By Tom Grace
Cooperstown News Bureau
Brett Joshpe, a 1998 graduate of Stamford Central School, believes conservatives, particularly Republicans, are treated unfairly by the media and others in the United States.
"It's especially true if you're living in the city," he said Tuesday, on the telephone from New York City, where he is an attorney.
So Joshpe and co-writer S.E. Cupp say they are endeavoring to set the record straight with their new book: "Why You're Wrong about the Right," published by Simon & Schuster.
"I think the impression most people have of Republicans is formed by what they see and hear from Hollywood, universities and the media, and all those institutions tend of have a liberal bias," he said.
Cupp, who agreed that conservatives have an image problem, met Joshpe when they were students at Cornell University. The two have collaborated on their book for three years and Cupp is at work on another book now.
Their plan in this debut work, to interview and share the perspectives of pundits, particularly conservative ones, has worked well, but has taken a long time, said Cupp, an index writer at the New York Times.
"When we'd get one interview, we'd use that to try to attract the next one," she said.
They started with David Horowitz, a conservative writer who has criticized programs at universities for their alleged left-wing slant. The second famous conservative they interviewed, former CNN and MSNBC commentator Tucker Carlson has written a forward for the book.
Several other famous people have followed suit and "Why You're Wrong about the Right"
See RIGHT on Page 8
includes the thoughts of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, popular columnist George Will and retired baseball player Al Leiter, who gave a particularly memorable interview, said Joshpe.
Cupp said that writing was the easiest part of producing this book, which includes passages of Republican lament such as: "Sure, I might be the toast of Topeka, but here in New York, and undoubtedly in the rest of the blue states and even bluer big cities, I'm a pariah, the worst of the worst.
"I'm like the ex-con who just moved across the street from the elementary school, or the punk rocker who rented the place above yours, or the weird old lady who throws rocks off her porch and has long conversations with a broom handle. I'm a nuisance, a bad seed, a danger to the community, even."
And this:
"There are confounding and contradictory myths about the typical Republican. He is both the gun-toting hick, driving barefoot and shirtless in his pickup truck, and the loafer-wearing WASP, sipping scotch on a yacht or lounging in the polo club. The latter stereotype may include the benefits of sophistication and wealth, but by no means extends to likability.
"CNN Headline News pundit and radio personality Glenn Beck said of this contradictory imagining of the Republican elite by the left, `When you think of red states, do you think of homes on Central Park and in the Hollywood Hills, or do you think of stupid, redneck hicks in Oklahoma? The media can't have it both ways. There is only one elite, and it's the left."'
"Why You're Wrong About the Right" is available from Amazon.com and assorted booksellers.
