Nation and National Review editors' CU debate ranged far and wide

Top: David Corn, the Washington, D.C., editor of The Nation, speaks at "Face Off: An Election 2004 Debate" in the Statler Auditorium on Sept. 14. Above: Richard Lowry, editor of National Review, makes a point during the debate, which was the second in a series of debates and talks for Cornell Mock Election 2004. Frank DiMeo/University Photography

By Roger Segelken

It wasn't just the upcoming presidential election that was covered in the Sept. 14 audience-pleasing debate between National Review editor Rich Lowry and David Corn, editor of The Nation. Topics also ranged from energy conservation, taxation of the rich and genocide in Sudan to Supreme Court nominees, media bias and "dread of neoconservatives."

The debate was the second event in the fall's Cornell Mock Election 2004 series on campus.

The majority of students who filled the recently renovated Statler Auditorium responded when the conservative editor, Lowry, asked for a show of hands from "all who consider themselves liberals." Yet they gave enthusiastic applause to Lowry's well-aimed zingers at Democratic candidate John Kerry, as well as to the liberal Corn's partisan rhetoric against incumbent President George W. Bush.

The students even applauded well-phrased questions from the audience, especially those that diverted the debaters from their practiced rants against the opposition parties' candidates. Responding to one student's question, "Is there such a thing as unbiased media?" Corn said that good journalism "is not biased toward the left or right," but that most popular media these days "are biased toward covering conflict over content."

When "conflict" is about questionable sources, as in the CBS News controversy over purportedly falsified records of President Bush's National Guard service, Lowry said "the media should cover forged documents," and much of the audience agreed.

Physics graduate student Andy Noble asked about dwindling oil reserves and whether Americans should use less energy, "even if conservation slows the economy." Scoffing at the source of the student's data on petroleum production (an article in Physics Today), Lowry said, "It is a total illusion that the U.S. can become energy-independent." Corn responded: "If we didn't have to import so much oil from Saudi Arabia, we wouldn't see so many pictures of George Bush holding hands with Saudi 'oilcrats.' Regardless of when you think oil will run out, we have only a couple decades to deal with global warming" from the combustion of fossil fuels, Corn added.

An ILR student's question about the Project for a New American Century, and how long Paul Wolfowitz, currently a deputy secretary of defense, had been planning war against Saddam Hussein, launched a Lowry riff on "dread of neoconservatives." He said these so-called "neocons" are people "who have a principled, consistent vision to reorient the Middle East to a climate of decency."

Referring to conservative Cornellians (Wolfowitz is a 1965 Cornell graduate in mathematics), Corn showed his familiarity with university alumni when he said: "I was accepted at Cornell and nearly attended. Thank you for giving us both Thomas Pynchon and Ann Coulter." (Columnist Coulter, a 1984 graduate of the College of Arts and Sciences, was a founder of the conservative student paper, the Cornell Review. Noted and reclusive author Pynchon, a 1958 graduate, hasn't written for either Review, although he did work briefly as a technical writer for the military aircraft company Boeing.)

The moderator for the Lowry-Corn debate was Van McMurtry, Cornell vice president for government and community relations. The 90-minute debate was recorded for C-SPAN for broadcast on that cable network's "American Perspectives" program on Sept. 18 and 19.

The Mock Election 2004 series was designed and is coordinated by students to promote political participation among their fellow students by engaging them with presentations from all parts of the political spectrum. Upcoming speakers include radio host Laura Flanders on "Gender Politics in the Age of Bush," Sept 30 at 7 p.m. in Goldwin Smith Hall Auditorium D, and National Review Online editor Jonah Goldberg, "All I'm Saying Is Give War a Chance," Oct. 4 at 7 p.m. in B45 Warren Hall. All Mock Election events are free and open to the public.

Mock Election schedule update

For a complete and updated schedule, see http://mockelection.cornell.edu.

Sept. 29: "Iron Jawed Angels" film, Willard Straight Hall Music Room, 7 p.m. Free, no tickets required.

Sept. 30: "Gender Politics in the Age of Bush," lecture by radio host Laura Flanders, Goldwin Smith Hall Auditorium D, 7 p.m. (Brought to campus by Students Acting for Gender Equality, or SAGE.) Free, no tickets required.

Oct. 4: "All I'm Saying Is Give War a Chance," lecture by Jonah Goldberg, columnist, National Review, B45 Warren Hall, 7 p.m. (Brought to campus by Cornell Review.)

Oct. 6: Presidential debate, featuring Green Party candidate David Cobb, Socialist Party candidate Walt Brown, Libertarian Party candidate Michael Badnarik and Constitution Party candidate Michael Peroutka. Schwartz Auditorium, Rockefeller Hall, 8 p.m. Free, ticket policy to be announced (TBA).

Oct. 14: "The Nader Factor," lecture by Peter Knight, former campaign manager for President Bill Clinton. Location and time TBA.

Oct. 15: Outsourcing debate between Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, and Tom Donohue, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 305 Ives Hall, 11 a.m. to noon. Ticket policy TBA. (Brought to campus by the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.)

Oct. 18: Congressional lecture by U.S. Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Uris Auditorium, Uris Hall, 5-7 p.m. Free, no tickets required.

Oct. 20: Book signing and debate by political authors Bill Press and Ronald Kessler. Book signing will be at the Cornell Store at 12:30 p.m.; the debate will be in 305 Ives Hall at 7 p.m. Free, ticket policy TBA.

Oct. 21: National security lecture, Sandy Berger, former National Security Adviser to President Bill Clinton, Statler Hall Auditorium, 7 p.m. Free, ticket policy TBA.