New Papa John Roberts on the Differences Between Iraq and Libya, and Why He Left CNN

John Roberts, a fine reporter who has worked at almost every major news outlet in this country, now makes his home at Fox News. Or, as Imus put it, he left CBS “in a snit,” went to CNN, and hightailed it out of there when he “got sick of them.”
 
Not surprisingly, Roberts was more judicious in explaining his career choices. “I’ve never stayed in one place too long,” he said. “Because then people can find you.”
 
These days, anyone wanting to track down Roberts should look no further than his home in Atlanta, where he has been nesting since last Tuesday with his “sweetheart” Kyra Phillips, an anchor at CNN, and their brand new twins Sage and Kellan.
 
“It’s something I didn’t do earlier in life,” he said of becoming a parent. “It’s the best thing in the world.”
 
Now based in Atlanta permanently, Roberts, a Senior National Correspondent for Fox News, finally has the luxury of being based in Atlanta and also traveling around the world to cover stories as necessary.
 
But Roberts is taking some time off to be with Phillips and his kids, and won’t be running off to Libya to cover the developing situation there. Instead, he’ll kick back and hash out with Imus how efficiently—or not—his colleagues have been covering the military action in Libya over the last few days.
 
During the run-up to the war in Iraq in 2002 and 2003, Roberts recalled, “We were not able to ask enough questions about what was going on in Iraq, and we did not ask enough questions about the case that was being made.”
 
It was difficult, he explained, to get any information aside from what the White House was providing, and therefore even more difficult to get the counter-argument. Though he hasn’t been reporting as extensively on the crisis in Libya, he noted at least one difference from Iraq.
 
“We do have eyes on the ground there, unlike in 2003,” Roberts said.
 
Back to his personal life, Roberts told Imus that he and Phillips are not yet married. “Far be it from me to want to create an uncomfortable moment,” Imus jumped in. “But I am a licensed, ordained minister, and I can marry you.”
 
Roberts abstained, and seemed relieved when Imus broached an equally awkward topic: just what had Roberts’s former co-anchor at CNN been doing off-camera when, back in September, he cut off an interview with David Axelrod to admonish her, “Would you mind not doing that while I’m talking?”
 
“That morning, I was wearing a lovely shade of plum nail polish,” Roberts said. “There had been a chip that developed in it when I whacked my finger on the desk. She was trying to fix the chip in my nail polish.”
 
Regardless of what actually happened, Imus declared, “That was a great moment.”
 
-Julie Kanfer