Political journalist Michael Kinsley ’77 joined Harvard Law School Dean Elena Kagan ’86 this past weekend for a conversation about the state of journalism and political affairs in the United States. A former host of CNN’s Crossfire, Kinsley answered questions from Kagan and the audience of alumni gathered for this year’s fall reunion weekend.
Kinsley tackled issues such as the emergence of the blogosphere, the presidential election, and immigration by offering his signature wit and candor to answer the questions posed to him.
“Hillary does seem to have a machine, and everything is going right,” Kinsley said when asked to make his observations about the election. “I think Bush is so unpopular, however, that it’s going to hurt Hillary in a funny way. People are going to say ‘enough with relatives!’”
Currently a columnist for Time Magazine, Kinsley began his journalistic career as editor of The New Republic and moderator of William Buckley’s television news show Firing Line. He has served as editor at Harper’s Bazaar and The Economist. In 2002, he left the world of print journalism to become the founding editor of the online journal Slate, which was influential in pushing the mainstream media to produce content online.
Click here to watch a video of the discussion.