The Worst FOX Segment Yet
Reported by Ellen - December 29, 2004
That's saying a lot, I know. Was it Bill O'Reilly or Sean Hannity? No, it was Alan Colmes yelling at someone named David Lytel for 45 minutes for reasons I never quite figured out.
Apparently, Lytel has a website called redefeatbush.com which is organizing a protest of the Ohio electoral vote outcome on January 6. For some reason, this infuriates Colmes because, he said, it makes Democrats look like sore losers. Colmes was also insulted by remarks made about him on Lytel's website.
Ordinarily, I would re-listen to my tape of this segment, then try to recap and analyze what each side had to say. But, frankly, it was so upsetting to me, I can't stand to hear it again. Colmes started off the interview angrily accusing Lytel of having a bad attitude and it went downhill from there. I hardly got a clue about what Lytel was trying to say because Colmes kept interrupting him and shouting at him and then shouting more that Lytel hadn't answered the question. When the segment was over, I was literally shaking in my chair.
Putting aside my personal discomfort, the real shame of it, in my view, is that this important and interesting issue never got discussed. As I wrote in a comment to Deborah's post about Lytel's appearance on Hannity & Colmes last week where, apparently, Lytel was also attacked, I don't know where I stand on the issue of voter fraud in Ohio and what should be done. But the subject deserves a thorough and fair airing and Colmes' hostility to doing so puzzles and dismays me. In fact, I have heard the topic discussed fairly on Colmes' show (with Greg Palast) so what Colmes' problem with Lytel was, I simply don't get. Is it the protest Colmes hates? The fact that Lytel insulted him? Whatever Colmes' reasons, what could be more important to our democracy than the question of whether or not the person in the White House was fairly elected? Don't tell me it doesn't deserve the same amount of open-minded consideration as putting the Christ back in Christmas.
