Mike Gallagher
Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2003

I found myself at a cocktail party high atop midtown Manhattan the other night. A number of celebrities were there touting a new movie. When I saw Asner standing alone in a corner holding a drink in his hand, I couldn't resist the temptation to walk up to him.

"Mr. Asner, it's nice to meet you," I began. He gave me a sly smile and returned the greeting. After some small talk, he asked me what I did for a living. I told him I was a conservative radio talk host. He let out a big laugh. "I love going toe-to-toe with you guys," he said. I laughed back.

"I know," I said. "I've seen and heard you with Sean Hannity. Sean's a good friend of mine and I've enjoyed your exchanges."

Suddenly, he stopped laughing. His eyes narrowed, his smile went away. "Hannity's next, you know." I had no idea what he was talking about. "What do you mean, Ed?" "Hannity's next," he repeated. "We're going after him just like we went after Limbaugh. And you saw what happened to Rush this week, right?"

I froze. At first I thought he was just trying to joke around. But looking at him, watching him, seeing how his jovial mood dissipated at the mere mention of my friend Sean's name, well, it was more than a little unsettling.

To think that he was going to actually take credit for Rush's resignation from ESPN was simply astounding. And to hear him threaten the career of an award-winning and heralded broadcaster like Sean was bizarre.

And what a telling thing for Asner to say to me: "We're going after [Hannity] just like we went after Limbaugh." In other words, the left wants to "go after" conservative voices like Rush and Sean for their mainstream views and opinions. "Hannity's next," he snarled. I'll never forget it.

Naturally, I shared this conversation with Sean and was listening to him this afternoon on the car radio while driving home from work. Not only did Sean repeat the story I had shared with him, but he also invited Asner on as a guest. I was delighted. As I told Sean earlier in the day, I'm sure Asner would have no trouble confirming what he said. After all, he knew Sean and I were friends, he had to expect that I'd tell him about it.

"Did you say it?" Sean asked Asner live on the air. Asner sort of stammered and said something about not wanting to be preached to. "But did you say you were coming after me like you did Limbaugh?" Sean asked again. "No", said Asner. And in one fell swoop, Lou Grant told a whopper of a lie on national radio. Lou Grant would definitely have NOT approved.

Hillary Clinton once warned of a "vast right-wing conspiracy." Perhaps Ed Asner's denial to Sean is an example of a true conspiracy from the left. After all, why not admit it? Seems to me that the only type of person who would deny saying what Asner said to me is someone who is either 1) ashamed of what he said; or 2) going to deny it so that the effort to silence opposing voices can stay in the shadows.

I don't believe that Ed Asner or any of the Hollywood liberals had anything directly to do with the controversy over Limbaugh's ESPN remarks. But I certainly believe him when he says "we're going after [Hannity] next." That's the way liberals think, they way they operate. The only way to defeat an opposing point of view is to try and silence it.

But Sean Hannity doesn't have anything to worry about. Like Rush, Sean is loved by millions. And also like Limbaugh, Sean is a voice of integrity, honesty and American values. I'm proud to call a guy like Sean my friend.

And I'm proud of the way he handled Ed Asner on the radio today. He nailed Asner to the wall and exposed him in front of millions. That's the only way we'll win this battle in America: to fight lies with truth, to defeat liberal cynicism and ugliness with honor and virtue. Conservatives don't want liberals silenced. We just want our side to be heard, too. Evidently, Ed Asner thinks that the way to win the debate is to hope the other side is eliminated.

Sorry, Ed. Sean Hannity isn't going anywhere. Neither is Rush. All of us who are lucky enough to have talk radio audiences are going to continue our support of the president, the military and the kind of conservative values that make this country the greatest in the world.

Slowly but surely, the tide is turning. More and more Americans are rejecting the tired, failed ideology of liberals like Ed Asner who can't even tell the truth when it stares them in the face. We might lose an occasional battle, but we're winning the war. And I guess that's just too much for people like Ed Asner to take.

I appreciated meeting you the other night, Mr. Asner. Thanks for reminding me what we're up against.

Mike Gallagher is a syndicated radio host and Fox News Channel contributor.