The new issue of Newsmax magazine is just out and features one of the most penetrating looks into the private and public life of leading American media icon Sean Hannity.
In a special May cover story, “A Great American: Inside the World of Sean Hannity,” the Fox News star takes Newsmax readers on a rare and exclusive journey, sharing his incredible career rise from home contractor to one of the most influential news personalities in the nation, a touching personal account of his family’s role in his success, and a behind-the-scenes view of his hit cable show.
Today Sean Hannity is the nation’s leading conservative media titan with an awesome reach across three media platforms: television, radio and the Web. Each night more than 2.5 million viewers tune in to Fox’s “Hannity” to watch the straight-shooting host eviscerate liberal talking heads and political correctness.
His nationally syndicated radio show, broadcast from New York’s powerhouse WABC, reaches an estimated 13.5 million listeners each week, putting Hannity just behind Rush Limbaugh in audience. His powerful message and broad reach have made Hannity the Obama administration’s public enemy number one.
For the first time ever, Hannity shares with Newsmax readers an up-close and personal look at his faith, his family and his future.
He also reveals his real thoughts on why he so strongly opposes President Barack Obama, what the GOP is doing in Congress, how he thinks the tea party will save America, a rating of each of 2012 candidates including his surprising take on Donald Trump, and even his “surprise choice” for 2012.
Newsmax’s “A Great American” special report is a must read for everyone who wants to know the real Sean Hannity. You won’t be disappointed!
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Editor’s Note: Get your free copy of Newsmax’s Sean Hannity special “A Great American” —
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Here are several excerpts from “A Great American: Inside the World of Sean Hanity”:
It’s July 1987. The outgunned Contra rebels are slogging through the sweltering jungles of Nicaragua, mired in a bloody battle against the communist-backed Sandinista government.
Two thousand miles away in Washington, D.C., another battle is raging. Lt. Col. Oliver North, a staff member on the National Security Council, raises his right hand to testify before Congress on the so-called Iran-Contra scandal. North confirms that funds from secret arms sales to Iran have been used to supply the Nicaraguan insurgents.
Across the country, a young contractor is remodeling a house in Santa Barbara, Calif., and getting frustrated listening to a discussion on the radio of North’s testimony on a local talk show. Finally he grabs a phone and calls the station. From the moment he’s on the air, everything changes.
“Don’t people realize that North is a hero aiding freedom fighters who are trying to wrest their country away from the evil clutches of Ortega?” he asks. “Can’t they see that Democrats are just trying to use North to bring down President Ronald Reagan, the greatest president of the modern era?”
The station is deluged with callers reacting to what he had to say. To him. To Sean Hannity.
As the former contractor, former bartender, and former fast-order chef recalls now in an exclusive Newsmax interview: “The light went on the first time that I was ever on the air, and I don't know what happened. I don't know where it came from. I just loved it. And nothing was going to stop me at that point from doing it.”
The broadcasting career of Sean Hannity had begun.
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Hannity speaks of [Rush] Limbaugh in nearly reverential tones, identifying Rush and Ronald Reagan as having the greatest impact on conservatism over the past quarter of a century. But he’ll never forget how close his first stint at filling in behind Rush’s golden EIB microphone came to disaster.
“The first time I filled in for Rush I was doing my opening monologue. And he really does have a gold microphone. And it fell down. Thud!” Hannity picked up the microphone and went on with the show, but Rush got wind of the mishap.
“Rush comes back from [his day off]: ‘Did Sean Hannity break my microphone?’ Because he had heard the story,” Hannity says.
Apparently Rush was pleased, however. He kept inviting him back. “He's been nothing but a really good friend to me,” the Fox host reflects. “I've been very blessed to meet people that have helped me a lot.”
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“The tea party inspires me because they have contributed to putting the country on the right course and making the country better, and I'm appreciative of their effort,” Hannity says.
“I'm glad their voices are out there. I love their passion and their commitment. People that would go to town-hall meetings and confront politicians.”
They are people who “really understand, bleed red, white, and blue. And they get up in the morning, and they work, and they shovel coffee down their throats, and they feed and dress their kids, and they take them to school, and they race off to work, and it's 14 hours. And they pay all of their taxes and they obey all of the laws . . . And I think that's where America's greatness lies.”
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Editor’s Note: Get your free copy of Newsmax’s Sean Hannity special “A Great American” –
Click Here Now.]
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In February 2009, when a voter suggested at a town-hall meeting that Obama and Hannity should have a beer together to talk over their differences, the president replied: “I will take that under advisement. Generally, his opinion of me does not seem to be very high, but I’m always good for a beer.”
Hannity, always good for a verbal rumble over politics, has invited Obama to appear on his show several times. Obama has had sit-down interviews with other Fox News hosts, but not with Hannity.
“I think he’s mentioned me like 10 times by name,” Hannity tells Newsmax. “It was obviously getting to him during the campaign, and somebody probably got a hold of him and said, ‘You’re only boosting this guy’s ratings. You better stop.’”
Asked to evaluate Obama’s leadership style, Hannity responds, “Can I say Jimmy Carter on steroids?”
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[Hannity’s late father Hugh] was among those who endured the Great Depression, helped defeat imperial Japan and the Nazis, and then returned home to build a better life. The father’s work ethic and commitment to his family left an impression on the son that remains to this day. “I feel like I stand on the shoulders of him,” the conservative talker says. “He never had a lot, never wanted a lot in life . . .
“My father was everything that I would want to be. Good, moral, decent, hard working, appreciative, very humble. And I still wouldn’t think that I could live up to how good he was. He never wanted anything in his life; always gave to other people. And you know, the thing that I would tell him now is that he had a far more profound impact on my life than he ever knew.”
[
Editor’s Note: Get your free copy of Newsmax’s Sean Hannity special “A Great American” —
Click Here Now.]