Cornel West shoots down Sean Hannity: Republicans play the 'race card,' too

Activist Cornel West told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Wednesday that while he was disappointed with Democrats, Republicans were just as guilty of using the "race card" to curry favor with voters.

"We just have to be clear,there's one standard," West argued. "Stay in contact with the humanity across the board, no racist appeals -- Willie Horton, Jesse Helms, we've got both parties."

Hannity accused Democrats of stoking racially-based resentment in this year's midterm elections, showing pictures of flyers linking Sen. Kay Hagan's (D-NC) re-election to avoiding an "impeachment" against President Barack Obama, and urging people to vote in order to prevent "another Ferguson," referencing the Aug. 9 fatal shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown by local officer Darren Wilson.

"This drives me crazy," Hannity complained. "I'm a conservative. I believe we're all children of God."

Horton was the subject of a heavily-criticized 1988 presidentical campaign ad by George H.W. Bush, which linked the convict to Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis (D). Helms, a former Republican Senator from North Carolina, was also panned during his career for running racially-charged campaign ads.

Hannity did not state his opinion on Rep. Lee Terry's (R-NE) new ad linking another convict, serial killer Nikko Jenkins, to Terry's opponent, state Sen. Brad Ashford (D).

But while he expressed his "disgust" for the Democrats' efforts, West reiterated his own distaste for both major parties.

"The Republican Party has always struck me as too mean-spirited when it comes to attitudes toward the poor," he explained. "[The] Democratic Party is too milquetoast -- too empty in terms of not taking too much of a stand."

Watch the discussion, as posted online on Wednesday, below.