Enemy of the State

If I may pile on a bit late, the truly odd thing about Sean Hannity's "Enemy of the State" feature is the specific locution -- state -- which is so deeply at odds with the quasi-populist tradition of the American right. Not enemy of the nation, enemy of the country, enemy of the people, enemy of America, but enemy of the state. The particular blend of authoritarianism and anti-statism that's typical of American conservatism from Tailgunner Joe to Liberality for All is incoherent, but at least it gives crypto-fascists the comfort of staying crypto.

Hannity by contrast has simply lost it. On the most obvious level, he seems confused about the fact that he's not an agent of the state and has no business proclaiming who the state's enemies are. Yes, the Pravda-like qualities of Fox News and the ease with which one can go from being an unofficial spokesman for George W. Bush at Fox to being an official spokesman for him in the West Wing may induce confusion, but surely Hannity is aware on some level that he's not a government employee. The episode reaches its bizarre peak when Hannity issues the demagogue's standard disclaimer -- "[Sean] Penn can say whatever he wants" -- such a cliché that Hannity must be honestly unaware of how nonsensical such a disclaimer is when branded with a chiron branding the speaker an enemy of the state for his words.

Then Hannity states, oddly, that Penn "speaks only for himself and other bad actors" when expressing the sentiment that Hannity is a "whore" and the Bush administration personnel "bastards." That's crazy. Lots of people, including your humble blogger, think Hannity is a bastard and that Bush's key aides are bastards. The Stalinist aesthetics here, moreover, are absurd. Since when is Penn a bad actor? Since he began expressing political views conservatives don't like? Give me a break.

1/9/07 9:19AM del.icio.us this incoming links

Comments

To be honest, I kind of thought Penn was a one-dimensional actor until Hannity made that comment, but now I am strongly committed to the idea that Penn is one of the great actors of our time.

Also one of my big pet peeves here, the "all-around very angry man" comment, spoken in a condescending. The angry liberal thing is so truly pathetic. As if people shouldn't be passionate about their beliefs, and angry when other people do such a bad job. Defend Bush all you want, but telling people they should calm down because being angry is generally unappealing is just ridiculous.

Posted by: b.schac on January 9, 2007 09:38 AM

they never cease to amaze, do they? shock and awe indeed.

Posted by: looj on January 9, 2007 09:43 AM

It would be an honor to be one of Hannity's enemies of the state. Mr. Penn must be doing something right.

Posted by: DanF on January 9, 2007 09:45 AM

Seems obvious to me, though I haven't seen it mentioned in comments about Hannity's absurdity, is that he not only ripped off the gist of an idea from Olbermann, but then ripped off the title of a Will Smith movie from 1998

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120660/

For someone who hates Hollywood, I'm sure he thought it created a crackingly useful phrase when it whipped up the name for that flick. How ironic, eh?

His idiocy is multilayered.

Posted by: blatherskite on January 9, 2007 09:48 AM

hey Hannity, if you have evidence that suggests anyone is actually an Enemy Of The State, i urge you to click on over to tips.fbi.gov and tell the proper authorities. failing to do so makes you complicit in whatever dastardly deeds that "enemy" is planning.

no? then shut yer smarmy yap

Posted by: cleek on January 9, 2007 09:55 AM

Isnt that movie about how an innocent man fighting for labor rights gets chased by a corrupt CIA politico, who is fighting to introduce a bill not unlike the patriot act and the illegal wiretappings. Isnt the point that the state is, you know, bad and the enemy of the state in this movie is, you know, the hero.

Not only does it seem that Hannity steals movie titles, He doesnt even watch the movies.

Posted by: Tomas on January 9, 2007 09:57 AM

It may be that deep down, Hannity is only expressing his sublimated rage at Penn's truly over-the-top-obnoxious acting in the movie "21 Grams." I don't recall any particular politics expressed in that movie, but the film stands as solid evidence that Sean Penn has, in fact, been a bad actor. He was pretty good in "Sweet and Lowdown," though.

But, Matthew, why is this topic even worthy of attention? Anyone in 2007 who is shocked, shocked to discover Fox News projecting Stalinist esthetics runs the risk of being labeled disingenuous.

Posted by: James Gary on January 9, 2007 09:59 AM

A (formerly) seminal work of American conservative thought was Albert Jay Nock's 'Our Enemy, The State' (1935).

How the worm turns!

Posted by: Martin Morgan on January 9, 2007 10:11 AM

This is another reason why Hannity is worse than Limbaugh, in my opinion. Limbaugh is at least in some sense an original, and I am even willing to grant that Limbaugh used to be quite good at what he does (before the drugs took over and he became a caricature), even though what he does is evil. But Hannity is simply an imitator, first of Limbaugh hmself and now of Olbermann. Another word for that, of course, is thief.

Posted by: Farinata X on January 9, 2007 10:15 AM

I don't know what's wrong with Hannity. "Enemy of the State" didn't star Sean Penn, it starred Will Smith.

WILL SMITH is the Enemy of the State. Also, Gene Hackman. (Although, obviously, with Chris Reeve's tragic demise, it's not clear how we're gonna put down Hackman and save Hackensack.)

Posted by: anonymous on January 9, 2007 10:32 AM

You'd think that Hannity would at least have some small amount of brains and choose Osama as his first Enemy of the State. Then you remember that it's Sean Hannity.

Posted by: daveNYC on January 9, 2007 10:37 AM

Matt,

For about the first nanosecond upon learning of Hannity's new feature, I had the same reaction -- "'The State'? WTF kind of conservative is he?" But really, is this at all out of step with the cult of the unitary executive, official secrecy, etc. that these people have embraced these past few years? When was the last time you heard Sean Hannity criticize anything the Bush administration did?

The ridiculousness of this will come clear starting in the fall of '08 when Hannity keeps naming liberals enemies of the state even though they are running it.

Posted by: Ryan on January 9, 2007 10:44 AM

The young Sean Penn was a great, great actor.

He was uncanny in "Bad Boys", funny in "Fast Time at Ridgemont High", completely different in "Racing w/ the Moon" and bizarrely different again in "The Falcon and the Snowman" and again in "At Close Range". It was as if there were several young actors named Sean Penn.

Then, he caught his breath, took stock, and became a bit of a ham. (His work in "Carlito's Way" and "Dead Man Standing" stand apart from his post-marriage-to-Madonna semi-schlock.)

His best work since his early genius has been as a director in the almost-unseen movie "The Pledge".

As for Sean Hannity: what a blowhard.

Posted by: Jeffrey Davis on January 9, 2007 10:50 AM

If you remember that these Fox (and increasingly CNN) idiots have no sense of shame or self-recognition, the outrage tends to dissipate.

Posted by: norbizness on January 9, 2007 10:52 AM

Feeling a little less patriotic than you think you should be? Down on the good ol' USA a bit? No problem, call Sean Hannity. As soon as you're put through to him he'll tell you you're a great American. A "GREAT AMERICAN!" Talk about warm and fuzzy! Agree with his current rant and his goodbye reiterates your greatness. Again, you're a "GREAT AMERICAN!". All because you called Sean. Isn't America great? Aren't you great? Jeez, it's great to be great! Where's my phone?

Posted by: steve duncan on January 9, 2007 10:58 AM

just need to bring back the alien and sedition acts.

Posted by: - on January 9, 2007 11:00 AM

Not enemy of the nation, enemy of the country, enemy of the people, enemy of America, but enemy of the state.

Oh please. Do you honestly think Hannity could produce a coherent explanation of the subtle political-philosophical distinctions between the nation, the country, the people, America, and the state? I guarantee that he could not, nor could 99.99% of his audience. This is about branding, pure and simple. Of course Hannity and his people at Fox were aware of the Will Smith movie of the same name. And of course they didn't grasp the irony of co-opting "Hollyweird" while bashing it, because they're not very bright.

I'm surprised at how much overthinking is going on about this. You're crediting Hannity with way more intelligence than is warranted.

Posted by: Uncle Kvetch on January 9, 2007 11:10 AM

I can't believe there's all this talk about Sean Penn being a bad actor...and no mention at all of Shanghai Surprise.

Posted by: Tom Hilton on January 9, 2007 11:23 AM

Rather than commenting on Sean Penn's professional talents, isn't Hannity calling him a "bad actor" in the conventional cop-sense of, say, Tony Soprano being a "really bad actor"?
None of this mitigates the obvious fact that Hannity is a dolt.

Posted by: Charles Pierce on January 9, 2007 11:39 AM

Sean Penn is even now one of the best actors in the world. Whatever you think of a movie like the Interpreter, the understated acting of Penn and Kidman was perfect.

And The Pledge is superb. As good as Nicholson was, Penn as director is even better. As it was mentioned, several iconic images, Nicholson seething in front of the decomposing gas station in autumnal light, came instantly to mind.

I have no interest in discussing Hannity. I read Joe Klein yesterday, and regret it.

Posted by: bob mcmanus on January 9, 2007 11:49 AM

Mr. Pierce, I think your giving erudition (did I Yglesias that spelling?) to Hannity he hasn't shown any evidence of having.

Posted by: witless chum on January 9, 2007 11:52 AM

Sean Hannity is a retard. 'Nuff said.

Posted by: Chris Conway on January 9, 2007 11:54 AM

What blatherskite said. Seriously. Look at the targets. All of the Americans are Hollywood. Why not Pelosi, or Soros, or Murtha, or Kerry or other conservative pundits' hate figures? This is a "Two Minute Hate" for people whose only point of reference is celebrity culture, or to be more precise people whose only point of reference Fox assumes is celebrity culture. "Enemy of the State" was chosen because it was a popular film. It's hilarious in the banality of its evil.

Posted by: Ginger Yellow on January 9, 2007 12:37 PM

I second witless chum. No way is that how Hannity meant it, Mr. Pierce. It's just not how he talks.

Posted by: Dr. Anatole Gavage-Huskanoy on January 9, 2007 12:46 PM

I remember when Hannity accused Alec Baldwin on the radio of being a "second rate Hollywood actor." It demonstrates how to Hannity, everything is political. How can anyone think Baldwin is a second-rate actor? I find him to be one of the most engaging, comedic actors on TV and on the big screen. I can't remember anyone accusing Heston or Wayne of being bad actors based purely on their politics.

Posted by: Amitava Mazumdar on January 9, 2007 12:54 PM

"You'd think that Hannity would at least have some small amount of brains and choose Osama as his first Enemy of the State."

Senator Osama will doubtless be featured in a future episode. Right now, it's important not to criticize him if he's to have a decent shot at knocking off Hitlery in the primaries!

Posted by: rea on January 9, 2007 01:03 PM

Amitava, Heston and Wayne were bad actors regardless of their politics.

Posted by: Chris Conway on January 9, 2007 01:17 PM

To me, "Sean" is not a very American name, so I think they're both probably enemies, and they're probably in the same secret cabal, and they're trying to distract the American people from victory in Iraq and the new birth of freedom in the Middle East, and hurt our President and his family, and I hope our President can send them to Guantanamo, and then maybe we'll be able to hear a true, good, and clean version of the show in the original German.

Posted by: Jim M on January 9, 2007 01:18 PM

This is the greatest/funniest thing since Nixon's Enemies List! I was always jealous of those people who made Nixon's list and now Sean Pen is a folk hero for being the first on Hannity's list. This just shows how absurd and idiotic that Sean Hannity truly is. It just exposes Hannity and others like him to be the truly irrational clowns that they actually are, just like he and Ann Coulter's hero Joseph R. McCarthy, who like Hannity was another "Shanty Irishman" (And since I have Irish heritage, I can be potically incorrect and say that since I have a family full of them. Not a "Lace Curtain" in the lot.)

Posted by: Dennis Russell on January 9, 2007 01:19 PM

I too liked Penn in "Sweet and Lowdown." But other than that, he's the definition of chewing the scenery.

But what the fuck is going on with Hannity?! How can he be so tone deaf? What a creep.

Posted by: chris on January 9, 2007 01:34 PM

I'm surprised at how much overthinking is going on about this.

No. Liberal mistake #328: underestimate your opponent (or 'enemy'!). 'They're just idiots, so why bother trying to understand them?'. This is indeed something which wants to be well-blogged about, and Matt really zeros in on what matters. The CW variations on the theme of purported conservative ideological coherence - Strong and Wrong; At Least They Stand For Something; You Know What You're Getting, etc. - are not very flattering to said coherence. The Republican innovation in the last 25 years was to not be squeamish about using marketing techniques - their ideology has been 'coherent' in a marketing sense only. [The is nothng wrong with being coherent in a marketing sense - it doesn't make you a liar or demogogue; you don't have to lie, like the GOP.] But it makes no real sense underneath. Hannity breaks it open for us, and Matt savors the aroma, which is beyond mere irony - it may be the closest thing you can get to ideological drama, albiet a modern bathetic kind. Yes, Hannity is losing it. They're all losing it.

The particular blend of authoritarianism and anti-statism that's typical of American conservatism from Tailgunner Joe to Liberality for All is incoherent, but at least it gives crypto-fascists the comfort of staying crypto.

Well put.

Posted by: jonnybutter on January 9, 2007 01:56 PM

As someone said over on Andrew Sullivan's site: "Somewhere out there Stephen Colbert is kicking himself that he didn't think of this first."

Posted by: right on January 9, 2007 02:01 PM

You have to wonder if the right's newfound affection for the state will last into the second Clinton era.

Posted by: Linus on January 9, 2007 02:03 PM

You have to wonder if the right's newfound affection for the state will last into the second Clinton era.

I'm wondering how they're going to defuse the Monarchic Presidency that the Federalists have dished up. The brutal comic king here, of course, is Scalia. He'll knit his epithets and bendy dogmatism into lovely contradictions, ready for any constitutional emergency.

Posted by: Jeffrey Davis on January 9, 2007 02:13 PM

Now, as a moderate conservative, I have my own quarrels with liberals - and I find most outspoken actors to be entertaining but politically illiterate.

But it is impossible to deny that, at the present, American coservatism (as it is practiced) is an incoherent political orientation; one which is based not on stict observance to principle but on hating any of the following demons: hollywood, academia, the media, and, in general, liberals.

The absurdity of the 'enemy of the state' is just one demonstration of this. Another example, and my own personal favorite, rests with the defenders/supporters of the Iraq war. At one moment, they will regurgitate Kipling, and the need to liberate the poor, downtrodden Arabs. Once they have exhausted this excuse, they will adopt a more macho stance, and say we are teaching those menacing darkies a lesson. Whatever justification fits their convenience, whatever excuse opposes the dominant liberal consensus, that is the one they will adopt.

That, my friends, is incoherence.

Posted by: Neal Murray on January 9, 2007 04:00 PM

Before the Will Smith flick, "Enemy Of The State" was a science fiction story by F. Paul Wilson, but you can't copyright titles. The reference to Nock's book was spot on. Let's not forget Ibsen's "An Enemy Of The People", which Wilson was riffing on.

I'm a libertarian, not a conservative. I can't listen to the "poor man's Rush" for more than 5 minutes before changing stations. "Enenmy of the state" is a badge of honor.

Posted by: kevrob on January 9, 2007 04:56 PM

How long before someone writes an essay about a benefit concert organized by Norman Podhertz for Ethiopian mercenaries who ritually dismember the children of Muslim extremists and the general degeneration of the conservative movement entitled "Bonfire of the Hannities".

Posted by: Linus on January 9, 2007 09:41 PM

sorry Podhoretz...

Posted by: Linus on January 9, 2007 09:43 PM

Hannity's show is on the cusp of the conservative surge. Rick Santorum, that deep thinker, has just accepted a position with the Ethics and Public Policy think tank chairing the America's Enemies section.
http://www.eppc.org/programs/enemies/programID.42/
default.asp

They are watching out for for us! I bet you Santorum, using his extra powerful telescope, will see far on the horizon the secret handshakes between the liberal elite and the Islamofascists. That is the kind of military guy (except not like, volunteering or anything) that he is. I feel safer all ready.

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