Hannity & Colmes

To emphasize Fox News's "Fair and Balanced" rhetoric and their uncompromising stance on conceding any instances of right-wing bias on their network, they have made their contribution to prime-time left vs. right debate punditry: Hannity & Colmes.

Overview

Hannity & Colmes stars right-wing commentator, Sean Hannity, and his liberal partner, Alan Colmes. Though Fox News claims that Alan is "a hard-hitting liberal known for his electric commentary" (Foxnews.com - The Hosts of Hannity & Colmes), in 1995 he told USA Today, "I think I'm quite moderate."

Before Colmes got the gig as Hannity's sidekick, Fox staffers referred to the show as "Hannity and Liberal To Be Determined." After auditioning several left-wingers for the show, Hannity decided he wanted Colmes, and the name of the show was changed.

Alan Colmes

Other interesting tidbits seem to contradict Fox's portrayal of Colmes as a "hard-hitting liberal."

• For example, in early 2003, the show featured author Tammy Bruce promoting her book, The Death of Right and Wrong: Exposing the Left's Assault on Our Culture and Values. Hannity, of course, fully supported her confusing logic, stating, "But literally, the left is responsible for this." Bruce responded, "Well, as I show in the book, it's the left having gone so far to the left." One would think "a hard-hitting liberal" would probably have some sort of retort for such an unfair and rash generalization. However, Colmes response fell a little short of what most would call "hard-hitting liberalism": "I think in some respects you're right."

• Colmes, unlike other "hard-hitting liberals" such as Al Franken and Michael Moore, seems have more respect from conservatives than from his fellow liberals. This could be because of his excessive pandering to the right, which may have alienated his left-wing comrades, but has given him the respect of many leading conservatives. Among them are Newt Gingrich ("You are my favorite liberal to argue with"), Senator Orrin Hatch ("You're great for a liberal"), and the Christian conservative leader of Focus on the Family (which is quite popular in my southern-to-the-core hometown of Knoxville, Tennessee), Dr. James Dobson ("He's my favorite liberal").

The Lies of Sean Hannity

Sometimes on Hannity & Colmes, Sean has a tendency to bend the truth.

• On an August 25, 2003 episode of the show, Sean said, "It doesn't say anywhere in the Constitution this idea of the separation of church and state." Sean must not have read the Constitution very thoroughly, because the opening words of the First Amendment are "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion."
• On September 18, 2003, Sean said on Hannity & Colmes, "I never questioned anyone's patriotism." However, earlier that year he asked Stanley Cohen, "Is it you hate this president or you hate America?"
• On September 19, 2003, Hannity said, "Colin Powell just had a great piece that he had in the paper today. He was there [in Iraq]. He said things couldn't have been better." The paper Hannity was referring to, written by Powell, said, "Iraq has come very far but serious problems remain..." ('Serious' Problems in Iraq - Powell).

Miscellaneous Info

• Sean isn't too fond of the American Civil Liberties Union. He stated this very clearly: "... I don't like the ACLU" (Foxnews.com Hannity & Colmes: Is the Nation Any Safer?). In his first book, he describes his break into radio at the University of Santa Barbara: "The left-wing management had zero-tolerance for conservative points of view. And I was promptly fired. Once my voice was silenced, my destiny was set--do or die, I'd make my career in radio." When this happened, who came to Hannity's aid? None other than the Santa Barbara chapter of the big bad ACLU, who wrote letters to the University of Santa Barbara, telling them that firing Hannity was a breach of his free speech. The University did offer Hannity his job back, but he declined. This fact is conspicuously absent from his book.
• For a good picture of how other liberals view Alan Colmes, read chapter 14 of Al Franken's book Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them: A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right. In it, Al describes Colmes as "Sean's liberal on-air punching bag," and says, "Sean is the alpha-male to Alan Colmes's zeta male." Throughout the book, Colmes' name appears in a small typeface.
• Sean Hannity has two books: Let Freedom Ring: Winning the War of Liberty Against Liberalism and his newest, Deliver Us From Evil: Defeating Terrorism, Despotism, and Liberalism. Alan Colmes has one book: Red, White, & Liberal: How Left is Right & Right is Wrong.

External Links

• FAIR.org - "An Aggressive Conservative vs. a 'Liberal to be Determined'"
• Center for American Progress - "The Document Sean Hannity Doesn't Want You To Read"
• Wikipedia entry: Sean Hannity
• Fox News official page - Hannity & Colmes