Alan Colmes to depart Hannity & Colmes

[Little-Acorn]

Colmes was a subject-changer-and-discussion-dodger par excellence. I've never seen someone as good as Colmes, when the topic was what Democrats had done or were doing, at changing the subject and talking about Republicans instead. He has derailed more discussions that anyone, and provided heroic service to pretend that "everybodsy does it" when discussing Democrat malfeasance. Hannity would regularly mop the floor with him, but Colmes always came back strong.

I have to wonder why he's leaving. Hannity is a guaranteed meal ticket.

The article mentions that Colmes has a radio talk show. Anyone know what its ratings are like? How does he stack up against Limbaugh, Hannity, or even Imus?

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http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=bw-20010714:20081124006056:1&show_article=1

Alan Colmes to Depart Top Rated Hannity & Colmes

Nov 24 02:26 PM US/Eastern

FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Alan Colmes will relinquish his role as co-host of Hannity & Colmes at the end of the year.

In announcing his decision, Colmes said, “I approached Bill Shine (FNC’s Senior Vice President of Programming) earlier this year about wanting to move on after 12 years to develop new and challenging ways to contribute to the growth of the network. Although it’s bittersweet to leave one of the longest marriages on cable news, I’m proud that both Sean (Hannity) and I remained unharmed after sitting side by side, night after night for so many years.”

Colmes will continue to have a presence on FNC as he will serve as a liberal commentator on a variety of FOX News programming, including Foxnews.com’s The Strategy Room and continue hosting his radio program, The Alan Colmes Show on FOX Talk, a division of FOX News Radio. He will also begin developing a weekend program.

Shine said, “We’re very sorry to see Alan reach this decision but we understand his desire to seek other creative challenges in his career. We value his incredible hard work in making Hannity & Colmes the most successful debate program on cable news and we’re going to miss him on the show. Thankfully, he will begin developing a weekend pilot for us.”

FOX News Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Roger Ailes added, “Alan is one of the key reasons why FOX News has been such a remarkable success. We’re sad to see him leave the program but we look forward to his ongoing contributions to the network.”

Hannity & Colmes is the only FNC program which has remained in the same timeslot for 12 years, catapulting to number one in 2003 and never relinquishing the top spot. The second highest-rated program in cable news behind only The O’Reilly Factor, Hannity & Colmes averaged 3.3 million viewers nightly for the Nielsen month of October and is poised to mark 60 consecutive months at number one at the end of November.

Hannity added, “Not only has Alan been a remarkable co-host, he’s been a great friend which is rare in this industry — I’ll genuinely miss sparring with such a skillful debate partner.”

Throughout his 12 year tenure on Hannity & Colmes, Colmes has interviewed numerous key political figures, including: President Elect Barack Obama, Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY), Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Senator Ted Kennedy (D-MA), DNC Chairman Howard Dean and former Vice President Al Gore.

[krisy]

Any word on who will replace him?

[Little-Acorn]

Any word on who will replace him?

Hannity has talked about Colmes' leaving, on his radio show, but hasn't said anything about any replacement.

Know what I'd like to see?

"Hannity & O'Donnell"!

Now there's someone who definitely deserves to have her statements answered, by someone she can neither bully nor run away from.

[hjmick]

Now, if they could just lose Hannity...

[Little-Acorn]

Now, if they could just lose Hannity...

Then their viewership would decline to the level of Air America's.

[hjmick]

Then their viewership would decline to the level of Air America's.


Probably, but of all the conservative commentators out there, Hannity is my least favorite. If you could just find a different tune, but no, always he bangs tha same drum. Much like Olbermann, he does nothing to further the discourse. Though Olbermann is far worse.

[avatar4321]

Probably, but of all the conservative commentators out there, Hannity is my least favorite. If you could just find a different tune, but no, always he bangs tha same drum. Much like Olbermann, he does nothing to further the discourse. Though Olbermann is far worse.

Im not a big Hannity fan either. Mostly because he gets repetitive. I love Rush and Glenn because they change things up all the time.

[Little-Acorn]

he does nothing to further the discourse.
He gets people on, who try to either avoid answering his questions, divert the discussion, or outright lie. In other words, people who do NOTHING to further the discussion, and in fact harm it considerably.

And he doesn't let them get away with it. When they do that, he interrupts them, points out what they are doing, and repeats the question. And when they do it again, he interrupts them again. And again, and again, until it's plain that they have no intention of discussing the subject AT ALL.

But it's not Hannity who "does nothing to further the discourse". He does try to further it, in the face of guests who actively try to block any such discourse. He can either let them get away with it (as most hosts do, thus accomplishing nothing), or beat the tar out of them verbally.

He can't make a mule go where it had originally volunteered to go. But he can let the mule know that, trying to go elsewhere will cost it. And he can make it clear to the rest of the audience, just who is the one being difficult, dilatory, and obstructive. And it isn't Hannity.

He "bangs the same drum" because his guests so frequently try the same diversions and dodges. I'd rather he used such tactics on them when they do, than not use them.