I’m not sure what else I learned from this four-minute food fight, except that “Dinosaurs on the Fringe” would make an awesome band name. Sean Hannity starts off the fun by pointing out that progressive Democrats have run America’s cities for decades and asks Cornel West to explain why policing and education in them remain problematic. West starts talking over Hannity even before the set-up ends, Leo Terrell says that West is offering nothing more than “old talking points,” and … it’s on (via Townhall):

“You’re not my brother,” shouted Terrell. He added that West was hurting black people with his positions.

“Are you a Christian too? Then, check yourself, negro,” shouted West.

“Oh, my god—you have lost control,” said Terrell in response. “You’re a dinosaur.”

Throw in a couple of who do you think you ares from West and a couple of fringes from Terrell, and you’ve got about as much substance as you’ll get out of that. Hannity at one point gamely tries to restore order to this verbal brawl, but then wisely retreats until the commercial break. Why interrupt 275 seconds of pure cable-news gold? Spend the time prepping the next segment, I say.

Viewers might rightly feel a bit nostalgic for the bad old days of cable-news programming after watching this segment. The talking-head programming started off as discussions with experts, but Crossfire set a new model of conflict for conflict’s sake, and suddenly everyone was fighting for a while. As the cable channels embraced hard ideological positions these have become less frequent, mainly because audiences have much less tolerance for opposing points of view even from guests these days. This segment exists as a demonstration that these issues don’t break along traditional partisan lines; it is, as Terrell says (yells, really), a case of the “fringe” getting a momentary platform.

That’s about all we get to learn from this meltdown, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy it in a World Wrestling Federation sense. And Dinosaurs on the Fringe, man. Can’t wait for their first album, “Talking Points.” I’m available on bass.