Eliot Spitzer Signs Off of CNN and ‘In The Arena’

By Alex Weprin 

Last night was Eliot Spitzer’s last night as host of “In the Arena” on CNN, as the network prepares to launch its new lineup in August. At one point, as he tossed to a commercial, Spitzer seemed to take a shot at cable news: “Up next, leadership in Washington. It’s as rare as intelligent conversation from cable television.”

Later, he ended his run at CNN by quoting Theodore Roosevelt, the quote that gave the program its name:

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Roosevelt’s full quote is after the jump.

THE MAN IN THE ARENA
It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.

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