There seems to be interest out there in seeing the transcript of this exchange last night between Hannity and RFK, Jr. about his new book. This is only part of it, and doesn’t fully capture it, but for those who are interested (excuse the long post):
HANNITY: All right. Let’s start with one. First of all, you start with, in your book, page 193, you talk about, “communism is the control of business by government, fascism is the control of government by business. My American Heritage dictionary defines fascism as a system of government that exercises dictatorship of the extreme right, typically through the merging of the state and business leadership together with belligerent nationalism. Sound familiar?” Are you accusing this president of being — and this administration of being fascist like, Nazi-like?
KENNEDY: No, what I — the point is that if you read that in context, is that Americans have to understand that there’s a huge difference between free market capitalism, which is great for a democracy, which democratizes our country, that brings efficiencies, and the corporate crony capitalism that has been embraced by this administration, which is as antithetical to democracy in America as it is in Nigeria. Today, you have polluters running the agencies that are supposed to protect Americans from pollution. The second in command at EPA is a Monsanto lobbyist. The head of the air division at the EPA is a — is a utility lobbyist.
HANNITY: I…
KENNEDY: Let me finish.
HANNITY: Go ahead. Go ahead.
KENNEDY: Who for his lifetime has been defending the worst polluters in
America. The head of the public lands now, Sean, is a mining industry lobbyist.
The head of forest service a timber industry lobbyist, and on and on and on.
HANNITY: I understand your point.
KENNEDY: These people did not enter government for public service. They
entered to undermine and subvert the very laws that they’re charged with
enforcing.
HANNITY: This is fundamental. Because I say the left today, your
leadership, including your uncle, uncle Ted, or Ted Kennedy, have said
irresponsible things about our president and about our country. And I find it
here.
Now I’m going to read a very long paragraph for the sake of our audience,
because I don’t want to take it out of context, and I want to make sure I get
the full context in here. OK? This is from your book.
KENNEDY: Sure.
HANNITY: You said, “these elected governments use the provocation of
terrorist attacks, continued wars” — you’re talking about Nazism and fascism on
page 193, OK?
KENNEDY: No, no, no now you’re…
HANNITY: Wait a minute, right here I have it in the book, 193 and 194, and
you talk about Spain, Germany and Italy reacting to the economic crises.
KENNEDY: Sure.
HANNITY: And then you say the following: “These governments use provocation
of terrorist attacks, continual wars, invocations of patriotism and homeland
security to privatize the commons, tame the press, muzzle criticism by
opponents, turn the government over to corporate control.
’It’s always a simple matter to drag people along,’ noted Hitler’s sidekick
Herman Goering, whether it’s a democracy or a fascist dictatorship or a
parliament or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always
be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is
tell them that they are being attacked, denounce the peacemakers for lack of
patriotism, and expose the country to danger — and exposing the country to
danger. And it works the same in any country,” is what you say.
Then you go on to say — you’re talking about fascism and Nazism — and the
next line in this book of yours says, the White House has clearly grasped this
lesson. That is disgraceful to make that comparison.
KENNEDY: Well, you know, Sean in this — you know, look at the comparisons.
Look at our — what is — look at the terror alert, for example, that we — that
was…
HANNITY: Nazism and fascism? That we’re using the tactics of fascists and
Nazists? That’s what you’re saying about your president? You can’t disagree
without being that obnoxious?
KENNEDY: We can disagree with each other, Sean, and that’s something that
we ought to be able to do without calling each other names.
HANNITY: You’re the one calling them fascists and Nazis, comparing them to
fascists and Nazis.
KENNEDY: Well, I never called the president a fascist or a Nazi.
HANNITY: You found a nice round-about way to compare his tactics to the
fascists and the Nazis.
KENNEDY: And the point that I’m making, which is very clear in that book,
is that control of government by corporations is as dangerous as control of
government by communism.
HANNITY: That is unbelievable.”