Sean Hannity joined Glenn on radio this morning for a wide-ranging interview on the state of politics and political discourse in America today. From who he likes in 2016 to the common sense ‘conservative solutions’ he has laid out, Glenn and Sean found they are “on the same page” on some of the most important issues.
It is no secret Glenn is a big fan of Senators Rand Paul (R-KY) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Sean is as well. When it comes to 2016, however, strategy will play a key role, and the senators could not be more different.
“So let me talk to you about Rand Paul and Ted Cruz because everybody says to me, ‘Which one do you like?’ And my response is ‘Both,’” Glenn said. “But they have different strategies… Which one do you think has the better strategy? The one that's going kind of the traditional way that might pull some more middle ground, or the guy who's just saying this is wrong and I'm standing against it?”
“It's too early to tell. I'm not convinced Cruz is in yet. I am convinced that Rand is in,” Sean said. “Ted Cruz… [is] the one that kept his promise and he's the bad guy. So I admire him just for the fact that he's standing on his principles. You know, he's got a problem because I think they are trying to do to him what they did to Governor Palin, what they've done to you and Rush and talk radio in general. I think they want to smear, slander, besmirch, attack, demonize.”
If the choice was between Sens. Paul and Cruz, Sean was more willing to commit:
GLENN: The candidate: It would be between Rand Paul and Ted Cruz.
SEAN: Ted Cruz.
GLENN: And I don't know.
SEAN: We're on the same page.
GLENN: Yeah, it's one of those two.
SEAN: Yeah.
Ultimately, Sean is interested in getting a conservative-minded person into office who will stand for smaller government and personal responsibility.
“The American people have to decide this: Are they willing to accept an America where 15 million Americans are on food stamps, the labor participation rate's the lowest since 1978, one in five American children are in poverty, one in six adults are in poverty? Are they willing to accept more of that, or are they now open to the idea that we've gone in the wrong direction and America needs conservative solutions to change,” Sean asked. “I've often heard you say on your show it's not about left or right; it's about right and wrong. I would argue that conservative principles are the right ones that will work, if applied.”
On his radio program, Sean is working on finding and implementing the common sense solutions that will help get this country back on track. His Conservative Solutions Caucus 2014 lays out a pretty straightforward plan.
The crux of Sean’s plan involves cutting one penny of every dollar the government spends for six years (at which point you actually balance the budget) and focusing on energy independence.
“If you did, Glenn, those two things: If we tapped into our energy resources and we cut one penny out of every dollar, we'd save Social Security, we'd pay down the deficit, we'd stop robbing from our kids,” Sean said. “You hear these stories about these Sheiks that get on these Boeings 767s and they fly to the United States and they buy up every store and they take all the crap back because they can't buy it in their countries. Every American would be that wealthy. There would be no need for any social safety net except for those that are truly needy, and we'd have more money to take better care of them.”
So why aren't we doing it?
“Because the Republican Party is uninspiring. They are timid and afraid of their own shadow,” he concluded. “And like the Democrats, they seem most concerned about one thing and one thing only and that's their own political power.”