PHIL OF IT: "CPO Sparkey" of Team Stryker has Phil Donahue's number down cold:

The reason why Phil's new show has done so badly is because the people can see that the "the godfather of talk TV" has no clothes. Bill O'Reilley doesn't pander; he calls people to account for their words, doesn't let them evade questions or go on filibusters to prevent others from talking, and to stop such tactics Bill must interrupt them. This often shocks Pundits et al. of the left who've grown used to being slow-pitched by like-thinking journalists. When I saw Barney Frank red with rage on Bill's show one night, I could imagine him thinking, "You're only supposed to only do this to THEM!" You can call it rude, but I call it compelling TV journalism.

Another quote from [Bruce Kluger of USA Today's] hit-piece:

Therein lies the problem: Donahue has not lost one bit of smarts since his heyday. American TV has.

That's the problem with so many on the left: they're bigots. They think that most everyone in flyover country is an uneducated rube. Honestly, Phil's tactics are well known, just ask Neal Boortz. Yet, when the people start to see the snake oil salesmen for what they are, it's not the message or the messenger, but the receiver who's at fault for not accepting the message. It's obvious to me, anyway, that such left-leaning pundits really only care about the "right" kind of people.

But Obi-Wan was killed by a stronger version of one his peers, wasn't he? I guess the symbolism holds up: O'Donahue is number one in the cable TV ratings and Phil may be collecting unemployment checks in the not-too-distant future.