Maybe Eric knew that he was going to have a panel that all agreed with each other...IOW, boring.
SOOOOO...he played devil's advocate by taking the unpopular view.
I often wonder if Alan Colmes does that just to make a friction between his side and Sean's...because I can't imagine that he really believes half of the crapola that he spews.
With Neal Gabler, you always have to assume he is agreeing with the "wrong" side...LOL
bttt
I think you're right. From what I've seen of the show, that seems to be his job, to toss provocative questions/statements into the fray, whatever his personal opinions are.