Kathleen Parker on New Co-Anchor Eliot Spitzer: ‘I Believe in Redemption’

New CNNer Kathleen Parker describes in her WaPo column some of the backstory behind her upcoming primetime show, the proposal for which she felt at first “was so counterintuitive on its face that I was disinclined.”

Parker discusses her transition from seeming privacy to television host and she also writes about her partner, former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, whom she says she met with and thoroughly researched before taking the gig. Specifically, she explains how she looked beyond his “disgraced” past:

I’m not defending Spitzer or condoning his behavior. Ultimately, I decided that his obvious intelligence, insights and potential contributions outweighed his other record. As far as I’m concerned, especially given that he has resigned from public office, the flaws that brought Spitzer down are between him and his family. Like most Americans, I believe in redemption.

“This adventure is experimental for both of us,” Parker writes of the program, which is still in development. “We are not TV people, and television, of course, is unforgiving. There’s no delete button. Critics await our every missed mark. With practice, we hope to overcome the inevitable pitfalls.”

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