The rehabilitation tour of New York’s horn-dog former governor Eliot Spitzer has followed a strange path, including a column at Slate and a quickly revamped then canceled show on CNN. He now finds himself in Keith Olbermann’s chair at Current TV and has taken on a local side gig to flesh out his on-air persona, joining the wacky seasoned duo of former senator Alfonse D’Amato and former mayor Ed Koch at the “Wiseguy” table on NY1’s Inside City Hall.
The second most awkward moment of Spitzer’s first appearance last night came when host Errol Louis introduced the ex-politician without mentioning the socks-and-sex scandal, but noting that he served as governor from just 2007 to 2008. But the truly uncomfortable highlight came from Spitzer’s new colleagues as he sat idly by. During a stroll down memory lane about concession speeches, Koch interrupted D’Amato’s story: “At the time I had an enlarged prostate,” he added earnestly. “I had this enormous urge to urinate.” For Spitzer, and in some twisted way for the observing New York public, sitting around a table with these old-timers is what atonement looks like.
