How Could Jon Klein Have Made CNN Even Worse?

By hiring Keith Olbermann. If Keith Olbermann can be believed.

On Monday night, CNN will launch "Parker Spitzer," the network's latest 8 p.m. challenge to the higher-rated Keith Olbermann on MSNBC (and the even-higher-rated Bill O'Reilly on Fox News). But CNN wouldn't be going after Olbermann if recently ousted network president Jon Klein had his way in poaching Olbermann a few years back.

According to Gabriel Sherman's New York magazine cover story out Monday on the cable news wars, CNN seriously considered hiring the MSNBC star just as he was gaining traction speaking out nightly against the Bush administration.
"Jon and I were in very deep discussions on a regular basis for me to go over there," Olbermann told Sherman. "One of the premises was we would have put MSNBC out of business."