Kennedy's Death Being Used to Push Health-Care Plan?

HANNITY: And tonight on our great, "Great American Panel," she has advised several Democratic campaigns and is a corporate fraud lawyer and partner at Barrack, Rodos, Bacine. Regina Calcaterra is back with us.

He is a member of the Grammy-nominated CMA six-time vocal group of the year, Diamond Rio. And by the way, they're releasing their first autobiography, "Beautiful Mess" and the new album, "The Reason." It comes out on September 22. Marty Roe is here.

And he is the editor of Caloland (ph), National Review Online. Syndicated columnist Rich Lowry is back with us.

Guys, good to see you all. Thanks for being here.

All right. We were just talking about this issue, the death of Ted Kennedy. I'm sincere, you are sincere. You wish his family well, right?

RICH LOWRY, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Of course.

HANNITY: And the conservative -- here's the problem I have. Within an hour or two hours after his death, Nancy Pelosi's trying to use that as a means of selling nationalized health care. Robert Byrd has done it. Chris Dodd has done it.

If we're going to deal with, you know, 20 percent of the U.S. economy, shouldn't it be judged on the merits?

REGINA CALCATERRA, CORPORATE FRAUD LAWYER: Actually, I think what they did, this is a miscalculation on their part. I think what they were trying to do is take a page out of LBJ's play book.

After JFK was assassinated, LBJ eulogized JFK and at his eulogy said, "In his honor, let's pass the Civil Rights Act." This was what JFK was really pushing. And it placed a lot of pressure on Congress and members that weren't supportive of it, were supportive of it because there's this groundswell of support.

I think that's what Nancy Pelosi and Chris Dodd were looking, to hope to mirror the same thing. But it's different...

HANNITY: Let me read from the Wall Street Journal.

CALCATERRA: ... when it's not a president that was assassinated. And you're not going to have a groundswell of support, because it's named after Ted Kennedy.

HANNITY: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office sent an e-mail to reporters around 2:30 a.m., just hours after his death, calling for the passage of health care overall.

LOWRY: Well, it's emotionally exploitative and is politically misconceived, Sean. Because the people who are going to support this just because Teddy Kennedy wanted it to happen already are in favor of it and support it.

And the people that are in the swing districts, the freshmen Democrats representing red state type districts, for their constituents, Ted Kennedy is a liberal. He's a liberal icon who did everything he could to grow government, no matter what the cost. That's not going to make them think any better of this bill. They're going to name it after a liberal icon.

MARTY ROE, MUSICIAN: I'm not sure, my thought was simply this. I'm not sure that they were as concerned with the senator's death as they were losing the vote.

HANNITY: I mean, that -- that may sound like a harsh thing to say, but it seems like, well, hang on. He died. We can talk about health care. And I'm thinking, that's just so highly inappropriate to me.

ROPE: That's probably not how they feel but that was the impression...

HANNITY: It was the impression that they left. Is that a fair analysis?

CALCATERRA: I don't necessarily think that's the impression they left. I just think it was the wrong time for them to start invoking Teddy Kennedy in it. And when they start debating this issue on the floor and they want to bring the blue dog Democrats back onboard and say, "Just do this for him. He's a guy who really reached across the aisle."

Then you could invoke his ability to reach across the aisle but don't the day after try to benefit from his name.

LOWRY: It's a sign of desperation. And this is -- this is...

CALCATERRA: It's not desperation.

LOWRY: It is desperation . This is the key thing. This is...

LOWRY: ... into supporting this thing. Are you not -- it's a genuine public revolt that's taking it down.

HANNITY: Are you saying that you think these grandmothers and these stay-at-home moms and these veterans and these people showing up at these town halls, you're saying that this isn't genuine? That this isn't real?

Because I'm going to tell you something, I -- we watch our ratings. We watch our Web hits. You watch radio. You watch the passion. I'm telling you it's real. Are you suggesting that this is, you know, orchestrated by outside forces? Because if you believe that, you're dead - - you're dead-on wrong.

CALCATERRA: No, absolutely. Part of this is orchestrated by outside forces. There's lobbying with -- that's put together that ha funneled money...

HANNITY: Democrats have a lobbying empire (ph) now.

CALCATERRA: No. Yes, but initially when there were folks that were going out there, they were going out there with talking points. Now there's a groundswell on both -- Rich, you're laughing at this, but you're part of a conservative movement that helps draft these talking points, as well.

LOWRY: People -- people do not go...

CALCATERRA: Now there's a grant -- now it's my turn.

LOWRY: ... talking points.

CALCATERRA: There's a groundswell on both sides now.

HANNITY: More on that in a second.

CALCATERRA: And they're getting out, and they're engaged in negotiating issues.

ROE: You know, it's just -- it's sad. It's like this is being run like an election. And this is much more important than an election. This is our lives, my children's lives.

HANNITY: Yes.

ROE: And I think, you know, in an election, you beat your opponent up. And after the election, you try to find points of affection for your opponent and work together. Ted Kennedy did that.

HANNITY: We'll do that during the break.

And by the way, they wanted -- they wanted to ram this down our throat in -- in two weeks. The president's spent more time picking out the dog for his kids than he did, you know, going over this bill. Which is -- he wanted to do it in two weeks.

CALCATERRA: You know what the problem was? Is that he gave the keys to Congress.

HANNITY: ... the leaders...

CALCATERRA: He gave 535 members of Congress to ride the bus. He should -- he should have put the initiative...

HANNITY: We have to take a break. We'll come back. We have a lot more with our "Great American Panel." And by the way, the great John McEnroe.

But first we check in with Greta Van Susteren for a sneak peek at what's coming up in 23 short minutes from now -- Greta.

GRETA VAN SUSTEREN: Sean, Dick Morris is with us tonight.

Plus, we're going to fact check the president on something that has to do with health care, whether you know, he's got the facts right.

And you will not believe what the state of Nevada is doing to California. It's so mean. We actually have it on video. It's really mean.

HANNITY: Yes, what is it?

VAN SUSTEREN: Mean. Very mean. Very mean. It's ugly.

HANNITY: These teases are mean. Because I can't figure it. Now I have to sit and watch it and figure it out. I never get to go home. I'm watching the show. Greta coming up in 22 -- in 22 short minutes from right now.

And the one and only tennis great, John McEnroe, he's going to be here with much more in our "Great American Panel." Straight ahead.

HANNITY: And we continue now with our great, "Great American Panel."

So we found out this week that Barack Obama is off, in six months, by just $2 trillion. All right. So we discussed this. They're spending in Washington now 30 plus -- $31,000 a family, and they're only taking in $17,000 per family on average.

And I'm thinking, why would anybody think that we can now add trillions to that as the CBO projects, as they score the House bill?

LOWRY: It's insane. The idea that spending another $1 trillion on a health-care entitlement is the way to fiscal health is just insane, and it's why no one is buying it.

And the problem with this bill, Obama is the one that routinely misrepresents it. He complains about the critics, but he says abortion is not going to be covered. Yes, it is.

He says it's paid for. No, the House isn't.

HANNITY: You can keep your health care.

LOWRY: No, you can't.

HANNITY: Not true.

LOWRY: Again and again, he's saying things that are untrue about his own bill.

HANNITY: You're the liberal here.

CALCATERRA: Well, no, I'm the Democrat. Just because I'm a Democrat doesn't necessarily mean...

HANNITY: Why are liberals afraid to admit their liberal? I'm a conservative. I'm a proud raving conservative.

CALCATERRA: Because I'm a moderate. And moderates and liberals think differently.

HANNITY: I'm a moderate Reagan conservative, OK? I mean -- OK. Here's the question. Address Rich's point.

Obama, every point he made is true. Abortion's covered. The idea of -- that you can keep your health insurance, even the CBO says no. Tens of millions of Americans are going to be forced out.

CALCATERRA: OK, what needs to be done is, there are so many different bills out there, so there are a variety of different messages. It's not clear which bill is the primary bill.

What -- what Barack Obama needs to do is throw all of them out and start from the beginning. When people voted for him they voted for him because they wanted him to cover the uninsured.

HANNITY: ... he's allowed. You're mad that he's allowed Pelosi and Reid to take this bill over.

CALCATERRA: Absolutely. And what -- and also have...

HANNITY: Isn't that weakness?

CALCATERRA: No. Also...

HANNITY: Isn't that weakness?

CALCATERRA: No, it's not weakness. Because what he thought was that leave it to Congress so they can all reach across the aisle and come to an agreement. And the reality, at the end of the day, it's going to be partisan politics. And Republicans are not on board with it.

LOWRY: What does he disagree with? What does he disagree with in what the House is doing? What does he disagree with?

CALCATERRA: There is -- everything that is thrown in there. There's...

HANNITY: No, no, no, no. Just answer my question. What does he disagree with? That's a good question.

CALCATERRA: The way the structure -- they haven't come to an agreement yet on what the structure is going to be, whether or not it's going to be a public plan or it's going to be a co-op...

LOWRY: What major provision in the House bill does he oppose?

HANNITY: Rich, let me answer for her. Because they did try to pull back on the government option, and we saw the reaction from the left. They went nuts.

LOWRY: Right.

HANNITY: So they don't -- I don't think they have any choice. Because they ought to appeal -- appease that base.

And I think every Democratic blue dog Democrat is going to go be pulled into that White House, offered all sorts of taxpayer money and pressure to risk their careers. Don't you think that's...

ROE: Yes. It seems that way. Once again, it's more about the politics than it is the actual issue.

CALCATERRA: No. About it's getting health-care reform for people who are uninsured. There are millions of people in the U.S. who...

HANNITY: How about tax credits? Wait a minute. That's what you want, how about tax credits for the uninsured? The chronically uninsured, not the illegal immigrants, not the youth that choose not to have it.

CALCATERRA: People are not -- people who are unemployed who can no longer pay for their COBRA and still own a home can't get Medicaid and can't get health insurance. They have to sell their homes.

So if they have no money coming in, what are you crediting their taxes for?

LOWRY: But the...

CALCATERRA: No, no, no.

LOWRY: The point Sean is making...


CALCATERRA: The point Sean's making is to give tax credits to people who have no income.

LOWRY: The fundamental point -- this is the fundamental point.

CALCATERRA: The fundamental point is we need to cover...

HANNITY: We've got 20 seconds. Rich, start.

LOWRY: If that's all you want to do, the way to do it, short of remaking the entire health care...

HANNITY: Thank you.

LOWRY: ... which is what they're doing.

HANNITY: We'll end it on that winning point.

CALCATERRA: That is not a winning point. A winning point is when we cover all insured -- uninsured in America.

HANNITY: All right. Guys, thanks for being with us.

Folks, I've been a big fan of our next guest. John McEnroe, the brilliant -- his ability to play tennis is second to none. And that legendary -- he's in a handicapped upcoming U.S. Open, and much more. John McEnroe is next. Straight ahead.