Kathleen Parker's Exit

Ace called it correctly a long time ago:

We liveblogged the first show and it was pretty clear that Kathleen Parker 1, had nothing much to say except about her One Big Topic of Sarah Palin (and nothing new there, either), and, even if you're whoring for ratings, you can't talk about her every night, can you?, and 2, was a wallflower without any command of the studio and without the sort of aggressive confidence needed to be a broadcaster.

John Ziegler makes similar points in this piece for Meidaite. Ziegler was the guest several months ago who confronted Parker about her role in the "assassination" of Palin as a candidate during the 2008 election cycle and elicited the odd response from Parker that she "didn't take part in [the assassination]; she led it." (Video below the fold.) He predicted the failure of the show then.

But the primary reason why the program couldn’t work is also the very reason Parker got the gig in the first place. She was clearly hired because she was perceived as a “conservative” who was willing to vigorously attack Palin, while not holding any particularly strong conservative opinions which might offend the largely liberal CNN audience. It is hardly a secret that the best (and perhaps only) way for an unknown or career-challenged conservative to achieve mainstream media acceptance is to be a sellout to their supposed cause (just ask Arianna Huffington, Peggy Noonan, David Brooks, David Frum, Michael Smerconish, or Joe Scarborough, to name only a few).

Criticizing Palin (along with endorsing Obama) has quickly become the most reliable path to instant notoriety/credibility for ambitious “conservatives,” and Parker became the poster child for this phenomenon. . . .

However, there is apparently a downside side to getting a show this way. Much like a guy who spends all his cash to get the girl and has nothing left to keep her, Parker had no capital with which to make the show a ratings success. . . .

With no spark, no friction, no talent, and no audience base, Parker brought nothing to the table, and the show was clearly doomed.

(Emphasis mine.) As Ace said during the liveblog that first night, it was almost like Parker was right there and part of the action.

More at the link, including some first-class snark. Like Ziegler says, the show's failure wasn't an Earth-shattering prediction. I think we all knew it was going to be a dud. What is strange is that CNN wasn't able to foresee the outcome

posted by rdbrewer at 08:57 PM

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