O'Reilly Factor - Left-wing "reporters" met with John Kerry in Al Franken's apartment

03.22.04

[kcvl]

In an effort to galvanize the message Kerry wants to deliver in the time remaining, he convened a powerful roster of journalists and columnists in the New York City apartment of Al Franken last Thursday. The gathering could not properly be called a meeting or a luncheon. It was a trial. The journalists served as prosecuting attorneys, jury and judge. The crowd I joined in Franken’s living room was comprised of:

Al Franken and his wife Franni;
Rick Hertzberg, senior editor for the New Yorker;
David Remnick, editor for the New Yorker;
Jim Kelly, managing editor for Time Magazine;
Howard Fineman, chief political correspondent for Newsweek;
Jeff Greenfield, senior correspondent and analyst for CNN;
Frank Rich, columnist for the New York Times;
Eric Alterman, author and columnist for MSNBC and the Nation;
Art Spiegelman, Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist/author of ‘Maus’;
Richard Cohen, columnist for the Washington Post;
Fred Kaplan, columnist for Slate;
Jacob Weisberg, editor of Slate and author;
Jonathan Alter, senior editor and columnist for Newsweek;
Philip Gourevitch, columnist for the New Yorker;
Calvin Trillin, freelance writer and author;
Edward Jay Epstein, investigative reporter and author;
Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., who needs no introduction.

We sat in a circle around Kerry and grilled him for two long hours. In an age of retail politicians who avoid substance the way vampires avoid sunlight, in an age when the sitting President flounders like a gaffed fish whenever he must speak to reporters without a script, Kerry’s decision to open himself to the slings and arrows of this group was bold and impressive. He was fresh from two remarkable speeches – one lambasting the PATRIOT Act, another outlining his foreign policy ideals while eviscerating the Bush record – and had his game face on. He needed it, because Eric Alterman lit into him immediately on the all-important issue of his vote for the Iraq War Resolution. The prosecution had begun.

[kcvl]

David Remnick, editor of The New Yorker

[Redcoat LI]

What is his wife's name?

[kcvl]

LOL!

JAMES KELLY Managing Editor, TIME

[kcvl]

Howard Fineman Newsweek’s chief political correspondent, senior editor, and deputy Washington bureau chief

[The_Macallan]

tagged.

[kcvl]

Jeff Greenfield CNN's senior analyst and contributor to Judy Woodruff's Inside Politics

[kcvl]

Frank Rich columnist on the Op-Ed page of The New York Times since 1994, was given the additional title of senior writer for The New York Times Magazine in 1999.

[kcvl]

Eric Alterman media columnist for The Nation, the "Altercation" weblogger for MSNBC.com (wwww.altercation.msnbc.com), and a fellow of Center for American Progress

[kcvl]

Art Spiegelman cartoonist/author

[isthisnickcool]

It is not a joke. I will post the interview transcript when it is posted on his website, as soon as it is possible.

This is creepy. A real star chamber type of thing.

These people are "better than us". Kerry is just their type. Just look at Kerry. He probably has a servant just to wash his penis.

[kcvl]

O'Reilly is about to do this segment again, coming up next.

[kcvl]

Richard Cohen Post columnist since 1976. His column generally appears on The Post's opinion page on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

[isthisnickcool]

The guy O'Reilly is interviewing (Richard Hanley) has a good point that they started to trash Dean after this meeting.

[kcvl]

Fred Kaplan writes the "War Stories" column for Slate and is the author of The Wizards of Armageddon, a history of the nuclear strategists.

[JulieRNR21]

Considering how his week went, is didn't help him. He stuck his golden shoe in his mouth all week.

Correction....Kerry stuck his Flip-Flops in his mouth all week!

[McGavin999]

We've all said all along that these people have no ethics or morals. What a corrupt bunch.

[kcvl]

Interesting isn't it? It is the same thing Rush said today.

Jacob Weisberg editor in chief of Slate

[kcvl]

Jonathan Alter is Senior editor and columnist for Newsweek, and contributing correspondent for NBC Nightly News and MSNBC.

[newsmeat.com]

campaign contributions of Al and Francis Franken.

There are no records on these other guys because they know well enough not to contribute cash to federal campaign because the data is made pubic.

[kcvl]

Philip Gourevitch staff writer at The New Yorker since April 1997