New Yorker Magazine Quotes Teresa Heinz Kerry Out Of Context ("scumbags" quote is phony)

ThePittsburgChannel.com ^ | 9/20/04

[xm177e2]

PITTSBURGH -- The new issue of the New Yorker magazine contains a detailed profile of Teresa Heinz Kerry, wife of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry.

One comment getting attention in the article is a claim that Heinz Kerry called her detractors "scumbags" during an interview last April with Channel 4 Action News anchor Sally Wiggin.

A check of that tape shows that while Heinz Kerry did use the word, it came in the context of discussing what her son Chris called the "noble art of public service."

"I believe there is a nobility in public service. I believe every citizen can be a public servant. And should be," said Heinz Kerry.

Sally Wiggin asked, "Do you think some of the nobility has gone out of public service?"

Heinz Kerry said, "Oh, there is a lot of scumbags everywhere. Not just in politics. In everything. There are a lot of immoral people everywhere."

The author of the New Yorker article was allowed by Heinz Kerry to observe the original interview as it was taped.

The magazine did contact Channel 4 Action News to confirm the quote, but the context in the final article gave different shading to the meaning of the remarks.

[xm177e2]

There is a video clip of the interview at the source (so you can see for yourselves). Unless the Kerry campaign/THK/The New Yorker went out of their way to stage a second interview just to "do-over" that quote </tinfoil>, I think it's clear that a big mistake was made, journalism-wise, and that THK is owed an apology by the NYer.

[xm177e2]

found from Drudge's web site

[lyingisbetter]

Now there's an important story.

Can we ever get what these people say straight?

[ladtx]

Oh, there is a lot of scumbags everywhere.

Have a hard time imagining Laura Bush saying such a thing, particularly in a magazine interview.

[Rutles4Ever]

Fake, but accurate. The "thrust" of the story is what counts.

[JLS]

Well she used the term. In a campaign where a Bush daughter sticking her tongue out at someone is a big deal, I think a foreign born wife of the presidential candidate referring to some Americans as idiots and scumbags is a pretty big deal.

[kingattax]

Nov. 3 should be declared a national high holy day--- the day when we hear NOTHING else about or from Te-Ray-Za and her socialist posterior gets put back in the irrelevant box.

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

"I believe every citizen can be a public servant. And should be," said Heinz Kerry."

Spoken like a true Marxist.

Performing for the benefit of yourself and your family in the private sector, if you are performing legally and providing goods or services for which others are willing to pay the true market value, benefits the public sector as well as and often better than public service.
We need not all be 'public servants.'

[monkeywrench]

Although I can't vouch for the quote where she called kerry detractors 'scumbags', I still believe she did.

[politicalwit]

Ok everyone, please return to "idiot" status.

[self_evident]

Heh... I think this is the point where the New Yorker says they are no longer confident about the original quote, but if they are wrong they want to "break the story".

[Frank_2001]

Exactly!

[An American In Dairyland]

Apologize for what? TeRAYza said the word "scumbag." That's more accurate than anything seeBS reports.

[dts32041]

So are they now saying there aren't a lot of "scumbags" in politics?

[jjones9853]

I hate to say it but I think I agree with her on this one statement!

[Jenya]

[Conspiracy Guy]

Though the story is tainted it is up to Kerry to explain why Terayza was misquoted.

[baseballmom]

Sounds like the DanRather/JaysonBlair School of Journalism.

Journalists like this do neither side any favor with this kind of shoddy reporting. Can we PLEASE just have the truth?

Apoligies to THK are in order.

[Jenya]

Mama T's new DNC-ordered wardrobe.

[Fiddlstix]

Hmmm.......
Maybe she said it before she didn't say it........
(Or something like that.....its all so confusing)