Earlier today I tuned into Sean Hannity on WNIS, Norfolk’s leading right-wing talk-radio station.

Two remarkable comments stand out in my mind.

The first is a reference to President Obama’s “radical socialist agenda.” If only Obama would compromise, Hannity said. Our president refuses to budge from his “rigid” liberal ideology.

If only it were true. The trouble with Obama isn’t that he refuses to budge. It’s his desire to seek bipartisan compromise from people who have no interest in such things.

The second comment was his reckless speculation that the shootings at Fort Hood were perpetrated by a terrorist. The New York Times subsequently reported that it was a soldier who opened fire.

The first comment is understandable. Hannity and his ilk think anything other than laissez-fair capitalism is tantamount to communism. The second comment is far worse—a gross example of journalistic irresponsibility. Not that this is anything new, either. But that doesn’t make it any less troubling.

- Tom Robotham