Sean Hannity (1st Hour, 26 March 2008) was “shocked and saddened” by this:



Hannity objects, among other things, to Manning saying that Obama was born trash, to Manning’s calling Obama a pimp and a mac daddy, to his referring to Obama’s father as an in-heat black man who went “whoring” after a “trashy white woman”. According to Hannity it was hurtful, saddening and shocking to hear these things coming from a pulpit. He also saw fit to lecture Manning on the fact that words mean things. In short, Hannity was stuck on Manning’s words being hurtful and so forth.

Manning, for his part, contended that whether the contents of the sermon were hurtful and so forth the real issue was whether they were true. To Hannity’s objection to Manning’s use of the term ‘whoring’, Manning replied that it was a Biblical term.

Indeed it is rather Biblical to refer to people as 'whoring'. The term is especially used to refer to Israel’s pursuit of other gods. The idea connoted is of one’s pursuing intimate relations with someone with whom it is illegitimate to have such relations. The only way I can see Manning as having a case that Obama’s father went ‘whoring’ is if it were somehow illegitimate for him to marry a white woman, trashy or not. In other words, one would have to disapprove of inter-racial marriage in order to find Obama’s father “guilty” of ‘whoring’ (i.e., pursuing an illegitimate relationship). I do not. Manning just may; I don’t know.

I’m skeptical that Manning’s claims about Obama’s father (an in-heat black man who went ‘whoring’) and mother (a ‘trashy’ white woman) are in fact true. I do, however, agree that he was right that the truth of these claims is relevant, and that whether they are hurtful is irrelevant, or, at least of secondary importance. Hannity ignored the truth question and focused on whether the statements should have been uttered given how objectionable they were on grounds other than veracity. How politically correct of him!

As an added treat, Hannity even played the ‘let-he-who-is-without-sin-cast-the-first-stone’ card (see Gospel of John, chapter 8). I love that one.