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From our friends at News Hounds, Mr. "A Noun, A Verb and 9-11" is at it again, joining his fellow chickenhawk Sean Hannity and beating the drums for war with Iran -- Fox News Pretends Rudy Giuliani Is An Expert On Israel And Iran:

Since when did ex-New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani become an expert on the Middle East? Admittedly, he was the mayor of a city attacked on 9/11 but that hardly makes him an expert on Israel and Iran any more than getting caught in a horrific snowstorm makes me an expert on weather. As Brendan Nyhan noted in 2007, Giuliani didn’t know the difference between Sunni and Shiite even though he was ready to declare Iran as possibly “more dangerous than Iraq.” His current work is in security and law in the private sector. But Fox News’ Sean Hannity presented him last night to the “we report, you decide” network’s viewers as some kind of sage about what's going on and what the U.S. should do in the Middle East. Giuliani’s chief credentials seem to be a willingness to attack Obama and Iran. It’s hard to know which Hannity considers the bigger enemy.

It was clear that Hannity’s real interest in the problems in the Middle East was all about Obama. No sooner had Hannity finished his rundown of the rising tensions in the region when he introduced Giuliani as “the former New York City mayor” and said, “You know, the president said this was a democracy movement. Now we have radical Islamists who’ve come to power (in Egypt). (The Obama administration) talking about speeding up aid to the Muslim Brotherhood in the new Islamic government and now we’ve got a hostage situation – well, as far as I’m concerned – and they’re gonna put these Americans on trial.”

Giuliani joined in. “The president has no clue as to what’s going on there. I think he’s living in a fairly naïve world,” newly minted Middle East expert Giuliani opined. “Unfortunately, I mean, those of us who, I think have a little more knowledge of the Middle East realize that… you’re unleashing some really dangerous forces here.” As he spoke, a large graphic blared the suggestion, “HOSTAGE CRISIS?”

“What do we do with Iran?” Hannity asked. He’s been clamoring for war against Iran for years. So it’s a safe bet he had already vetted “expert” Giuliani on the subject. Read on...

Full transcript below the fold.

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During what could only be described as an extremely painful segment to watch, Fox's Sean Hannity, right-wing radio host Bill Cunningham and Jerry Springer got into a shouting match over whether President Obama is to blame for the fact that we still haven't recovered from the Great Recession started under George W. Bush where the U.S. economy was in free fall when the president first took office, with Cunningham and Hannity of course blaming Obama for the mess we're in now.

Hannity was even condescending enough to ask just when Obama was going to "put on his big boy pants" and finally take responsibility for the current economy. When Jerry Springer pointed out that Republicans were obstructing any recovery now and that it was the Republicans who started two wars they refused to pay for, he was interrupted before he could finish making the rest of his point with Hannity chiming in with more war mongering:

HANNITY: I'd start a third one. I'd take out the Iranian nuclear facilities tomorrow and Jerry Springer you would think...

SPRINGER: How are you going to pay for that if you keep dropping taxes?

HANNITY: You would drop bunker busting bombs on...

SPRINGER: You don't pay for health care. You know, you don't pay for schools. You don't pay for things that save people's lives...

HANNITY: That's right, so we don't have a modern day Holocaust by a country that wants to destroy Israel.

SPRINGER: All you want to do is make sure that wealthy people don't have to pay more taxes.

Hannity was too busy talking over Springer to answer his question, but I found it pretty jarring even for Hannity to hear him say that if it was up to him he'd start another war right now. And of course he doesn't want millionaires like himself to have to pay for it. Chickenhawks like Hannity don't want to serve in these wars they love to drumbeat for and they don't want to sacrifice one iota by being asked to pay another dime in taxes either. He's the poster child for what ails the Republican Party right now which could pretty well be summed up with I've got mine and f*** you.

I'm still waiting for Hannity to take up Keith Olbermann's offer to be waterboarded for charity, but that's as likely to happen as him being willing to go serve in one of these wars he so glibly wants to start or cheer leads for.

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Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul on Wednesday said that a draft dodger like former House Speaker Newt Gingrich had no business sending kids to war.

In his speech following finishing fourth in the Iowa caucuses Tuesday night, Gingrich had said that Paul's "views on foreign policy I think are stunningly dangerous for the survival of the United States."

"I don't want to ever fight a war that's unconstitutional," Paul responded in an interview with CNN's Soledad O'Brien the next morning. "And I'm the dangerous person?"

"You know when Newt Gingrich was called to service in the 1960s, during the Vietnam era, guess what he thought about danger? He chickened out on that and he got deferments, didn't even go," Paul added. "Right now, he sends these young kids over there to endure the danger. ... So, Newt Gingrich has no business talking about danger because he's putting other people in danger. Some people call that kind of program a chicken hawk, and I think he falls into that category."

O'Brien also asked Paul about a tweet that seemed to be mocking Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman's last place finish in Iowa.

"Obviously, I didn't send it," Paul admitted. "I haven't talked about Jon Huntsman in a long time so I don't know what's going on there."

"It was sort of a snitty message that was sent out under your name -- under your Twitter handle, @RonPaul -- was sent to another candidate, fellow candidate and kind of a snarky message," O'Brien explained. "You're saying you don't tweet for yourself."

"Yeah, I have some help on tweeting," Paul replied. "Yes."

The Texas Republican has also recently claimed that he did not know who published racist newsletters in his name in the 1990s.