Alan Colmes
Alan Colmes | |
|---|---|
| Occupation(s) | TV personality, Talk radio host & Author |
| Spouse | Dr. Jocelyn Crowley |
Alan Colmes (born September 24, 1950 in New York City, New York), is a Jewish-American television journalist, and the liberal half of the Fox News Channel's popular political debate program Hannity & Colmes, opposite conservative Sean Hannity. He started his radio career in New York when WABC hired him, then a comedian, to do the morning drive time show billed as "W. Alan B. Colmes" but when he was fired and got jobs at WNBC and WEVD, he dropped the middle initial B.
He was a well-known radio talk show personality in the New York City area before he was hired by Fox News Channel CEO Roger Ailes. The open spot had been temporary labeled as "LTBD" or "Liberal To Be Determined."
Colmes hosts his own nationally syndicated radio show, The Alan Colmes Show, formerly Fox News Live with Alan Colmes.
Colmes is married to Dr. Jocelyn Crowley, the sister of conservative radio host Monica Crowley, who has substituted several times for Hannity on Hannity & Colmes. His parents are Louis and Fay Colmes.
Colmes has written one book, Red, White & Liberal: How Left is Right and Right is Wrong (ISBN 0-06-056297-8) which was published in October 2003.
Colmes says that, despite their philosophical and ideological differences, his relationship with Hannity is a warm one, and that the reason for the success of Hannity & Colmes is "because of our differences, not in spite of them."
Criticisms
Alan Colmes has been criticized by some liberals for not being as aggressive as Hannity on television. One prominent critic has been Al Franken in his books. He printed Colmes' name in a smaller font throughout his book, Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them by referring to Hannity and Colmes as "Hannity and Colmes". Colmes has often been referred to disparagingly as a "Democrat In Name Only" or a "Fox News liberal" [1].
Bob Garfield, interviewing Colmes for On the Media, asked him if he were "the human straw man" and a "foil" rather than an equal of Hannity. Colmes replied that if the conservative members of the audience saw him that way that was "their problem", and said "It's more fun for me to be in a situation like this [where much of the audience disagrees with him] than to preach to the choir!" [2]
Conservative Jewish pundit Ben Shapiro has attacked Colmes, declaring him a self-hating Jew for some of his views on Israeli military policy.[3] Also on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Jon Stewart will refer to his show as "Hannity and Whatever".
Trivia
- Colmes was the last voice heard on 66 WNBC and counted down the time before WNBC was replaced by WFAN.
- Colmes was also the last voice heard on WEVD when it signed off for the last time, being replaced by ESPN Radio.
References
- ^ An Aggressive Conservative vs. a "Liberal to be Determined" By Steve Rendall
- ^ No Liberal Limbaughs onthemedia.org
- ^ Self-hating Jews and the Jewish state by Ben Shapiro
External links
