Michael Moore And Sean Hannity Face Off: Did Hannity Fib About Going To Church? (VIDEO)

Michael Moore was a guest on Sean Hannity's Fox News show tonight for spirited debate about Moore's new movie "Capitalism: A Love Story" and the roots of the financial crisis.

The two men did not agree on much, and Moore hammered Hannity for arguing that the subprime mortgage crisis and resulting financial meltdown can be almost entirely blamed on low-income borrowers who took out mortgages they couldn't afford. (Read why that's not true here.)

One of the most entertaining moments came early in the interview when the two men were discussing capitalism and religion, and Hannity declared that he attends Catholic Mass every Sunday. Moore asked him if he went this past Sunday, and Hannity affirmed that he did -- but he couldn't tell Moore what the sermon was about. Hannity knew he was caught but tried to cover his tracks with some jokes. Moore eventually looked at Hannity incredulously and noted, "It was just two days ago!"

WATCH:

Hannity on attending Mass is at the very end of this video.

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Comments

[AmericanDreamWarrior]

Maybe if we're lucky, the unintended result from people that use religion to distort the conversation, is that religion will be removed from the national conversation (as it should be from a nation that realized early and clearly a need to seperate church from state).

Religion needs to be a private thing and any national figure in politics or the media shouldnt be allowed to get away with injecting it into the conversation for consideration. I could care less what my congressmen and women do on Sundays and what denomination they claim to be. What I care about is how well they represent my voice about the important issues.

The days of being a "good" christian as a litmus test for how qualified our politicians are to represent and lead need to be over and done with. Once we remove religion from the conversation we'll find no need for Fox news and we'll see how little these folks on capitol hill actually bring to the table. Then and only then will we ever move forward to fix what they've damaged. The thing which our founding fathers and every patriot sacrificed so much to give us, real democracy!

[mnjyckque]

There was a substantive and respectful discussion because Hannity knew he wasn't going to bully Michael Moore.He also knew that his listeners would hear what he wanted them to hear, and to resort to his usual brow beating might result in his ass being whipped.
That's probably why his discussions with with Jesse Ventura involve Hannity being in his home studio, while Jesse is safely in another city, because treating him the way he treats other guests who disagree with him would result in a SERIOUS ass whipping.

[mnjyckque]

So Seanny baby knows all about the health care plan being debated by our elected officials, but doesn't even know or care about his own health plan, Huh? I guess he believes that the insurance company will go to great lengths to keep an unapologetic asskisser like him alive, healthy and happy.

[Elle Bach]

i think someone owes me an explanation for the decision to block my reponse to a comment I started. I do not agree there's anything ad homenim or hyberbolic in my statements; they're just facts, long ignored FACT.

[Elle Bach]

Why don’t we accept that excuse from rapists and murderers - that they’re just exercising their constitutional right to “freedom?” Why don’t we respect their “freedom” to do whatever they want, without consequence for the harm they do to decent innocent people?

I’m sorry, but the belief that their behavior is “protected” by free speech is EXACTLY what’s wrong in this country and what has to stop.

The Republican party is nothing but the affluent and powerful controlling the money, media and MASSES OF MORONS to exploit our “liberal” system of democratic “freedoms” for nefarious gains, just like any criminal can and routinely does.

They don’t love America; don’t believe in the Constitution or elections. There’s a difference between constructive minority decent and an unwillingness to acknowledge the other side won. They don’t respect anyone else's rights or ‘freedom,” and think they can force their will on the country using intimidation.

It’s stupid, but treasonous, plain and simple, and it’s past time for it to stop (and yes, I thought some of Bush’s actions qualified.)

We’ve got to quit “protecting” their “right” to distort, lie, disrupt and destroy our democracy, making us the laughing stock of the world (what security?).

It’s time to reset the example of love and compassion ahead of capitalist greed and narcissism in this country and refuse to give the village idiots an equal voice in our affairs. They can rejoin the conversation when they’ve learned the lesson and have something constructive to say.

[SethBLiNK]

What is more interesting is that there is a substantive and respectful discussion between the two men of real issues, without namecalling or an abundance of hyperbole. I wasn't aware Hannity was capable of that and realize now I have to re-assess the guy.

[epiphany1234]

Hannity must be realizing he's on the wrong side of the argument and of the times....he's losing, and at least maybe he's smart enough to recognize that. But not hyperbolic? Hardly. He is hyperbole personified. The man's middle name is "Mr Hyperbole" and at core he will always be.

[SethBLiNK]

In general, I agree. But where is the hyperbole here? He's not offering up any Moore of it than Moore is.

[Khirad]

I must admit, that compared to Rush and Beck, Hannity seems more reasonable. He's a strict Reagan Republican ideologue, and I will stress this, in COMPARISON, actually appears sane, even if the words coming out of his mouth are distorted facts, or complete falsehoods. Still, that's not sayin' a whole lot and I can only make it through a few minutes at a time of his show.

[00angel]

A lengthy interview with M. M. being ridiculized and you notice the little detail of "religion" as the more relevant point ???!! . really pathetic.... Maybe one day MM will donate 95 % of his millionaire fortune.... and will be able to see the real hospitals in Cuba.

[epiphany1234]

If Michael Moore never donates another dime of his fortune, he has already contributed more to the public good than most Americans, rich or poor. And he continues to do so in the face of much resentment, demeaning, and attempts to marginalize or radicalize him. He doesn't have to do this or put up with this...but he does. Enough said.

[clearpepsi]

I loved it, Moore has guts for doing it, it wasn't as much a scream and put down fest as I thought it was going to be. Hannity is a radio DJ who found an act and was doing big foot and crop circle stories not that long ago.. it's vile and obviously making a lot of money at the cost of his gulible viewers. The production value on all fox shows is so low - Hannity with his radio is on air like four to six hours a day... beck does this, it's amazing how much crap these guys have to talk about in a day...

[liberalOrgonian]

Hannity has the old mind set left over from the Reagan era, where the poor are the bad guys. You know those collecting welfare, living in the Ritz and driving expensive cars. Reagan's idea that the poor and the government is the problem still haunts us as a country.
Why did the loaning institutions alloy these home loans? Oh yes, to make more money. They sold them with the false belief, when the loans went up, then the homeowner could refinance them for lower interest. Now the homes are not worth what was paid for them. Currently, folks have lost their jobs, lost their incomes, lost their retirement, and we have Wall street to thank.
The government needs to take control of these foreclosures, keep people in them, and create a program where homes can be kept. 'Winter is around the corner; do we really want American's living on the streets, freezing?
In our county alone we have 1,792 children enrolled in schools who are homeless. This is a huge American tragedy unfolding before out eyes.

[Delaware22]

Why are the ones who claim to follow, and often quote, the Bible, Koran, Torah, Book of Mormon are the least compassionate people? I find Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage, O'Reilly and Beck are all so angry and intolerant. How do they justify the hatred they spew? Clearly, they are all followers of the book of "profit".

[Danilo-11]

Hannity and Limbaugh never quote the Bible. I've notice that Hannity mentions God every now and then, but he never quotes the Bible.

[sanang]

Karl Rove should be included, he attends church every Sunday. That proves absolutely nothing in my opinion.

[Deidre77]

Sweeping generality. Hannity, Limbaugh, Savage, O'Reilly and Beck are all quite different in their point of views. I find it interesting that you did not mention anyone quoting the Koran, Torah or Book of Mormon that are not compassionate.

[Elle Bach]

How this country will emerge from this era of such entrenched, rank stupidity, with the corporatists having so successfully exploited all the dumbness to their financial advantage, untill the country's nearly strangled to death, will be the great work of the rest of this century.

The first part of the work will be changing the conversation in the media and begin repudiating the obvious stupidity, start exposing it for what it is, and stop all the playing nice, stop responding to the right it like it's a legitimate political party with an "equal" voice in the nation's work of providing for the "common good.". The right doesn't understand the concept "common good." Their backward mentality amounts to a sickness, a malignant cancer that needs to be cut out of the healthy tissue of this country. We've got a serious, insidious illness in this country, not something cosmetic like warts. (When you have a bad case of ugly warts, whart you need is Compound W, not room freshener!)

[Calicoe99]

Excellent Post, Elle Bach. Couldn't have said it any better. Posts like yours light a fire under me.

[Elle Bach]

Thanks, Calicoe99.

Every decent American should be outraged at the media for their complicity in legitimizing what amounts to nothing but immoral gangsters - common crooks.
Fox needs to be taken off the air. What they do is treasonous...plain and simple.

Why are we afraid to use that term? We're surrounded by it.

trea⋅son  /ˈtrizən/
–noun 1. the offense of acting to overthrow one's government or to harm or kill its sovereign.
2. a violation of allegiance to one's sovereign or to one's state.
3. the betrayal of a trust or confidence; breach of faith; treachery.



Synonyms:
1. Treason, sedition mean disloyalty or treachery to one's country or its government. Treason is any attempt to overthrow the government or impair the well-being of a state to which one owes allegiance; the crime of giving aid or comfort to the enemies of one's government. Sedition is any act, writing, speech, etc., directed unlawfully against state authority, the government, or constitution, or calculated to bring it into contempt or to incite others to hostility, ill will or disaffection; it does not amount to treason and therefore is not a capital offense. 2. See disloyalty.

Decent citizens need to become familiar with the word and its meaning and start applying it where it fits.

The sheer depth, breadth and scope of the rank ignorance, stupidity and lawlessness in America is making me sick to my stomach.

[tnlcallen]

Wow, delegitimize half of the population. I'm really speechless. That spirit is a danger to free thinking people everywhere

[mainstreetAmerica]

Free-Yes! Thinking? Debatable!

[emlr]

Fanned for your intelligent, true post.

[eljefejeff]

I'm just glad Hannity didn't resort to yelling. I wish he were always so subdued.

[jackster12]

Is Hannity supposed to be a journalist? He's woefully uninformed, not just on the parts of the argument still open to disagreement, but on the facts of what happened. Sounds like he's bs-ing his way through the interview.

[mainstreetAmerica]

To reach his audience, he does not have to be informed! His audience is not informed!

[etu2000]

jackster 12 hannity has never referred to himself as a journalist and does not hide the fact that he is a conservative. you should pay more attention.

[matteroftruth]

Arguing with Sean Inanity as Barney Frank would say, is like having a conversation with a dining room table.

[FZliveson]

And Barney Frank clearly knows a lot about the dining room table.
He sure can shovel the pork.

[Vieux Charles]

While Capitalism certainly isn't beyond criticism it is absolutely absurd for a Capitalist like Moore to charge that all Capitalism is bad.

[schatsie]

Crony and Corupt and Corporate Capitalism have earned themselves a bad name....Read FREE LUNCH and you willl vomit over what you read about Bill Gates and Warren Buffet.....Read Family of Secrets to understand why the Bushes let the Bin Ladens leave after 9/11....

[nicole473]

He didn't "charge that all capitalism was bad". And Moore is definitely not your typical capitalist.