Joe Conason says conservative leaders are ordering their minions to avoid CNN's new Crossfire program because the people "from the left" are no longer really moderates who let bombastic right-wingers steamroll them.

Most political talk shows have historically had all the earmarks of a fixed fight. Which is, of course, exactly what conservatives prefer about the discourse on Fox News Channel, the opinion network where Sean Hannity roughs up poor Alan Colmes every night, and where Morton Kondracke is mistaken for a liberal because he sits next to Fred Barnes. They aren't content to dominate Fox and most of NBC's cable programming, where the Wall Street Journal editorial board enjoys its own featured weekly segment and Alan Keyes (a loony even by his own movement's standards) now appears on his own nightly show.

I may have to give this one a TiVo thumbs up.