According to Rush Limbaugh, "Hannity's vigor and clarity inspires." As hard as TeamFranken tried, they couldn't find a similarly glowing quote from anyone about Colmes, but I told them to keep looking and hopefully have one [sic] for the paperback edition.
-Al
Franken, from Lies...pg.
83
Is that a fact?
Well, Al, look no further.
Here's a trivia
question for all of you: Who said the following?
"Alan Colmes knows that facts and
evidence count for more than ideological and personal attacks. He doesn't
believe in turning politicians and issues into cartoons. That makes his book a
must-read for people all across the political spectrum. Whether you agree or
disagree with his point of view, you'll learn a lot along the way."
Okay, who said it?
Give up? I'll give you a hint. Al Franken called him the greatest president of
the twentieth century. That's right, William Jefferson Clinton. And that's not
even the most glowing report! Geraldine Ferraro said, "At last, a book
that tells our side of the story!" Strong praise was also given by George
Mitchell, Ralph Nader, Jack Kemp, and even Newt Gingrich. Not all of those
individuals agree with Alan's views, but they do respect his wit and
intelligence as a strong liberal voice.
Now I don't blame
Al Franken for this oversight. Al's book was released on August 29th,
and Colmes's on October 21st, so even with the help of his Harvard
gurus, it was unlikely that Al could have become privy to this information two
months before the release of Alan's Red, White and Liberal. So I certainly hope to see that humble
retraction in the paperback edition of Lies, though somehow I wouldn't count on it.
Now I have been a
big fan of Hannity & Colmes for a while now, and the Alan Colmes I have observed is not the
Alan Colmes profiled in Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them. On page 84 of the book, Al notes that
during a Hannity & Colmes State of the Union Show, Sean Hannity (the conservative) spoke
2,086 words, whereas Alan Colmes (the liberal) spoke only 1,261. That's all
well and good, but you can't really make a point like that based on one
example. Al's point is that the Fox News Channel is a conservative outlet, and
Alan Colmes ("the only liberal at Fox") is nothing more than Sean
Hannity's "on-air punching bag" (Lies...pg. 87).
In actuality,
though, the Fox News Channel is very systematic about giving each pundit equal
time. Any sensible person who regularly watches Hannity & Colmes knows that Sean Hannity does not dominate
the show, and Alan is known to get very aggressive when the occasion calls for
it. Don't even get him started about weapons of mass destruction. It should
also be noted that Alan was made the Network's very first radio show host. Not
the first liberal radio show host, but the first radio talk show host PERIOD,
in an industry dominated by conservatives. In Alan's words, "Interesting,
isn't it, that their first radio host is a liberal? So, either Fox doesn't have
a political agenda or I'm not a real liberal."
Alan himself
insists that the attacks on Fox News are absurd (Red, White and Liberal, pp. 109-113). He notes that although only
18% of Fox News viewers consider themselves liberal, that's still more than the
16% of CNN viewers, and CNN has often been accused of having a liberal bias. As
Alan humorously observes, "Maybe all the liberals are watching QVC because
of their patriotic desire to turn around a failing economy" (Ibid, pg.
111).
The two most
ridiculous warrants made by Al (in this chapter, at least) are:
1) Alan Colmes is a "moderate" (pg.
84)
2) Alan Colmes is not an aggressive
commentator (pg. 86)
Both of these
arguments are refuted in the pages of Alan's book. As far as expressing the
things that get under his skin, Alan shows no mercy. In fact, when discussing
things like the Bush tax cuts and the "right-wing media" (not my
words), he can be downright snide. Yes, he does have a chapter called "Where
Right is Right," but even staunch leftist Howard Dean surprises us once in
a while (i.e. the NRA). Alan supports the ACLU (pg. 1), is pro-choice (pg.
132), and isn't all too fond of the USA Patriot Act (pg. 95). If he's a
moderate, then so is Al Franken.
Here's another
trivia question: Who made the argument that Bill Clinton was the greatest
president of the twentieth century, devoted several pages to arguing that Jesus
was a liberal, and continually scoffed at the liberal media myth? Was it Al
Franken or Alan Colmes? Give up? The answer is: all of the above. This is
something that our friend Mr. Franken should think about.
Al's reference to
Alan as "the only liberal at Fox" is also a lie. Alan counters this challenge
in his book by citing Geraldo Rivera, Greta Van Susteren and Bill O'Reilly (see
my chapter on Bill O'Reilly). The network also has a plethora of liberal
political correspondents like Mara Liasson, a former White House correspondent
during the Clinton administrations, and Susan Estrich, a former campaign
organizer for Michael Dukakis. For the sake of sensibility, I don't really
believe that Al was deliberately lying by calling Alan the only liberal at Fox.
It was probably just a hyperbolic statement that serves the sole purpose of
segueing into his observation about Alan's odd jobs, one of the funnier bits of
humor in the book. Still, the rebuttal to that statement is important to
consider when debating whether or not the Fox News Channel is right-wing
slanted, because that's another issue of importance on PlanetFranken.
I'll conclude with
one more quick quote from Alan's book. I would highly recommend it for those of
you interested in the debate, or are just interested in liberal thought in
general:
"People tune
in to the Fox News Channel because it was founded on the premise that all sides
should be presented fairly. This has upset the 'media establishment' but has
made Fox the most powerful name in the news. I'm proud that Hannity &
Colmes has contributed to
this success, an achievement that has been often dissected by liberal media
pundits who argue that Sean is more aggressive than I am and therefore
dominates the show."
-Alan
Colmes, from Red, White & Liberal, pg. 112.
More great material
on the Fox News Channel is available at lyingliar.com.