Kirsten Powers
Encyclopedia
Kirsten A. Powers is an American
columnist
, blog
ger, pundit, and political commentator. Powers is a Democratic
political analyst on Fox News who appears regularly on shows such as The O'Reilly Factor
, Fox News Sunday
, Special Report with Bret Baier and Freedom Watch
. She is a regular guest host on the morning Fox News Radio
show Kilmeade & Friends and a columnist for the New York Post
and the Daily Beast. She is a regular guest host on Hannity
and was rumored to be one of the top contenders to replace Alan Colmes when he left the Hannity & Colmes
show in December, 2008.
Powers formerly wrote a column for American Prospect Online. Her articles have also appeared in USA Today
, Elle
, the New York Observer
, Salon
, and the Wall Street Journal.
, Alaska
, Powers served in the Clinton administration as the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Public Affairs and was the Vice President for International Communications at America Online
. Later she was a Vice President at the AOL-Time Warner Foundation.
Powers has worked for the New York State Democratic Committee
, was the press secretary for Andrew Cuomo
for Governor and Communications Director on the mayoral campaign of C. Virginia Fields. She also worked on the "Vote No on 3" campaign which overwhelmingly defeated Mayor
Michael Bloomberg
's ballot initiative to eliminate party primaries
. Powers was also the press secretary for the Democratic National Committee
(DNC) Chair race of Donnie Fowler
. She has consulted for a variety of non-profit organizations including Human Rights First
and the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW).
, and believes it is a moral imperative to supply health care to all Americans.
Powers supports comprehensive immigration reform
and providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, favors
gun control
, and supports equal rights
for gay people in the form of universal civil unions, leaving marriage
strictly as a religious institution.
She opposes "don't ask, don't tell." and supports closing Guantanamo Bay and putting prisoners in federal prisons.
She opposes the Iraq war, as well as the Fairness Doctrine, and a constitutional amendment
to ban flag burning.
She supports a strong separation of church and state
.
She also opposes the death penalty.
She supports the right of countries to choose their own governments free of outside influence but is against the establishment of theocracies. Powers has a particular concern over the influence of Islamists in Egypt due to her husband being of Coptic Egyptian origin.
and attended Georgetown University
Law School for a year and a half.
but later spent much of her adult life as an atheist
, only to come to "view everyone as God's child and that means everyone deserves grace and respect." Recently Powers married Dr. Marty Makary, Professor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
columnist
Columnist
A columnist is a journalist who writes for publication in a series, creating an article that usually offers commentary and opinions. Columns appear in newspapers, magazines and other publications, including blogs....
, blog
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
ger, pundit, and political commentator. Powers is a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
political analyst on Fox News who appears regularly on shows such as The O'Reilly Factor
The O'Reilly Factor
The O'Reilly Factor, originally titled The O'Reilly Report from 1996 to 1998 and often called The Factor, is an American talk show on the Fox News Channel hosted by commentator Bill O'Reilly, who often discusses current controversial political issues with guests.The program was the most watched...
, Fox News Sunday
Fox News Sunday
Fox News Sunday with Chris Wallace is a public affairs program on the Fox network, hosted by Chris Wallace and airing on Sunday mornings. The show began on April 28, 1996, which predated the launch of Fox News Channel, and usually talks about items similar to Sunday morning talk shows...
, Special Report with Bret Baier and Freedom Watch
Freedom Watch
Freedom Watch is a television show hosted by Judge Andrew Napolitano. It was created in February 2009 as an online show and originally webcast once a week. In September 2009, the show began webcasting 3 or 4 times a week...
. She is a regular guest host on the morning Fox News Radio
Fox News Radio
Fox News Radio is an American radio network programmed by Fox News Channel.- History :In 2003, Fox News began syndicating one minute radio updates to radio stations via syndication service Westwood One. On June 1, 2005, Fox News Radio employed 60 people and provided five minute newscasts at the top...
show Kilmeade & Friends and a columnist for the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
and the Daily Beast. She is a regular guest host on Hannity
Hannity
Hannity is a television show on the Fox News network, a replacement to the long-running show Hannity & Colmes. It is hosted by conservative political pundit Sean Hannity....
and was rumored to be one of the top contenders to replace Alan Colmes when he left the Hannity & Colmes
Hannity & Colmes
Hannity & Colmes was a live television show on Fox News Channel in the United States, hosted by Sean Hannity and Alan Colmes, who respectively presented a conservative and liberal perspective. The series premiered on October 6, 1996, and the final episode aired on January 9, 2009. It was the...
show in December, 2008.
Powers formerly wrote a column for American Prospect Online. Her articles have also appeared in USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, Elle
Elle
Elle may refer to:*Elle, Central African Republic*Elle , a fashion publication*Ellé, a river in France*Elle , a female given name*Elle , a Sri Lankan game similar to baseball*Ælle of Sussex, a Saxon king...
, the New York Observer
New York Observer
The New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
, Salon
Salon.com
Salon.com, part of Salon Media Group , often just called Salon, is an online liberal magazine, with content updated each weekday. Salon was founded by David Talbot and launched on November 20, 1995. It was the internet's first online-only commercial publication. The magazine focuses on U.S...
, and the Wall Street Journal.
Career
Originally from FairbanksFairbanks
Fairbanks may refer to:Places in the United States*Fairbanks, Alaska, city*Fairbanks, California, unincorporated community in El Dorado County*Fairbanks, Mendocino County, California, former settlement*Fairbanks, Indiana, unincorporated community...
, Alaska
Alaska
Alaska is the largest state in the United States by area. It is situated in the northwest extremity of the North American continent, with Canada to the east, the Arctic Ocean to the north, and the Pacific Ocean to the west and south, with Russia further west across the Bering Strait...
, Powers served in the Clinton administration as the Deputy Assistant U.S. Trade Representative for Public Affairs and was the Vice President for International Communications at America Online
AOL
AOL Inc. is an American global Internet services and media company. AOL is headquartered at 770 Broadway in New York. Founded in 1983 as Control Video Corporation, it has franchised its services to companies in several nations around the world or set up international versions of its services...
. Later she was a Vice President at the AOL-Time Warner Foundation.
Powers has worked for the New York State Democratic Committee
New York State Democratic Committee
The New York State Democratic Committee runs the local branch of the United States Democratic Party in the state of New York. Its headquarters are in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, and it has an office in Albany.-List of chairpersons:...
, was the press secretary for Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Cuomo
Andrew Mark Cuomo is the 56th and current Governor of New York, having assumed office on January 1, 2011. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the 64th New York State Attorney General, and was the 11th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development...
for Governor and Communications Director on the mayoral campaign of C. Virginia Fields. She also worked on the "Vote No on 3" campaign which overwhelmingly defeated Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg
Michael Rubens Bloomberg is the current Mayor of New York City. With a net worth of $19.5 billion in 2011, he is also the 12th-richest person in the United States...
's ballot initiative to eliminate party primaries
Primary election
A primary election is an election in which party members or voters select candidates for a subsequent election. Primary elections are one means by which a political party nominates candidates for the next general election....
. Powers was also the press secretary for the Democratic National Committee
Democratic National Committee
The Democratic National Committee is the principal organization governing the United States Democratic Party on a day to day basis. While it is responsible for overseeing the process of writing a platform every four years, the DNC's central focus is on campaign and political activity in support...
(DNC) Chair race of Donnie Fowler
Donnie Fowler
Donnie Fowler is an American political activist from Columbia, South Carolina, who now lives in San Francisco. He has worked in the technology, telecommunications, and political world for more than 20 years....
. She has consulted for a variety of non-profit organizations including Human Rights First
Human Rights First
Human Rights First is a nonprofit, nonpartisan human rights organization based in New York City and Washington, D.C....
and the National Council for Research on Women (NCRW).
Political positions
Powers supported the Obama health care reformHealth care reform
Health care reform is a general rubric used for discussing major health policy creation or changes—for the most part, governmental policy that affects health care delivery in a given place...
, and believes it is a moral imperative to supply health care to all Americans.
Powers supports comprehensive immigration reform
Immigration reform
Immigration reform is a term used in political discussion regarding changes to current immigration policy of a country. In its strict definition, "reform " means to change into an improved form or condition, by amending or removing faults or abuses....
and providing a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, favors
gun control
Gun control
Gun control is any law, policy, practice, or proposal designed to restrict or limit the possession, production, importation, shipment, sale, and/or use of guns or other firearms by private citizens...
, and supports equal rights
Equal rights
Equal rights can refer to:*Equality before the law, when all people have the same rights*Human rights, when such rights are held in common by all people*Civil rights, when such rights are held in common by all citizens of a nation...
for gay people in the form of universal civil unions, leaving marriage
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...
strictly as a religious institution.
She opposes "don't ask, don't tell." and supports closing Guantanamo Bay and putting prisoners in federal prisons.
She opposes the Iraq war, as well as the Fairness Doctrine, and a constitutional amendment
Constitutional amendment
A constitutional amendment is a formal change to the text of the written constitution of a nation or state.Most constitutions require that amendments cannot be enacted unless they have passed a special procedure that is more stringent than that required of ordinary legislation...
to ban flag burning.
She supports a strong separation of church and state
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
.
She also opposes the death penalty.
She supports the right of countries to choose their own governments free of outside influence but is against the establishment of theocracies. Powers has a particular concern over the influence of Islamists in Egypt due to her husband being of Coptic Egyptian origin.
Education
Powers graduated from the University of MarylandUniversity of Maryland, College Park
The University of Maryland, College Park is a top-ranked public research university located in the city of College Park in Prince George's County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C...
and attended Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
Law School for a year and a half.
Personal life
Powers was raised EpiscopalianEpiscopal Church (United States)
The Episcopal Church is a mainline Anglican Christian church found mainly in the United States , but also in Honduras, Taiwan, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela, the British Virgin Islands and parts of Europe...
but later spent much of her adult life as an atheist
Atheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
, only to come to "view everyone as God's child and that means everyone deserves grace and respect." Recently Powers married Dr. Marty Makary, Professor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University.
External links
Articles
- MIDDLE CLASSIC: SCHUMER'S VICTORY PLAN - New York PostNew York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
- Justice Shall Be Executed - American ProspectThe American ProspectThe American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
online - Feminist Mystique - American ProspectThe American ProspectThe American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
online - God's Army - American ProspectThe American ProspectThe American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
online - Burn, Baby, Burn - American ProspectThe American ProspectThe American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
online - The Costs of Crying Wolf - American ProspectThe American ProspectThe American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
online - Who Should Apologize? - American ProspectThe American ProspectThe American Prospect is a monthly American political magazine dedicated to American liberalism. Based in Washington, DC, The American Prospect is a journal "of liberal ideas, committed to a just society, an enriched democracy, and effective liberal politics" which focuses on United States politics...
online - Keep Talking Democrats - USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
- Election signals decline of old school liberalism - USA TodayUSA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2006/11/post_42.html - http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=NYOB&p_theme=nyob&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_field_label-0=Author&p_text_label-0=kirsten%20a.%20powers&p_field_label-1=title&p_bool_label-1=AND&p_field_label-2=Section&p_bool_label-2=AND&s_dispstring=author(kirsten%20a.%20powers)%20AND%20date(all)&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=noA Nobel for Rudy? It Would Be a Crime!] - New York ObserverNew York ObserverThe New York Observer is a weekly newspaper first published in New York City on September 22, 1987, by Arthur L. Carter, a very successful former investment banker with publishing interests. The Observer focuses on the city's culture, real estate, the media, politics and the entertainment and...
- GETTING RELIGION: Can the Democrats Make Common Cause With Evangelical Voters? - Washington Spectator