A look at some of the frequent guests on "The O'Reilly Factor," "Hannity and Colmes" and other Fox News shows.
5. GERALDO RIVERA
He will say or do anything that promotes himself, and sometimes his head seems as empty as Al Capone's vault. Among his more recent exploits: Geraldo claimed to be reporting from the scene of a "friendly fire" incident in Afghanistan that turned out to be hundreds of miles elsewhere, and he was kicked out of Iraq when he drew a map in the sand on live TV that the U.S. military deemed a security violation.
REDEEMING FACTORS: Geraldo took a chair in the face during a fracas with Nazi punks on his talk show in 1988; more recently, he did some tough reporting after Katrina but again was tempted to steal the spotlight from the storm victims.
4. ANN COULTER
As Al Franken wrote, this woman might actually be insane, and the level of her madness is only matched by Fox host Sean Hannity. What comes out of her mouth is truly incredible, if probably calculated for maximum shock value. Usually, Ann operates in absurd hyerbole and simple vitriol, but on occasion she gets tripped by the facts, as when she swore up and down that Canada had sent troops to Vietnam during the conflict there. And then there are the questions about her voter registration in Florida (where else?).
REDEEMING FACTOR: Ann is so knee-jerk that she's an inspiration for drinking games. For example, if Ted Kennedy's name is mentioned, Ann will respond with something about Chappaquiddick within one minute. If she does, drink. If she doesn't, drink twice!
3. OLIVER NORTH
A former Marine and National Security Council staffer, North would seem appropriate for the part of "talking head" on matters of war and security. But as the central figure in the Iran-Contra scandal, he has no credibility lecturing us on the best course of action in the Middle East, or on anything else. Indeed, he has shown a willingness to bargain, on the sly, with rogue states. With Iran emerging as the new threat, it will be interesting to see how North spins his way out of his activities in the 1980s.
REDEEMING FACTOR: At least he didn't win a seat in the Senate.
2. DICK MORRIS
This political hack has no loyalty to anyone — not to those who hire him, not to those who think like him or even those who marry him. Morris has worked for Republicans such as Jesse Helms and Democrats such as Bill Clinton. Morris was ousted as Clinton's confidante after a prostitution scandal, and ever since, he's been on anti-Hillary jihad. Morris continues to try to cast doom and gloom over anything Hillary does, but his spells do nothing to his intended target. Indeed, Morris usually only succeeds in making himself look more idiotic. Recently, he predicted that the New York senator would face a tough fight from Jeanine Pirro, but Pirro's candidacy sank as soon as it started when a page of her speech went missing on live TV. ("Do you have Page 10?" D'oh!)
REDEEMING FACTOR: Helped Bill Clinton win a second term, although that really wasn't that remarkable considering the opponent was Bob Dole.
1. MARK FUHRMAN
This loathsome detective confirmed everyone's worst fears about law enforcement in Los Angeles: a racist cop who may have tainted evidence. Fuhrman's disastrous testimony in the O.J. Simpson trial was a major factor in Simpson's acquittal (asking O.J. to try on that glove didn't help the prosecution either). On the stand, Fuhrman denied using racial epithets, but O.J.'s "Dream Team" proved him a liar by producing audio tapes of him dropping N-bomb after N-bomb. Nowadays, the creepy Fuhrman churns out sleazy books, like the one about the Terry Schiavo situation, in which the disgraced detective casts blame on husband Michael Schiavo. Not even Jeb Bush would touch that one.
REDEEMING FACTOR: None.
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