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Gloria Borger, a contributing editor for 'U.S. News & World Report,' talks about politics and her career in journalism during an event hosted by the Fox Leadership Forum. [Chris Poliquin/The Daily Pennsylvanian]

While some attendees of Gloria Borger's speech yesterday praised her as candid, humorous and personable, for College junior Evan Morgan, hearing his mother speak was fun but "a little nerve-racking."

Nevertheless, Morgan admits that he is "a news junkie like [his] mom."

Borger, the author of the U.S. News & World Report's bi-weekly column "On Politics" and a regular on CBS's "Face the Nation," discussed the balancing act of reporting on politicians while remembering that they are only human.

Borger's humorous and often blunt speech focused on the importance of politicians' authenticity, citing Congressman Tip O'Neill and Senators John McCain and Ted Kennedy as examples of a dwindling breed of "old-fashioned politicians who actually stand for something."

She said that people have lost faith in politicians because they are not authentic and "the leaders respond to the polling, not the other way around."

Borger admitted that journalists add to the problem because they "tend to wring everything [they] can out of our politicians. "

"You're damned if you do, you're damned if you don't, half the time," she said.

The Fox Leadership Program hosted the event, but little planning was needed because Borger volunteered as a guest speaker for Visiting Scholar Jane Eisner's Leadership and the Media class, in which Morgan is a student. She also agreed to speak to a larger group.

Eisner was impressed that Borger talked for three hours in her class and another hour at the Fox event.

"She really has a very deep understanding of Washington journalism with all of its flaws and all of its advantages," Eisner said.

In a laid-back question-and-answer session, Student Director of Fox's Speaker Committee Kathryn Hannah, a College senior, asked Borger's advice for students pursuing careers in journalism.

Borger replied that journalism "is really like an apprentice craft.

"It's like learning to make shoes. You really have to be around it and get inside it," she said, emphasizing the need for experience through internships.

Despite rain, about 25 students attended the speech at 3619 Locust Walk.

"It was an added bonus that it was a smaller, intimate setting that allowed students to speak more openly," Fox Associate Director Chuck Brutsche said.

As for 2008, Borger said Senators McCain, Joe Biden, John Kerry and Hillary Clinton -- "a rockstar" -- will probably run for President.

"I think everybody's running," she said, bringing laughter from the audience.

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