their children's education. >> this week on "q&a," senior political reporter and politics managing editor amann at a terkel discusses her career, the huff post website, and her interest in politics. >> amanda terkel, when you were in college, you said you wanted to get involved in a comprehensive progressive agenda. what does that mean? >> i think i intended to go to politics. journalism -- we didn't have a journalism program. i did the school newspaper but i didn't get a lot of guidance. i wanted to go straight to

politics. i spent a semester in washington with my school, colgate university. i saw washington and i thought, a think tank might be an exciting place to be. i know people don't think of think tanks as being exciting. so the center of american progress was starting up one of my professors gave me a new york magazine article about it. it was new, aggressive, it was a think tank but sort of wasn't your grandmother's think tank. so i decided to apply for an internship at the center for american progress. it was great, it was a lot of fun. it was pushing a progressive agenda like many think tanks haven't been. it was trying to change the message to show that progressives weren't all week on national security. showing religious voters could be progressive. it was trying to change things.

>> where has this idea come from in your life? >> my family -- in part because i grew up in a small village in upstate new york under about 1,000 people. i'm adopted. i'm from korea. my siblings are also adopted. my one brother is african-american. the other brother is correia. my parents are white. my father is jewish. my mother grew up christian. the rest of the town, though, however, is basically white, christian, and conservatives. we're ap anomaly in the town. so i think growing up with that perspective as a minority, i think my father's father was involved in democratic politics. so i sort of grew up around those politics and ideas. so it was a lot of fun growing up in that town. i think i knew i wanted to come to washington, d.c. i loved growing up there. it gave me a unique perspective. >> what is it like to have that mixture of a family in a small town in upstate new york?

>> it was very fun around the holidays. my dad would come in and teach people about hanukkah. the bat mitzvah was a big event. i was the only one to get a big party. my friends came to the service. they couldn't understand hebrew. but they appreciated it and then we got to have a big party. growing up i felt like i was special, different, i could chart my own course. it was, you know -- and i think there was because i was a little bit different, there was a lot of attention put on me and i was always aware of that. but i was able to -- sort of my siblings and i, my parents were able to educate a lot of people in town who honestly didn't know any other jews or asians or african-americans. i went to school with the same people from k through 12. we had a lot of fun. it was wonderful. and i loved growing up in a

small town. i often miss being in the country and being in the small town. so i loved it. it was great. >> do you practice judaism? >> not so much. i go to high holiday services. >> your mother was christian, your father was jewish. why did you choose to go the bat mitzvah route? >> my parents decided to raise us jewish. my mother never converted. but we went to services. she went to services with us. i went to sunday school, up through confirmation. i helped teach hebrew school for a couple of years as part of my confirmation package. i did my bat mitzvah. so my parents made a decision to raise us jewish. >> why did your parents adopt all of the kids? all adopted in the family? >> yes, my parents ended up having to adopt children. they wanted to have children. any brother is from philadelphia and my other brother is from korea. >> do you know anything about your korean root s?

>> no, not at all. i get the question a lot, is that something you'd like to pursue? i haven't been back to korea since i was adopted when i was 4 months old. i would be interested in going back to korea. but i consider -- a lot of people say, do you want to find your birth parents? my family is my real family if you will. i never have a desire to go back and sort of find my roots. love to go to korea. it seems like a great country. my family is my family. i'm content with that. >> what is your job? >> senior political reporter and politics editing manager at the huffington post. >> what does that mean? >> i spend most of my time reporting but i set sort of the editorial direction of the politics team at huffington post. i don't have a beat. so campaigns, congress, whatever's going on that i have an idea or a scoop on, i write about. >> i read somewhere where you're evil. >> a lot of that on the

internet. >> what's that about? >> i don't know where you read that? >> on the internet. >> one of the most dangerous women in america. >> i made it on to a list. i don't remember what it was about. >> the family security matters group. >> i vaguely remember that. i don't remember what it was about. if you -- spending your time before i was at huffington post, i was at the center for american progress and i was working on the blog, think progress there. it's a progressive blog. we would often a lot of times rebut what conservatives blogs or politicians or pundits were saying. and that didn't always make people happy. and apparently that made me evil. i looked up a lot of advisors.

you're in the company of code pink. you're the tenth on the list. long time veteran reporter from 60 minutes, old media versus the new media and get your take on this. >> i was talking about the so-called cynicism. journalism. i said i would have address the citizens as much. you need to work within discipline, within certain discipline. and i think the matt drudges and these -- many of these others give the real thing a very bad name. because now everybody is on the internet, i mean, and one of the

problems that i have in the internet everything looks as valid as "the new york times." whether it's the type face, the way it's been set up. so you're reading some -- somebody who -- you know, believes aliens are out to get him, or reading something from the op-ed page from "the new york times," it all has the same look, makes the same visual sense. >> does he have a point? >> i disagree with him, perhaps not surprisingly. i -- i talk to a lot of people who say that, you know, are worried about the state of journalism now. i find it very exciting to be in journalism now. it's a great time for young people to be involved in journalism and maybe groups of people who wouldn't be involved in journalism.

i grew up in a small town. we had my local paper. if we were lucky, we would get the buffalo news. that's about it. when i went to college, the internet became more popular. on-line, i was reading salon, listening to npr. i had all of these news sources at my fingerprints because of the internet and because of new media. that started to get me more interested in journalism. i always wanted to come to washington. i started to see this as more of a possibility. and i disagree when you go on the internet that everything looks the same. i think that readers and new media consumers have been a more discerning. you read voices you trust. a lot of times i'll do my own reporting and i'm link to "washington post" and roitevers. and i give them credit. that gives readers a lot of

exploration you don't get in print media. read an article by your favorite author, go to andrew sullivan, you go there. who may reference another person on the atlantic that you never heard of him. you go there. you figure out which you trust. there's things i read on the internet, a blog i've never seen, i don't know whether or not i should trust it. so usually i look into it myself. readers become more savvy and intelligent and a process of discovering and a more interactive way of getting your news. >> who owns the washington -- the huffington post. >> she's running it. i believe she owns it. we have part of aol. >> what does that matter to you that she owns it or runs it -- she started it. >> she's still involve in the

site. she's not one of the people who started the site and stepped back. she -- what i really like about working for aria in a and working at the huffington post is that what we as reporters write, it's not driven by what's going to be popular, what's going to get clicks. the stories this week we're doing a whole recently we've been doing a series on black merge. these are stories that might not get all of the clicks. they aren't tweeted out as much, but we feel they're important. arthur delaney covers economic suffering, people who are just sort of being pushed under in the new -- in this sort of new economy. and are having trouble getting food stamps and getting back on their feet after they lost their jobs. i like the freedom we're given at huffington post. that is part of working on-line and not having a print publication. you can combine that with a new media and give the readers a

fuller package. >> i have my ipad. and it has the huffington post. it's a trademark. emergency, nsa calls secret briefing to protect powers. that was a couple of weeks ago. what advice do you have? so much information, politics, business, entertainment, tech, media, world, healthy living, comedy, life style. >> how would you advise people to deal with this website. >> it's overwhelming when you go there. i talk to a lot of people who go to the huffington post and figure out how to navigate it. some people look at the top and say i'm interest in politics and sports and maybe entertainment. i'll click on those. more and more, i'm finding people will go on facebook and they say they find huffington

post that way. their friends have a story. that's the way they discover it, their friends are sharing stories on social media. >> going to push this button that says live. this is your television effort. it was -- going to come up here. what can you tell us about your television effort? how much are you doing with live television? >> that's huff post live. that is basically streaming on our site all day long. it covers every topic like huffington post. politics, sports, entertainment, the environment. pretty much everything. we have hosts in new york, l.a., people in d.c., huffington post reporters are going on. we bring in guests. it's all done through google hangouts. we bring in community members too. people who are viewers. they can join in the

conversation and ask questions and give their thoughts as well. >> looking at something right now. no one heard of a google hangout, how does it work? >> like skype. if you have a camera on your computer and you have a g mail or google hangout account, you can sort of -- they send you a link, you click on it. and you can suddenly see all of the people you're talking to. it's a lot of fun. >> be an on air guest. >> yes, i think you can click that and it will submit your request. and you might have a producer contact you. >> a normal day for you, what do you look at yourself? >> i try to look everywhere. the morning starts when i get the print version of "the washington post." i still per rutz that. i find reading the newspaper, you tend to read more. i tend to read sort of the entire post rather than just the

headlines. beyond that, i'm listening to talk radio, watching c-span, cable news, i'm going to many news sources, lots of google news alerts set up for topics and people i'm following and interested in covering. twitter, facebook, trying to look everywhere. >> what's the number one issue you're interested in? >> that's interesting. that changes on a daily basis. one thing i'm covering is sequestration. it touches the country and the economy in so many ways and i hear from a lot of people who are being furloughed and can't get to head start. that's been something i'm covering. >> one thing i found for your visit is something dominates next to your name almost all through the process. going to run an old msnbc keith olbermann story that you're involved in and get you to explain this and whether if that

has defined you in this world. let's watch it this. >> what o'riley did to ms. terkel did is far worst. she checked into a hotel on vacation. ms. terkel determined they must have been following her to her destination. they asked about the post, it was the centerpiece of o'riley's rant. >> you heard the blog about bill o'riley going to speak at the foundation. you brought a lot of pain and suffering to this group. >> i remember writing -- highlighting a comment that bill o'reilly said. i don't remember attacking the foundation. >> what did bill o'reilly said. >> i can't remember exactly what he had said because it was a while ago. i remember it was something having to do with he had talked about a rape victim in a

derogatory way that seemed to place the blame for the rape on the victim. >> what else do you want to say about this event? what year did it happen? >> i believe it was march of 2009. i was in winchester, virginia, which is a couple of hours away from washington, d.c. and i have never gotten an explanation for how they tracked me down. we tried to contact fox news and they never replied. although, in retrospect, my boyfriend and i remember seeing a car following us the entire time. so what most likely happened is they found my apartment, saw us leave, thought i was going the store and ended up following us for several hours to cross the line to virginia. but that was -- it was sort of an unfortunate episode, a low for journalism. i linked to another blog post noting that bill o'reilly was

going to speak at a foundation to benefit rape victims. i pointed out he said controversial comments about the rape victims. i highlighted the other blog post. they never called and asked me for comment. i did not remember what i had written three weeks ago. the result was this and it brought a lot of attention. when you get that attention and you're described as evil or a blogger or hurting rape victims, you don't know what attention that will bring. for example, my office locked the doors. they weren't sure what was going to happen. it ended up being fine and in part i think it was fine because we knew bill o'reilly's segment would be monday evening. we're a blog. we're a lot quicker. we put it out and it got a lot of attention. it was a lot of conservative

bloggers who said what he did was inappropriate. that sort of conduct should not happen. i don't think it reflected well for bill o'reilly. >> is there a residual on this too? center for american progress? >> i was at the progress. in the end, i think it was -- i ended up -- i was sort of i guess a little known blogger. i ended up getting a lot of attention for that. at the time keith olbermann and bill o'reilly were in a feud. keith olbermann had me on his show. so i got a lot more exposure when for that. the residuals lasted for a couple of years. people would say, oh, i remember you. i saw you on bill o'reilly's show. it has died down but it started a conversation about whether this sort of ambush journalism was acceptable. >> what was the lesson for you

out of this? i think msnbc did seven different shows on this. >> a few. >> bill o'reilly and keith olbermann were calling names in the whole process. is that good for journalism? people watch it? >> people watch it. whether -- from my perspective, is it good for journalism? i don't think it's good if you don't like somebody what they write that you track them down without any warning. again, it's not like i had been ignoring their calls. they never contacted me for comment. they never contacted me to ask me on their show. they knew how to get in touch with me because they had other center for american progress on the o'reilly factor. but to simply -- wasn't journalism. they weren't trying to get a real response. they were trying to intimidate me. as a young woman who was living alone to then have a couple of men follow her and come and ambush her, again, in the end, i

don't think it reflected well on bill o'riley who was trying to show he feels sympathetic to women who had been victims of rape? >> did you change any of your personal habits bauds of this? >> i haven't. it made me more careful and aware. when i speak to young women journalists, i tell them you should be aware and careful. i monitor the hate mail. that's something every journalist gets. i keep track of them. if anything sort of startles to repeat -- i keep track of that. i tell young journalists they should too. >> you have a twitter and facebook account. any other way you communicate with people? >> twiter, facebook, e-mail, and my stories are pretty much the main ways. >> who is behind amanda rey

terkel. >> it's a parody twitter account started by some of my friends. a friendly parody account. but it's hilarious. they do a good job. it has 2340g to do with me. it's just a sort of a crazy fake person who's always angry at everything. >> they seem to love to use a lot of language in there. >> you can't read it all. >> where the f is this baby is the one i'm just looking at. >> the royal baby. just spoke to the royal baby. it wants to tell you that you're unloved and should fing die. you know the people who are doing this? >> i do. >> do you like them using your name? >> it's fine. i knew when they were starting it -- i knew when they were starting it, they pulled my picture. it's fine. it's been hilarious. a lot of people refer to me as terkel rage. i have to have people tell me

it's not me. >> i looked at it. i thought she must be behind this. >> no, not behind it. it's very clever and angry. >> you want to tell me who's doing it? >> no. i can't, it's a secret. >> do you get into the rage? >> i get worked up. i'm passionate. but not like that? >> how do we know when you're being passionate. >> hopefully it comes across in my writing. i don't use that sort of language in my writing. but there's a lot going on. a lot of issues people care about. hopefully when we highlight those things, some feeling comes through. i don't think journalism should be so removed or distant. if a side is wrong or lying, that i should be called out. i don't think they should be given equal time with the truth.

hopefully that comes across in the writing. >> back to your roots at home, what did your parents do? >> my dad was a photographer. family portraits, he worked at the school as a teacher's aide. my mother worked for what was a long time the local chevrolet dealership in the office. >> where did you get your interest in politics? >> i don't know. my father's father, my grandfather, who passed away before i was born was in politics. in school, i liked history. for a long time i pretended to be a high school english teacher. i think a lot of it is i took a class field trip in washington. i enjoyed being in washington and in politics. in high school i started to look at can i get involved with local politics? i would have politicians come to our district and talk. i would go to those.

i knew i was going to be a political science major. part of the reason i chose colgate was because of the great washington study program. i hope it inspires some people. i don't know if it does. >> go back to the first time you came here, how old were you? >> eighth grade. big class field trip. >> what do you remember from that trip? >> a lot of it was futz si. we did a lot of the tourist attractions. we went to the white house. we went to the capitol. but i think being around all of this. i ended up going back, again, my senior year for another class trip. i did a program called presidential classroom which brought a lot of young people interested in politics and getting involved and all that down to dc. to be around all of the other people who wanted to be involved in politics to me was really energizing. that's part of what is cemented that i wanted to go and study political scientist? >> would you call yourself a

journalist or activist? >> i was at the center for american progress. it was a unique job. i could do journalism, advocacy, politics, i could do policy. it was a nice mix. but i loved reporting, getting scoops, loved talking to people, going to events. so when huffington post had an opening for reporter, i was very interesting and felt like i wanted to do more reporting and i felt i needed to get better at it and it was what i loved. >> now i get to report and get to manages and i lonned it. ever see the number? >> i don't have to corn myself too much. >> you were on a panel for net ridge 2013. what is that? >> it's a gathering of progressive journalists and

activists, mostly. it started out with bloggers. no as many bloggers. now it's a lot of sorts of activists, basically. i was there on a panel. i was also there covering some speakers and events going on. so i was there covering it, but i was also doing a panel. >> help people understand. >> emily ice list is a pro choice -- sorry, pro choice organization that supports women who runs for office and who are democrats. >> the reason i want to run this is she's taking about the ability for people like her to influence the liberal press. let's watch what she said. >> progressive leaning, i don't know how to say it. they're not partisan ally, at all. there is no chance that i could call up anyone at mother jones

or tpm and kill a story that was bad for democrats or pitch a story that was crap. they would be mad at me. so i tend to -- like those outlets have that reputation. but the journalism is absolutely solid. and not slanted at all. and i think that's understood and respected by other journalists. >> should people watching believe her? >> yes, absolutely. if you read a story on huffington post, we have comments from harry reed, but we also have comments from mitch mcconnell's office. we have republican aides that talk to us all the time. republican members who talk to us who love huffington post. same thing on the democrat inge side. we have people on both sides who hate us. we let the reporting speak for itself, of course. people hear huffington post or hear other outlets and don't trust them. many people i run into for example at tea party rallies who don't trust the new york times.

but if you read our reporting, it will be there. >> a headline you can see it called ouchlt you can see the two leadevers there. who writes those? >> we have a team of people who writes them. it's often sort of crowdsource. they say here's ideas we're thinking of. does anyone have any other ideas. people will throw it in. we have a team of people who run the front page and the politics page and they're responsible with coming up with headlines. making sure all of the pictures look great and riding headlines is an art that takes a long time to master. so we have a talented group of people that does that. >> if you write an article, could you write the headline for it? >> yes. sometimes they will change them. we know our story better than

anyone else. they may change them or accept them, but ultimately it is our story. >> any idea how many work for huffing ton pose? >> aggregately, no. most of the staff is in new york. but in the dc office, we have about 60 people. most of it is the politics team. >> we took videos from your office. i show that on the screen. i understand that you're moving in this time frame, but this will give people an idea of what it looks like up close. why do journalists sit close together without any separation, without a cubicle, and how can you think when you're writing? >> we feed off of each other's energy. we are iming. >> wait, iming means what? >> we're on-line and on g mail and sending each other messages on-line. it's honestly like to shout out ideas to each other. we like to sit close to each other. we like to talk. i could work from home. but it's a lot more useful when

i'm in the office because i hear what everybody else is thinking and saying. that gives me better ideas. >> what's the average age of people in that room? >> average age? probably around 30. >> you don't have those grizzled old timers sitting around somewhere? >> i don't know if howard fineman would want to be a grizzled old veteran. we do have him in the office. he was not in that shot. it's a very young office. i think people who work in new media often tend to be young. it's what they've grown up with. for me, i felt like i'm getting a little older for. it so the people who graduate from college only have known social media and new media on-line stuff. we don't have to teach them. this is how you have a twitter account. they just know it. >> i haved of you you at that same session where you're talking about video journalism.

>> if you go to your local member's town hall and you get a great clip and think, you know, "the washington post" would love that. one thing is you said you send as much as the clip at possible. i had many people tryg to here's ten seconds of a lawmaker saying something really crazy. put it up. i have no idea if you're taking them out of context. as a reporter i don't want to happen is i don't want to receive blowback and have a lawmaker saying you're taking it out of context and i have no response. >> have people done what you want them to do? send you the whole clip? >> people are learning. >> i think those are different thingings. i wouldn't call matt drudge a citizen journalist. i consider those to be just people, not journalists.

that are out and see something interesting. they capture it on their phone and send it to reporters. a lot of outposts like cnn had the ireport, that's why video is so powerful. you don't know who the citizen journalists are. you don't trust them. if they have video proof, that makes it more compelling. if you said ten seconds of what a congressman said and it sounds crazy, i don't think anybody would trust you. you spend the 30-minute town hall, you see the question, what the congressmen said, it's then the media will take a little more notice. >> on the ipad i have here and on the front page or the home page of huffington post. here's al thinks arianna. her upcoming schedule, tv, radio

and podcast experiences. you can get on there and find out almost anything that she's talked about in the last several months. why do you have that on there? >> people love her. when she writes columns, they're very populace. she's an instant media guru. she puts pictures up of wherever she is in the world. people follow her. they're interested in what she's doing. that's a way for people to stay updated with her. >> what works? what gets people's attention? well, on huffington post. things like guantanamo bay are very popular with their audiences stories on drones, stories on rand paul tend to be

popular. i think there's a lot of fans out there looking for rand paul news. on-line, news about marijuana tends to be very popular. i think that's why if you see the president, take questions about pot on-line. there's always a question about pot somewhere. certain topics draw people to draw their attention. they like to read. mitt romney was popular in the election. things about obama and mile-an-hourle obama, certain people attract their readers and they want to read those stories. >> video of mitt romney that you'll recognize. everybody will recognize. i want to ask you what this kind of thing does to the whole discussion. >> 47% of americans pay no income tax. you'll be out there talking about tax cuts for the rich. every four years. so my job is not to worry about

those people -- i'll never be. they should take responsibility for their lives. >> video -- came from mother jones, a lest of center magazine. it was recorded by the bartender and facilitated with jimmy cart carter's grandson to david korn. good or bad for the system? should he got as bad a wrap as he should have. >> a lot of people don't like it. that's why it's so popular when politicians appear to be saying one thing and another thing to private settings to wealthy donors. that's why this video was so popular. voters don't like if they think they're being lied to or a

politician is trying to swindle them. i think mitt romney deserved the criticism. it portrayed a large portion of the american public in a very unfair negative light. >> who tells the truth both behind the scenes and if front of the cram? 23 you look at just as an observer. people end up doing one thing in the campaign. where do you draw the line? >> a lot of times the politicians that one side or the other maybe doesn't like. they tend to be more outspoken.

opening up fundraisers. letting the politicians know when they are doing fundraisers, getting media to those events, that is good. i think that sort of thing shouldn't be close to the public. just because they can't pay the money to get in. >> who's your favorite politician? >> in history. >> now, or history. >> i just read a biography by nancy unger of a republican from wisconsin, a progress i have senator. s he was profwreszive.

a lot of his ideas were ahead of their time. he was not well liked. he instituted the eight-hour work day. women's suffrage. the unions, the direct address of senators. he was unstoppable. he tried to run for president. it didn't work out. in part because he could be -- he could ruffle feathers and people didn't get along with him. he was stubborn. he said what was on his mind. it led to fda taking up a lot of the same ideas. >> who else? >> another person i admired is -- she was a public figure, maybe not a politician. the first female cabinet secretary. the labor secretary with the time that women tended not be in

public life. her biggest achievement is getting social security in place. >> how about today. people you see today. >> this is someone i love interviewing today is bill clinton. everyone knows he likes to talk. i've had the occasion to sit down with him over several years and tends be in small group settings. any question that you throw at him, no matter how obscure, the policy topic it's on, he will -- he loves people. he will opine after their aids say it's time to go and he'll keep talking. >> you were a pool reporter.

>> my first time doing pool duty. >> one reporter is chosen to -- they can't let a lot of press in. it was a small event. they choose one reporter to go and write a report oren everything that happens. you send it out to the rest of the reporters on the white house press list. they couldn't be there. they get the report. shared with all of the reporters and all news outlets use it. michelle obama tends not to make as much news as her husband. we won't to a small back yard fundraiser in washington, d.c. she was saying very standard remarks. then there was the protester, which was very rare at a michelle obama event. the protester is calling for equality for gays and lesbians. she's not used to dealing with the protester, didn't like it. confronted the protester. said you want to talk, that's fine. i'm leaving. the other guests got mad at the

protester, she was taken out. it was a very unexpected reaction from the first lady. it was unexpected that she was being protested in the first place. >> this has to do with political opponents caught on tape. and it explains itself. >> anyone going back to romney, anyone who sold american bridge better than -- bitter than i could or anyone that works for us was eric berg strom right after the eric bergstrom after his chief strategist after the election, he's asked the question -- your guys did a lot of extreme things to win this primary. you don't think this is going to help hurt anymore the general? he said, you know, pretty much voters are stupid. it's an etch-a-sketch. we can etch-a-sketch it all away. you can start clean.

no, you can't start clean. >> he's right. you can't. groups like american bridge on the left. america rising. they're dedicated on doing research and tracking gop candidates so when they have an event, they take a camera, they don't confront the candidate. they just stand there and videotape it. all of the words are caught on tape. republicans are doing this too. america rising. now, if you say something whether it's on a tv show or at your event, someone will probably see it. it will be caught on tape. and then when you run for office later down the line, someone will bring it up. voters aren't forgetting. todd akin had a comment about rape too. comment from todd akin and remind our audience what this is all about.

he didn't make it because of this. >> if abortion could be in a tubal pregnancy or something, what about the case of rape? should it be legal or not? >> how do you slice this particularly tough sort of ethical question. it seems to be first of all from what i understand from doctors, that's rare. if it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to shut the whole thing down. assume that doesn't work or something. there should be punishment. the punishment ought to be in the rapist and not attacking the child. >> well, what he said was scientifically inact rate. a woman who has been raped cannot just decide not to get pregnant. that's impossible. a lot of people he said was legitimate rape as some women who say they're raped aren't telling the truth. some are legitimate, some are

illegitimate. a lot of women relate acted to this. he is someone trying to set policy on women's reproductive rights but he doesn't seem to understand how the female body works. and it was just, you know, republicans had -- democrats had been saying that republicans were waging a war upon women trying to ledges later too much on abortion and access to contraceptio contraception. this did not help and he lost the senate seat. >> richard murdock of indiana was running and had not an exact same comment but a similar controversy. here's what he said in the campaign. >> i know there are some who disagree. i respect their point of view. i believe that life begins at conception. the only exception i have is in the case of the life of the mother. i just -- i struggled with it myself for a long time. but i came to realize that life is that gift from god. and even when life begins in the horrible situation of rape, it's

something that god intended to happen. >> what did he say wrong? >> well. >> he was saying god wanted women to be raped and babies are a gift of god. the reason he got the so much attention is because todd akin had made his other comments. so i think people just sort of threw up their hands in exasperation that more, including republicans -- that more republican candidates were sort of saying things like this and hurting them with a loft women voters. >> why are we -- why do we constantly talk about abortion and rape and since i've been in this town forever and ever, every year it's an issue. why is that, do you think? >> that's a great question. i have no idea. we keep hearing politicians saying they're going focus on the economy. the economy is going to be the number one focus and then some lawmaker brings up a bill to defund planned parenthood, to

ban abortions after 20 weeks. why this keeps coming up, i don't know. i think many people on both sides of the aisle would like see it stop coming up. but there are still many anti-abortion lawmakers who believe they need to push this while they're in office and a lot of the action is happening on the state level, republicans control a lot of state legislatures. many are pushing this legislation. we're not seeing it quite as much at the federal level, but in the states, definitely. >> what do you think will happen in 2016? >> i try not to make those predictions. i feel that a lot of people who make them end up looking silly. in terms of the senate right now, republicans have a good chance of taking control of the senate. they need to take six seats from democrats. there are three seats that republicans are retiring in they may go to republicans. three or four look good. four republicans, democrats could win those.

the i election looked good for republicans in 2012 and they lost seats in 2012. it's early to predict. >> it's early. >> on the presidential side of things? >> 2016. >> oh, yeah, that was 2014. in 2016, it will depend on whether or not hillary clinton runs. if she runs, i don't think you'll see many other democrats running. in terms of republicans. i don't know who will want to challenge her. republicans will realize she has a good shot. they want to take her on or they may decide to wait until she's not running or she loses or whatever and they might have a better shot. if she doesn't run, i think the field is wide open. republicans have a lot of young stars on their side. marco rubio, chris christie. democrats have a couple of people like cory booker, andrew cuomo. but it would be a much wider

field and much more of a wild card. >> where do you think this whole business of communication is going to be in the next ten years. >> i wish i knew. i would invest and start something. what i hope doesn't happen, i don't want do see the loss of print journalism. i don't want to -- i'm frustrated when i see the loss of sort of state and local journalism covering what's happening in city council, what's happening on the ground. because a lot of the national journalism isn't as good if you don't have that local journalism. a lot of what i do is watch iin and reading local 57bd state stories and seeing how that happens at that level and how it's bubbling up. if there aren't people on the ground doing that sort of work, again, i think national journalism suffers quite a bit. i really hope that someone figures out a way to keep that sustainable and keep those people in place. you know, we're going to see a

lot more social media, i think. people don't really go to the website. they see stories being shared by others, by what their friends are talking about. the news sort of goes that way rather than you go to the four websites. >> on my sheet of paper here, i found that you had -- you started out with some internships. you work for chuck schumer? >> interned for him in buffalo and in washington, d.c. >> what did you learn there? >> i learned you have a lot of callers that have a lot of strange concerns sometimes. but i really -- i really love especially working in the buffalo office. that's where you got to interact with the constituents directly. people just needing very small things, a simple call from the senator's office could get the paperwork expedited. and that was really gratifying

than to have people come into the office and thank you for your help. and i was just an intern, but, again, a simple call is the saying, what's the status on this could make a world of difference. and it's nice to sort of see the constituent services at work. >> what did you do in the offices of the new york attorney general? >> there i tended to -- it was actually very similar. it was a lot of times people would have problems with businesses or companies. and they would write in with their complaints. we would sort of -- >> who was the attorney general? >> eliot spitzer. so we would look into -- i worked at his office in buffalo. we looked into the complaints, we might make a call, send a letter. a lot of times these things are resolved once they realized the attorney general was looking. again, i was an intern, not a high level. simply making a phone call or sending a letter could make a world of difference for people

who had been waiting for a resolution for a long time. >> do you have an opinion on what eliot spitzer did when he was governor and stepped down and now he's running again? what do you think about it? >> what he did was wrong and disappointed a lot -- it disappointed a lot of people who had voted for him, who had trusted him. now i think voters -- at the same time, he's an effective attorney general. he helped to turn that office around. a lot of people really, real lived what he did. he went after wall street. people may forgive what he did on the personal life because they liked what he did in public life. a lot of cases between spitzer and wean iner. people are waiting to see if they're ready to trust these people based on your public record. >> if you're married, and your

husband did that to you, what would you do. >> in terms of how we react, for example. i think well that is a tough position for the spouse to be in. jenny sanford who wanted nothing do with what her husband did. i can't say i don't want to pass judgment on i think the political spouses get a lot of it passed. how could she have stood by hillary clinton. good for jenny stanford for doing that. i don't think you can say and you can judge them without being in their position and knowing what their relationship was. what they went through. so i could not say it without being in that position. >> a lot of politicians, a lot of people think that this country is in store for a bad time when it comes to the money, the deficit, the debt and all of that. what do you think? >> often a lot of attention is

put on the debt and the deficit. cutting back, for example, with sequestration. it helps the deficit and the debt squags. but is it really the best thing to do? is it really good to kick people off of the head start rolls in order to lower the deficit a little bit? i think that obviously at a time when the economy is not doing that well, people don't have jobs, cutting back on the spending is perhaps, you know, not quite what has shown to be working when rather more stimulus. washington gets wrapped up in the debt and deficit and doesn't go beyond and look at what's going on in the rest of the country and how this is having an effect on the people on the ground. people who don't have jobs and can't get back on the feet and can't get the government benefits that were there for them as a safety net. >> should you say you ear not worried about your own future? >> i think that -- you know, i think that -- you're always a

little bit worried. you see that -- you see that -- i think people want to do better than their parents, do as well or better. you see a lot of people who -- you have friends who can't find jobs. family members who can't find jobs. you're not immune from that. that's something in the journalism profession, journalists are worried about you. have a lot of reporters getting laid off. their papers are folding. entire photography staffs are being laid off like happened in chicago. so as a reporter, i think you're always watching that and are very concerned. >> go back to the family. a korean brother who's adopted. an african-american brother who's adopted. your father is jewish, your mother is a christian. you had a bat mitzvah at age 13, i assume. what about -- we've had a lot of discussion that's going be about prejudice. what would you say about that? what did you -- did you face

prejudice at all? is your prejudice -- if you did, different than your african-american brother's prejudice. >> i can't speak for what he went through. but i i think, yes, there is some perennial. a prejudice -- people -- people will come up and speak gibberish to you as if you could understand it because it sounds chinese. you have people coming up to you and assume you can't speak english properly. and you get a lot of that. it's mostly ignorance. it mostly doesn't really affect my life. i think being a woman and being in politics and journalism, you always have to deal with some sexism. people making comments that simply congressman steve kohn speaks to a female when you ask him a question and i'm not going

to speak to him about that today. how she looks should not come into play. and that's something that male reporters don't have to deal with. i talk to younger journalists, i tell them that's something they should be aware of and it will happen. what i like about the rare politics reporter, she tweeted about it and made people aware of what happened. >> 2004 graduate at the top of your class at colgate? >> yes. >> got the date? >> yes. >> here's something a lot of people would ask you. answer it once and for all. is duds terkel your grand father? >> no. he's not my grandfather. on my dad's side, he may be distantly related on my dad's side. i dwoent know exactly who it is. not my grandfather. >> i mean, i read some pieces by him. i don't think i studied him.

i read some pieces by him. growing up, i knew the name. i don't think i read anything in college. >> where are you going to be in ten years? >> i think it's great. >> would you rather be a politician or a journalist? >> i love journalism. i want to stay in journalism. i have no interest in becoming a politician. >> they can find your writing at huffington post. >> do they click on the politics section? >> it's great place to go or huffing tonpost.com amanda-terkel is where my stories are stored. >> we appreciate you for joining us. >> thank you. >> for a dvd copy of this program, 1-877-662-7726.

for free transcripts tore give us your comments about this program, visit us at q&a.org. q&a programs are available on c-span podcast. on the next washington journal, how small businesses view the economy and the opportunity for investment with todd mccracken. jay hancock with kaiser health news continues our series on the health care law with a discussion on how employers are adjusting to the law while also trying to control health care losts. after that, the latest on air traffic technology with gerald billingham, director of the issues with the government accountability office. that plus your calls live on washington journal at 7:00 a.m. eastern here on c-span.

next, google's vice president meghan smith talks about teaching science and engineering and how educators might change their curriculum to make the fields more enticing for students hosted by the american association for the advancement of science this, is 45 minutes.