Posted on 10/28/2004 1:43:29 PM PDT by Cableguy
Seymour M. Hersh, the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter now writing for The New Yorker magazine, was asked Tuesday at the University of Michigan why Sen. John Kerry isn't easily leading the presidential race over George W. Bush when the war in Iraq is going so badly.
"I think one thing you have to face up to is the fact there are roughly 70 million people in America who do not believe in evolution - and those are Bush supporters," said Hersh, who is up front about his support for Kerry.
Hersh's observations about the presidential campaign, the war in Iraq and how he produces stories brought about 700 people out Tuesday to nearly fill the Lydia Mendelssohn Theater at the Michigan League. As part of The New Yorker's national college tour, Hersh and his editor, David Remnick, sat on stage for a conversation followed by a question-and-answer session with audience members.
Hersh, who broke the story of U.S. military abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, said conditions aren't much better at the prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, where suspected terrorists are being held. When all the details come out, Hersh said, the comparison will be to Andersonville, the infamous Civil War prison the Union Army ran in Georgia.
"What's going on there is unbelievable," he said. "Our definitions of the words torture and abuse are the strangest in the world."
Remnick acknowledged that the support of Kerry by the magazine and the two journalists on stage Tuesday plays well in Ann Arbor and other college towns such as Berkeley, Calif., and Madison, Wis. But he also took exception when an audience member suggested that the media spend too much time trying to be fair and obtain mundane comments from Bush or other top officials in the Republican administration.
After Hersh explained how much he learns by listening to the other side, Remnick said getting both sides to every story is always the goal.
"To think that one side of the political ledger always and historically has a monopoly on what is right and light and good is preposterous," Remnick said.
When a woman in the audience asked how journalism got to the place it is today, with mostly repetitious spin control by the campaigns rather than solid issue reporting by the media, Remnick responded, "It works!"
"Negative campaigning works," he said. "Negative ads work. Spin works. That's the horrible secret of it."
Asked about the use of unnamed sources, Remnick said some stories are so serious that people would lose their jobs if their names were used. He said he knows the name of every one of Hersh's unnamed sources, and that New Yorker fact-checkers call the sources.
Hersh said that readers are accustomed to unnamed sources now and that the public can trust reporters who have a track record of ferreting out the truth - even those like himself who support one side of the political spectrum.
"It's not about politics," he said. "It's about what you write and, if over a given period of time, it's proved to be accurate. Which I'm happy to say is the case with the stuff in The New Yorker. That's why people pay attention to it. Because there's some accuracy there. It's not because I shoot my mouth off."
Perhaps the biggest laugh of the afternoon came when a woman asked what it would take to change the country from being "jaded, dumbed-down, with 50 percent of the people still loving George Bush, right or wrong."
"What would make the change in America that would stop all this descent into darkness?" she asked.
"The Easter Bunny!" Hersh said.
He said people should read more and talk about issues within their families or group of acquaintances.
Hersh ended the program on a sober note, insisting the country should prepare to spend billions of dollars on long-term care for returning veterans.
"The question you have to ask is: For what?"
Why are Republicans so much more successful in life if they are so stupid?
I've never understood this one.
So that Mr Hersh can continue to babble about whatever he damn well wants
Gee, wonder what could have made you think that? Talking to anyone lately?
"Perhaps the biggest laugh of the afternoon came when a woman asked what it would take to change the country from being "jaded, dumbed-down, with 50 percent of the people still loving George Bush, right or wrong."
"What would make the change in America that would stop all this descent into darkness?" she asked."
"The Easter Bunny!" Hersh said."
Looks like these Communists think Bush is going to win.
Deep musings from Hersh here.
:)
The vision of Nuancyboy.
Well...no.
But this is exactly the kind of generalization and sterotyping I'd expect from someone who's a John "F is for Frankenstein" Kerry supporter.
Christians are really shooting themselves in the foot by insisting on talking about evolution. They've driven people away from God by telling them they can't believe in the scientific evidence in front of their faces and have faith at the same time.
I just don't get it. I see no serious conflict between evolution and the Bible. No more conflict than I see between Genesis chapters 1 and 2, which contain two entirely different creation stories with a beginning, middle and end.
And there's only a few hundred words in the Bible about creation. How could that possibly be the whole story?
"I think one thing you have to face up to is the fact there are roughly 70 million people in America who do not believe in evolution - and those are Bush supporters,"
What an A-wipe. He might be surprised to know that the religious right is not W's only support.
LOL! Good 'un!
Another elite NewYorker trying to call us stupid.
> Kerry believes in evolution. His positions on the issues are constantly evolving.
Entirely backwards. Positions evolve as the environment changes. Kerry's positions are being constantly Created out of nothing. Kerry is the *epitome* of Poofism.
"...there are roughly 70 million people in America who do not believe in evolution..." No, that`s "SOCIALISM" that we don`t believe in.
Well, I believe in devolution--Exhibit A, Seymour Hersh, correspondent from The Island of Dr. Moreau.
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