Hannity, Rove revive false claims about Obama statement concerning Pakistan

Summary: On Hannity & Colmes, Sean Hannity asserted that Sen. Barack Obama said he would "maybe invade an ally like Pakistan." In fact, during an August 2007 speech, Obama did not say he would "invade an ally like Pakistan"; rather, Obama stated: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [Pakistani] President [Pervez] Musharraf won't act, we will."

On the May 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes, Fox News political analyst Karl Rove asserted that Sen. Barack Obama gave an "answer in the YouTube/CNN debate, which he's going to regret, which was, I'm going to, he said, without precondition, be willing to meet with, you know, sort of the rogue's gallery, if you will, of terror states and bad actors internationally." In response, co-host Sean Hannity asserted: "And maybe invade an ally like Pakistan and potentially create a theocracy with nuclear weapons. ... That's even more frightening, isn't it, Karl?" Rove responded, "Right," and later said to Hannity, "[Y]ou're right about Pakistan." However, contrary to Hannity's assertion, Obama never said he would "invade an ally like Pakistan." Rather, during an August 1, 2007, foreign policy speech, Obama stated: "If we have actionable intelligence about high-value terrorist targets and [Pakistani] President [Pervez] Musharraf won't act, we will."

Hannity has previously mischaracterized Obama's comments on Pakistan. During the August 14, 2007, edition of Hannity & Colmes, Hannity claimed that Obama has stated his "willingness to invade an ally against their will," referring to Pakistan.

From the May 12 edition of Fox News' Hannity & Colmes:

COLMES: Should we give honorable mention to Doug Goodyear, who is a McCain appointee, to run the GOP convention, who had to resign over the weekend when Newsweek revealed he had been a lobbyist who is advising and doing work for the government of Burma? And I don't see the same opprobrium from those on the right about McCain's very first appointee?

ROVE: Well, first of all, it's not McCain's first appointee. It's his -- somebody in the campaign appointed Doug Goodyear. But again, you're missing the point, and I appreciate your misdirection, Alan, but the question is --

COLMES: That's very nice of you, Karl. Thank you.

ROVE: Yes. The question is: Senator Obama's campaign said we're going to discharge this foreign policy adviser who's talking to Hamas, but we have a candidate who says we'll talk to the state sponsor of Hamas, Syria's Assad, and we'll talk to the state sponsor of Hezbollah --

HANNITY: Yeah.

ROVE -- Iran, without precondition. And so, my point -- you did the right thing by discharging this guy, but it highlights a weakness of Senator Obama, which is his inexperience in international affairs led him to give an answer in the YouTube/CNN debate, which he's going to regret, which was, I'm going to, he said, without precondition, be willing to meet with, you know, sort of the rogue's gallery, if you will, of terror states and bad actors internationally.

HANNITY: And maybe invade an ally like Pakistan and potentially create a theocracy with nuclear weapons.

ROVE: Right.

HANNITY: That's even more frightening, isn't it, Karl?

ROVE: Right.

HANNITY: Yeah.

ROVE: Well, look, look, and again, this goes back to the inexperience that he has. Remember, he -- you're right about Pakistan. We've talked briefly about what he said with regard to the rogue state. But you remember, also, he said he had more experience in international affairs than either Senator Clinton or Senator McCain. And he cited as this that he had grown up and he'd spent time as a child in a foreign country, and he had visited Pakistan while he was a college student.

HANNITY: There's experience for you.

ROVE: I mean -- yeah.

—M.B.B.