Holiday Cheer: Ingraham-Free Airwaves

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The Laura Ingraham Show is ending its nine-year association with Talk Radio Network, meaning the 48-year-old Conservative gabber will be confining her flat-toned vitriol to Fox News commentary and guest-hosting stints on The O'Reilly Factor.

Mediaite.com reports that Ingraham, whose program reportedly reaches 5.75 million listeners across 325 radio stations nationwide, is likely to return to radio once she finds a new syndicator. Talkers Magazine this year rated Ingraham's program the nation's fifth-highest rated radio show.

Ingraham, a former law clerk to Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, is the author of The Hillary Trap: Looking for Power in All the Wrong Places, and Shut Up & Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics and the UN Are Subverting America.

Liberals are likely to be more tolerant of the endless streaming of Little Drummer Boy,  Deck the Halls and other Christmas carols on the radio this holiday season, knowing that they'll at least be spared encountering the dull-cet tones of Ingraham on the airwaves, however temporary the respite may be.  Lovers of mean-spirited, self-promoting blonde Conservative lawyer/political commentators for the time being will have to make-do with Ann Coulter's invective.

NPR Down Juan Senior News Analyst

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NPR has cut lose senior news analyst Juan Williams, 56, following the commentators remarks about Muslims on Fox's The O'Reilly Factor.


Discussing the firestorm generated  by O'Reilly's comments on The View holding Muslims accountable for the 9/11 attacks, Williams said that when he boards a plane and sees passengers in Muslim garb, he gets "worried" and "nervous."  In terminating the contract of  Williams, who spent 24 years at The Washington Post, NPR said his remarks undermined his credibility as a news analyst and ran afoul of NPR's editorial standards and practices.  That Williams has also been a long-time commentator for Fox News has always been a sore spot with NPR.

CNN's Dazzling New Program Title for Spitzer & Parker Gabfest

Image via WikipediaCNN this week unveiled the name of the new Prime Time talk show featuring Pulitzer Prize-winning Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker and former Democratic NY Gov. Elliot Spitzer debuting this fall  at 8 p.m. opposite Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

CNN ("Creativity Not Necessary") reached back to come up with the title--drum roll, please--Parker Spitzer.
 Yeah, that's right.

Those of you who guessed: Parker Here, Client No. 9, nice try.

UPDATE: CNN Announces Spitzer & Parker to Host 'Not-Crossfire' Talk Show

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As "TUOL" noted in a 6/15/10 post, former NY Gov. Elliot Spitzer this fall will helm CNN's Prime Time 8 p.m. talk show, replacing Cameron Brown, and banging heads with entrenched cable tv gabbers Fox News' Bill O'Reilly and MSNBC's Keith Olbermann.

Joining Spitzer as co-host of the as-yet unnamed talk show (just don't call it "Crossfire--The Sequel") is syndicated Washington Post columnist Kathleen Parker, a Pulitzer Prize winner and self-proclaimed "rational Conservative" whose twice-weekly commentary appears in more than 400 newspapers nationwide. Spitzer, the "Sheriff of Wall St.," and one-time formidable liberal Governor of New York until forced to resign in disgrace two years ago over his unveiling as "Client No. 9" in the Emperors Club prostitution sting (see "TUOL" post 8/11/09), has been making the cable talk show rounds, appearing as a guest commentator on Bill Maher's program, among others.

Parker said that unlike artificial roundtable discussion programs, her & Spitzer's effort will focus on what  people discuss at their kitchen table.  This should pose a challenge for Spitzer, who has thus far been recogized for his bedroom chat skills.