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Alan Colmes, a top-rated television commentator who, as co-host with conservative Sean Hannity of Hannity & Colmes, became best known as the liberal in the lions den of Fox News, has died at a hospital in Manhattan. He was 66.

His wife, Jocelyn Elise Crowley, said that he died late Feb. 22 or early Feb. 23. The cause was lymphoma.

Mr. Colmes joined the fledging Fox News Channel in 1996 and hosted the political talk show with Hannity for 12 years. It became the channels longest-running prime time program before Mr. Colmess departure from the show in 2008.

Mr. Colmes gamely endured withering criticism from some liberals, who perceived a betrayal in his presence on Fox, which was founded by Roger Ailes and Rupert Murdoch as a counterbalance to what many conservatives saw as the left-wing bias in the news media.

Some liberals have a problem with me simply because I work at Fox and nothing I do short of storming off the set in a rage will get them to respect that I work there, an interviewer for The Huffington Post, Steve Young, quoted Mr. Colmes as saying.

I feel quite lucky to have the platforms I have on both television and radio, Mr. Colmes continued. Even if everything its detractors say about Fox were true, the most liberal of liberal attitudes would be that one would get credit for being in the lions den. After all I do have the biggest audience of all the liberals.

Alan Samuel Colmes was born on Sept. 24, 1950,and grew up on Long Island, N.Y. His father, an auctioneer, ran jewelry stores with his mother.

Mr. Colmes graduated in 1971 from Hofstra University on Long Island before venturing into radio and then television.

Hannity, who knew Mr. Colmes from his own radio work, joined Fox at its inception and was slated to host a show privately dubbed Hannity & LTBD Liberal to Be Determined. The liberal to be determined turned out to be Mr. Colmes.

Mr. Colmess books included Red, White and Liberal: How Left Is Right & Right Is Wrong (2003) and Thank The Liberals* *For Saving America (And Why You Should) (2012).

Survivors include his wife of 13 years, Jocelyn Elise Crowley of New York City; and a sister.

This obituary is a developing story and will be updated.

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Alan Colmes, co-host of 'Hannity & Colmes' and liberal in 'lion's den' of Fox News, dies at 66 - Washington Post

The first congressional recess of the new Congress is playing out exactly how a group of dejected former Democratic Hill staffers had hoped in the wake of President Trump's victory.

Liberal activists across the country have apparently read a 26-page "how to" manual created by a new non-profit called "Indivisible" and are flocking to Republican lawmakers' town hall meetings, ribbon-cutting ceremonies and district offices to support the Affordable Care Act and protest Trump.

"Indivisible: A practical guide for resisting the Trump agenda" was written by former Democratic staffers that outlines how progressives can use the most successful tactics employed by the Tea Party to their advantage.

Just as the guide's main authors envisioned, the Tea Party town hall shoe is now on the other foot.

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Some Republicans welcome the feedback while others are avoiding open-ended forums, opting for small group meetings, conference calls and closed events.

Videos of rowdy meetings dot social media sites, with members requiring police presence to control crowds and hecklers peppering Republicans with questions and jeers.

Residents of Charleston scoffed when Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., repeated Trump's claim that Mexico will pay for the wall he wants to build along the U.S.-Mexico border. Virginians broke into choruses of "Thanks Obama!" when Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., said the economy is doing well.

A women's group called Ultraviolet, gathered scores of supporters outside of House Speaker Paul Ryan's Janesville, Wis., office Wednesday to deliver nearly 86,000 post cards urging him not to repeal Obamacare. They came with guitars, cake and a singing telegram, signs reading "Impeach Trump" and "Hands off our health care" but Ryan was in Texas touring the southern border.

For members who refuse to hold open meetings or have canceled town halls, locals are posting "missing" signs and declaring them "AWOL."

Also from the Washington Examiner

"I think one of the most pivotal moments in modern American history was his immediate withdrawal from TPP."

02/23/17 2:37 PM

Trump and some Republicans are dismissing the demonstrations as paid affairs but "Indivisible" says neither its founders nor its members accept salaries or payment from any political group or organization.

"We simply are providing constituents with the information and tools to make their voices heard," spokeswoman Sarah Dohl told the Washington Examiner.

"As of today, we have a group registered in every congressional district in the country. The website has been visited over 13 million times. We're floored by the momentum building and the number of people showing up and speaking out for the first time to hold their members of Congress accountable. These constituents are effectively changing the narrative from coast to coast, and everywhere in between, and we're more confident than ever that, together, we will win," Dohl said.

Trump took to his favorite medium to refute the authenticity of the protests.

"The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists. Sad!" he tweeted Tuesday evening.

Also from the Washington Examiner

"Hold us accountable to what we promised, and delivering what we promised," Bannon said.

02/23/17 2:28 PM

"Indivisible" denies "targeting" any specific member but Republican offices with close ties to Trump think they are being singled-out.

Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., who was the first lawmaker to endorse Trump has never held a town hall he prefers meeting constituents in smaller groups his spokesman explained but voters inspired by "Indivisible" are hounding him to hold one, his office said.

Under the banner "reclaim recess," former Labor Secretary Robert Reich takes to a white board to draw how Democrats can make Republicans feel the pressure.

"No town hall, no problem," "Indivisible" explains.

"Something strange has been happening in the last month or so: Members of Congress from all over the country are going missing," the group wrote on its website. "They're still turning up for votes on Capitol Hill, and they're still meeting with lobbyists and friendly audiences back homebut their public event schedules are mysteriously blank. Odd."

Lawmakers "do not want to look weak or unpopular and they know that Trump's agenda is very, very unpopular," it reads. Some "have clearly made the calculation that they can lay low, avoid their constituents, and hope the current storm blows over. It's your job to change that calculus."

Their strategy is apparently paying off in terms of making some members of Congress look silly.

"Heller now says he'll do a town hall if 'no applauding and no booing.' Seriously? He's a U.S. senator!" well-known Nevada pundit Jon Ralston tweeted Wednesday about Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev.

Continued here:
Liberals copy Tea Party tactics to protest Trump at town halls - Washington Examiner

It is absolutely comical to watch various elements of liberalism scream, pout, march and spew vulgarities since that paragon of virtue, Hillary Clinton, lost the election and messed up their playhouse.

It is astounding that a vulgar-mouthed woman who calls herself Madonna seems to be the spokesperson for todays liberal woman.

It is sad to see that our public universities have become liberal indoctrination centers as opposed to education centers.

Please witness the current trend for rude mobs to shout down any speaker with whom they disagree.

This culminated in violence recently on the University of California, Berkeley campus with ninja-clad rioters throwing fire bombs at police. Shades of the Ku Klux Klan!

Want to know whats wrong with our country?

Its called humanisim, where many are so progressive that they think they are wiser than God.

Dont believe it? Just look at the menu of sexual ideas and practices many worship, which God clearly states are sin.

Galatians 6:7 states: Be not deceived; God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.

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Liberals pout, weep and stage protests - Greensboro News & Record

Chuck Grassley just cant escape death panels.

Back in 2009, the Iowa senator suggested that the Affordable Care Act might create something akin to a death panel, where the government decides which patients survive. In remarks at a town hall, he seemed to endorse the idea that the health care law had a program meant to ration end-of-life medical care. (It didnt.)

This week, eight years later, Grassley had another town hall, and death panels came up again. But this time, the term meant something very different because Obamacare supporters, not critics, were the ones saying it.

Grassleys quote at the 2009 town hall became infamous, echoing through the following months and years of health care debate. And I don't have any problem with things like living wills, but they ought to be done within the family, Grassley said then. We should not have a government program that determines you're going to pull the plug on Grandma.

The death panel myth had incredible staying power. PolitiFact ended up naming it the lie of the year in 2009. The group cited Grassley as a prominent Republican [who] didnt reject the death panels claim. Six years later, in 2015, some people still believed it: A Vox poll that year found 26 percent of Republicans and 12 percent of Democrats believed the ACA created a government panel that helps make decisions about patients end-of-life care.

But just as Obama eventually embraced the once-derisive term Obamacare, liberals are trying to take back the radioactive death panels phrase in the second round of health reform debate. At a town hall meeting Tuesday in Iowa, Grassley faced accusations that Obamacare repeal would be akin to a death panel, as it could end health coverage for millions of Americans.

Over 20 million will lose coverage, and with all due respect, sir, youre the man that talked about the death panels, an Iowa farmer who relies on the health law argued at the event. We're going to create one great big death panel in this country that people cant afford to get insurance.

Grassley helped the death panel myth take off. He was a legislator who told his constituents they were right to worry about the government pulling the plug on Grandma. But eight years later, hes facing a quite different argument from his constituents: that ending the Affordable Care would pull the plug on them if they lose coverage.

Why has the death panel myth had such staying power? It arguably taps into fears of rationing, the idea that some people wont get the medical care they need because the government doesnt want to spend the money. This is not a uniquely American problem. Other countries, including Canada and Britain, run into the same issue. But the fear from Grassleys constituents in 2009 and 2017 is essentially coming from the same place: a worry that those who need access to medical care may find themselves denied.

It saved my life': Talk of Obamacare repeal worries addicts: In Kentucky, which has been ravaged worse than almost any other state by fentanyl, heroin and other drugs, Tyler Witten went into rehab at Medicaid's expense after the state expanded the program under a provision of the act. Until then, he had been addicted to painkillers for more than a decade. "It saved my life," he said. Adam Beam and Carla K. Johnson, Associated Press

McConnell-linked group to hardliners: It's repeal AND replace: The group's polling and ads are hitting at a critical time, with Freedom Caucus members and other hardliners saying they're mostly interested in repealing the law and then working out a replacement later. Outside conservative groups also worry that the longer Republicans try to agree on a replacement, the longer the repeal effort will take, giving Democrats and progressive groups time to mobilize against it. Jonathan Swan, Axios

ObamaCare fix hinges on Medicaid clash in Senate: Sen. John Thune (R-SD) calls it the single thorniest issue of the entire debate. You dont want to punish or penalize states that didnt expand [Medicaid], but the states that did expand are going to say, We dont want to get punished for expanding, either. To me, thats probably the thorniest and most difficult issue to resolve, said Thune, the chair of the Senate Republican Conference. Alexander Bolton, the Hill

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Today in Obamacare: liberals are taking back the term "death panels" - Vox

I promised myself that Id spend less of 2017 dissecting the provocations of assorted jerks and frauds.I held out for a while. But as Milo Yiannopouloss reign as the latest conservative enfant terrible crumbled this weekend over video of him suggesting that very young teenagers can consent to sex with adults, with organizers of the Conservative Political Action Conference rescinding a speaking invitation that they had extended to him and a conservative imprint of Simon & Schuster canceling his $250,000 book contract, it seemed worthwhile to note one particular element of his confidence game.

Yiannopouloss rise coincided with a new wave of protest on college campuses and was directly facilitated by conservative college students who booked him in an attempt to raise even more ire from their liberal peers. At the same time that conservatives were criticizing liberal college students as vulnerable snowflakes making unreasonable requests of their administrations, conservative college students and groups were enabling the rise of an intellectual fraud at the cost of their own funds and credibility.

Self-described troll and conservative writer Milo Yiannopoulos resigned from Breitbart News on Feb. 21, but his far-right speeches and provocative comments aren't going anywhere. (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post)

Utopianism can be a form of naivete. Given the sheer variety of students who gather on most college campuses,it would take an impractical if not Orwellian effort for administrators and faculty to anticipate their students every need. And given the inevitable contradictions between those needs and desires, it would be impossibleto accommodate every single one of them.Hoping for a world free of economicprecariousness, myriad forms of discrimination and the unkindnesses of youthmay be impractical, given present political conditions and university politics. The solutions that the left and liberal college students propose may even be downright undesirable. But as forms of callowness go, wanting to improve the world is hardly the worst.

Contrast the wide-eyed earnestness of progressive college students, for which theyve earned so much criticism, with the gullibility of their conservative peers,whose weakness for Yiannopouloss shtick was whatinspired the American Conservative Union to say yes when Yiannopoulos asked to speak at CPAC.

In keeping with the broader themes of our political moment, Yiannopoulos is less a conservative than a fellow traveler who vexes liberals for profit.

Yiannopouloss embrace of the Gamergate backlash against the diversity movement in video games helped make him a media figure in the United States, but it seemed like a canny calculation rather than a genuine commitment. His outrageous statements about everything from Jewish control of the media to the Black Lives Matter movement to transgender people have long seemed less the product of a genuine worldview than a search for buttons to press, accompanying the jabs with naughty snickers. To regard him as genuinely politically conservative requires ignorance of conservative principles. To see his act as outrageous rather than derivative requires an unfamiliarity with subjects including art and gay history.

And yet, conservative college students were willing to keep booking Yiannopoulos, since demonstrating that we are not these special snowflakes who need safe spaces, as the organizer of one such event at Yale put it, apparently counts as high principle.

The University of California at Berkeley canceled a talk by inflammatory Breitbart writer Milo Yiannopoulos and put the campus on lockdown after intense protests broke out on Feb. 1. (Video: The Washington Post / Photo: AP)

The tour stops themselves may not have been particularlyprofitable for Yiannopoulos. The production was deliberately over-the-top in a fashionintended to make a splash inan upcoming documentary. And Yiannopoulos on at least one occasion personally picked up the security fee a college was charging to maintain order at his appearance.

The real currency of Yiannopouloss tour wasnt speaking fees. It was ginning upthe proteststhat would make for flashy documentary footage and stoking the controversy that has made someone like Ann Coulter a right-wing publishing mainstay. If the entire case for your importance is that you make a certain class of people angry, then you have to keep making those people angry, upping the rhetorical ante all the way, to preserve the sense that you are dangerous and thus capable of moving books and movie tickets. Conservative college students proved more than willing to provide Yiannopoulos with the forums to do that, in some cases paying for extra security at the events in question. Yiannopouloss college tour wasnt merely about ginning up the incidents he needed to survive as a going concern; it was a rather nifty way to get other people to pick up at least some of the tab.

So the next time conservatives feel tempted to decry the callowness of campus liberals, they might take a pause to consider why so many college conservatives allowed themselves to be taken in by a dubious huckster with little to offer the long-term development of right-leaning ideas and institutions on college campuses. Its a statement of conservative pride in the movements supposed clear thinkingto paraphrase Irving Kristol and suggest that liberals, once mugged by reality, will come to their senses. Anyone who went into business, however temporarily, with Milo Yiannopoulos should come to terms with the fact that theyve just beenswindled, period.

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If college liberals are so naive, why did the campus right fall for Yiannopoulos? - Washington Post