As I understand your post, you attribute this “about face” to a desire on his part to maximize ratings. I readily acknowledge that the profit motive should never be cavalierly discarded. It is entirely possible, as you suggest, that Dr. Keyes has simply subordinated all of the beliefs that he claimed to hold last year for crass commercial reasons. Obviously, I cannot prove that your hypothesis is incorrect or that it is not an important factor in explaining the dramatic shift in Alan’s public posture.
As a neo-Keyesian, however, I am somewhat reluctant to adopt the suggestion that Dr. Keyes has consciously chosen to place his personal pecuniary interest before the moral imperatives that he has spoken about so often in the past. Instead, I prefer to view his outlandish criticisms of President Bush last year as an anomaly attributable to the profound post-election grief and anguish that he endured following the election of 2000.
Our explanations for Alan’s "about face" do differ. I prefer mine because it is grounded in compassion and not malice. I am certain you noticed that just the other night, Alan devoted a portion of his show to the Andrea Yates case. Perhaps that was his way of sharing with us just a glimpse of what he now knows to be the extent to which emotional and mental instability can influence the way we conduct ourselves.