Students clash with journalists, G. Gordon Liddy in D.C.

An angry University student exchanged verbal blows with a panel of five of the nation's top journalists in a tense shouting match Saturday, blasting them for what he called their biased coverage of the 1992 Presidential elections. College senior Joshua Joseph argued that the media's bias caused President Bush to lose the election. Members of the panel returned Joseph's fire, accusing him of being ignorant of pre-election polls. "The polls showed that the American public believed the country was headed in the wrong direction at least a year before the election," said U. S. News and World Report's Steve Roberts, the panel's most outspoken member. Joseph and about 50 other University students got their turns at the microphone before a live C-SPAN camera crew, as part of a day-long event, organized by American Civilization Adjunct Assistant Professor Frank Luntz. The program featured four separate sessions where panels of Washington celebrities debated with Luntz's students. The program culminated with a surprise appearance by G. Gordon Liddy, the man indicted for burglary in the 1974 Watergate scandal which led to the resignation of President Richard Nixon. Pennsylvania Representative Lucien Blackwell opened with brief remarks on issues facing the 103rd Congress. Blackwell's presentation was followed by a panel consisting of renowned political pundits Roberts, Fred Barnes and Eleanor Clift of The McLaughlin Group, Cokie Roberts of ABC News, Paul Gigot of The Wall Street Journal, who evaluated the bias in the news media's coverage of the 1992 Presidential campaign. Congressman Vin Weber (R-Minn.) and former Democratic Whip Tony Coelho (D-Calif.), who comprised the second panel, agreed that the Republican party was in a state of disrepair and needed to re-identify with its middle America base. CBS News reporter Bob Schiefer, The Washington Times's senior political reporter Don Lambro, and The Wall Street Journal's senior political reporter James Perry led the next discussion on President-elect Bill Clinton's first 100 days in office. A final re-examination of the 1992 bid for the presidency was led by Luntz, McLaughlin Group member Morton Kondracke, Bush media consultant Alex Castellanos, Clinton campaign staff members Jim Dembo and Mike Donilon, Buchanan press secretary Greg Muller, Newsweek staff writer Andy Murr and National Republican Congressional Committee Director of Polling Kevin O'Donnell. The panelists fielded questions from the audience and often argued intensely with each other over the issues, enabling everyone present to become "some of the most informed students in the whole country," Luntz said. Many students said they enjoyed the sometimes personal debates between the panel members and the students, but many more said Liddy was the most provocative and exciting speaker. "He represents everything I'm against -- pure evil -- but he does it so well," said College senior and Luntz student Jon Sacks. "He justified [his involvement in Watergate] so well with no regrets at all," he added. College senior Eric Aronson, also a student of Luntz, said Liddy's response to his trick questions left him "dumbfounded." "He was a lunatic," but "unbelievable," Aronson said. College senior Stacey Wruble said Liddy was "hilarious, but you couldn't take him seriously."