Does Anyone Believe Hannity Doesn't Know "Any Conservatives That Would Ever Go After The President's Kids"?

by Kevin Zieber/Media Matters

Sean Hannity is again leaping to Rush Limbaugh's defense following the outrage over Limbaugh'smisogynistic attacks against Georgetown Law school student Sandra Fluke. While decrying the supposed "hypocrisy on the highest level" on the part of President Obama -- for apparently singling out Limbaugh for criticism and not progressives who've said similar things, including attacking politicians' children, Hannity claimed: "I don't know any conservatives that would ever go after the president's kids."

Hannity added: "And if they did, I'd be the first to criticize them." In fact, Hannity knows at least one conservative who has done so: Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh has attacked President Obama's daughters more than once, on at least one occasion stooped to insulting President Clinton's daughter.

In June 2010, Limbaugh mocked Malia Obama, and in an apparent attempt to imitate her, asked: "Daddy? Did you shake down BP yet, Daddy? Are you going to make them pay, Daddy?" Limbaugh was referring to a remark Obama made during a May 2010 press conference, in which he said that Malia had asked him of the Gulf oil spill: "Did you plug the hole yet, Daddy?"


A month later, Limbaugh did it again. Affecting a child's voice once again, Limbaugh mocked Malia Obama, saying, "Daddy, Daddy, did you plug the leak, yet, Daddy? Did you plug the hole?



n November 1992, just a few days after Bill Clinton won the presidential election, Limbaugh launched one of the nastiest attacks of his career against then-12-year old Chelsea Clinton. He compared her to a dog.

Molly Ivins reported in 1995:

On his TV show, early in the Clinton administration, Limbaugh put up a picture of Socks, the White House cat, and asked, "Did you know there's a White House dog?" Then he put up a picture of Chelsea Clinton, who was 13 years old at the time and as far as I know had never done any harm to anyone.

When viewers objected, he claimed, in typical Limbaugh fashion, that the gag was an accident and that without his permission some technician had put up the picture of Chelsea--which I found as disgusting as his original attempt at humor.

Hannity's own former Fox News colleague, Glenn Beck, also attacked Malia Obama in May 2010 on his radio show. Referencing Obama's comment about Malia, Beck mockingly affected her voice, asking "Daddy" why he "hates black people so much." Beck then attacked Malia's intelligence, saying: "That's the level of their education, that they're coming to -- they're coming to Daddy and saying, 'Daddy, did you plug the hole yet?' " Beck later apologized for his comments.

Hannity, who has been defending Limbaugh since the controversy over his personal attacks on Fluke began, has said Limbaugh is someone "I've been a fan of for years."