Deborah Solomon Gives Up 'Q&A' Slot; Showed Blatant Hostility Toward Conservatives

Peter Baker's respectful interview with Donald Rumsfeld in the Times Sunday Magazine makes quite a contrast with Deborah Solomon's aggressive and hostile approach toward conservatives like William F. Buckley and Gov. Bobby Jindal.

Clay Waters

February 14, 2011 - 12:07pm

Upon first skimming the New York Times Sunday Magazine "Q&A" with Donald Rumsfeld [1], I steeled myself for reporter Deborah Solomon's usual hostility. Finding instead neutral questions designed to invite substantive responses from the subject, I rubbed my eyes and checked the byline.

Sure enough, Solomon's announced retirement as section contributor had come to pass, with reporter Peter Baker taking over interviewing duties (at least this week).

Some of Solomon's low-light interviews include a hostile one she conducted with conservative icon William F. Buckley, especially compared to the fawning one she gave racially inflammatory Al Sharpton the very next week.

A couple of the questions Solomon asked Buckley for the July 11, 2004 edition [2] of the magazine:

You have made so many offensive comments over the years. Do you regret any of them?

It's not fair to blame the press. Some of your most inflammatory comments have been made in your essays and columns. In the 50's, you famously claimed that whites were culturally superior to African-Americans.

By contrast, while interviewing Sharpton, Solomon not only ignored Sharpton's inflammatory history, but invited him to accuse another black personality - Bill Cosby - of racism!

I wonder how you feel about Bill Cosby's recent comment that too many African-Americans speak ungrammatical English and fail to rear their children properly. Does that strike you as racist?" It takes chutzpah to ask Sharpton (he of "white interloper" fame) if someone else is using racist language.

And in an interview with Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal for the August 31, 2008 magazine [3], she callously asked:

If the Republican Party bills itself as the party of family values, what should we make of the fact that you rejected the name your parents gave you, their political affiliation and their religion?

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