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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Thomas A Watson who wrote (320896)	11/17/2002 10:28:06 PM
From: Emile Vidrine	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Poet regrets naming Baraka N.J. laureate, NJ.com (New Jersey), November 10, 2002 "Anti-Semite. Liar. Ignorant. D-plus poet. The man who helped select contentious New Jersey poet laureate Amiri Baraka as his successor now uses those words to describe him. Gerald Stern says he regrets that he recommended Baraka for the honor of poet laureate, but he's not sure the title should be taken away from him, as some are demanding. 'I made a mistake," Stern said. 'I'm sorry I appointed him. There were many other poets we could have appointed. We did it out of good will. We thought it was important to select a prominent New Jersey figure who represents the black community' ... Baraka has been accused of anti-Semitism because his poem implies that Israel had prior knowledge of the Sept. 11 attacks, and Gov. James E. McGreevey has called for his resignation. But Baraka has refused to step down and has repeatedly denied he is anti-Semitic. 'He claims he is not an anti-Semite, but of course that is bull,' said Stern, who is Jewish' ... 'He's full of (expletive) and he's an evil son of a (expletive) for starting that myth here. I think he is an (expletive). The poem is not even good. I give it a D-plus or a C-minus grade as a poem. In terms of its truth, I give it an F-minus' ... Stern, a Lambertville resident, was appointed by former Gov. Christie Whitman as the state's first poet laureate in 2000 after a committee of poets nominated him ... . 'I'm nervous about censorship," he said. "But I'm not going to be the first person in line to defend his right to free speech. I'll let people who worry about the First Amendment do