It appears MSNBC's Dan Abrams is shamefully mimicking colleague Keith Olbermann's somewhat successful strategy to bring in viewers by belittling his competition.

Think of it as the largely unwatched liberal media member's "If you can't beat 'em, bash 'em" motif.

Despite how pathetic it is, it's certainly worked for Olbermann, whose incessant invective aimed at Bill O'Reilly -- interspersed, of course, between vitriolic rants against any politician with an "R" after his or her name, especially if it ends with "Bush" -- has nearly doubled the "Countdown" host's audience to almost a cool million.

Now, the man that used to be Olbermann's boss -- mired in his own viewership slump as he continually gets trounced in his time slot by "Hannity & Colmes" to the tune of four to one! -- has decided to adopt the former sportcaster's strategy as evidenced by the following partial transcript of Wednesday's "Verdict" (video available here):

Git out yer shootin' irons and settle in for a blog duel, folks, because the inestimable Alan Colmes has answered to NewsBusters on his less than secret blog, LiberalLand.com. Mr. Colmes sent me a little email notice that he has answered to my ribbing of him on the 13th and I have the honor to reply in kind with a fisking of his latest.

Firstly, I will certainly admit that Mr. Colmes' guns might bark a little louder than your humble NewsBuster's (that's me, of course). After all, he has a TV show and a radio show, as well as a well-visited blog. On the other hand, I merely watch TV and have been but a radio show guest speaker... however, I DO blog on one of the most visited conservative sites on the Internet (that would be Newsbusters.org, naturally).

Brent Bozell, President of the Media Research Center which runs NewsBusters, appeared Friday night, at about 9:40 PM EST on the Fox News Channel's Hannity & Colmes -- with Ollie North filling in for Hannity. Topic: New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller's defense of his paper's hit piece on John McCain, Bozell’s call for his dismissal and how the attack has united conservatives.

MP3 audio clip (5 minutes)

Friday morning, Bozell appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal and you can watch an excerpt in this NewsBusters post or the entire 30-minute segment on C-SPAN’s site.

On Friday afternoon, the MRC distributed and posted this press release:

BOZELL: BILL KELLER MUST GO

MRC director of media analysis Tim Graham appeared on "Hannity & Colmes" on Friday night to discuss the David Shuster suspension over his suggestion that Chelsea Clinton was being "pimped out" by Hillary. Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes insisted both that Shuster was (a) dreadfully wrong and yet (b) over-punished for a verbal miscue. (FNC's transcript is here.)

Both hosts suggested that Tim was defending Shuster, which he denied. "Chelsea Clinton now is 27 years old. She is not the 13-year-old that moved into the White House. And the problem that — we have a much greater problem in the United States today — that she's been treated....with such an adoring tone. They really treat her like Saint Chelsea." Tim also said MSNBC had a double standard between Shuster and far wilder comments from Keith Olbermann: "Keith Olbermann could come on and say that Bush is responsible for killing 3,500 Americans. Or remember when he called Chris Wallace a monkey posing as a newscaster?"

Three years after the media firestorm over the sad case of Terry Schiavo, a similar battle being fought in the state of Delaware is currently flying under the mainstream media’s radar.

The Wilmington [Del.] News Journal, which is owned by Gannett, reported on Thursday that the parents of 23-year old Lauren Marie Richardson, whose brain was damaged by a heroin overdose in August 2006, are in court battling over whether to remove her feeding tube. Richardson was pregnant at the time of her overdose, and she was kept alive with the feeding tube and a respirator until the birth of her daughter in February 2007. Since then, Richardson has recovered enough that she no longer required the respirator.

One clear sign of just how powerful talk radio is today is the number of candidates and mainstream media types pointing fingers at leading conservative hosts for their influence.

The recent fixation on Rush Limbaugh's unfavorable position towards Republican presidential candidate John McCain is a fine example.

Conservative talker and Fox News host Sean Hannity has now been tossed into the campaign influence peddling ring by none other than Mike Huckabee who shared some criticisms of the outspoken radio and television personality with Florida's Herald Tribune last Friday:

I have to say, this little TV clip -- posted below -- shows how leftists can neither take a joke nor can they see what’s funny about their own leftism. On the Dec. 17th edition of Hannity & Colmes guest Charles Grodin decided that it would be, uh, funny to call host Sean Hannity a fascist and a Nazi. Yes, Charles Grodin lost the game violating Godwin’s Law, that states that if you are the first to call someone a Nazi in an argument you end meaningful discussion by heading for the cheapest, easiest, least applicable argument and name to call an opponent. Grodin’s knee jerk reaction, caused him to lose the game, but he did reveal his true feelings for that split second before he regained his composure and put his faux amiability back on.

Grodin was on H&C to flog his latest book titled "If I Only Knew Then: Learning From Our Mistakes," a book where a dozen or so liberals debase themselves by telling Grodin their mistakes in life. As Hannity points out, Grodin didn’t include any conservatives in his list. This oversight is probably for the obvious reason that Grodin probably doesn’t know any conservatives, never met one (Hannity aside) and wouldn’t deign to speak to one even if he did.

At about five minutes into the discussion about Grodin’s book, Hannity jokingly said that Grodin was a "left wing extremist," and this set Grodin off something fierce. In answer to Hannity’s ribbing an obviously angered Grodin called Hannity a "fascist," a "Nazi," and asked Hannity if he had co-hosted a show with "Goebbels" (as in Hitler’s propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels).

If Alan Colmes turns up at your Thanksgiving get-together sporting a couple shiners and a re-arranged smile, don't press the poor guy if he claims to have walked into a door. The FNC host just got clobbered by a certified DC heavyweight -- Bob Novak.

Novak was a guest on this evening's Hannity & Colmes. Colmes first questioned the venerable reporter about the item he published this week regarding the Clinton campaign's claim to have a scandalous story about Barack Obama. For the record, Novak stated this evening that since first reporting the story, "I've had substantiation from another source, another very, very good source, who with his own ears heard Clinton people putting out" allegations about Obama.

That's when Colmes decided to press his luck. Mistake.

View video here.

Here's something you don't see every day: a well-known liberal journalist slamming the owner of Daily Kos, Markos Moulitsas.

Yet, that's what happened on Wednesday's "Hannity & Colmes" when NPR's Juan Williams was invited on to discuss the recent hiring of Moulitsas by Newsweek.

In a rather stunning turn of events, Williams seemed absolutely disgusted by the announcement (video available here, relevant section begins at minute 3:37):

Former NBC "Nightly News" anchor Tom Brokaw appeared on the November 14 edition of Fox News’ "Hannity and Colmes" to discuss his new book "Boom!" Through the course of the interview, Brokaw rehashed the 1960's and its impact today. Brokaw admitted he dressed his daughters up as hippies, marched in some rallies, declined an offer for Nixon’s press secretary, and puffed Hillary Clinton.

Co-host Alan Colmes asked Brokaw if he was "tempted...to be sucked in" to the culture of the 1960's. Brokaw admitted that to a large degree he was.

"Now, as I say in the book was, you know, it was entertaining to be in Southern California, and so on weekends, sure, I'd put on bell bottom trousers and take my little girls dressed in their little hippy outfits, go out to the Renaissance Fair, we had a friend who was a hippy potter, and we’d hang out with him, and then Monday mornings I'd put back on my button down collared shirt, and my suit and tie."

Brokaw also admitted to participating in some demonstrations, but also denied buying into the more extremist rhetoric.

Brent Bozell, President of the MRC which runs NewsBusters, appeared Monday night on FNC's Hannity & Colmes to discuss his new book published by Crown Forum, Whitewash: What the Media Won't Tell You About Hillary Clinton, But Conservatives Will. Sean Hannity called the book “timely,” hailed how he “loved” it and admired how it “weaves together a story about Hillary that the media won't tell.” Hannity and Alan Colmes also asked for Bozell's reaction to the low box office numbers for Robert Redford's anti-Iraq war movie, Lions for Lambs. Bozell suggested: “People don't want to go to a movie to see America's military trashed.”

Bozell is scheduled to appear Tuesday morning at about 7:40 AM EST on FNC's Fox & Friends and later in the day on CNBC's 7pm EST Kudlow & Company. He's also doing a lot of radio interviews over the next few days.

Video clip of the Hannity & Colmes interview above or download it (6:36): Windows Media (12.8 MB at 256 Kbps) or Real (5 MB at lower quality 100 Kbps), plus MP3 audio (2.3 MB).

Rosie O'Donnell on MSNBC.

When you think about it, it makes a lot of sense.

After all, what could be better than three consecutive hours of leftwing invective starting with Chris Matthews, followed by Keith Olbermann, and ending with Rosie's ridiculous rants replete with repugnantly rude ruminations such as only she can regurgitate?

It's a liberal cable network's dream.

As reported by the New York Times Monday (emphasis added throughout, h/t NBer motherbelt):

Boxing enthusiasts saw quite a barnburner Tuesday evening when conservative author Ann Coulter took on liberal media member Alan Colmes on Fox News's "Hannity and Colmes."

As this was the first time the pair met since Coulter's now famous "Jews need to be perfected" comment, it was a metaphysical certitude this issue would surface.

Not surprisingly, Colmes did not disappoint, as irrespective of any other pressing matters facing the nation, this was the first topic he raised with his guest, and in so doing, set off quite a firestorm when he said Coulter was using "the classic language of anti-Semitism."

As this is just too marvelous to interrupt with needless commentary, what follows is a partial transcript of this delicious battle between right and left with a video available here for your added entertainment pleasure (h/t Hot Air):

What's rarer than Al Gore flying commercial? An honest media discussion about Cuba's devastating problems, especially the barely functional medical system.

In the week since the October 10 “Hannity & Colmes” (video Pt. 1 & Pt. 2), other than some conservative blogs, the media ignored the disturbing images that revealed the truth about Cuba's much-vaunted health care system. 

The hosts interviewed Cuban expat George Utset and showed pictures from his website The Real Cuba as well as the exclusive footage that he obtained from Cuban physician Darsi Ferrer Ramirez.

The images showed dilapidated and crumbling hospitals with patients covered in flies, broken windows, laundry hanging from open windows, filthy bathrooms with holes in the floor and insect-infested rooms (view footage here). Since this disgrace is hidden behind the Castro Curtain, the media don't seem to care.

MRC president and NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell appeared on the October 15 "Hannity & Colmes" to discuss the New York Times ignoring retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez's recent complaints about shoddy, biased, and inaccurate media coverage of the war in Iraq.

Video (3:36): Real (2.64) and Windows (2.20 MB), plus MP3 audio (1.64 MB).

Among other complaints, Sanchez hit the media for its "unwillingness to accurately and prominently correct your mistakes and your agenda-driven biases sometimes contribute to this corrosive environment."

Below is the opening exchange between Bozell and liberal co-host Alan Colmes:

If you thought the proper way to refer to terrorists who commit violence in the name of Islam was by using such terms as "Islamic terrorists," "Islamic militants," or even "Islamic extremists," be on notice that you may be offending Alan Colmes. In fact, even if you refer to the terrorist group "Islamic Jihad" by that name, which is the name the group uses to refer to itself, you're still not in the clear.

Friday's "Hannity and Colmes" featured a discussion of a recently released Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll which found that, when asked the question, "Do you personally think the world would be better off if the United States loses the war in Iraq?" 19 percent of Democrats answered "yes" while 20 percent answered "don't know," leaving only 62 percent who definitely disagreed with the idea that the world might be better off if America lost. By contrast, 87 percent of Republicans and 76 percent of Independents disagreed with the idea that a loss by America might be a good thing for the world. (Transcript follows)

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (R-Iran)

This week, Alan Colmes proved, yet again, that Fox News has its own liberals willing to say crazy things. The host asserted that right-wingers should have embraced the visit by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad because the dictator is a "conservative" like them.

Those Hateful Republicans

Speaking of angry liberals, MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann has claimed that the reason that "white wing" Republican presidential candidates are skipping minority debates is because they want to re-segregate America. Of course, given the host’s insensitive comments during a football broadcast, perhaps he shouldn’t be throwing stones.