Grace has none

Just hours after her bizarre appearance on behalf of CNN, she was back for Court TV. Defending her pro-capital punishment views, she maintained that, decades earlier, after her fiance was murdered, she told prosecutors not to seek the death penalty for his killer. "I've had 20 years to think about it, and I was wrong," she said — a categorical statement that she has changed her mind.

And yet, literally moments later, she said, "I'm not sure what I would say now," in response to the same question from those prosecutors.

I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that she was on stage with the director and stars of Court TV's anti-death penalty movie "Exonerated."

Perhaps flustered by the presence of critics who weren't adoring fans, Grace seemed to have trouble following other questions. Defending herself later, she said, "This is not just TV, as you just said."

Except . . . no one had said, "This is just TV." Or anything like that.

Which, again, called into question her grasp of the truth.

Not that her CNN bosses are troubled by her less-than-professional behavior and aggressive on-camera persona. CNN Newsgroup president Jim Walton would only say, "I think Nancy is a unique talent" and that her abrasive reputation "doesn't bother me. In fact, I enjoy it.

"We want somebody to break through. We want somebody memorable. And you'll notice with a lot of successful television personalities there are positive attributes with the public, and there are also a lot of high negative attributes. It's the people in the middle that don't break out. I think Nancy is going to be memorable."

She's often compared to Bill O'Reilly, but that comparison seems overdone. After all, there are viewers who like O'Reilly.

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E-mail: pierce@desnews.com