Charlie Rose
Felker on Charlie Rose: Editors Need to Be Confident of Own Ignorance
Charlie Rose's website features an interview with Clay Felker from 1995.
"I've often said that editors who are successful have confidence of their own ignorance," Mr. Felker told Mr. Rose. "By that I mean, What is a story? You ask a question what a story is. And then you find someone else to go out and find the answer... You just need to be able to find the questions."
Bloomberg Tries a California-First Approach to Reform
Michael Bloomberg is having another run at Albany lawmakers, but this time, he's taking a less direct approach.
At an event in midtown yesterday afternoon, Bloomberg said he was donating money to help Arnold Schwarzenegger’s effort to push nonpartisan redistricting in California and said he hoped the efforts out there would advance the issue here.
If California could do it, Bloomberg said, it might "shame" New York lawmakers into doing likewise. read more »
Bloomberg Supports Redistricting, May 'Shame' Legislators Into It
Michael Bloomberg and Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke with Charlie Rose about the economic and political issues they're facing at the annual Card Luncheon, which is going on at the Four Seasons in midtown right now.
Bloomberg acknowledged the economy is tough, but said that because the cost of construction is coming down, "if you want to build a building, now is the time to do it."
Schwarzenegger thanked the mayor for donating money to push the governor's plan for redistricting in California.
Bloomberg said he'd like that to happen here, and that if legislators can't be convinced to do it, he could "maybe shame them into doing it."
Here are the priorities listed on this year's New York City Card, according to a release sent out by the mayor's office: read more »
Power, Six Months Ago, on the Burden of Being Hillary Clinton
In the wake of Samantha Power's resignation from the Obama campaign today for calling Hillary Clinton a "monster," it's worth noting that, in an appearance on Charlie Rose on October 16, 2007, Power addressed what she said was the "unfair" but irrefutable fact that a lot of people harbored "bitterness" towards the former first lady and her husband.
Here's a partial transcript :
SAMANTHA POWER: What I'm saying is, that I think Hillary Clinton would be a great president. I think Obama would be a better president, or I wouldn`t be working for Obama. The second thing I'm saying, is her negatives are obvious. The same polls that have her streaks ahead in the national polls also have something like 47 percent of unfavorable rating. read more »
Morning Memo: Chris Martin Pops a Paparazzo; Lindsay Lohan Works the Dead Beat
"I was scared to death of him," Miss USA Tara Conner says of Trump on his upcoming "E! True Hollywood Story." Imagine what Rosie would say. (Page Six)
Charlie Rose joins "60 Minutes," which continues its refusal to target audiences under 50. (NYT)
Clay Aiken debuts in "Spamalot" today. (Goings On)
Chris Martin attacks a photographer when bringing wife Gwyneth Paltrow home from the hospital. (Page Six)
Lily Allen suffers a miscarriage in her first pregnancy. (US)
Lindsay Lohan has to spend a couple days working at a morgue – drunk driving means dead people, you know? (NYT)
In that weird Tom Cruise Scientology video, he takes credit for saving Ground Zero workers. (Page Six)
Step Into Our Anna Wintour Time Capsule: It's 1995!
In an effort to discover just how much fashion has changed over the last decade, we stumbled across this Charlie Rose interview with Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour. It was conducted in September of 1995, which gives it a kind of fascinating edge. Ms. Wintour also comes across as rather endearing, which is sort of funny.
Aside from admitting her excitement over Wire magazine and the then-forthcoming magazine George, which was launched by the late John F. Kennedy, Jr., she speaks of “an underground German designer named Helmut Lang” and a new designer out of Italy, Miuccia Prada. read more »
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie to 'Crap Out' Before Collecting 10 Children
Brad Pitt sat down last night with Charlie Rose. Wearing a flannel newsboy-style cap, the actor gabbed about everything from his fortunate lifestyle to his various charity projects. But when the topic of conversation landed on the four children Mr. Pitt, 44, rears with Angelina Jolie, 32, things turned slightly bizarre. read more »
Gore Sells Books, Dodges Draft
Al Gore was interviewed by Charlie Rose last night at the 92nd Street Y. I stopped by. And so did about a thousand people in the audience, who gave Gore a standing ovation when he walked on stage, as well as an organized handful of enthusiasts who are actively trying to draft him into the presidential race.
In a routine that's becoming as predictable as the melting polar ice caps, Gore made a statement leaving the door open for a possible presidential run without acknowledging any specific plans to do so.
But notwithstanding his brief comments on the race -- and despite the flier shown here, which was handed out by volunteers from AlGore.org -- Gore was there primarily to talk about his book, An Assault on Reason, which is already number one on Amazon.
The audience, unlike the media, seemed happy enough to let the former vice president set his own timetable.
Of the presidential speculation, nurse Jen O'Neill of Tudor City said after the presentation that “it's not important at all."
"It’s very early," she said, "and people are still star-struck by Barack and Hillary and you’re not hearing any of the substance yet.”
“I think it would be smart for him to wait it out,” she added.
For Kerry, It’s Always 2004
Kerry's Mythological Non-Response
At an appearance yesterday evening at the 92nd Street Y to promote his new book on environmentalism, John Kerry talked about what he called the "mythology" surrounding his weak response to the "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" during the 2004 presidential campaign.
Here's part of an exchange he had with moderator Charlie Rose:
CR: "I know you don't want to redo that campaign."
JK: "Actually I do. Let's go back and recount those votes."
CR: "That is my very first question. Did you win Ohio or not?"
JK: "I don't look backwards."
But just moments later... read more »
John Kerry, Honest, But Upstaged at 92Y
Senator John Kerry and his wife, Teresa, were at the 92nd Street Y last night where a packed house saw them discuss their new book about environmentalism with interviewer Charlie Rose.
Rose happily steered the conversation into politics, where John Kerry confessed to some mistakes in his 2004 race, and kept alive the possibility of running again. But at least one audience member had enough of him!
After hearing the Kerrys speak, Vivian Engstler, a retired chef from Chelsea told me she'd rather see Teresa run for president.
"Yeah, she has more cajones. She has more balls than he does." But somehow, according to Engstler, Teresa "is a nicer Hillary."
-- Azi PaybarahReviewing Larry Summers's Performance
Summers seems a business executive by temperament. He's too tan and doesn't miss meals. He's bold. The strongest impression of the hour was how often he rode right over Charlie Rose when he tried to make a point, or cut in. Summers's voice would rise and Rose would have to shut up. An executive's way. It's kind of amazing that Harvard wanted him, but I guess this has a lot to do with money.
Summers lacks tone. His accent is unfinished, reminds me of middle-class friends from Baltimore who never became that worldly. He has that "dt" problem—pronouncing "t's" with an extra consonant in there. The lack of tone extends to his ideas. He has an executive's impressive grasp of large ideas, forward-thinking ideas—to his great credit, he has no problem with the vision thing—but lacks subtlety. There was no sensitivity or elegance to his expression.
Summers is unhealed. He had worked on some smooth turns about how it was his fault too for being too aggressive, and he didn't handle things well, but when it came down to it, he couldn't really talk about what an abrasive personality he is. Rose seemed to me to actually dislike Summers, which is rare on his part, and kept pushing Summers to take responsibility for his lack of finesse. "You were Treasury Secretary, you should have understood the fishbowl," he said. Or he pushed Summers about his highhandedness and, using the third-person to refer to Summers, said, "You wonder... for all his brilliance.. he may not be the world's most—whatever the offense was." He meant "arrogance," a word Rose also managed to drop in. Summers didn't cop to it.
The only individual in the Harvard community he spoke of in the 50 minutes I watched was a 19-year-old student who had had the temerity to challenge Summers's data head-on in a class. Summers admired the kid, but I thought it was narcissistic. The kid plainly reminded Summers of himself.
I also think Summers misrepresented the forum for his controversial comments about women and science in January 2005. He repeatedly called it "a seminar." Later: "a private academic seminar."
But per the Washington Post, it was "a speech... at a session on the progress of women in academia organized by the National Bureau of Economic Research." According to the Boston Globe, which broke the story, the conference, on women and minorities in the science and engineering workforce, was "a private, invitation-only event, with about 50 attendees. Summers spoke during a working lunch." Not exactly a seminar.P.S. In the New Republic this week, Martin Peretz, sore over Summers's departure (which he ascribes in part of course to "anti-Israel and even anti-Jewish animus"), desires to punish the university for Summers's departure and so plays the money card. "...[M]y own impression of wealthy alumni who were once my students is that Summers made them more generous... I know of at least three gifts in the $100 million range that were very likely to materialize and now are dicey." Note to journalists: always be vague when throwing around the $100 million figure, throw in an "at least" or two. You don't want anyone to try to pin you down.
Fears Grow Over Peak Oil
Yet another voice belongs to Navy Secretary Don Winter, who warned last week at the Naval War College that just recently, the "fear factor" coming from the spike in oil prices had made an impact in the world economy "in the billions." In the subsequent press conference, I asked Winter whether Roscoe Bartlett wasn't a prophet, in his belief that unless we start conserving now, there will be civil disruptions over oil. "I've talked to the congressman, I've had several engagements with him," Winter, a fellow engineer, said, and though he stopped short of endorsing the Bartlett view, said, "A lot of what he has said has come true." Hark.
Hansen Nabs Pervs, Viewers
How to Get Out of Iraq
P.S. Baer also said that the Iran situation threatens to set off world war.
Scion of The Times
Scion of The Times
Keller to Meet with Times D.C. Bureau
"The Washington bureau knows the topic will be Judy and where the bureau goes from here," a Times source said. read more »
--Gabriel ShermanMoving On: Miller, Sulzberger Begin Public Appearances
Miller was making her first public appearance as a former New York Times reporter, in a panel discussion at a dinner hosted by the Media Law Resource Center.
The Miller saga is far from over--she may yet be a witness against her indicted snitch/whistleblower, former vice-presidential aide I. Lewis (Scooter) Libby. But the moving-on phase has begun for Miller and for the Times.
Thus Miller was speaking her piece--and posting more pieces on her Web site. Publisher Arthur O. Sulzberger Jr., after weeks behind a press-office veil of no-comments, is booked for Charlie Rose tonight, according to a Times source.
Last night's panel topic in the New York Sheraton ballroom was "Reporter's Privilege," but the first question of the night from moderator Terry Moran of ABC was about Miller's just-announced retirement. Sounding a theme from her farewell letter, Miller told the audience she "had actually become the news, and that's something that no New York Times reporter wants to be."
In the rear of the hall, Times reporter Katherine Q. Seelye was typing away on a laptop, writing a news story about the end of Miller's Times career.
"The Times is a great institution and a great newspaper," Miller said, "and I'm very happy with my career there. But it's time to do something else."
That something else has yet to be defined. Miler said she plans to take time off, now that her five-week standoff with the newspaper is over--"the break I was supposed to take when I came out of jail and never got."
In a Nov. 5 interview, Miller had said that she still has no book deal to write about her involvement in special prosecutor Patrick J. Fitzgerald's leak probe--lamenting "bloggers who report I have a book deal that I don't have, that my publisher says I don't have, that my agent says I don't have, that my best friends say I don't have...To continue to print that, and to have The Los Angeles Times for example carry [Arianna Huffington's reporting] as if it is fact--that's not her problem, that's mainstream media's problem."
During last night's panel, Miller offered another piece of media criticism, saying she'd been "jumping up and down" in jail with frustration over the Times' lack of aggression in covering the leak case--even if the paper did have "a dog in the fight." read more »
And she added that the press coverage had failed to adequately address the First Amendment aspects of her case.
"I think the media tends to be focused on the wrong issues when there is so much at stake," Miller said. "We take the First Amendment for granted. I don't think we can, given the judicial decisions that have been handed down. We're facing a serious crisis." --Gabriel Sherman
