Crier spoke with Mediaite this week on topics ranging from hydrofracking to which candidates she likes in the current crop of nominees. She also graciously autographed five copies of Patriot Acts. And in the spirit of the holiday season, we’re giving them away. The first five people to correctly answer all of the questions in the Crier Mini-Quiz, at the end of the interview, will become their new
After reading the book, the first question that came to mind was: Are you planning on running for office anytime soon? Because you hit on some hot-button issues and actually take a stand on most of them.
No. I’m not interested in that. I was elected twice to the bench. It was an interesting experience. Very eye-opening about the political process. I’ve always been passionate about politics since I was a kid and this [book] is really just sort of a culmination of my own lifetime as an elected official, as a judge, as an investigative journalist, certainly as a political talk show host and a pundit.
So if you’re not running, you’re at least watching. Is there anyone at all in these debates that you like?
The one candidate, and I’ll be candid, that I think is intriguing is Jon Huntsman. He’s certainly got a record in the business community, but he’s also got a record in foreign policy, in a lot of substantive work, in several administrations from both parties. I think the man knows his stuff. I’m curious as to whether or not he might experience a little bit of a rise in the polls, now that he seems to be stepping his game up a little bit.
There’s a big rift right now on whether we need bigger government or smaller government. Where do you
It’s not big or small government, but good government. There are things the government should do. There are certain issues and areas that should not be run with profit motives in mind. Yet there is an ideology in this country that has been growing — that everything private or everything based on stock returns and increasing profits is good. And I disagree with that. When a profit becomes the motive, then you can see a lot of people not served, a lot of things not done, and true damage done to something that is so necessary to the health, the well being, and the economic viability of a country.
Not to say at all that I don’t support a very healthy capitalist system. There are [just] certain areas where that is the appropriate action.
In your book, you touch on the water industry, and the privatization mess that briefly happened there. But this also kind of describes hydrofracking, which is just as intriguing, as far as the government and private enterprise criss-crossing.
I love the John Adams quote, “Ideology is the science of idiots.” And what I really try and do is look pragmatically. You’ve got to say, ‘What does empirical evidence demonstrate to us?’ And to say, for example, we need more energy, and natural gas is going to be a very important source, and, therefore, you completely deregulate the natural gas industry, come hell
You’ve got to look at the studies, and studies that are done not just by industry, and studies that are done not just by politicians, because of who is paying for their campaign contributions.