Free Republic

I say "political integrity expert," you say "Eliot Spitzer." I say "you're kidding me, right?" Rachel Maddow actually got off to a good start this evening in her segment on political sleaziness, ripping politicians both Dem and Republican for a variety of venal sins. But of all the people to bring on as your expert to discuss how to raise the moral bar . . . Client 9? Surely you make mirth, Ms. Maddow? View the video here

Al Jazeera is coming to America — courtesy of former Vice President Al Gore and entrepreneur Joel Hyatt. The Arab network, funded by Qatar, has just bought Current TV — the low rated liberal cable station Gore and Hyatt founded — for a reported $500 million. The deal gives the anti-Israeli Arab network access to 40 million homes in the United States. Beyond bringing anti-Israeli propaganda into these new American outlets, Al Jazeera has a long record as the chosen news outlet for Al Qaeda and other terrorist cells. It was through them that Osama bin Laden would regularly post...

Ashley Dupre has given a lot of happy endings in her day, but now the former Eliot Spitzer call girl has one of her very own. Dupre is seven months pregnant, Page Six can exclusively reveal, and engaged to be married to New Jersey asphalt scion Thomas “TJ” Earle.

Chick-fil-A makes a great chicken sandwich, and I used to like getting one—with a cup of their amazing lemonade—whenever I was in the South. In fact, before I knew more about Chick-fil-A, I used to joke about helping to open one in New York. Then I found out the company, according to the LGBT group Equality Matters, has donated millions of dollars to groups that oppose gay rights, and Chick-fil-A's president, Dan Cathy, told a Baptist newspaper that he supported the "biblical" definition of family. That’s why former Gov. Mike Huckabee of Arkansas has asked that folks who share the...

If there were any doubt that Eliot “Client 9” Spitzer has spiraled down into further delusion and irrelevance, it was erased Friday afternoon in an embarrassing and bizarre shootout between the disgraced former NY Attorney General and CNBC’s Maria Bartiromo. At issue were allegations that a trove of private emails may exist showing the former purchaser of high-priced prostitutes launched a personally motivated prosecution against former AIG chief Hank Greenberg. Of the eight charges Spitzer brought against Greenberg, six have been dropped, with the last two in the process of being dismissed, according to Greenberg’s lawyer. Still, throughout the interview...

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer just got a on NY1, a 24-hour news channel covering the New York City metropolitan area. He'll be joining NY1's Inside City Hall as a "Wise Guy." The program offers political coverage. Spitzer will be joining former Mayor Ed Koch and former Senator Al D'Amato. As New York's Attorney General from 1999 to 2006, Spitzer made a name for himself for bringing huge cases against Wall Street, which earned him the nickname "The Sheriff of Wall Street." Spitzer became Governor of New York in 2007. A year later, he stepped down in disgrace after...

The five conservative justices on the Supreme Court -- Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Antonin Scalia, John Roberts and Anthony Kennedy -- cloak themselves in the myth that they are somehow channeling the wisdom and understanding of the Founding Fathers, the original intent that guided the drafting of the Constitution. I believe the premise of their argument is itself suspect: It is not clear how much weight should be given to non-textually based intent that is practically impossible to discern more than 200 years later. Most of the issues over which there is constitutional dispute today could not even have been...

Current TV, the progressive cable network founded by Al Gore and Joel Hyatt, announced minutes ago that it has fired Keith Olbermann, its best-known personality and chief news officer. As is often the case when media companies decide to part ways with a host, Olbermann’s dismissal is effective immediately – he won’t be given a chance to sign off or host a farewell show. Current’s cofounders published a letter to viewers announcing their decision. To the Viewers of Current: We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic...

Current TV said Friday afternoon that it had terminated the contract of its lead anchor Keith Olbermann, scarcely one year after he was hired to reboot the channel in his progressive political image. In a letter to viewers, the channel said Friday, “We created Current to give voice to those Americans who refuse to rely on corporate-controlled media and are seeking an authentic progressive outlet.  We are more committed to those goals today than ever before. Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers.   Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected...

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer is disappointed with fellow Democrat President Barack Obama’s treatment of the financial industry. That’s a sector that Spitzer frequently took on as New York state attorney general. “The president embraced a very status quo vision of Wall Street,” Spitzer told Al Jazeera news service. “He did not lead an effort to fundamentally reform the way our financial sector operates. He put Tim Geithner in as Treasury secretary, and Geithner and [National Economic Council Director Lawrence] Summers together were very much status quo voices.”

Among the many ways Sarah Palin was hit in the media during her 2008 vice presidential bid—criticism now spilling on to current presidential hopeful Rep. Michele Bachmann—was that she should forget politics and make time for her kids. GOP pollster Kellyanne Conway has an answer for those who think Palin, Bachmann, or other women with children don't have enough time to raise them while serving in public office...

CNN on Wednesday cancelled Eliot Spitzer’s 8 p.m. political talk show, “In The Arena,” after only nine months, and said it would shift Anderson Cooper’s 10 p.m. nightly newscast into the time slot.

1:42 p.m. | Updated CNN on Wednesday cancelled Eliot Spitzer’s 8 p.m. political talk show, “In The Arena,” after only nine months, and said it would shift Anderson Cooper’s 10 p.m. nightly newscast into the time slot. The cable news channel also said that Erin Burnett, a new hire from CNBC, would take over the 7 p.m. time slot on weekdays, replacing John King, who will move to 6 p.m. “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” which currently runs from 5 to 7 p.m., will move to 4 to 6 p.m. ... The changes at CNN will begin to take...

NEW YORK (AP) – CNN’s prime-time talk show “Parker/Spitzer” is no more with the departure of Kathleen Parker. Her partner, former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, will remain in the time slot in a new show called “In the Arena,” working with E.D. Hill, Will Cain and others.

CNN announced an Oct.4 start date for Parker/SPITZER, a debate show starring former N.Y. governor Eliot Spitzer and journalist Kathleen Parker. [Years ago CNN jokingly was referred to by many as the "Clinton News Network" because of the obvious way it discarded objective reporting on the multitude of Clinton debacles and scandals in order to shill for the Clinton political machine. But now it's become even more outrageous than the same old media bias. With great fanfare CNN has proudly hired Eliot Spitzer. This is the governor who recently resigned in disgrace for his crimes of legal and moral turpitude....

NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Former Credit Suisse First Boston star banker Frank Quattrone surrendered to federal authorities Wednesday morning and will face criminal charges, prosecutors said. James Comey, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, will unveil the charges at a 1 p.m. ET press conference. Quattrone, a former star banker for CSFB, allegedly advised his colleagues in late 2000 to destroy documents while regulators were investigating the ways Wall Street investment banks were doling out shares of lucrative initial public offerings. The former banker is charged in a three-count criminal complaint with obstruction of justice, document destruction...

Here is video of CNN’s Eliot Spitzer slamming President Obama, going so far as to suggest that his Presidency is the “third term of George. W. Bush.” On Afghanistan and Tax Policy, Spitzer tried to make the case that Obama is just a continuation of George W. Bush’s policies. That is, of course, a ridiculous assertion. While George W. Bush spent too much, he was nothing like Obama. He stood strong in Iraq while Obama wanted to cut and run, willing to accept defeat. Bush would have never pursued the massive ObamaCare legislation, and he certainly would not have projected...

Last night’s “Parker-Spitzer” saw the lowest numbers yet for the program and the show did little to help the one that followed on the schedule — “Larry King Live” which had its worst numbers in more than 10 years. In its sixth outing, “Parker-Spitzer” drew 311,000 Total Viewers and 86,000 A25-54 viewers. That’s lower than the previous low for the time period set by Campbell Brown earlier this year. (332,000 / 87,000). Last week, Parker-Spitzer finished fourth in the time period averaging 465,000 Total Viewers and 124,000 A25-54. At 9pmET, “Larry King Live” put up its lowest A25-54 demo viewership...

CNN Just Clocked Its Worst Primetime Ratings In 10 Years Thanks To Eliot Spitzer And Larry King Joe Pompeo | Oct. 12, 2010, 5:51 PM | 161 | comment 6 CNN executives say they want to give Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker's week-old discussion program time to grow. But perhaps they're reconsidering in light of the show's performance Monday night, when it drew just 311,000 viewers at 8 p.m., according to Nielsen Media Research, far fewer than it had any night last week following its Oct. 4 premiere. The low numbers for "Parker Spitzer" helped give CNN its worst average...

Spitzer: Drinking establishments are adding jobs, "we are drinking away our sorrows, but this is not happy hour". In his opening argument on "Parker Spitzer," Eliot Spitzer says the real unemployment rate is 12.9 percent.

With insightful backwards logic like this, the new CNN show “Parker Spitzer” is certain to be a runaway hit – if just for the comedic value alone. On CNN’s Oct. 8 broadcast of “Parker Spitzer,” disgraced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the co-host of this program, trotted out a theory that seems so peculiar one might think he was pre-excusing what many feel is the eventual Republican takeover of the U.S. House of Representatives. (h/t Greg Pollowitz) “Let's switch gears for a second,” Spitzer said. “Earlier today or a couple days ago, Newt Gingrich said 60 seats would be...

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...

CNN's new show “Parker Spitzer,” which made its debut Monday night, attracted only 454,000 viewers, a decline from the show it replaced, The New York Times reported Tuesday. The show netted 118,000 viewers in the 25-54 age demographic coveted by advertisers. The program features former New York Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer -- who resigned in disgrace in 2008 after a prostitute scandal -- and Kathleen Parker, a conservative columnist, in a dual anchor format. It lagged well behind 8pm ET rivals “The O’Reilly Factor” on Fox News Channel and “Countdown with Keith Olbermann” on MSNBC. Those two shows drew audiences...

FLASH: CNN Parker-Spitzer had 454,000 viewers last night, came in 4th in cable news behind HLN... Developing...

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – CNN's primetime talk show anchored by disgraced ex-New York governor Eliot Spitzer and journalist Kathleen Parker debuted to scathing reviews, with comments on Tuesday ranging from "unbearable" to "icky" and "obnoxious". Spitzer, a Democrat who was forced to resign in 2008 for hiring high-priced prostitutes, and Parker, a Pulitzer Prize-winning conservative Washington Post columnist, were hired by CNN in a bid to add some fireworks to its struggling evening news line-up. But barely a good word could be found on Tuesday for the new "Parker Spitzer" show, which debuted one night earlier as a daily discussion...

Is CNN a joke or have we gone back to the Dark Ages? No sooner has the dust cleared on brain-dead racist Rick Sanchez than the network brings us a new show with whoremaster Eliot Spitzer! CNN, lest we forget, is a news organization. They want us to respect them. How desperate for ratings they must have become. With MSNBC presenting the execrable Olbermann, even though no one watches him, CNN cannot stand still. Out goes the wretched Sanchez, in comes the sleazy Spitzer.Well, I guess it’s okay. The ex-gov of New York’s prostitution scandal was way back in 2008....

Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer said he will back Democrat Andrew Cuomo come November, but it sure didn’t sound like much of an endorsement. “Everybody knows that behind the scenes that he’s the dirtiest, nastiest political player out there,” Spitzer said of Cuomo Thursday.

This year marks the centennial of the Mann “White Slave Act,” when Congress made it a federal offence to transport a woman across state lines for “immoral purposes.” Though the act is still on the books (as former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer can tell you), and has been made gender-neutral, it is usually seen as a relic of nineteenth-century moralism. In fact, no act did more to overturn the nineteenth-century constitutional order. The Mann Act was boldly challenged the idea that the Constitution limited Congress’ power the ends enumerated in Article One, section eight. It established an all-purpose federal...

When F. Scott Fitzgerald observed that there are no second acts in American life, he obviously couldn't have had before him the example of Eliot Spitzer and his adoring media. Once dubbed the Crusader of the Year and the Sherriff of Wall Street, Spitzer was to the mainstream media the embodiment of an exciting new kind of Democrat, a tough-as-nails moderate who might revive the party nationally under the banner of what Fred Siegel and Michael Goodwin have dubbed "Spitzerism." Although Spitzer's escapades with high-priced call girls brought his career crashing down in 2008, the financial crisis that began to...

The former CEO of CNN and the creator of its Crossfire show, Reese Schonfeld, has slammed the new CNN show that will be hosted by Kathleen Parker and Client Number Nine aka Eliot Spitzer. In his Huffington Post blog, Schonfeld not only blasts the proposed new show but provides some interesting background on the original Crossfire in its early years: As the former CEO of CNN, and the creator of Crossfire (the show, not the name -- Paul Bissonette, CNN's PR man, came up with that), I think I'm qualified to comment on the new, not to be called Crossfire,...

As has been speculated for about a week now, Eliot Spitzer and Kathleen Parker will be paired up as co-hosts of a new 8pmET “spirited, nightly roundtable discussion program” on CNN. The Crossfire-like show replaces Campbell Brown’s program – which she announced she was leaving last month. Let’s take a look at the key players. Spitzer was a surprise regular guest on Dylan Ratigan’s new MSNBC show starting almost one year ago today. Over this past year he’s risen through the ranks at MSNBC and began anchoring occasionally a couple months ago during news hours. He also, of course, is...

Eliot Spitzer has found a new woman. Conservative columnist Kathleen Parker is the "leading candidate" to share a new 8 p.m. show on CNN with the former governor, according to sources close to the talks. Parker, 58, is probably best known for a column she wrote in September, 2008 calling Sarah Palin "out of her league" and urging her to get off the Republican ticket. The show -- which will air opposite Bill O'Reilly's ratings juggernaut show on Fox News Channel -- will be an updated version of CNN's old "Crossfire" program.

CNN's Campbell Brown has resigned. The following are statements from both CNN President Jon Klein and a heartfelt letter from Brown explaining her reasons for leaving. STATEMENT FROM JON KLEIN, PRESIDENT OF CNN/U.S. "Today is about Campbell. We want to wish her well as she begins the next phase of her life. We respect her decision to leave. We will announce our programming plans in the coming weeks." An Excerpt From Brown's Statement "Simply put, the ratings for my program are not where I would like them to be. It is largely for this reason that I am stepping down...

Eliot Spitzer was once so voracious for sex that he ordered three different hookers for three separate visits - all in the span of a few hours in one day, an explosive new book claims. The passage from Peter Elkind's "Rough Justice: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer," describes how the Attorney General-turned-governor procured the women from his favored service, the Emperors Club VIP, using the alias "George Fox." Here's the passage from page 122: "On one occasion, George Fox had booked an appointment in the late morning at the Mark Hotel, on the Upper East Side, just five...

Get caught with your pants (but not black socks) down consorting with hookers after hypocritically spearheading investigations of prostitution rings? No problem if you are a liberal. There is always a chance for political redemption with the aid of the mainstream media. Such was the case this past week with Client # 9 aka Eliot Spitzer. First Spitzer lets us know about the terrible pain of irrelevance in a Fortune magazine article: ...But he also says he is "in unceasing agony" and "incredibly frustrated" over no longer being "where I would like to be" -- finishing his first term as...

A new book by former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer’s ex-best-friend offers to fill a gap that has frustrated analysts of Spitzer’s aborted career: A grand unified theory of Spitzer’s spectacular fall, which ended with his resignation and disgrace nearly two years ago. Lloyd Constantine, a Spitzer mentor who became a close friend and top deputy, believes that Spitzer’s “compulsion� to use prostitutes began to twist his friend’s character during 2006, the year he was elected. Spitzer came to office knowing he was doomed, according to Constantine, and acted irrationally from the moment he arrived - his time in Albany...

New York Governor David Paterson attempted to suppress an investigation into an aide’s alleged beating of said aide’s girlfriend, and lied to an ethics panel about the free tickets he scored to the World Series. In this, he follows Eliot Spitzer, whom he succeeded after Spitzer attempted to convince a banker to contravene federal banking laws (that is actually why he had to resign, not because he hired a prostitute, but since prosecutors decided for unclear reasons not to indict him, that part is forgotten). Paterson, in his sure-to-fail attempt to hold on to power for a few more months,...

Former sex worker Kristin Davis, dubbed the "Manhattan Madam," said she intends to run as a Libertarian in the race for governor of New York. Davis has help from a well known Republican operative, Roger Stone, who worked with former presidents including Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and both Bushes. "This is not a hoax, a prank or a publicity stunt. I want to get her a half-million votes," Stone said. Davis has talked about running against former Gov. (and alleged former client) Eliot Spitzer. In 2007, Stone tipped off the FBI to Spitzer's predilection for prostitutes, landing Davis nearly four...

Syracuse, N.Y. -- Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer will speak at Syracuse University next week on the financial crisis. Spitzer's talk, "From Libertarianism to Angry Populism: Have We Learned Anything From the Crisis of the Past Two Years?" will begin at 5 p.m. Thursday in the Maxwell School auditorium. Spitzer resigned in March 2008, after barely more than a year in office, amid accusations he patronized a prostitute. The talk is free and open to the public.

Is Mark Sanford's behavior contemptible enough to make him King of Heels, or does that (dis)honor belong to John Ensign, Eliot Spitzer or John Edwards? ... Let's compare [them] low-blow by low-blow ...

THERE'S a huge difference between what South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford did, and what ex-New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer did. "I didn't fall in love with any of them," Spitzer was overheard telling LMDC executive director Avi Schick the other day at Solo in the Sony Building on Madi son, where they had the $24 prix-fixe lunch. And Spitzer didn't use any taxpayer money on his trysts, while Sanford is reimbursing the state about $12,000 for travel expenses to Buenos Aires. Schick had Vietnamese beef spring rolls and a grilled chicken salad.

(CNN) — OK — this one's really got to hurt. A new poll suggests that a majority of New Yorkers would prefer to have disgraced former governor Eliot Spitzer in office right now instead of the current governor, David Paterson. And the Marist College poll, released Monday, indicates that less than 1 in 5 New Yorkers approve of the job Paterson's doing as governor. Paterson's a Democrat, but even among his own party, only 22 percent think he's doing a good or excellent job in office. This new Marist poll continues a trend seen in other recent surveys of New...

SO maybe Eliot Spitzer did kill AIG, after all. Nobody doubts the in surance giant is basically kaput, or that the promix ate cause is billions in losses in obscure instruments known as credit-default swaps, or CDSs. But American International Group didn't go deadly deep into CDSs until after New York Attorney General Spitzer had forced out Maurice "Hank" Greenberg out as CEO. GO back to March 2005, just days after Spitzer scored his biggest scalp during his eight-year tenure as the Sheriff of Wall Street by compelling Greenberg's departure. The new CEO, long-time AIG executive Martin Sullivan, held an...

Slouching Toward Columbine: Darwin's Tree of Death April 20, 2009 David Klinghoffer I've long been fascinated by the image of the Tree of Death, parallel to the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden and cryptically referred to in mystical texts explaining the Hebrew Bible: And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the Tree of Life also in the midst of the garden, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (Genesis 2:9). Come and behold: as soon as night falls, the...

So now the Democrats want to tax benefits. Did they ever meet a tx that they did not like?

Eliot Spitzer choked her during sex, claims high-end call girl claims high-end call girl Updated Sunday, March 8th 2009, 3:08 PM Eliot Spitzer Altaffer/AP Eliot Spitzer Related News Articles * One year later: The Spitzer call girl scandal His political rivals used to accuse Eliot Spitzer of going for the jugular. Now a new call girl is claiming the former governor literally went for hers — claiming he wrapped his fingers around her neck during some kinky role-playing. As the first anniversary of his resignation as governor approaches, Spitzers Emperors Club VIP plaything Ashley Dupre is still holding back on...

Michael Moore is in the middle of shooting a movie about Wall Street and the financial industry. So who is he now turning to for help? The Daily Kos. I kid you not. Yesterday Moore posted a thread on the Daily Kos titled, "Will You Help Me With My Next Film? ...a request from Michael Moore." Here is the text of his request asking for Kossack "expertise" about high finance: Friends,I am in the middle of shooting my next movie and I am looking for a few brave people who work on Wall Street or in the financial industry to...

Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer, who resigned due to his involvement in a prostitution ring, is slowly attempting to edge himself back into the public eye with his new column in Slate. The problem from the POV of The New Republic is that Spitzer is trying to make himself relevant again much too quickly without showing the proper remorse. As a result, The New Republic gives Spitzer some atonement advice written by Jacob Gershman which does the former governor no real service since anything he does now will come off as a cynical attempt to return to the public...

When I was young, jobs grown-ups had were doctors, plumbers, lawyers, dentists, stock brokers and so on. I had never heard of "Community Organizer" until this Presidential season. What is this job and how does it connect with important current issues? Today, the Department of the Treasury exerted a conservatorship over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at the cost of billions to taxpayers. The role of community organizers like ACORN and Barak Obama played in our present financial dislocations may be more direct and pervasive than what first meets the eye. The present subprime financial strains have as its genesis...

Three senior aides to a former governor, Eliot Spitzer, and a former state police superintendent violated state ethics laws by plotting against a former Republican majority leader of the Senate, Joseph Bruno, the state's top ethics body has concluded. More than a year after the Spitzer administration was hit with allegations that it improperly used the state police to dig up travel records that could prove damaging to the former Senate leader, the State Commission on Public Integrity handed down the first formal charges related to the scandal. It did not find evidence linking Mr. Spitzer to the scandal. The...