Back in 1996, cable news was still innocent, and even an evil Republican genius like Roger Ailes had to make a pretense of political objectivity. So Fox News Channel was careful to seek a token "Liberal To Be Determined" to balance Sean Hannity when the conservative pundit helped anchor the network's debut. These days CNN, MSNBC and Fox all carry unabashedly slanted shows on their lineups, so Fox apparently feels no compunction about giving Hannity formal title to the show he's always had his way with: The host will go it alone following co-host Alan Colmes' previously-announced departure, two sources told the Times.

Presumably Hannity fill the extra airtime shouting at invited guests and interviewing more Jew-fearing sources for his "investigations" into Barack Obama and other secret Muslims.

Though the idea of left-right balanced opinion shows has become passe (thanks in part to Jon Stewart's reaming of Crossfire), Fox News might have been better off going the other way. It can be fun to watch Hannity take it on the chin, as happened all too rarely on Hannity and Colmes. One exception was the clip above, in which Colmes slams Hannity over his double standard on marital affairs; below, Obama aide Robert Gibbs hounds Hannity over an anti-Semitic source.