A Conversation With Alec Baldwin

well good evening my name is Bill Purcell director of the Institute of Politics and it gives me great pleasure to welcome each and every one of you to the John F Kennedy jr. forum tonight we're pleased to host a conversation with Alec Baldwin and Rick Burke national editor of the New York Times Rick has a long history with the IOP and the Kennedy School he's been a member of the IOP senior advisory committee since 1999 and he was an ILP resident fellow in 1997 in 2007 Rick was a visiting adjunct lecturer affiliated with the Shorenstein Center on the pres politics and public policy our investigative staff has just today discovered being an unnamed source at the New York Times that Rick watched it'scomplicated last night to prepare for tonight's forum tonight interview Alec Baldwin and not have seen his latest movie so I was I was on DVD last night for the first time so it's up to one am watching it and I wear the New York Times said good thing Rick is going to be interviewing and has already begun interviewing our guest mr. Alec Baldwin mr. Baldwin is known throughout America and the world for his roles on Broadway television and in over 40 films including IOP staff favorite The Departed for those of you here in Boston vada pod hit most recently you know him from 30 rock a role for which he has won two Emmy Awards three Golden Globes and yet in pursuing a successful acting career alec baldwin has a maintained and active life in the realm of politics he sits on the board of the political advocacy group people for the American Way and has broadly engaged in public policy advocacy and campaigns shortly after our leader and our Senator Edward M Kennedy passed away last year mr. Baldwin posted a reflection on Huffington Post recounting his involvement in the Senators 1994 reelection campaign after traveling throughout the state and speaking at colleges and universities in support of Senator Kennedy mr. Baldwin received a call from the Senate me thanking him for his service in one of his most contested races after hanging up the phone mr. Baldwin describes the surge of emotions that overtook him and I quote then I looked out the window and started to cry I believed in this man and in various members of his unique family all my life I campaigned for many men and women seeking public office but here was one instance where I was able to believe that I had placed one brick in the wall of that 94 effort Kennedy a man who lived a life of service had infected me with that spirit it was 1960 or 1968 again Ted inspired me to remember that politics though spiritually demoralizing much of the time is really the great calling it is what matters most please join me in welcoming Rick Burke and Alec Baldwin Alec I'm thrilled to have you here this is gonna be a lot of fun we have a million questions about politics about acting about all kinds of things that you may or may not want to talk about but before we we go there I have to ask you about what you're doing later tonight and this involves where you're staying because Harvard is putting him up in a dorm room but it's not just any dorm room it's john f kennedy's old dorm room that's been newly renovated so you're the first guest in the newly renovated John F Kennedy dorm room where he wrote profiles encouraged and did a lot of other things who knows what else but but let me just say that there's no TV in the room so what are you good what someone like you do in a dorm room like when when did you last sleep in a dorm room and what are you gonna do there well I was mentioning earlier when we were backstage first of all I want to thank all of you for coming it's really sweet of you to come I appreciate it do they teach classes in this room it must be tough for the people way up there to absorb everything um the I was saying how it is just nothing like when I come to Harvard I've been here a few times because Harvard can play off of being Harvard by saying it we're not gonna pay you an honorarium to come speak here but you're gonna stay in JFK's dorm world and there's no wireless access in the room and there's no DVD it's just kind of a bed and a copy of profiles and courage and a lab and you just have the experience of kind of recreating the can of the ethos in this room when you're there the last time I stayed in the dorm room I don't remember and then I went to either than the door mom went to GW first in Washington it was a political science major and lived in the dorm there and then transferred to NYU and lived in the dorm for the year and a half I went to NYU before I graduated and but I haven't stayed in a dorm in a while how about you are you staying in the dorm with me no I'm not staying with you sorry sir I stayed there before it was renovated they only give famous people like let's stay in them new they resume before me I don't know about that I don't know but you mentioned GW when you went political science major you clearly have a passion for politics you did then a passion for acting obviously so but but politics came first right I went up GW - do you want to go to long you want to go to law school did you ever want to go into politics so what so what happened how did you end up in this wayward route - we went to I went to the acting school and and a friend of mine encouraged me to audition on my audition and I know the sounds you know kind of crazy but I the I went to NYU which was more expensive to attend than than GW GW was not what it is now 30 years later but I went to NYU but it cost me less money to go there cuz they gave me a scholarship they gave me the drama program gave me a scholarship to go there and that was kind of important from hey you know it was really kind of determinative for me to go to a school under conditions I could afford I mean today great schools like this who have enormous endowments and can afford to bring anybody here they want to make for a better campus environment for them academically they can they can just caught them they can pay for them how many people here how many people here go to school here and they like what percentage they don't have to pay any their tuition they want a full scholarship great person no no no I'm not asking you people I'm saying no no raise your hand I mean how many of the general population here go don't don't have to pay to go to school it is a substantial amount they pay for a lot of people to go here that's great so I it wasn't like that when I went to college getting the money to go to college it was it was a harder than it is now and so I went and I started working right away and my business and I worked and it really just became about working it was a job you know and I wanted to work and earn an income and not be a burden to my parents and my family and everything and I still had the passion for politics which along the way in the entertainment community different people would aid and abet that cause and plug you into different things Norman Lear with people for the American Way I joined that board and he's a good example candidacies that you worked on I went to the I went to the Democratic convention in Atlanta in Atlanta in 1988 as a guest of the California delegation Tom Hayden brought us as his guests now this was aside from Dukakis running against was to cut to Cotton's right against bush it was also the famous Rob Lowe thank you thank you thank you brought it up in fact I'm whether the New York Times tracks all this yeah yeah very a porn and yeah the convention so this was the famous Rob Lowe video episode and we were there with Rob Lowe and all the people from the California cannot get some room I would know yeah that was the last time I was in a dorm room was with man I'm you just read my you just refresh my memory thank you but long story short is that I went there and that was my first introduction to members of the Kennedy family I'm more of a kind of an intimate level Tom had a book that came out Ethel Kennedy had a book party at her daughter Courtney's house soon after the convention and that launched me into working with Bobby Kennedy jr. for what was then Hudson River keeper then he formed the umbrella organization Waterkeeper Alliance and and I've worked with them since then and I met Michael six years later on that path of late Michael Kennedy and he plugged me into this race where we came up here and we drove around Massachusetts for like four consecutive weekends the month of October like as we got close to the election and Kennedy won and you know I remember going to GW in 76 and joining the College Democrats there in canvassing for Carter door-to-door in Maryland and suburban Maryland and Virginia so it's it's been tough for me because I do care a lot about politics and I've fantasized about doing other things with my life but I'm grateful for those organizations that allowed me with what I do for a living to continue to plug into these things over time when when I heard you were coming I made me think back to another famous actor who was on the stage talking about politics and that was Barbra Streisand and that was 1995 a packed house here in the forum she gave a speech called the artists at citizen and she said I'm not suggesting that actors run the country but she said I just like being involved do you see her as a role model do you share her sort of view of politics and celebrity I I can't say yes I can't say no I know that she's someone who in the most general sense a lot of the people that I like and that I'm fond of in the entertainment world they as they as well as I do think that we have to have a constant countermeasure in American government to the influences of corporate power which we think tilts it the advantages of the services that government provides and where government money goes to those are tilted toward the rich and the powerful and I believe that you need to have a countermeasure to that I believe in a government that will ultimately at least try they don't need to succeed but at least try to do the most amount of good for the greatest number of people that they can you know my political opposites will say to you that they you know wanted Clinton to kill welfare reform you know they wanted cut into shop off the head of welfare as we know it in this country and Clinton obliged them he killed welfare reform as a as a as a an act of conciliation toward the Republicans that were then running the Congress starting in 1994 and there's so many of those kinds of movements that have come up in political life in the last 20 25 years in the last 30 years since Reagan that I might have supported if there had been a homogeneity of that kind of political thought another things like if if Newt grin Gingrich and company people like that had made a contract with America where they were going to seek an end to defense fraud and fraud and defense contracting that would have netted us far more money than the money that was spent defrauding the government and well I mean the amount of money that people Deford the government in welfare for it was a minuscule compared to the fraud that's good caused by defense contracting fraud but they never bring that up so they they they act on behalf of a certain group of interests and and it always troubles me because I would like to see those measures applied more uniformly when do I have a baby yeah what was that yeah was that your baby when you talk politics just for fun do you love do you talk to fellow actors do you talked to political people I mean who do you like talking politics with well most of my friends are not in my business they're not actors in them i but most of them are writers and novelists and journalists and screenwriters in New York and so forth and some of them are people who a very dear friend of mine who went on to become my own publicist was the communications director for the New York State Democratic Committee he went to Cornell and graduated from Fordham Law School's name is Matthew held sick he was actually going to come with us today and he went on to and before he got into public relations he worked for Harvey Weinstein who did corporate PR for Miramax Films he was the communications director for Judy Hope when she was very successful in New York and getting a Schumer elected and Hillary an elected is very connected to the Jewish community in New York so ager did Jewish community outreach for Hillary's campaign he's someone who I really enjoyed we did a lot of work for him for Chuck and for carl mccall raising money for Carmel call when he ran for governor unsuccessfully so people that I think are like in the process and who are in involved and can tell me you know it can explain to me the realities and what what's happening but like I live in on Long Island and the eastern first District of Long Island where Tim Bishop is the Democratic congressman it's a safe seat for Democrats and people have always come to me and said are you going to run for office and I say well you know where would I run what would I run for I mean you know you've got a safe seat in my congressional district and Andrew Cuomo is pretty much gonna waltz right into the governor's office in New York most people presume unless they find out that he's got some scandal under his skirt there and and I was bothered for example by the fact Bishop who I support but I was bothered by the fact that he voted for the war and I wanted someone to explain to me the political realities of Brookhaven Township where I live which is the largest of the five townships that make up the congressional district and you know I like having people in my life that I could could I can call who could explain to me the whys and wherefores of like as goes Brookhaven Township so goes the first district in New York that's a very very conservative group of people the Brookhaven town supervisor was almost always a Republican so when they vote Democrat for a race it's going to be a very moderate Democrat who which I don't think I would qualify for that and so Tim wins that seat I think he's running for like his fifth term you mentioned skirts in New York state politics and sort of what's looks here you know youth you think of Hollywood types is being pretty open about people's personal lives what's your view of say governor Spitzer should he have stepped down after the you know prostitute revolution came out what do you think of governor Sanford in South Carolina and is hiked his his non hike on the Appalachian Trail what do you think of Senator Vitter what do you think people care too much about these politicians personal lives well I think I think you have to get I think you have to accept the fact that Americans are pretty uptight about sex in in that arena you know like you could have a president who who'd struggled with alcoholism for decades before assuming office and people are less concerned about that and I'm not saying that they should be more or less concerned about any of it but they but they you haven't you have a president who has some kind of sexual proclivities I had a friend of mine explain to me is Stephen Wayne I was mentioning to some of the students earlier Stephen Wayne was the person who taught the American presidency classes that I took in Washington years ago when he kind of alluded to the fact that presidents who've always been men up till now they all need something to take the edge off it's a stressful job and even more so now as it's gone on which would you rather have would you rather have a president who was on some heavy medication some anti-anxiety medication every day who drank heavily or he decided he had to have a fling with his intern in some closet every couple of months you know it's like it's like finding people to do it but finding people to do with must be practical finding people to do this job is it's tough it's a difficult job the men or women who would be best equipped to do this job don't want the job they want to go on to the business world and they want to make millions and millions of dollars in stock options and run corporations you have a certain type of person who seeks this job these days and they all tend to bring some pardon me Obama smokes and I mean they've all got some thing they do to get through the day and I don't judge them or malign them however I think it was naive of Spitzer not to realize the times we live in spencer should have known if that came out he was gonna lose people's trust we live in a society where automatically if you be if you betray your wife if you betray your a husband if you betray someone who is primary in your life that you have an intimate relationship with how could I be expected to trust you if you lie to your wife you're cooked it's over and he should have known that and I think that it was really foolish because i'm member aguas on the set of a film when Elliot won and I was somebody who supported Elliot and here I mean again as a very progressive Democrat when Pataki was done we had three terms of Pataki he had protect you for 12 years in New York and it was just like a blast of ether in your face every day by my estimation in terms of political leadership I mean he was viewed as a puppet for Alphonse D'Amato and so forth and these other Republican statewide leaders and when Elliott won a member I almost had tears in my eyes I was in the set of a film and Eliot Spitzer this guy who was this guy was the v12 engine this super smart guy this amazing guy was governor we were so excited about the prospects and then when it ended the way it ended we were just flabbergasted was tragic what what actors have gone into politics do you admire I know you don't admire I know you don't I know you don't admire the Governor Schwarzenegger and I don't know if it's because of his acting or because of his political views but but what I think what I'm wondering do you think it could be a third thing well what's third thing do you think it could be the reason why you don't maybe you had some fight over a movie or something and he got the role and you didn't or something like that yeah that's it yeah yeah but I wonder what the thing with it will you tell me what you think the third thing could be that you might be his views he's an argue some heads Darrell it's turning gray Davis out of office my point is is that I mean Schwarzenegger was a person whose political credentials where he was the head of the President's Council on physical fitness he never held elective office in this country ever never ever ever ever and if you know the history of what happened in California if you watch the smartest guys in the room and kind of Bank it off of the whole Enron scandal you know that darrell Issa the Republican congressman who made a fortune in some business he had I forgot what it was something in the to do with automobiles and the automobile dealerships darrell Issa was a was a big conservative from Orange County who launched who kind of lit the fuse of the gray Davis recall effort and was assumed he would be the beneficiary of that instan believed he would be the nominee and once he got the fire going once he rubbed the two sticks together and the thing was raging to engulf Davis who was one of the great gentlemen in American political leveling Davis was a great guy required or a reserve guy maybe too much so maybe he didn't fight that card enough but when you're the governor and Enron is gaming the electrical grid and you know that there were literally power shortages that are causing like traffic lights to go out there are car accidents happening like children are being killed in car accidents there are hospitals that are losing power and patients are dying on your watch in your governor you knew he was cooked and didn't matter that Enron helped to wig that power of failure in in California and essa launched the recall effort Davis was recalled and they tapped us on the shoulder and they said it's not you we're not gonna go with you we're not gonna take you to the problem we're gonna go with the sky here who was the head of the President's Council on physical fitness he's gonna be the governor but but I would say from what I know about your views they're probably close to the Swartz then this is was more to the Ryan but I this thing III I wouldn't want to see anybody you know who I thought was unqualified I mean I mean in in posts that I've written I've given it to Democrats as well who I thought violated my standard of campaign finance beliefs I'm a big believer that campaign finance reform is the lynchpin and most of the problems in this country we need to have public financing full public financing of campaigns the work that I did with different groups regarding public financing was done here we worked with Marvin caliber and the Shorenstein Center the Joan Shorenstein Center for Public Policy and that was when Marvin Kalp had worked with people on what they call the seven Sundays project where they wanted the the seven consecutive Sunday leading up to the presidential race to be free TVs similar to what we have now but have you realized that that that Clean Elections in a presidential cycle would cost let's say me for real media saturation in all markets for the national races only would cost four billion dollars these were estimates that were made by certain groups and that in a non presidential cycle in the offseason for the congressional races it was two billion dollars was half that so in a four year period is going to cost you six billion dollars to have clean elections in this country so I'm a big believer in that and and those people who I think violate the ethic of that like Corzine and ken de New Jersey Ariana's ex-husband caught Michael Huffington spend an ungodly amount of money Michael Bloomberg in New York I mean you know been a lot of people in New York or having a tough time letting go of the fact that Bloomberg bought himself a third term and I mean I wrote this in Huffington Post I said Bloomberg's telling you that during the financial crisis New York needs his business acumen in order to survive this storm and weather this storm and the question I asked in Huffington was does Bloomberg mean to suggest that if you don't give him a third term he will withhold that business acumen he will not give people his advice about how to solve the business kress unless you give him you changed the term limits which Christine Quinn the Democratic head of the City Council they gave bloom of what he wanted and I find that people who violate those principles that are voluntary about campaign finance reform Democrat or Republican I have a lot of distaste for either of them now this isn't a trick was very nice monogram oh thank you very much this is not a trick question but even though therap Ellen thought it was when Katie Couric asked her this question that is what newspapers and magazines do you really you need a little time to think about this I can see Russia from my house isn't she great let's hear a patina I'm nice under up here she is funny I live in New York I read The Times I used to meet all the papers I used to read the times in the Wall Street Journal in the USA Today the Post The Daily News I used to get all the papers delivered to my house and now I don't have time unlike a lot of other people I'm online not cuz I prefer to read online I prefer we were talking about this backstage I prefer to read the paper I prefer to not have to boot up a computer to read the paper I prefer to have a paper in my hand every day you know in New York somebody else is always doing the driving so you can get a lot of reading done you're gonna cab you're on the subway but because I'm booting up a computer for other reasons I tend to do my email and read the paper that so I go to Huffington to look for certain friends of mine we talked about this backstage how Huffington is a bit like Us Weekly now how many people here we go to Huffington and older in the day yeah like a surprisingly not not many yeah I mean the Huffington I I complained to Arianna how Huffington is like you know you know a Labor Department to investigate masse right next to that you know Britney lip syncs again I second the whiplash you get of all that crap on that right you need to just read the New York Times and you'll get you'll die I would not and I go to Newseum and I kind of go all around the country look at headlines the front page is a different no no just getting back to Sarah because I think you've said that she's beautiful and she's I mean beyond that what am i dead Rick beyond beyond I'm not dead up beyond beyond that what how would you why she's so successful among a group of her supporters and I mean she's getting these TV contracts she's she's all over the place well I think it's no mistake that she's the first person to to gain that situation an attractive woman let's look at what's happened in anything that's that involves media centricity in this country turn on the TV with the sound off and watch the news now I mean you know I mean Candy Crowley may be the only woman who doesn't look like she just popped off the runway who's reading the news or who just popped out of some you know skin cream commercial who's reading the news on TV there's a certain kind of person they want to put out there in the media now she is terrific by the way candy crowley you know I look at you and the Palin has stepped in to fill that a niche of this kind of you know easy on the eye spokesmodel if you will but more importantly the the when you listen to the content of what she says and you analyze the content of what she says I mean people are it's always easy to play off the fears of the American people American people are afraid they're afraid that they're either going to not get something that they already that they don't have or loop they're going to not get something that they want or lose something they already have Americans are very afraid of a contraction of the can standard of living you tell Americans you're gonna have to pay money for gas the way Europeans pay money for gas like $8 a gallon you tell Americans you're not gonna be able to ride on cars a single driver car single passenger car so much you have to take more public transportation you tell Americans you're gonna have to eat less in restaurants or I'm type of middle class Americans I'm poor people you tell Americans I have to do with less and Americans get real they get the highest you know I mean they get they get really caught nervous yeah you're you're so passionate about politics and I something a question popped in my head that's so not New York Times and I really shouldn't ask this but I can't help myself would you date a Republican Choki I have dated a libertarian not a Republican rather line there although I have to give a to shade and Coulter I said someone said to me would you ever sleep with Ann Coulter and I said I said if I did I would probably jump out the window and kill myself afterward and her reply was that might be reason enough to do it we have to give her a little nod but she's a very clever gal now let's let's jump a little to acting because you speak as I said with such passion about politics what excites you the most about acting I mean you're so you're doing the Philharmonic TMC drama comedy plays movies everything what what what area excites you the most as an actor or is it the variety Q&A with New York Times reporters well I mean you know when you do something for a long time I mean most of the people here you know not the people on the faculty or the staff but the young people here and when you're young you are and you have an opportunity to come to a great institution like this and you want to make the most of it and you're gonna study something wonderful and have a great you know one of the greatest academic experiences in the world you know when you get older it changes I mean I've been doing what I've been doing for thirty years and worked a lot that hasn't been a lot of down time I've kind of lit one off the other and done a lot of films and television shows and so forth and the you think about what you might have done you think about other things you might have done and I'm I always say for example that it sounds a little glib but I always say that acting is something you do when you have no musical ability you know when you can't sing or play the piano we are acting as like a fallback for the really moderately talented people in the performing arts and I kind of feel that way sometimes I with my work with the Philharmonic is maybe wish I studied music and acting is it's you sometimes you get to do something really thoughtful and really beautiful on the on the in the best of times acting I think is the most important way in film and theater to teach us what is interesting and what is beautiful and what there is to love in each other it's a very human you know driven experience you go to the theater and you you see a great play and I think you you you show people what there is to love about this life that we experience with each other and the downside of it is there's jobs I've done to make money it's how I make a living and you know it's as if someone said to a plumber you'd go to the plumber you'd say I want you to install this cabinet in my bathroom and the plumber says yeah this is how much that would cost me to install that cabinet in the bathroom and then sometimes when you never hear plumbers come in and say I could install that catheter in your bathroom I wouldn't be caught dead and seen installing that cabinet a bathroom like that so beneath me the same thing is true with acting sometimes you sit there and go you want to go to work and you just just do with the job and get paid and you take the page how can you go home but that surprises me a little because you describe it as work and a job and and don't you don't aren't there elements of it that you love or I mean how much is the no what I'm saying is when you when you use it when you do a piece of material that's a wonderful piece of material I mean I've done plays where I mean most of the time the experiences that are the most satisfying experiences are in the theater the experiences are that way in the theater because more thought went into the material when you do theater much of the time you're reviving classic materials so you know the material works if the production doesn't go over you know it's you that's to blame you know and the the thing with films very often the movie business they're kind of in the potato chip business you know maybe there ought to sell people go to quickie snack food it's not always fun making potato chips how about how about 30 rock is that fun is that it rhymes I don't know it's great I mean I I reached a point in my life where everything I liked about making films I grew to dislike which was that I never knew where I'd be six months from now and in the film business when you were young that was exciting you'd come and the phone ring and they'd say you're going to Czechoslovakia and you go great and you were excited and it was new and fun and then when the TV show came you know you're gonna stay in New York for six years inside a six-year contract to do the show which I did and that was great because I I want to live in one place and have a normal life and be a member of a community and be reliable I mean I've said this to people ad nauseam where you go to a film and you'd be sitting in your trailer and they would FedEx you your mail you're my assistant or my housekeeper somebody and it opened my mail and would say you know you be the card and you'd realized it was one week left and the bacon exhibit was gonna close the Metropolitan Museum and you missed this and you missed that and you missed this person's graduation you missed this person's wedding and you missed it and when you make films you miss a lot it's a very very time intensive process and you're their slave and they owe you you know and when I do the TV show I'm home in New York and I mean my character on the show wears a suit and tie and when we finish work at 7:30 or 8 o'clock at night I literally wipe my makeup get in the car in my wardrobe and I'm at a restaurant in Manhattan at 8:30 with my friends every night so it's been a good job you have the record of appearances right Steve Martin has that pay well you're what you must you obviously love doing that or you wouldn't do you don't need the money you really don't they really don't pay very much money okay I think this is a baby more than a year so here's today you do Saturday live what they do what they put you in a dorm room yeah that was Arturo Toscanini z-- dorm room at NBC it's there's a violin on a table and a bed and some CDs here's my question about Saturday Night Live those people that do those sketches at the opening when they have the guest people on some of those people big-name celebrities I could I could walk on and do what they do they don't act they don't they just they just walk on stage and say hi to everyone and and what's what does it take to really we referring to I'm not gonna say usually whether the host the host the host some of those hoes you think this is an actor and they go on there and they and all the other people and the monologue in the beginning you think is nothing it's all the other people that are the regulars do all the work and the host just says hi everyone and and just as sort of a straight man on this and to me that's not a good thing right but you're the expert so what's yours when the comedy sucks and the acting sucks that's not a good thing right right so what's your advice to someone doing that show to really do well on that show and particularly on that opening monologue even though you know what I'm talking about I think that when people do the show the best thing is to try to be a member of the company the like if you come on there like if you're Stallone let's say he's a he's a good example of someone who you're gonna send up his career you're gonna send up the iconography of Stallone's career where somebody and continue nicholson if he ever did the show you never would but most people who come on I think who'd do a good show you become a member of the company and you're there just to make an ass of yourself like they do that's what comedy is is just to really kind of make a fool of yourself but I've done the show where they've come to me it never is it was ever thus when I do the show where they'll come to you when you start on Monday and it's a whole process you go through and really it's kind of a miracle how they build alive 90 minutes show and six days and you do the show and they come to you like on Friday it's like day before you know you can't back out they're not gonna get somebody else now or whatever and they come to you and they go here's the model mother we got for you for tomorrow and something like really a cenar not really like demoralizing it I mean yeah like I'll never forget when I first got divorced to my ex-wife it was like I did SNL right after that and and the writers came to me who can be kind of and they all went to this school by the with or Harvard graduates yeah you know they are there and they're like it was sick beyond belief and malicious and and they come to me and they Amy says here's the model and the monologue was Darrell Hammond was Clinton coming out and telling me how great it was gonna be for me to be single and be rid of my eczema yeah and if anybody ever saw this thing it was really very funny because Darryl comes out he said he's an Alec Baldwin Alec mmm-hmm he said I got to tell you Alec he said you're gonna have it running hot and cold on top I mean he goes into this whole like really disgusting monologue about how great is going to be to be single and I looked at them and I said I can't do that and they really really guilt you into it they really like oh come on oh come on man this is good and they bait you they switch you they give you like three mana they're very clever they give you like a really shitty model yeah and a pretty shitty mama and then they give you the one that's really funny and they're like yeah and they they get you they get you the gear to get out there and make a complete ass of yourself for them so let's talk about your future your career you know I can see it in different directions we've seen you know you've you know dropped hints about you know in the past challenging Joe Lieberman and moving to Connecticut nor other people have your people have so this is what's wrong with the press so so so I mean what what excites you more how see Senate seat or a great play on Broadway for that ten years from now I can't say I mean I I know that the in New York where I live there's a lot of entitlement there's a lot of people who have all their moves mapped out you know ten years down the road Patterson is obviously taking himself out of the race most people assume andrew is gonna win I was listening to what I thought was a list of maybe three prominent people who were gonna run for the AG job when Andrew leaves the attorney general's office and on public radio in New York and NYC they listed like eight or nine people know who are pretty good confident they're going to run for that position the Senate seat I mean Chuck Schumer is not going anywhere Gillibrand is playing all our cards pretty well I don't think anybody's assuming she's gonna lose there are and this is not I wouldn't say this is troublesome to me I think it's unfortunate for people who are competent and and skilled political types who realize now that what's happened in New York politics is that Gillibrand seat is viewed as the female seat from the New York delegation there are many many people particularly women there were very powerful forces in in politics who here in New York who said this seat must be occupied by a woman in perpetuity now it's a woman you know since Hillary broke that barrier because Hillary Clinton was the first person to hold the statewide elective office in the history of New York when New York was so backwards that way I'm not talking about lieutenant governor which is a ceremonial position where some women and occupied that position both Senate seats the governorship AG controller never a woman never never never never and so Hillary was the first and now people once that that's been established you hear people in New York political life say that they don't want jellyband to budge even though she was appointed that you saying all these things the reality is everyone thought Spitzer would still be governor I'm asking you what I can tell just by your body language how you're talking that you would love to be a senator from New York exactly right that's exactly what I was and I think you would love that I resent the hell out of Kristen Jim take the good report you don't tell that he thinks he waltzed into that role I can just tell I think it was she's doing very well I mean I listen I don't want to I mean we had Alphonse D'Amato was a Senator in New York for for four terms and that was the the dark ages in New York political life but but but but to say that people have come to me and said would you move somewhere and run for office and I you know I'm a New Yorker and I like living in New York and that's where I'm gonna stay and would you settle for a health seat you make it sound so sexy answer yeah exciting would I settle for a house in you know I mean III would see no shame and running for the house and and and then if some things changed see one thing you realize about Spitzer who ever thought that Hillary would lose to Obama I for one never dreamed Hillary would lose to Obama I thought Hillary would win the nomination and she might have lost to McCain in and where and then that's a very kind of a sad reflection on the way I mean I had a guy say this comment to me once was a very harsh political observation he said I said why do you think Hillary lost to Obama which I thought was impossible and he said he felt that he felt that the tension between the sexes has been going on much longer than tension between the races he said that he believed that people were that that men as voters were more suspicious of a woman in office than white voters were suspicious suspicious of a black leader in office and so when that happened with Hillary Clinton I never thought she would lose I never thought she would take an appointment in his in his and give up her Senate seat to become Secretary of State I never thought that would happen I assumed she would have teed herself up in such a way which he could still do that if Obama lost this next election she could position herself as a candidate again later on but just just to finish this which is that she so anything can happen I mean you turn around and Hillary is gone she vacate two seats Spitzer's gone you never know what what the future holds I know students have a million questions why don't you start lining up I'm gonna ask you a couple quick questions while people are lining up number one is you and I were both what you don't know this you and I were both born in 1958 the thing that bothers me about that is for the first time we have a president who is younger than I am does that bother you or is it just me well my dad said to me once he said you know you're getting old when all the cops and all the ballplayers are younger than you and I reached that age quite a while ago it doesn't bother me I mean one thing I will honestly say is I for one I wasn't happy about the healthcare program I wasn't happy about that legislation because I believed as much as I thought it was important as much as I thought health care was important and I'm glad that it passed once they got it once they launched that I'm glad that they were successful well though I believe that energy policy in this country was far more important in the immediate sense having spent seven hundred and fifty million dollars on a war in the Middle East where there's a war for oil make no mistake about that going into Iraq I mean and that's a whole complicated issue about Pakistan and the Taliban versus al-qaeda and so forth released I think that that that energy policy is just as I think campaign finance reform is the linchpin of the political problems in this country I think that energy reform is the elimin of all the economic problems in this country do you think Obama has been a successful president I think Obama Obama to me is successful on two levels one I think he prevailed he won the health care issue which was that politics is about wins and losses and that's it was a big win for him perception was but I also want to mention it and and I'd only expect people here to agree with me but I also am deeply deeply deeply admiring of Obama's cool and his disposition and that he doesn't take the bait from these seething hissing animals who are spitting on him and kicking him and throwing tomatoes at him on the stage I mean we've never lived in a time which is more elegant as the time we live in now and is more unkind than the time we live in now turn on the TV and more and more of these reality shows are two things they're unscripted to say about having to pay members of the WGA a living wage they the producers put these people on these reality shows and just say okay go and they save on actors and they save on costs but the other thing is that their shows in which people humiliate each other it's a lot of humiliation on television now and I think that in this age which seems to be such an an inelegant age Obama has stayed cool and collected and he didn't take the bait we all know that there are men who have occupied that office who been some pretty furniture smashing maniacs I mean I can name a few that I friends might have worked with some of these administration these guys are throwing ashtrays across the room and screaming they're just on their laps they're stripping the paint off the wall they're screaming so loud and they're so frustrated but the way they've been dealt with by their political opposites by the press and the and I am deeply deeply deeply admiring of how Obama has stayed and not let taking the bait let them get the best of him final question before we go the students and that is for all these students here who are going on to careers what career advice would you give them as they embark on their their careers and you have to do it in Jack Donaghey character you're 30 right so they're coming to you for a job jack what do you what are you looking for from the time you get your first job until you're about 45 50 go strong equities big into equities 50 switch to bonds that's a curious big risks 25 to 50 reducing that risk 50 to 65 65 you're out go all cash so our first question please identify yourself and as usual no statements just quick question sure so yeah my name is Jeanette Kennedy I'm a mid-career and PA here which means that we actually have work experience and so I'm actually well diversified in my portfolio so similar to Rick I did some research on getting prepared for today I watched peach buddy's delicious dish and I'm actually very impressed with you I think you're smart you're good-looking and you're also funny what where where's the dorm room again I'll be there later have you been to the JFK I'm actually trying to get a job on SNL so if it helps I'll definitely be there writer so anyway I was just kidding my question is you know what regrets have you had professionally and personally and you don't have to be like you know the typical what the media likes to talk about but maybe something special like I wish I would have lost more or eaten better just to get a little bit more flavor way to sing about the people now I say in your life women if especially if you're young the pain that you will feel from not committing to something that you might have committed to is greater than the pain you will feel from committing to something and you found out you were wrong no risk no reward you're in this business you're in this school you're gonna get out of school you can never do read from Harvard boohoo and you're gonna have a degree from one of the greatest universities in human history and you're gonna walk out that door and you've got to make choices you can't do I mean we live in a world now where I notice a lot of young people they got like five or six careers going before they're 35 years old you've got to really figure out who you are and decide what you want to do decide and be honest I mean like a lot of people are who work in the financial markets is money important to you you want to make a lot of money go make a lot of money if money isn't important to you you one of the work in publishing and well if my friends who were poor in publishing and are they all work couldn't work in publishing but I mean but but my advice to people is commit and then if you if it doesn't work out you can change courses but I find people who are the most unhappy at my age because you're going to be my age believe it or not one of these days there are people who are the the regrets that they didn't commit they're sorry they didn't take the chances they wish they took thank you yes thank you my name is Sandeep and my question is I'm curious if you followed the Scott Brown election from Massachusetts and what your thoughts were about that and it would be great if you could answer in a Boston accent what was her name Moakley Coakley rather was receiving martha was at math yeah that's the best I could do math I'm Oakland Coakley well I I did follow that election because it was to replace Ted's seat and it didn't surprise me it didn't surprise me I mean it was the real classic kind of parasympathetic rebound I mean saw many years of this dynastic group of people controlling that seat and owning that seat and and they wouldn't got a guy who if you watch I say to people the subliminal message on TV is is is incontrovertible and that is almost in a way you're watching the TV with the sound off whether you want to or not the Scott Brown was more kennedy-esque and Coakley was is an interesting the guy that beamed more of a kind of a kind of a a winning quality won whether he was Republican or Democrat and I think the Republicans are hungry for that guy I think they need a a moderate or not too far right of Center Republican who may go for it in the next election because they have because all they have other than that is is caribou Barbie hi mr. Baldwin my name is Kurt I'm a junior undergraduate here and so I'm a big fan of the show and I know you like it that kind of fancy loge box trip I was invited up here actually that's actually very awkward between standing between people like this so a big fan of show and I know you play a a staunch Republican on 30 rock and I was wondering if political satire was like originally supposed to be a part of the humor for 30 rock or if that's something that you know you brought to the table and you know is it fun for you well no no they the writers on the show Robert Carlock who went to Harvard as the other head writer with Tina and Matt Hubbard went to Harvard I mean I'm not joking when I said that the preponderance of the writers went to Harvard or and they came through the Lampoon Tina went to UVA and was an actress and it worked at the Second City and Chicago and the political quotient I mean like any TV show you can look at a hit TV show even like fans are Will and Grace and watch it in its first season and then watch it in its fourth season and the actress who play the roles are almost unrecognizable in the choices they make the first year where people are doing a show they really finding what works that's kind of the condition of doing a long-running TV show and they get more and more comfortable and they make more and more choices and they become more vivid in what they do and and and that commentary about not just Donaghey as a Republican but the GE mentality the Six Sigma mentality that we send up there because my character is a combination of of a GE executive and Lorne Michaels who is the producer of our show in terms of lifestyle cuz Lauren is one of those guys who has AI kentuc seen it with his glove compartment this goes everywhere in New York because lives this kind of like fabulous life but but the but but we do pull our punches with that a lot I must say because it is Network I mean one of the things I'm most proud about the show is it is a network show so we have to keep it we have to walk a certain line you know I'm cable cable is where you can say whatever you want to say cable is where you can say the f-bomb anytime you want to and people think that that makes things more real and more vivid and I'm very proud of the fact that we've had to play it a little more carefully find other ways to say that the things we want to say scripted versus what's all we say every word world word for word is ready oh it's awesome really I'm will we shoot it as written and then we might have some some ad-libs or Walt but but the agreement we have with the writers is we write as we say it exactly as written and you want to I mean that's really that funny but I mean I like I in that world of doing comedy you know sometimes I would go see a show like I go see Brian Dennehy do an O'Neill play on Broadway and I'd say God how does he do that you know three and a half hours of wringing your guts out on stage at night for these people eight times a week you do a comedy for five seasons and you're ready to go in the other direction and do something a little different because we the thing about the show is we play in this kind of busy kooky key every day you know but the good news is is that like especially with SNL it's the only place you get to say certain things I mean there's just no other venue you know I mean I did this sketch of the guy running for governor once and the guy is in his house and here's an intruder downstairs and he comes down says he sees a shadow but he shoots the shadow and he kills a dog and the front page of the news tip next day says gubernatorial candidate kills Lassie and you see my daughter going dad you killed lassie Lassie I'm at a press conference and I say I'm sorry accidentally I shot and killed Lassie that was a terrible mistake but I do think that this campaign is a lot of things to say that are important things to say and this woman comes up to me holding a baby and she's saying to me sir sir sir can I talk to you sir and I go listen lady could just and then she goes oh my god he yelled at my baby gubernatorial candidate yells in a baby I go to a press conference the American flag is there behind me and I say I'm very sorry I killed Lassie I yelled at a baby but I still believe my candidacy we have a lot of important things to say people throw eggs at me I kind of recoil from the throw hands me an egg hits me in the butt I've got age running down my pants I reach to the nearest thing which is the American flag and I wipe the egg off gubernatorial candidate wipes his ass with the American flag at the last beat which was not in the script the writers came up to me on the night on Saturday night they and the guy hands me a page we got one more beat for you the woman with the baby's gonna come back and sure enough I go I know that I killed Lassie yelled and a baby and wiped my ass for the American flag I still believe that my candidacy has some important things to say about the issues today boo they throw eggs at me the woman comes with the baby serve sir I grabbed the baby and I wipe myself debated gubernatorial candidate wipes himself with a baby it's like where else could you possibly find this kind of insanity and I mean then that's why I keep going back and doing the show over and over again because it's just so stupid and ridiculous what's funny mr. Baldwin oh I'm Jonathan Hawley I'm a senior at the college and I have to agree you are very good-looking and very funny the other day announcing on the door the other day what can I could I not the other day a Escada the New York Times chose Glengarry Glen Ross as his movie of the day not only because it's a great film but also because he noted it was very time leaving today as a look at greed and corruption now it's an actor do you find yourself more drawn to projects that seem more politically relevant or socially conscious or do you try not to mix the performance with the politics and prefer to look more at the material rather than what it might say about the times in which you're making it I think you do the best of what's laid out in front of you and you want to go to work look if I only did films that I really really believe that I thought that there was an opportunity to make a great film I would have worked a lot less than I would have stayed home a lot more you know the the Dustin Hoffman once made a comment to me I was reading a screenplay in a reading for producers and the director of the film and I was gonna potentially do this film with him and he told me the greatest line he said he said all of us are in line in this town some of us are just in a shorter line and the competition for worthy material it's really really tough it's really tough and I've and I've been lucky why did some films that I liked and I thought that it was smart I did some films that were you know if everybody came to work every day and did their best work the most we could still hope for was mediocrity I've done a smaller number of them into which were just really garbage to really crap but it was a paycheck but one thing I think also people don't keep in mind is that people in the film business don't huddle up I mean there's some great great people you when you do a film especially you learn that film is a very collaborative process there's 150 200 people who work in film and and you marvel at how skilled the the Wardrobe people are and the designers and the prop people in the and and so forth and the technical people the cameramen especially the directors of photography I can honestly say if you asked me what one thing was that was my greatest pride my great source of satisfaction the business it was the directors of photography I got to work with I work with the greatest film cameraman of their generation and so I can't I can't even name all but like what the guy that shot Glengarry is Juan Ruiz and Chia who was hector babenco sdp on many many films for him from the banco and it's just such a great honor to be photographed by them because it's a movie you know there's how you look in it and how they shoot it it's a big component of it and but the the film business is tough that way you know it's really and I must say that the the opportunity to do great work in the film business this is a big reason why I went to do the TV show it was it was just getting tougher you know I haven't seen like we did the movie it's complicated and I did the movie it's complicated to work with Marilyn you know I just wanted to work with Marilyn and I told her I said I really thought what I would if I was going to be working with you you know we would be on horses I'd have a sword and you know we would be speaking in accents be pennants flapping in the breeze on the castle and everything we'd be doing some period some achingly beautiful period film and we wound up doing this Nancy Meyers romantic comedy yeah there was cryo enjoyed working with her let me just ask one thing since I stayed up till 1:00 a.m. as I said to watch it yes we're aware of that so so I have to ask with a question about that one of my favorite parts was that when you sort of rekindled this romance with your ex-wife meryl streep in a bar in New York and it just you could just really feel the the fun of it I was having fun watching YouTube drink all night and have fun now to get in the mood for that role were you drinking were you smoking something no how do you how do you get loose enough to do that with her I am I have a friend of mine who's a film director who did a film with a great actor he's a very famous actor I don't want to embarrass him and he's a great actor and he said to the prop people and he was younger in his career admittedly he had made films but he was still relatively young in his career he said to the to the prop guy unbeknownst the directors into the prop guy he said do me a favor he said give me a glass a little bit of that mr. niche I just want get the taste in my mouth maybe I just an inch head he gets this glass he starts drinking booze on the set of this film and by lunch he's puking all over the bed I mean he's like really sick it's like you've been do against it's like you know 8 o'clock in the morning a little taste it's my little taste of my mouth and now he's like nauseous I mean you don't do that when you're saying you know you have to imagine and you know because once you imbibe that there's no turning back but but the thing about it is that's that's important to remember is I don't want to beat this to death but the thing is in that movie this is not about a guy that wants to have sex with his ex-wife but this is about a guy who loves his ex-wife I mean what would made the film possible for me I've read scripts I said you don't want me I'm not right I'm not the guy I don't think I can bring what you want or I don't want to do what they would like if you read the script I did the movie the cooler and in the movie the cooler they gave me the script and it said that my character kiss the pregnant woman in the stomach you know that the woman was pregnant she's there I forget the actresses name and you walk up and I know that she's scamming me and I kick her butt like kung fu style I kicked this someone really hard in the stomach I read the page it goes case the woman listen I closed the script I called my agent and I was like incensed I go why you mind I kicked the pregnant woman in the stomach and he said read the next page and I read the next page and I realized that she's faking and that she's not pregnant and that she's padded and she's part of the scam so he you know you read a screenplay and it says your agent will say here's the script and you're gonna play Henry you're gonna play Henry I hope you really like it because they get offered you so much money and you read it it says Henry steps onto a kindergarten bus with a flamethrower and kills everybody and you go I don't want to do that yeah but in it's complicated I wouldn't have done the movie if I was a guy I literally wouldn't have done the movie if I was a guy who wanted to just seduce his ex-wife from Vanity's sake he was a guy that still loved his ex-wife and the great thing is is that Niro is very easy to loves it was a very easy job to do Thank You mr. Burke and mr. Baldwin for coming I've really enjoyed and appreciated your authenticity my name is Rebecca haka and I'm a mid-career student here so I really appreciate when you talk to all the young people who are students here because you and I share a couple things in common what I'm not going to announce out loud to everybody but the other one the other one is that I come from Oregon and Washington State and I was on the board of the Columbia River keeper before I came here to school so I and have done environmental work there so I know you have and you announced that here earlier your work with Riverkeepers Alliance and and I think the Hudson River keeper with the Kennedys so could you just comment on I don't know how you're going to relate to this to a movie story or anything but you know I was looking for how what you see about the state of environmental work in our country leadership of those issues that concern our waters of our country well here you have the issue was in The Times I guess today or yesterday I had two papers with me today they don't finish tweeting yesterday's paper on the plane and they had the article about hydro about about - wind power and how the Europeans are so far ahead of us and were you know behind the the curve here they talked of course about what was going on over the coast of Massachusetts and how people had killed that project which was unfortunate because they did the same thing on the South Shore of Long Island where I'm from they were gonna cite these these these turbines out there I mean these things are the size of the Statue of Liberty and they sink them down into though into the ocean into these bases that they build down there they're enormous and that was used as part of the propaganda against them they were like these things are the size of the Statue of Liberty they're gonna be sticking out of the beach no I'm gonna be right on top yeah while you're swimming there you know and the truth of the matter is it's a question of perception you know I mean if you present something to the American people and there is a need on the part of the environmental the pro environmental movement or whatever you want to call it there's a need for them to reword their public relations I think into and to you know have the next generation of their PR campaign because I said to them I for example if I saw those wind turbines off the coast of Long Island they're going to be pretty far out several hundred years and a several thousand yards out of the distance because they were saying in this article in The Times had the coasts of the United States is shallow for a long long period that makes these things really worthwhile and they and I said if I saw those things those things would have made me happy I'd see wind turbines turning out off the coast of the ocean but I don't want them everywhere but I mean if we had them cited in certain areas they would have been been these symbols to me of our energy independence of the fact that the United States doesn't need to go and fight bogus Wars for oil anymore and we would increase our renewables and Bobby Kennedy jr. who if you go to his Waterkeeper Alliance benefit every year they have a ski event in Banff in Canada and I go every year I'm one of the co-hosts with Bobby and Bobby Kennedy gives up and he essentially gives the same speech every year I mean he might modify per certain current events and Bobby speaks and you never stop crying every time you cry every time he gives this speech and one of the things he says in the speech is this idea of how we market our ideas of how if you told people then you weren't going to be able to smoke in a New York bar or New York restaurant 30 years ago they would have told you you were out of your mind and if eventually you told them you were going to be able to smoke in any building in New York there's an office building that that smokers would have to gather like outlaws and the pouring rain and stand under the eaves of buildings and smoke in the rain and the frigid weather they would have said you're out of your mind but that's exactly the way we live in New York right now and Bobby Kennedy's my favorite one is you said as a Utah this is Bobby's favorite what he says and if you told me Yorkers and you were going to put a plastic bag over your hand and bend over and pick up your dog's droppings on the street and then reverse the bag and close it inside the bag and then go to the nearest garbage can and throw out he said people would have told you you're insane you're gonna clean up your dog's crap on the street every day everybody and yet that is the law in New York you must do them you make something a reality for people politically and economically and they will adjust to it and that's what we need to do with renewable energy if you're gonna have to have wind turbines off the coast of Nantucket that's a price we're gonna have to pay in order to have I think a better energy policy in this country sir I am my name is David raper from the Kennedy School I'm welcome both to our school thanks for coming my question relates to the recent South Park episode that you may have heard about where there was some depiction or at least poking fun at prohibitions against depicting Muhammad in television and it was either to make a point about free speech or to be humorous and just after listen to some of your comments and I partly talking about acting as a medium for change to empathize with people and you know engage with people but also the freedom that you described being part of 7-eleven if you like they know to say almost whatever you wanted on on a cable cable television I just wanted if you had any fees on that and in particular about you know performers offense and free speech and whether there are any lines or how you would approach that sort of issue that's a long that's a that's require a pretty long answer I mean I I know that the people from South Park they have an uncanny ability to find a really raw nerve Parker and stone are very good at that I mean I never had anybody I never was reamed so hard in my life that in the movie Team America then they really they shoved that up there to the shoulder you know I mean when they when they got me on that show and and they're very good at that I mean they're really wickedly satirical people I think that they sit around and it just comes relatively easy to them these kinds of nerves they can touch that way I think we live in a time when people are very sensitive about their religious views regardless and for a kind of a unrelated reasons you know I'm a Catholic I grew up a Catholic I still go to church on the Catholic and yet I see what's going on in the Catholic Church it's tough it's tough like in the Catholic Church once again is coming to an impasse where you wonder if wherever I travel around this country Catholic clergy now are all I think that background law Catholic clergy are overwhelmingly third world men they're African men they're Southeast Asian men the church I go to and and Santa Monica st. Monica's the my priest there was it was a Vietnamese man recruiting people to serve and that in the priesthood is becoming really problematic for them and whether they make it to the point where they might have to have female priests I mean I don't know what they're gonna do because it seems to be kind of coming apart in a way but I think I think at the same time it hurts people you know I mean it you want to believe that there's an institution like that I mean III you talk about this thing with Parker and stone and there's a huge Muslim population in this country and they must be profoundly I can't imagine what it's like to be a Muslim in America right now they must be profoundly sensitive to how they're made to feel here because I live in New York and there was a tension between New Yorkers non-muslim New Yorkers and Muslim New Yorkers you know you you I live in New York and I don't have to explain to anybody I can't describe to you if you live in New York how palpable it is how people still drive through Manhattan they still look at that spot and the sky and those buildings are gone and it still works on them and nothing's been put there nothing's been replaced and there's been no healing of that event and no political leadership in New York has abetted the healing of that event they think they have for the victims and their families essentially but for the rest of New York you know I'll never forget the day of the attack 9/11 people said you know New York is like Israel now we're gonna have to be are we gonna have to live with an ongoing threat all the time of some kind of terrorist activity and I feel that whenever you touch the nerve that's related to people's religious beliefs there's a lot of gas on the floor people get very uptight and and I'm sensitive to that you know I'm trying to I'm trying to Mario Cantone you know many people know Mario Cantone that can become et you do god bless you by the way on the tie over there all that more arcane things I'm mentioning she's nodding she knows Mario Cantone has a comedy routine you should go on youtube and watch his comedy routine about the experience after 9/11 of having a Muslim cab driver he does he has this like horribly racist routine but anybody's trying to defuse that feeling about how uncomfortable people in New York are we done very quick you and you and then we're done go all right howdy mr. Baldwin thank you for being here my name is Jordan I'm an undergraduate at the college and as the resident of a border state I was wondering if you had any thoughts on the recent and very controversial anti-immigration bill that was passed in Arizona well I mean I think it's easy for people to talk about what they would do I mean I think it's wrong but I think it's easy for us to talk about what we would do or wouldn't do but we don't live in Arizona I mean III I think that what the bill that was put forth was a mistake this is the same state that refused to honor Martin Luther King's birthday I think it's interesting that the senator from the state that wouldn't recognize Martin Luther King's birthday lost the white house to an african-american candidate but I think that I think that hmm we have to have an immigration policy that's gonna let more people in because we're never gonna stop them from coming in and if we offer them some kind of legal status or semi legal status or some kind of conditional status that's gonna be the answer because I just don't see that it's gonna stop they're gonna find pity people have wanted to come to this country in spite of everything in spite of the fact that if you that if you go to Europe for example my friend lives in Paris and if you go to me Europe on any given day the representative representation of America is that I get this big rigged casino you know the Goldman Sachs and Buddy there are there just call in the shots and they run the country and Americans are just fools and idiots and their government is corrupt and they have a very bleak view of America right now the bailout was it a complete joke but they shouldn't let AIG die the Europeans should let GM die some of my friends were very serious in the banking profession in Europe they had a very harsh view of that and yet that's in the media and they'll always be somewhat of a chasm between what mainstream people feel and what the media depicts and for mainstream people you know for average people America is still a place they want to come to them as tremendous opportunity it's still really is a kind of a kind of gleaming goal in their lives destination for them and I think that's ever going to change for the time being hi I'm Tom Schneider I'm from upstate if you couldn't tell from the plaid upstate New York that is and I was wondering um what you what your thoughts on down I'm from the Syracuse area I was wondering what your thoughts on what undergrad I'm a freshman where in Syracuse ou do or Fayetteville is my mother really yeah I was wondering um like what your thoughts were on revitalizing a lot of uh what Cuomo can do to revitalize a lot of upstate New York in terms of politics and economics I know this is sort of a broad question for the end but especially like living up to his father's I just flew up to Camillus at my sister's request to attend a press conference because Honeywell which was purchased by allied signal the famous manufacturing corporation allied before they emerged with signal allied chemical dumped 1.3 million cubic feet of chemicals into the Onondaga Lake in Syracuse it's the major body of water there it's where the Syracuse University crew team rose it's the only certified dead body of water in New York State it's considered other than near the Columbia River near Hanford it's considered one of the most polluted one of most contaminated bodies of water in the country and allied signal bought Honeywell but then took honeywell's name so Honeywell are the ones who signed the agreement with the the Dec in New York State to spend four hundred and fifty 1 million dollars to remediate they're gonna suck the toxins out of the lake now after they've been litigating for decades this is a real sore subject with the people there but so starve to these people for jobs there that what they agreed was Honeywell said but we're going to take their toxins out of here and we have these waste beds we have these dump sites in what were exurban areas among were semi-rural areas 30 years ago which since that have been developed in this homes there a section of the town of Camila's from my sister lives as a development the borders this waste but these waste beds with these but the size of a football field his big troughs where they had dumped heavy chlorines and heavy sodium's from us from the soda ash process that was famous in that area for a century and people are wondering if the sites were the step was done to become inert in other words they're claiming honey will that we own this property there are thirteen of them on upon a tax map of the area on a survey and there were 15 of them and they're claiming honey well they're saying well we own this property and they're dump sites so we're going to suck the toxins out of Onondaga Lake and we're going to put him in these waste beds that we own that are already contaminated sites and I went up there to urge them to first of all get some experts in there to determine all those sites still contaminated or of the materials that have gone into those sites that they've become inert as they often do or are you going to be we contaminating a site and also is there any consideration about the fact that there's been a lot of development in this area now in this homes built where there weren't homes before and the problem is that they're so hard up for money up there and they're so hard up for jobs up there and they want Honeywell to spend the 451 million dollars in the town rather than cart the stuff down to Texas to a dedicated waste site where you would normally send it which would cost them twice as much money in which Honeywell is refusing to do in which the state Dec is not pressuring Honeywell to do in the state Dec has signed off on this the same state Dec by the way who let GE bump all the PCBs in the Hudson and so forth so the issue with central New York is what lengths they're willing to go to to create jobs there once carrier left Syracuse in terms of manufacturing they still have their R&D there it became very precarious for them so it's a very tricky issue yes or no are you a fan of Andrew Cuomo's he keeps coming up today and I can't tell I get I gather no I gather no no no I'm a fan of anybody who'll be the Democratic there you have thank you thank you thank you really appreciate your time especially on zero zero honor area here if we could give Alec 30 seconds so we can get out so he's not mob so it can get to that dorm room which is very important so and please everyone I implore you not to knock on his door tonight unless there's been a pre-arranged agreement with someone but anyway so thank you very much thank you stone for each other wasn't that briefly like

Channel: John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum

Views: 10,389

Rating: 4.5757575 out of 5

Keywords: Alec Baldwin, Campaign

Id: qflP3MfQEwY

Length: 85min 29sec (5129 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 21 2012