A Cheer for Phil Donahue

For several years now one of the most popular clips from the old Phil Donahue Show is an excerpt from an hour-long appearance of Milton Friedman on the show. What is remarkable is not so much that Donahue would host Friedman for an entire show, but that he would let Milton finish his answer. He didn’t interrupt or heckle or demagogue his guest. In fact he is courteous and polite to Friedman throughout.

Advertisement

Perhaps Donahue knew he was overmatched, but regardless it is unthinkable that The View or MSNBC or any other news outlet today would let a guest go on for as long as Donahue does in this clip.

Ed Morrissey

I was never a big fan of the afternoon-interview show genre, and Donahue was a big-time liberal, so I didn't watch much of it. What I did glean over the years was that while Donahue was opinionated and sometimes sanctimonious about it (as Steven notes), he was also gracious and not interested in sensationalizing his programming. He was the best in class in that era for that genre, and generally a class act to my recollection. 

RIP. 

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement