It doesn't get more "prime" than the 8 p.m. time slot for the three major cable news networks. But for the past several years, CNN hasn't been a player, losing in the ratings not only to the most watched man in cable news, Fox's Bill O'Reilly, but they've also been eclipsed in the past several years by Keith Olbermann at MSNBC.
First Paula Zahn went down in the ratings, then Campbell Brown. Now, with new management in place, CNN debuted its much heralded Parker-Spitzer broadcast last night, starring syndicated conservative columnist Kathleen Parker and Eliot Spitzer, the former disgraced Attorney General and Governor of the great state of New York whose meteoric career seemingly went down in flames when he
The show started out with a bang (no double entendre intended, but when talking about Spitzer, it's difficult), with Spitzer, who made himself into a star on the left when he took on Wall Street corruption in his eight years as NY AG, called for President Obama to fire Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, never a favorite of the progressive community (who should be happy that Larry Summers and Rahm Emanuel have left the West Wing).
While Spitzer's opening was dynamic, Parker's was a bit dull, discussing Sarah Palin.
Parker has been one of those conservatives (along with David Frum, David Brooks and others) who have been quite critical of Palin from the beginning, not believing she has the gravitas to play on the big stage. But in an interesting exchange, Spitzer chastised Parker for the columnist's declaration that since she believes Palin will ultimately not run for President, she should do everybody a favor and announce that right now, before the 2012 campaign begins in earnest.
The show got even better with their first dueling group of guests, conservative blogger Andrew Brietbart and columnist/author Thomas Frank, formerly of the Wall Street Journal and best known for his 2004 book, What's the Matter with Kansas?, and is rarely seen on cable TV.
