The ‘Daily Show’ staring John Stewart (well known for comic send-ups of network news anchors and politicians) recently featured a piece by Sean Hannity. Stewart’s focus was on a recent broadcast in which Hannity presented old footage of an unrelated event (the "9-12 Rally") as if it came from a more recent event (the "Bachmann rally"). The events both took place in Washington D.C. but were separated by two months. The earlier one was much better attended so Hannity’s intent seems quite clear – crafting a desired message rather than honestly presenting the facts.

At first I was amused, but then I got angry. Folks like Hannity and Beck have grown into very bold hypocrites. They work at hyperbole and disinformation as if it were an art. They and their guests casually bandy about words like 'Nazi' and 'socialist' when describing our freely elected President, going so far as to liken his administration to retched regimes like Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge.

What Stewart’s piece reveals is a rare fo-pah by a Fox network that is usually very cunning at disguising its deception. Operating with impunity - for all the world like Soviet Pravda or Cuban Granma – they are revealed as propagandist shills without shame or ethical restraint. Hannity may purport to see liars and demagogues at every turn but it is clear that he has become what he beholds.