(As an aside, one of the problems with the Lucianne site is that you can't respond to other posters. Here if someone posts something nonfactual, or offending, there is great leeway to respond, and I think that is part of the lifeblood of the site. It allows for a bit of fractiousness, but that is healthy, and all groups, and all families have that to some extent.)
Anyway, more to the central point, Sean tends to express a belief that because we are all on this site, and that because he has supported FreeRepublic in the past, that he, Lucianne, and Matt Drudge shouldn't be criticized.
The problem with that reasoning is that the other side will have its dissenters, like Zell Miller, yet Sean will openly welcome him. If Sean were consistent in his views, he would tell Miller that while he is respectful of his views, Zell shouldn't criticize Democrats like Clinton or Kennedy because he is still a Democrat.
Another thing Sean doesn't understand is that leaders always get criticized, and I DO consider Hannity to be a leader! President Bush has had more than his share of disagreements with his fellow Republicans, otherwise there would have been no need for a primary in the 2000 election. Yet he won, and continues to win, despite disagreement with other Republicans.
Hannity needs to go one extra yard in his development. He needs to understand that while there are people here who will passionately disagree with him, there are others who will just as passionately fight alongside him and defend him. FreePers will fight a just cause with just leaders. Sean has to be able to stand up to his dectractors as strongly as some of us do. But if he abandons the fighters along with the detractors, he cannot ever present himself as a leader. Freedom and great leaders are worth fighting FOR! And THAT is the kind of people who constitute the bulk of this site. Sean does not comprehend this. I can't express it any more clearly.
Hannity did a good job today redeeming himself as per FR. He had numerous personal attacks which were not substantive.
You have an excellent point. I remember when Drudge was criticized for something and the next thing you know...FReeREpublic was pulled from his website.