Kathleen Parker

Democratic Strategist: Behar Right to Call Out Angle's 'Xenophobia'
By Matthew Balan | October 29, 2010 | 4:56 PM EDT

Democratic strategist Robert Zimmerman defended View host Joy Behar on Thursday's Anderson Cooper 360: "I'm standing with Joy Behar because she nailed it when she went after Sharron Angle for the xenophobia, for the racist type of campaign she has run, and for, in fact, exploiting prejudice and bigotry" [audio available here].

Zimmerman, a one-time political analyst for CNN and a member of the Democratic National Committee since 2000, appeared on a panel with Republican pollster Kellyanne Conway, Huffington Post founding editor Roy Sekoff, and author Michael Maslansky. Midway through the segment, co-host Eliot Spitzer played a radio ad from Ralph Reed's Faith and Freedom Coalition which included the statement, "It's us versus them- big government versus a big belief in faith and freedom- Sharron Angle versus Harry Reid."
 

Viguerie: CNN Needs More Conservatives; Parker-Spitzer Brings on Libs
By Matthew Balan | October 15, 2010 | 4:17 PM EDT

Richard Viguerie, Conservative Activst; Eliot Spitzer, CNN Host; & Kathleen Parker, CNN Host | NewsBusters.orgConservative Richard Viguerie brought his criticism of CNN's "left-of-center" bent on Thursday's Parker-Spitzer, and recommended that the network bring on more "articulate conservatives." The two CNN hosts, whom Viguerie recently criticized in a recent column, did their best to support his allegation by bringing on four liberals as guests during the program.

The conservative wrote an August 17, 2010 column in the Washington Examiner criticizing CNN for claiming that they're "playing it right down the middle," when in reality, they lean towards the liberal side. Parker launched right into addressing her guest's criticism: "So, we're going to go ahead and get the elephant out of the room, and I'm not talking about you. But you did write about me....that I am a 'pleasantly wishy-washy, mostly plain vanilla Republican.' It's hard to see your words applied when the person is actually present, isn't it?"

Viguerie replied by half-jokingly taking back his label, but immediately gave her another:

CNN's Parker Mirrors Spitzer's Line About 'Fringe' in Republican Party
By Matthew Balan | October 12, 2010 | 4:17 PM EDT

On Monday's Parker-Spitzer, CNN's Kathleen Parker picked up where her co-host Eliot Spitzer left off on Friday, bashing conservatives as "fringe elements" inside the Republican Party. Parker continued the Tea Party movement was the result of the GOP "catering" to such elements and that "the kooks have come home to roost."

The pseudo-conservative columnist returned to her old habit of attacking conservatives during a panel discussion with Reason magazine's Nick Gillespie and NPR contributor John Ridley minutes into the 8 pm Eastern hour. Gillespie criticized how both Republicans and Democrats handled the past decade: "It's really awful, and we had- you know, six years of Republican rule, which was awful and disastrous on every level, and everything since then has been equally bad." The writer continued with a commentary on the phenomenon of Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell selection in Delaware:

Spitzer: 'Fringe' Taking Over GOP; Guest: Obama 'More American' Than Palin
By Matthew Balan | October 8, 2010 | 4:21 PM EDT
Eliot Spitzer, CNN Host; & Kathleen Parker | NewsBusters.orgEliot Spitzer returned to attacking the Tea Party and their allies on Thursday's Parker-Spitzer, lamenting that people "kind of from the fringe" like Christine O'Donnell "seem to be taking over the Republican Party." Guest Bernard-Henri Levy also joined in the Tea Party bashing, labeling the movement "really crazy" and insulted Sarah Palin as being less "American" than President Obama.

The new CNN program led the 8 pm Eastern hour with a replay of correspondent Jim Acosta's interview of Delaware Republican Senate candidate O'Donnell, which first aired earlier in the day. Once the interview finished, the former New York governor launched into his lamentation of the supposed takeover of the GOP, and invoked a past failed Republican presidential candidate as he continued:
SPITZER: Why there are so many folks like her [Christine O'Donnell] who seem to be taking over the Republican Party? I mean, this is not Bob Dole's Republican Party anymore- thoughtful, serious people. This (sic) is people who are kind of- I hate to say it, but kind of from the fringe.
Don't Sit, Don't Sit So, Don't Sit So Close To Spitz
By Mark Finkelstein | October 7, 2010 | 9:45 PM EDT
Someone call The Police . . .

What were the Parker Spitzer producers thinking?  If there was one guy you'd want to keep at a decent distance from a female co-host, it's Gov. Love Potion #9.  But tuning into the show, for the first time, tonight, I was shocked to see the way the pair had been virtually thrown into each other's laps.

A bit of inside TV baseball: I host a local TV show in my hometown. I'm always struck by how, when I'm sitting what feels quite close to a guest, we appear miles apart on camera.  So for Parker and Spitzer to appear so close on TV, they must literally be rubbing, well, elbows.

Spitzer: Tea Party Endorses 'Path of Hoover,' Will 'Destroy Our Country'
By Matthew Balan | October 6, 2010 | 4:45 PM EDT
Eliot Spitzer, CNN Host | NewsBusters.orgCNN's new host Eliot Spitzer slammed the Tea Party movement on Tuesday's Parker-Spitzer: "I think that that piece of the Republican Party is vapid. It has no ideas....They're going to destroy our country." Spitzer also accused Tea Party members of forwarding a "Herbert Hoover vision of government...saying, we want to take away the very pieces of government that created the middle class."

The former New York governor of "Client Number Nine" infamy launched his attack on the nascent political movement minutes into the 8 pm Eastern, as he and his co-host, Kathleen Parker, discussed Delaware Republican Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell's new ad. After listing what he thought was positive about O'Donnell and her ad, Spitzer gave his "vapid" remark about the Tea Party and made his first mention of former President Hoover:
Oliver Stone: Sarah Palin is a Moron
By Rusty Weiss | October 6, 2010 | 5:01 AM EDT
Is Palin bashing a pre-requisite for an appearance on the new Parker-Spitzer show?  Aaron Sorkin referred to Palin as an ‘idiot' and ‘jaw-droppingly incompetent' on Monday's show.  And now, Tuesday's show featured Oliver Stone calling Palin a ‘moron'.

Kathleen Parker asks Stone about the prospect of making a movie about Sarah Palin, and he uses this as a launching point for a PDS rant.

Parker:  Can you see making a movie about Sarah Palin?  Is she movie fodder?  I would think ...

Stone:  It's a bad idea because I think you're already empowering her.  She's a moron in my opinion.  She doesn't say anything.

He wasn't nearly content to rest on those insults however (clip below)...

Parker: Palin Is a Dishonest Tease, But 'I Am Not Unfair to Palin'
By Matthew Balan | October 5, 2010 | 2:57 PM EDT
Kathleen Parker, CNN Host | NewsBusters.orgOn Monday's premiere episode of CNN's Parker-Spitzer, pseudo-conservative Kathleen Parker targeted Sarah Palin, labeling her a "tease" for not announcing her candidacy for the presidency, and stated that the Republican is "also coy, which, after a little while, begins to feel dishonest." When co-host Eliot Spitzer accused Parker of being unfair to Palin, she replied, "I am not unfair to Sarah Palin."

The host devoted her first "Opening Argument" segment to the former vice presidential candidate. After her co-host called for the firing of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner in his "Opening Argument," Parker replied, "Eliot, I want to talk about my favorite politician, Sarah Palin" and played a clip from a recent commercial made by Palin's political action committee. An on-screen graphic proclaimed, "Palin the Tease," and the new CNN host immediately launched into that theme:
Aaron Sorkin Takes to CNN’s Parker Spitzer to Denounce Palin as ‘An Idiot,’ ‘Jaw-Droppingly Incompetent and Mean Woman’
By Brent Baker | October 5, 2010 | 12:26 AM EDT
Aaron Sorkin (IMDb page) came aboard the Monday premiere of CNN’s Parker Spitzer to promote the new movie, The Social Network, for which he wrote the screenplay, but used more of his air time to spout his anti-conservative and anti-Republican prejudices, starting with Sarah Palin. Prompted by Kathleen Parker for his assessment of Palin, Sorkin, creator of NBC’s The West Wing television drama, insulted Palin:
Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman. (Audio: MP3 clip)
Parker jumped in: “Wow. What do you base that on, the meanness part?” Sorkin explained: “When she talks about real Americans versus not real Americans, that's a divisive thing. I'm pretty sure I fall into the category of a not real American.”
Kathleen Parker Lectures: Spitzer's So Smart, People Must Banish Thoughts of His Scandalous Past
By Tim Graham | October 4, 2010 | 3:21 PM EDT

Just how low will Kathleen Parker go to earn her high-six-figure salary at CNN? In an interview with Alex Weprin posted Monday at TVNewser, she lectures her potential TV audience to just forget Spitzer's sordid past with high-priced hookers, since he has such a swelling, itching brain that it shatters glass with its enormous breadth:

"Outside of New York most people don't know Eliot, they kind of have a vague impression of who he is," Parker said. "Everybody remembers the day that is probably most painful for him to recollect. My personal feeling is that once they hear him talking about issues, and he is so knowledgeable about so many subjects, that they will quickly forget his past, which is where it needs to be."

In short, Parker shares the amoral view of fired CNN president Jon Klein, according to Gabriel Sherman's cover story in New York magazine: "When one CNN executive expressed to Klein the concern that viewers risked being turned off by Spitzer's hooker scandal, Klein had snapped, 'I don't give a f---.'" But Spitzer couldn't be paired on TV with an attractive young lady, CNN figured. So how about an attractive old lady?

CNN's Kathleen Parker Says She Supported Both Bill Clinton and Anita Hill in Sex Scandals
By Tim Graham | October 4, 2010 | 8:40 AM EDT

Washington Post media reporter (and CNN host) Howard Kurtz reports on CNN today, offering pre-show publicity for tonight's debut of Parker Spitzer, starring Democrat partisan Eliot Spitzer and "pragmatic" Kathleen Parker. They're not "natural antagonists," wrote Kurtz in extreme understatement:

Spitzer defends Bill Clinton; Parker didn't think he should have been impeached. Spitzer thinks the Democratic Party has sold out to Wall Street; Parker believes Anita Hill was telling the truth. At one point, she tells executive producer Liza McGuirk: "It's going to be hard to pin me down on a right-wing position."

Translation: it's going to be hard to pin down a right-wing viewer on CNN.  Kurtz doesn't try to pin down for the Post reader whether Parker believes Clinton shouldn't have been impeached for lying about illicit intern sex, but Anita Hill's unproven tale of oafish sexual harassment should have derailed the Supreme Court nomination of Clarence Thomas in 1991.

Kathleen Parker: I'm 'Slightly to the Right of Center;' Fan of Obama
By Matthew Balan | October 1, 2010 | 7:48 PM EDT
On Thursday's Larry King Live, future anchor Kathleen Parker verified her tenuous conservative credentials, as she identified herself as a "conservative," but added, "a pox on everybody's house, as far as I'm concerned." She later confessed that she "would put myself...slightly to the right of center," and that she was "a big fan of Barack Obama as he came into office...I didn't want him to fail."

Anchor Larry King brought on Parker and future co-host Eliot Spitzer of "Client Number Nine" fame during the first half of the 9 pm Eastern hour. Three minutes in, King asked about the format of the show, which begins on October 4. After the two briefly described it, the columnist stated that "Eliot is identified as a Democrat and I'm identified as a conservative." Spitzer replied, "Well, you said Democrat/conservative, not Republican," and the resulting exchange led to Parker revealing how she saw her position politically.