paso, Texas. It's the 10th stop. It's day six of the Tea Party Express. Folks here in traditionally Democratic El Paso are fired up.
Ma'am, what's your name and why are you here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Diane Wagner (ph). I'm here because I love my country. I want to take it back from Obama and his czars!
JENKINS: And what about you, ma'am? Why are you here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm an American first, last, and foremost. And I want this to stop. They have done too much too fast in our country. And if we don't stop it now, it is going to be worse.
JENKINS: Astroturf. Are you paid to be here? Were you organized to be here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not.
JENKINS: You're not Astroturf?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am an Astroturf mobster, according to Nancy Pelosi, but I am an American.
JENKINS: How does that make you feel, when you're called Astroturf?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Angry. Very angry. That fired us up more than anything, I think.
JENKINS: All right. Ma'am, what's your name? Why are you here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is April. I'm here because I love my country. I'm a very proud American. And I'm sick and tired, fed up with the government and their spending. Enough is enough. We've got to take America back!
(CHEERING)
JENKINS: What about you, man? What do you think?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think that — I think that — you know, I'm here because I'm not a monster. I'm just a concerned and informed citizen. This is not Astroturf. Astroturf does not grow like this does.
JENKINS: All right, all right. Working along. I've got a young mother here. What's your name and why are you here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My name is Sharon, and I'm here because my husband fights for our freedom abroad. And I feel like it's our responsibility to fight for our freedom right here in the U.S. of A.
JENKINS: Why are you here?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Also, my husband fights for the freedom of this country. And I'm here, not to be angry, but to fight for freedom, not socialism.
JENKINS: There you go. That's El Paso. From here we're headed to San Antonio. Here we come.
(CHEERS)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HANNITY: All right, Griff is having way too much fun.
And joining me now to discuss all of this is columnist, author of the New York Times best-seller, "Guilty: Liberal Victims and their Assault on America." Ann Coulter is here.
Ann, all right, before I get to all the radicals in the administration, we've got 34 cities. You've got 16 states, 15 days. I'm going to be speaking Labor Day in West Virginia. You're at the 100,000 people they estimated are going to be there. And then, of course, the September 12 march on Washington. What do you make of all of this, you know, public citizen outcry?
ANN COULTER, AUTHOR, "GUILTY": I'm proud of the American people. It's much faster than I expected it to happen. I did expect Americans to turn against the socialist program of Obama.
This happened, as I've mentioned many times before. This is the arc of history. That Republicans are in for eight or 12 years. Voters forget what a Democrat is like. And they go, how bad could it be? And they elect a Democrat, you know, whether it's Lyndon Johnson or Jimmy Carter or Bill Clinton, and suddenly there's a huge blow back. And either an eight or 12-year reign of Republicans in the presidency or in both the Congress and the presidency.
So I expected that, for example, socialist health care and apologizing for America abroad would get old. I didn't expect it to get old this fast.
And what's especially impressive about Americans in this — in the health care debate is usually when something has been — the free market has been destroyed by government intervention, or at least partially destroyed, as it has been in the case of health care, with state governments putting all these mandates on what an insurance company is required to offer so there is no free market there.
When — when you can — most people get health insurance only through their employers because of tax code benefits to employer-provided health insurance. While there is tax code punishment in individuals buying health care. You know, the government comes in and — and wrecks the system enough that people — there's a small degree of unhappiness. Not what they say. They're calling it a crisis. And then they say, "Oh, we need a total government takeover."
Usually, it's hard to explain to people what a free market with something would look like when they haven't seen it before. And it is not here. Americans clearly understand that they want to get health care the same way they get — they get car insurance. And — and home insurance. Which they cannot do with health care insurance.
HANNITY: But let me go back to Van Jones here for just a second.
COULTER: My favorite.
HANNITY: Calling Republicans — all right, calling Republicans, you know, "A-holes" is not the least of it. And this has been reported many, many place.
He led a vigil held expressing...
COULTER: I have to say, Sean, on...
HANNITY: On 9/12, 2001, the day after 9/11, he expressed solidarity with the Arab and Muslim Americans, as well as, he called, the victims of U.S. imperialism around the world.
Now, I'm thinking, if you have that viewpoint, that's fine. Former communist. But you don't belong working for a U.S. president. Now, it's not just him. We've got another guy, for example, a State Department lawyer, Harold Coe, who says that the U.S. should follow Sharia Law in some instances, Ann. And yet these have — these are...
COULTER: That's right. And also...
HANNITY: ... Cass Sunstein.
COULTER: Coe — right, and Coe — Coe also says we should defer to international treaties we have not signed as a sovereign nation, just because that's kind of the expectation. It's the general international law out there.
And you're starting to see why Obama loves these czars so much. The czars don't require Senate confirmation.
HANNITY: Well, all right, Cass Sunstein, you know, you want to talk about out of the mainstream, he calls for a ban on hunting. That's one thing.
We have this other guy, a science adviser, John Holdren, who's spoken out in defense of compulsory abortion. And, you know, all of this — I know we've been very engaged. We have talked about all of these czars and all of these extreme positions. But there's one right after another. And I don't think the majority of Americans have any idea who these people are. What does it reflect...
COULTER: Right.
HANNITY: What does it say about the president?
COULTER: Well, what does it say about the mainstream media?
HANNITY: Well, they're dead.
COULTER: Can you imagine the equivalent? Well, except on FOX News, the Internet, a few other — Human Events, a few other sources out there for — for actual information. But if you imagine the equivalent of this in a Republican administration. I know we're all starting to sound like a broken record.
But it is really striking how — how the mainstream media have become guard dogs for the sitting administration, rather than — rather than the guard dogs for the people watching the government. No, they're watching the people, complaining about — about, you know, the town halls against the government.
But I do think after — after hearing the Van Jones "A-hole" speech, that he should be the one to speak to school children on September 8 instead of Obama, because kids love it when an adult calls another — another person an "A-hole."
HANNITY: But it's pretty shocking. U.S. — U.S. imperialism the day after 9/11. I mean, to say that on that day. One guy, compulsory abortion.
COULTER: Right.
HANNITY: You know, to have another guy saying the U.S. should follow Sharia Law. Now, these are the people that are closest to the president...
COULTER: They're going to need...
HANNITY: ... of the United States of America, with the most radical views.
Now, look, I spent a lot of time on his radical associations. We tried to warn people. But obviously, there's a certain level of arrogance. They just think the American people either aren't going to pay attention or don't care. I would think the American people, if they were informed, would care. So, you know, who's right?
COULTER: Yes, well, there has been this dichotomy in the way Americans look at the administration. They seem to want to blame everything on Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer, which isn't a bad position to take.
But thus far, Obama has really held himself apart from anything that's happening. And I think in such an artificial and — and untrue way, that that wall was going to have to fall down. I mean, you can't be promoting national health care and then — and then defending yourself from any criticism by saying, "Well, I don't have a bill."
Well, OK, but you're the one pushing it. And you can't nominate all of these czars who don't have to go through a Senate confirmation and then say, "Well, you know, I'm not responsible for all these people." People will start to blame Obama.
HANNITY: All right. Ann Coulter, always good to see you. Thank you for being with us.
COULTER: Good to see you.
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