On Julie Menin‘s WNBC show the other day Paterson joked that if Eliot Spitzer ever decides to step down from his current CNN gig Paterson would be more than happy to step in.

I think the Governor has paid a large price for his infractions, and if you had watched that show and not known about the recent past Eliot Spitzer is as prepared to talk about subjects as anyone I have ever met. He’s incisive, he’s quick, I think he’s very interesting when he talks, he doesn’t overuse his time, and I think it’s actually a good show. But if he ever decides to leave that show, as has always been the case in our relationship, I’m available to take his place.

Hear that CNN?! Never say never, I guess. Watch below.

[h/t TVNewser]

Brzezinski said that though “there are great people working at the networks,” who work hard to remain objective, they are mostly Democrats — and it shows. “The balance is not there within the objective mainstream media. It’s not. It is not.” Brzezinski drew a distinction between those well-intentioned, if biased, colleagues and the “cartoonish” figures on the right and the left of the cable news divide, saying that she and her colleagues at Morning Joe make an effort to avoid those one-dimensional characterizations: “We try to be transparent about who we are and where we come from, and what our worldview is and what our knowledge base is on every issue. And we are not trying to be anything more than what we are. And that is extremely honest.”

When asked by host Julie Menin if liberal bias was “seeping into the coverage” Brzezinski said emphatically that yes, it was, and suggested that journalists should declare their political affiliation — and who they voted for in the last election. “Come on, are you telling me that a reporter for a great news organization does not have opinions?” said Brzezinski. “Every reporter, every anchor, every human being that is a personality on television has opinions, and has a worldview and has a slant.” Brzezinski said that audiences would appreciation the media rejecting the pretense of objectivity and declaring bias, saying “We have [to] know that the viewer’s smart about that, and if you are fair and you are looking for the truth, you can be trusted. And you’ve got to be honest.

“The reason why we’ve got these extremes is a reaction to the “objective” mainstream media, that is so not objective when you have most of them being Democrats, or liberals, running it. That’s why we have Fox. Because it wasn’t honest. And because there was a reaction out there to this.”

Julie Menin’s Give and Take airs on WNBC’s new 24-hour news channel, New York Nonstop, on Sundays at 7pm Eastern. See Mediaite’s Rachel Sklar on Julie Menin’s Give and Take here.

Part I:
Here we talk about the White House vs. Fox battle royale from a few weeks back, whether it was acceptable for Glenn Beck to call President Obama a racist, what happened to Van Jones, and whether Fox News is biased in their coverage (I said yes it was, citing their Tea Party coverage as an example).

Part II:
Here we talk about a favorite topic of mine, women in media and politics, and I revisit my coverage of Hillary Clinton from early and mid 2008, and how it took a while before people in media acknowledged that yes, fine, there were aspects of her coverage that were sexist (“When I hear her voice I cross my legs involuntarily” “She reminds me of a first wife in probate court” etc.)

Part III:
Here we discussed the Stupak Amendment and how the Health Care Debate became The Abortion Debate. I contend that abortion=health care, based on it being, you know, a surgical procedure. Menin asked me if I would have voted no on the whole health care bill over it, which was a tough question (and I am still not sure what I would have done, there were so many factors at play). I also call out Rep. Tom Price (R-Ga.) for his ridiculous and insulting “I object” stunt. Oh and I use the phrase “Abortion Candy Store.”

Part IV:
Rachel Maddow, Jane Velez-Mitchell, (possibly/presumably) Anderson Cooper: Does it matter if a TV host is gay? Are we past it yet? And, what standard are they being held to? We also talk about the nexus of comedy, media and politics and how to balance the fun stuff/pageviews (cough Megan Fox) with the serious and important stuff (what I call peas vs. ice cream).

How nice of Julie and her team to welcome me for such a great interview. Julie Menin’s Give and Take airs on WNBC’s new 24-hour news channel, New York Nonstop on Sundays at 7pm Eastern.

Here’s a pretty stunning exchange, where Menin challenges Coulter on her comments about Democratic Congresswoman Maxine Waters, who is black:

MENIN: You recently said about Representative Maxine Waters that she ‘couldn’t get a job that didn’t involve wearing a paper hat without affirmative action.’ How is that not racism?

COULTER: She, I think, actually, is very very stupid — despite the fact that she’s black! It is possible to be black and stupid.

MENIN: You don’t think there is a racial undercurrent to what you’re saying about her?

COULTER: Um no, I think I wouldn’t have said it if I had a racist bone in my body, but I don’t look at the world the way liberals do, as black white black white black white — though I do notice the Democrats keep demanding the votes of blacks without taking blacks seriously for serious positions and brushing aside Paterson and brushing aside Rangel and brushing aside Donna Brazile, while blacks within the Republican party who are qualified actually do advance and advance quite well.

When Menin pointed out that Rangel’s “brushing aside” had been due to legitimate transgressions, Coulter brought up Chris Dodd, and then blamed the mortgage crisis on Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. See below:

Later on in the program, she addressed the comments she made on the Joy Behar show, and reaffirmed who she felt the true danger to Obama was: “If Obama gets shot, it’s going to be by a liberal.” (Starts at about 2:29; prior to that she talks about her feelings on public schools).

Here Coulter addresses the “Jews-becoming-Perfected-Christians” controversy:

Menin has more videos at the Huffington Post, including Coulter discussing her new book, Guilty (not to be confused with the BeeGees/Streisand song), and her perceptions of Michelle Obama.

Let’s hope the next idiot Menin interviews will have something else interesting to say. Oh, wait, the next idiot Menin’s interviewing is me. I taped her show the same day as Coulter, and the show airs this Sunday at 7 pm. Spoiler alert: I don’t say anything half as controversial, unless you count “abortion candy store.” I did say that.