I talked to an MSNBC employee, and asked if they were serious in hiring Tucker Carlson.

The person who asked for anonymity said, "Look at the map."

I said, "Do you mean FOX's red state map?"

He said, "It's just a trend now, these things go in cycles."

I said, "There is a great hunger to hear an intelligent liberal voice on TV. If you hire Carlson, there will be a lot of angry people."

He said, "Look at the map."

I said, "Didn't Phil Donohue have good enough ratings while he was on?"

He said, "His ratings were terrible and that is the reason why he was let go."

I said, "Wasn't it because of his anti-war views?"

He said, "No! Absolutely not! His ratings were horrible."

He would neither confirm or deny whether Tucker was offered a job, but this conversation clearly indicates that MSNBC will continue to lean right in its attempts to emulate Fox News.

From Eonline : In a statement, Donahue accused MSNBC of trying to "out-fox Fox" by hiring more right-leaning hosts. He also said his show's ratings were better than anything else on the net's prime-time roster and that MSNBC suits didn't give his show a chance to flourish.

"It took almost three years for Fox [News Channel] to overtake CNN," Donahue said. "We had six months."