Penalty Flag — illegal use of soundbites
Sep 3rd, 2005 by Jason
In “Jason Land”, I decree that anyone in the media who airs an “out of context” soundbite will be tarred and feathered. 
Driving home last night, I caught a bit of Sean Hannity prattling on about how the New Orlean’s mayor is trying to make this disaster into something political. (side note: Sean pisses me off with such regularity that I know better than to listen to his show, but sometimes the temptation is just too much.)
Sean’s case and point was this soundbite from the mayor:
“We authorized $8 billion to go to Iraq lickety-quick. After 9/11, we gave the president unprecedented powers lickety-quick to take care of New York and other places… You mean to tell me that a place where you probably have thousands of people that have died and thousands more that are dying every day, that we can’t figure out a way to authorize the resources that we need? Come on, man.”
What Sean “forgot” to include in the soundbite was the question the mayor was responding to, which was something along the lines of:
“Mr. Mayor, is part of the problem with relief that the federal government isn’t authorized to assist a state until the governor of the state requests help? Do you know if Louisana’s governor has requested federal assistance?”
Changes things just a little, no? 
Still not a huge fan of the mayor of New Orleans, but … fuck you, Sean Hannity for doing exactly what you’re complaining the mayor was doing — making this event political.