In Eliot Spitzer's "Arena," Arnold Schwarzenegger's infidelity does not exist.
At least that's the way it seemed on Tuesday, as Spitzer made no mention of Schwarzenegger's love child on his primetime CNN show.
Instead, Spitzer, who stepped down as New York governor in 2008 after news of his own affair with a prostitute rocked the state, focused on a sex scandal with less parallels to his own — Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the French IMF chief jailed on New York’s infamous Rikers Island, charged with sexually assaulting a maid in a luxury hotel in Manhattan over the weekend.
Spitzer interviewed the lawyer of the alleged victim in the DSK case. He also had an exclusive interview with Rick Welts — the president and chief executive of the Phoenix Suns who recently announced he is gay — and anchored a discussion on Eric Schneiderman, the New York attorney general currently investigating three Wall Street banks.
There were additional, quick segments on Pakistan, the Louisiana Spillway floodwaters and a new "birther" book claim.
But nothing — not a single mention! — of the straying Governator.
Needless to say, Spitzer and CNN missed a golden opportunity here to make the "Spitzer Hour" — which CNN has been desperately (see: "Kathleen Parker Splits From CNN's 'Parker Spitzer'") trying to reinvent as a "hard" news show — relevant.
As a disgraced former governor, Spitzer is the only pundit on cable news who can personally relate to Schwarzenegger's apparent affair and would-be public unraveling.
If anyone can provide insight into how Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver can move forward — with tabloids circling above them — it's Spitzer.
