Papers Report Client No. 9 86's Parker from CNN Gabfest

Image by John*Ell via FlickrCNN, disappointed with the ratings for the four-month-old train wreck, er, talk show, "Parker/Spitzer", plans to show Pulitzer-Prize winning conservative columnist Kathleen Parker the door, according to reports in today's New York Post and Wall St. Journal.

Although elated by the aggressiveness and political acumen of former NY Gov. Elliot Spitzer, CNN ("C'mon; Nobody's Newsier") has been badly trailing in the ratings to  Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, MSNBC's Countdown with Keith Olbermann and quite possibly, test patterns for the Emergency Broadcasting System. (See "TUOL": posts 9/810 & 6/24/10.) There have reports of backstage tussles between the co-hosts, but CNN won't confirm that Parker is on her way out.

Press reports speculate that former Fox and Friends host E.D. Hill, who has previously filled-in for Parker, is the front-runner to replace her.  Hill is best-known for once characterizing a post-primary celebratory fist bump between the Obamas as a "terrorist fist jab," for anyone who might otherwise confuse Hill with Bill Moyers or Ted Koppel.  Other possible candidates to succeed Parker include National Review scribe Will Cain, but as has been amply illustrated in his professional and private life, Spitzer prefers female company.