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.

[woodyinscc]

They didn't " grill " him, that was a script writing session.

You've got it nailed. I notice Jonathon(sissy boy) Alter was there, and he is a true socialist, besides being an ignoramus. If anyone believes Eric Alterman lit into Kerry, I have some Global Crossing I would love to sell.

[Senator Pardek]

You've been here long enough - I knew you'd get the subtle point I was making with my post.

[Howlin]

The Who's Who of the far left liberal elite (or so they love to think).

[Mo1]

Ping

[Samwise]

Let me make this perfectly clear as I have stated before this occasion and on several others before the fact that perhaps it is absolutely certain that I have no knowledge that I remember that I was ever in attendance at that or any other simliar discussion, nor would I have attended unless otherwise stated previously in which case in this meeting I may or may not have been briefly present according to FBI witnesses who can screw me on this occassion-- maybe.

[bray]

PravdABDNC doesn't have a credibility gap, they have a credibility canyon! They think they are still a monopoly when people are hungry for truth. With Yaaaaawn IH8TAmerikerry, all the kings horses and all of the kings men won't put Frankenstein together again!

Pray for W and The Truth

[expatpat]

Well, these guys have lost all their credibility as reporters.

Is it just me, or isn't there an inordinately high percentage of Jews in this group?

[Pukin Dog]

Oh this is great.

That entire group are people who believe they are smarter than then rest of us. They THINK they know how to respond to the masses, so they rehearse their practiced answers, and come off as phony as a three dollar bill.

They did not learn a thing from Al Gore's attempt to be a normal-guy, thinking that they can fool anyone, anytime. Let

Kerry practice his answers. He doesn't know the questions. The same thing happened with Gore; he had the Media over for dinner one evening where they plotted how best to respond to Bush.

Dingell-Norwood, anyone? This is rich.

[nopardons]

Right you are, as usual. :-)

[expatpat]

Pitt is a major contributor over in the DUngeon.

[per loin]

Were they grilling him on Israel? Look at the composition of the group! This is amazing...

What's more amazing is that if Kerry got into the White House, he would sell out Israel.

[nopardons]

I'm glad you agree...we usually do. :-)

[kcvl]

Edward Jay Epstein

[SteelTrap]

John Frankin Kerry?

[Lurking in Kansas]

Thanks. Big time bookmark...

[kcvl]

William Rivers Pitt

[TankerKC]

Friends of the Farkels?

One can only assume.

[sasportas]

What you said is profound. It needs to be repeated for emphasis

I only thought stuff like this happened in totalitarian countries. These "journalists" put to shame the propaganda organs of the old Soviet Union.

[kcvl]

Rick Hertzberg editor and writer for the New Yorker and former speechwriter for President Carter

[Will_Zurmacht]

Spot on!
These guys have never spoken to an "average American" in their lives. Their kids all go to the same exclusive schools. They all live in the same exclusive circles. They all go to the friggin theatre and chat over cocktails about how "Bush is ruining this country".

This hyper elite comprises the democrat(and media) party movers and shakers. They retain what little power they have by appealing to the lowest rungs of society. They are the top 1% kept in power by the votes of the bottom 25%. It is a party made up of PhD's and high school drop outs.

The remaining Americans are all of us idiots who pay the taxes these fools put in place. We wan't decent schools, not queer weddings. We want safety and security, not UN lectures from Koffi, Jacques, etc.

But folks who "summer" in the Hamptons and the people whose lives are a government sponsored vacation can never really understand the people who are saving up to send the kids to college. There is a complete disconnect between the modern Democrat party and middle America.

It wasn't always this way. Democrats, either Southern or Ethnic/union types from the north could relate to the Average American in years past. I still think this is one of the reasons why Clinton will be one of the last Democrats elected president for a while. He was a Southerner, and could pass as a good old boy.

The Democrat party just has too weird a vibe for most Americans today.