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| ACHTUNG, NADER! |
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The Transom
Anna Jane Grossman
The News & Observer
October 7, 2002
On the afternoon of Monday, Sept. 30, at Michael Jordan’s The Steakhouse high above Grand Central Terminal, guests including former New York Governor Mario Cuomo and novelist Kurt Vonnegut gnawed on rare steak and listened to "Health Report: American Business and the Economy," a testy panel discussion on the American economy hosted by the newsmagazine The Week.
Harold Evans, The Week’s consulting editor, moderated the panel, which consisted of former U.S. Senator Warren Rudman, UBS America chairman Donald Marron and Peter Peterson, chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
U2 front man Bono and 2000 Green Party Presidential candidate Ralph Nader phoned in to address questions to the panel. Their voices were piped in above the din of the train station on four loudspeakers.
“Who is Bone–no?” whispered Heather Cohane, founder of Quest magazine, to The Transom, before sending her steak back to be cooked some more.
A Trebek-ian Mr. Evans pleaded with Mr. Nader to phrase his comments in the form of a question, and directed the loquacious former Presidential candidate to “be quick” when he began to hold forth on the “corporate crime wave.”
At a table near the podium, Mr. Evans’ wife, Tina Brown, assumed her trademark slouchy position-legs crossed, nose up, brow furrowed-as Bono bantered with Mr. Peterson about America’s responsibilities toward poorer countries.
“Bono really knows his stuff,” marveled Caroline Graham, Ms. Brown’s former West Coast editor at The New Yorker and Talk.
“Bone-no is the U2 man?” asked a befuddled Ms. Cohane.
Then Mr. Nader jumped in again, without introducing himself. Mr. Evans snapped, “How am I supposed to know who this is? You’re a disembodied voice!”
“[Harry] is a very good moderator, because he has a low boredom threshold,” Ms. Brown told The Transom. “He always cuts me off.”
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