The news that  conservative talk radio and TV host Sean Hannity was going to be the second interview for Gov. Sarah Palin really got my attention. I met Sean Hannity 5 years ago and it was one of those encounters I will never forget. And not in a good way.

My four sisters and I host a talk show called Satellite Sisters and we'd just been signed to ABC Radio for a 5 year deal.  We'd spent three great years on Public Radio, producing award-wining talk radio that focused on news, issues, and the lives of women. We had been on about 70 stations with a loyal listenership.  We were thrilled to be moving to do live radio and to be with a company like ABC, the network of legend Paul Harvey and rising star Sean Hannity. Our boss at ABC wanted to introduce us  to our new colleagues in a grand fashion at an industry luncheon. Paul Harvey was getting an award, so too, Sean Hannity. We were at Table One. Though we may have been relatively new to radio, we were not new to professional luncheons. Between the five of us, we had decades of experience in business and academics, racking up some decent credentials. We thought of our tablemate Sean Hannity as a colleague, not a celebrity. Apparently, he did not think of us as collegues.

The first words out of Sean Hannity's mouth after the introductions were, "So, what do you talk about on your show? Sex?" You have never seen the mouths of five Irish Catholic girls from Connecticut drop faster. Sex? We've never talked to each other about sex in our lives, nevermind on the air . We were mothers, teachers, nurses, academics, and business executives and Sean Hannity thinks all we could possible talk about on the air was sex? An Irish Catholic boy from New York should have known better.  Would you talk to your sisters like this, I thought.

But really, the moment was one that almost every woman I know can picture: an incident when a collegue says something so sexist, so humiliating that you are stunned into silence by its inappropriateness. That is why the moment is so memorable to me. The sheer disrespect for the accomplished women at the table, my sisters and me, was stunning. 

Sean went onto to assume that we were "all liberals" because we came from public radio ( For the record, Satellite Sisters is not a political show but when we do talk about issues and headlines, we represent a spectrum of political viewpoints.)  Then Sean Hannity revealed he had never listened to public radio ever. That struck me as absurd. Wouldn't you at least be professionally curious about a show like "Morning Edition" that attracts ten million listeners? That's like a Coke exec never taking a sip of Pepsi!  And for a guy that makes his living bashing the "liberal media" , his lack of research was astounding. Later on in the luncheon, as Sean Hannity accepted his award for "Radio Personality of the Year", he took a very public and unnecessary swipe at us, his colleagues,  in front of hundreds of program directors. And then he was off on his private plane to "catch his son's hockey game."

 I don't tell that Sean Hannity story much because it was so uncomfortable , but his upcoming interview with Gov. Palin had me thinking about that conversation. Sure, on the air, Sean Hannity spends 3 hours a day demeaning Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi and Michelle Obama , but you think that off the air he may be different. I know better.  Sean Hannity will show Sarah Palin all the deference that the McCain campaign is demanding because he's a good soldier. He'll afford her respect because she is the Republican candidate for Vice President but not because he is actually respectful of her role as an executive or leader or working mother. I know this because when he had the chance to ask five women with a wide range of expertise any question he wanted, Sean Hannity  wanted to talk about sex.

My sister Liz spent a decade as a senior executive at Nike, including 5 years as the Global Marketing Director. She ran a giant worldwide division with a huge budget and hundreds of employees. She travelled extensively working with business leaders around the world. She was one of  very few senior female executive at that level in a Fortune 500 company.  Her marketing initiatives in the areas women's team sports changed the future for many young female athletes today. In addition to her corporate life, she pursued an active role in charity work. But Sean Hannity wasn't interested in asking Liz about leadership or growing business in developing countries or creating responsible corporate governance. Sean Hannity wanted to talk to my sister Liz about sex.

My sister Julie could not only see Russia from her home state, she was living in Russia at the time. She had already spent 5 years abroad in Thailand, visiting and working in countries all over the developing world from Vietnam to Indonesia. Subsequently, her reporting on the tragic Beslan School Shooting would be nominated for an LA Press Club award. She has an MBA and her passport has almost as many stamps as Condi's. But Sean Hannity wasn't interested in talking to my sister Julie about global politics or living conditions in a repressive country like Russia. Sean Hannity wanted to talk to my sister Julie about sex.

My sisters Sheila and Monica were teachers and nurses respectively when we met Sean Hannity, exactly the kind of female voters the Republican party is hoping to attract with "authentic" Gov. Palin.  Sheila has two master degrees in education and had worked in the New York City Public Schools for 15 years. She had even started her own public school ( talk about reform!). Monica worked in urban and suburban hospitals from Washington, D.C. to Portland, Oregon. She had spent long days in the ICU and CCU.  She had even been on duty as a student nurse the night Ronald Reagan was shot and brought into GW Hospital. But Sean Hannity didn't want to ask Sheila and Monica about education or health care or equal pay for equal work. Sean Hannity wanted to talk to Sheila and Monica about sex.

And I sat there that day holding what now are the hottest political credentials around: Working Mother/PTA member/Sports mom. In addition to raising two kids and hosting the radio show, I wrote a monthly column for Working Mother Magazine, was on the PTA board at my kids' school running the book fair,  and was the banner mom for soccer. ( And I've stuck with my commitments on all three fronts over the last 5 years.) But Sean Hannity didn't want  to talk to me about balancing my work and my life, finding good childcare, or my concerns about the schools in my area. Sean Hannity wanted to talk to me about sex.

So, I'll be watching with amusement as Sean Hannity feigns his respect for Gov. Palin's life experiences, gushes over her important contributions to her school and community, and extols her as a role model to working women.  He'll toss her some softballs about foreign policy and domestic issues. And , of course, he'll take many swipes at the "liberal media" he pretends to know so well. He'll be charming and gracious to her.  But I know that if Sarah Palin were not the Republican nominee, if she were just some accomplished, professional working mom next to him at a luncheon, he couldn't be bothered to engage her in conversation. He'd really only want to talk to her about sex, but given the Governor's well- publicized stance on abstinence, even Sean Hannity knows the answer to that question.