- Lester Kinsolving
Charles Lester Kinsolving (born 1927 in
New York City ) is a politicaltalk radio host, currently heard onWCBM inBaltimore, Maryland . He is better known, however, as aWhite House correspondent forWorldNetDaily — the only member of theWhite House press corps to also host atalk radio show. His pointed, frequently off-the-wall questioning of the President's press secretaries has made him a Washington institution for more than three decades, and earned him a reputation as agadfly within the corps. It's also sometimes made him the butt of jokes from manycomedian s, includingJon Stewart on "The Daily Show ."Kinsolving is also a minister in the
Anglican Church . He was formerly apriest in the Episcopal Church, breaking away in 1978. Throughout the early part of his career, Kinsolving wrote a syndicatednewspaper column about religious issues.As a
reporter andcolumnist for the "San Francisco Examiner " in the 1970s, Kinsolving was the first to report on thePeoples Temple cult led byJim Jones , six years before the cult's members committedmass suicide in the jungles ofGuyana ; his reporting brought on vocal protesting by the group, and resulted in the newspaper canceling most of his multi-part series and replacing it with a more flattering portrayal of Jones. The episode left him angry with his treatment, and he left the "Examiner," finally ending up in Washington, resuming a radio reporting career that began with a four-year stint atKCBS-FM inSacramento, California .Kinsolving has twice been nominated for the
Pulitzer Prize .His reputation was damaged in 1977, when "
Washington Post " reporter Walter Pincus reported that Kinsolving had accepted $2,500 worth of stock from a lobbyist to report favorably onSouth Africa , which was still underapartheid at the time. Kinsolving'sState Department press credentials were revoked by the reporters' committee which issued them and a reprimand from the Standing Committee of Correspondents, which administers press credentials to theUnited States Congress . Kinsolving appealed the action to theUnited States Senate Rules Committee , and eventually won back his credentials.In his early years in the Washington press corps, Kinsolving was well known for wearing his priest's collar to press conferences. Later on, he was famous for his bright red jacket.
Kinsolving has been an outspoken opponent of gay rights organizations — "the
sodomy lobby," as he refers to them — mainly due to his religious beliefs. This may have led to a famous exchange in a 1982 White House press conference during theReagan Administration , where Kinsolving asked Press SecretaryLarry Speakes about theAIDS epidemic, then largely unknown in theUnited States . That exchange was telling in Speakes' somewhat comedic responses, which pointed out the administration’s ignorance of AIDS:Les Kinsolving: "Larry, does the president have any reaction to the announcement—the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, that AIDS is now an epidemic and have over 600 cases?"
Larry Speakes: "What’s AIDS?"
Kinsolving: "Over a third of [the victims] have died. It’s known as “gay plague.” (laughter) No, it is. I mean it’s a pretty serious thing that one in every three people that get this have died. And I wondered if the president is aware of it?"
Speakes: "I don’t have it. Do you? (laughter)"
Kinsolving: "No, I don’t."
Speakes: "You didn’t answer my question."
Kinsolving: "Well, I just wondered, does the president—"
Speakes: "How do you know? (laughter)"
Kinsolving: "In other words, the White House looks on this as a great joke?"
Speakes: "No, I don’t know anything about it, Lester."
Kinsolving: "Does the president, does anybody in the White House know about this epidemic, Larry?"
Speakes: I" don’t think so. I don’t think there’s been any—"
Kinsolving: "Nobody knows?"
Speakes: "There has been no personal experience here, Lester."
Kinsolving: "No, I mean, I thought you were keeping—"
Speakes: "I checked thoroughly with" [Reagan’s personal physician] "Dr. Ruge this morning, and he’s had no—(laughter)—no patients suffering from AIDS or whatever it is."
Though considered by most observers to be a political conservative, Kinsolving began his career in the 1960s as a liberal, and still holds many views considered to be left-wing; he is
pro-choice and against thedeath penalty . On his show, "Uninhibited Radio," Kinsolving often debates "The Berkeley Democrat" — his longtime wife, Sylvia.After a verbal altercation with
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow onJuly 25 ,2007 , Kinsolving's publisher,Joseph Farah ofWorldNetDaily , wrote a harshly-worded column characterizing Snow's comments as "...a rebuke, and a threat, and an attempt to control Les Kinsolving and [WorldNetDaily] 's right to ask questions at the White House." Farah announced that Kinsolving would no longer be attending White House press briefings as a result. [http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=56857] On Aug. 5, 2007, WND reported that after a "one-on-one conference" with Snow, Kinsolving agreed to return to the briefings. [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=57020]Kinsolving has also appeared as an actor, playing the same role in two films: "Gettysburg" and "
Gods and Generals ." In those films, he portrayed Confederate Gen.William Barksdale , Kinsolving's distant cousin.External links
* [http://www.leskinsolving.com LesKinsolving.com, official web site]
* [http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/archives.asp?AUTHOR_ID=208 Kinsolving article archive at WorldNetDaily.com]
* [http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=11089 Baltimore City Paper, December 9, 2005: "Les is More"]
* [http://jonestownapologistsalert.blogspot.com/ "Jonestown Apologists Alert"] , the four part series of 1972 expose articles written by Kinsolving for the San Francisco Examiner
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