Monday brings the debut of CNN's new "Parker Spitzer," an 8pm ET political discussion program hosted by columnist Kathleen Parker and the ex-Democratic Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer, who resigned two years ago in the midst of a prostitution scandal.
The new show was championed by then-CNN President Jonathan Klein, who was fired by the network [1] on Friday. "Eliot Spitzer still has a lot of ideas to contribute and a lot of things to say. And I think our viewers are going to find him a very interesting person to tune into every night," Klein enthused back on June 27 on CNN's Reliable Sources.
As a reality check on CNN's effort to rehabilitate this scandal-scarred liberal, MRC intern Alex Fitzsimmons and I pulled together quotes from CNN's coverage of Spitzer's scandal back in March 2008. MRC video editor Bob Parks turned the clips we found into a polished video presentation documenting how the infamous "Client #9" was mocked and derided by the anchors and correspondents who are now his colleagues.
Quotes from March 2008:
TOM FOREMAN (This Week in Politics, March 14): Governor Spitzer, the politician who has given room service a whole new meaning.
ANDERSON COOPER (AC360, March 11): It seems like Eliot Spitzer, according to allegations, was spending a fair amount of time on his job figuring out ways to hire hookers.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Purchasing a human being should not be allowed in any society.
CAROL COSTELLO (Larry King Live, March 13): Eliot Spitzer at one time understood that.
ANDERSON COOPER (AC360, March 11): According to this criminal complaint, Client Number 9 had a reputation for being difficult and reportedly not wanting to practice safe sex.
WOLF BLITZER (CNN Newsroom, March 12): You've got to be a psychiatrist, I think, to basically understand this. And I'm not a psychiatrist by any means.
ANDERSON COOPER (to Dr. Drew Pinsky on AC360, March 12): What do you think is going on with Eliot Spitzer? I mean, people talk about narcissistic personality disorder. Is that what's involved here?
ANDERSON COOPER (to sex addiction expert Robert Weiss on AC360, March 11): In your blog for us tonight, you suggest that what he's allegedly done has revealed his "fully-blown narcissistic and addictive, emotional pathology."
JACK CAFFERTY (The Situation Room, March 10): Well, you know, go figure, right? Sometimes these moralistic, holier-than-thou, self-righteous folks get caught up - hoisted on their own petard.
JASON CARROLL (AC360, March 10): He was also called Mr. Clean, and promised in his campaign ad to bring passion back to the state. Instead, he has brought shame.
JOHN ROBERTS (American Morning, March 11): His reputation is ruined and he could lose his job. Could the next stop for Eliot Spitzer be prison?
HEIDI COLLINS (CNN Newsroom, March 13): Sex, scandal and shame. The Eliot Spitzer era comes to a humiliating end in New York.
JACK CAFFERTY (The Situation Room, March 12): One other thing that stuck out watching his announcement today is how absolutely ice cold he was - no remorse, no compassion, no emotion. Didn't even look at his wife for the entire - reading the thing like he was doing the luncheon speech at a Rotary Club in Bayonne.
JOHN KING (CNN Newsroom, March 12): He does not have a lot of friends, because of how he conducted affairs, how many would use the term how self-righteous and self-assured he was in doing so.
JACK CAFFERTY (The Situation Room, March 11): Nobody likes this guy.