I've heard it from Suze Orman, I've read it in Personal Finance for Dummies, but why do these life insurance agents keep telling me that Cash Value is better at protection than Term?

Its the same protection between the two as far as a basic death benefit goes, but you need to choose between these two based on your individual investment needs. Term is low cost and meant for purely a death benefit. Cash value or Universal life you can "overfund" and use that excess sort like a savings account that you can pull tax free income from in the future. Most UL's have a guaranteed rate of return and is tied to the growth of the S&P 500 (with a cap). Hope this helps.
Your heirs DO get the death benefit PLUS the cash value without higher premiums TAX FREE. Find an independant financial planner who can show you in better detail.

As a sales person I'm sorry to say...... the commission structure for whole life is strongly more favorable than term.

What's worse..... the commission structure for annuities is over the wall. 95% of the people that buy them would be better off with another product.