Editing Alan Colmes (section)

==Criticism==
While Colmes described himself as a liberal and his Fox News biography touted him as "a hard-hitting liberal", he has sometimes been referred to disparagingly as a "token liberal" or a "[[Democrat in Name Only|Fox News liberal]]".<ref>[http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1158 ''An Aggressive Conservative vs. a Liberal to be Determined''] By Steve Rendall</ref> Colmes told ''[[USA Today]]'' in 1995 that he considered himself "quite moderate".<ref>{{Cite news |first=DeRosa |last=Robin|title=Tuning in to high-wattage talk show hosts |work=USA Today |publisher=Gannett Company, Inc. |department=Life|page=7D |date=February 1, 1995|quote=I think I'm quite moderate&nbsp;... I follow Limbaugh on about 100 stations and I precede other conservatives, so I may be the only person giving a different point of view. Colmes had long been a devout fan of the guitarist Eric Clapton.|id={{ProQuest|306748750}}}}</ref> In an article he wrote in 2013, Colmes described himself as "very liberal".<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/guns-cowards-in-the-senate-and-the-courageous-kay-bailey-hutchison/ | work=Fox News | title=Guns, cowards in the Senate and the courageous Kay Bailey Hutchison | date=April 19, 2013}}</ref>

During his run on ''Hannity & Colmes'', Colmes was criticized for being less charismatic and telegenic than [[Sean Hannity]], and just a "seat-filler" for the liberal side.<ref>Cohen, Jeff. ''Cable News Confidential: My Misadventures in Corporate Media''. 2006, pp. 54–5</ref> Some newspapers reported him as being Hannity's "sidekick".<ref name="rendall" /> Former Democratic Senator [[Al Franken]] criticized Colmes in his book ''[[Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them]]'', saying he refused to ask tough questions during debates and neglected to challenge erroneous claims made by Hannity or his guests.<ref name=rendall/> Franken used a smaller font in his book when he addressed "Colmes" by name<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/207987/al-frankens-ugly-schtick-byron-york|title=Al Franken's Ugly Schtick|last=York|first=Byron|date=September 10, 2003|newspaper=National Review|access-date=February 23, 2017|language=en}}</ref> and claimed that Colmes did not speak as much as Hannity during the show. Some liberal critics questioned whether both hosts received equal time to interview guests.<ref name="rendall">{{cite web | last = Rendall | first = Steve | title = An Aggressive Conservative vs. a "Liberal to be Determined" | url=http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1158 | publisher=[[Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting]]| access-date = March 9, 2007 | archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070313190650/http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1158| archive-date= March 13, 2007 | url-status= live}}</ref> Some of Colmes' liberal critics, notably commentators at [[Media Matters for America]], praised him toward the end of the show's run. He began to cite their reports in interviews with some conservative guests on the program.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mediamatters.org/video/2006/06/15/colmes-noted-missed-opportunities-to-eliminate/135963|title=Colmes noted missed opportunities to eliminate Zarqawi prior to war that went unreported by media after terrorist's death|last=Morlino|first=Rob|date=June 15, 2006|website=Media Matters for America|access-date=February 23, 2017}}</ref><ref>[http://mediamatters.org/items/200501310003 "Colmes confronted Williams with inconsistent statements on No Child Left Behind"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090226102254/http://mediamatters.org/items/200501310003 |date=February 26, 2009 }}, Media Matters for America</ref>

[[Bob Garfield]], interviewing Colmes for ''[[On the Media]]'' in 2003, asked him if he was "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 than to preach to the choir."<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.wnyc.org/story/130997-no-liberal-limbaughs/|title=No Liberal Limbaughs|newspaper=WNYC|access-date=February 23, 2017|language=en}}</ref>