KCRW's weekly round-up of punditry on politics, policy and popular culture featuring Matthew Miller, Arianna Huffington, Tony Blankley and Robert Scheer. Broadcast from outside the beltway, on the west coast's top NPR affiliate, KCRW-Santa Monica 89.9 FM.
The first half of today's show was about patriotism, and it was juicy. The second was about Barack Obama's shift to the center and John McCain's Campaign Shake up.
A substantive discussion amongst the panelists about what patriotism means. Bob Scheer expounds on George Washington's farewell speech; Tony Blankley talks about how the theme plays out politically; Matt Miller shares thoughts by Peter Beinart of Time Magazine that the right says "America's great," the left says, "Here's what would make America great;" and Arianna Huffington mentions the USA Today poll that says 2/3 of Americans think that protesting is patriotic. Are Obama's moves toward swing voters going to win him votes or just the animosity of his base? And will John McCain's campaign recover its footing with new guy, Steve Schmidt, at the helm.
Our show was recorded before the shocking news about Tim Russert's death. We are tremendously saddened by the news and offer our deepest sympathies to his family.
Hear Tony Blankley, Newt Gingrich's former press secretary, call W's former press secretary Scott McClellan "an inconsequential cipher." Robert Scheer thinks Hillary is trying to be the new Margaret Thatcher. Matt Miller and Arianna Huffington say they want a leader who'll fight for the right to serve -- but just not Hillary. And remembering Sydney Pollack.
If you love Hillary, you won't love today's Left, Right & Center...but it's a good show, with discussion of Hillary's endgame (I know! don't blame me, I am just the messenger!), McCain's age, health and Veepstakes, Obama's gaffe and lastly, Bob blames Bush for high oil prices. We'd love to hear your comments, tune in to the podcast anytime, the live stream at 2:30 and 7 pm pacific time, or listen later on-demand at KCRW.com. (Oh yeah: in SoCal, we're on air, too! We are a radio station, after all! 89.9 FM and other frequencies.)
On Friday, May 16th, the popular public radio program/podcast Left, Right and Center, features David Frum, the man who gave us two of the three-word phrase, "axis of evil." He sits in as a substitute "right" (usually it's Tony Blankley) on the program. Regular panelists Arianna Huffington, Robert Scheer and Matt Miller bat back and forth with David about their thoughts on the prospect of gay marriage as an election issue, whether Obama is an appeaser (David says we should change the word to "assuager"), whether Israel at 60 is a stronger nation, whether the Republicans are having a nervous breakdown (David says they need to focus all their energy and money on Congressional elections), and why Republicans want Hillary to run...
You can listen live online at 7 pm Pacific time at www.KCRW.com, or listen anytime on-demand. Sign up for the free podcast, and please join our intelligent audience for this lively but very civil and substantive program.
· SD: New Poll Shows Tim Johnson Romping (lowkell)
· Iowa commission takes one small step against CAFOs (desmoinesdem)
· LA-06: Cazayoux's Gittin' It Done! (DailyKingFish)
· Secrets of the American Future Fund (chase martyn)
· Happy Birthday Jerome! (Jonathan Singer)
· Oilmen For Scott Garrett (NJ-5) (Aaron Banks)
· Youth Delegates at DNC Outnumber RNC 15 - 1 (Mike Connery)
· LA-02: James Carter's First Ad (DailyKingFish)
· Clean Coal's Goodie Bag for Dem. Delegates (lowkell)
· Liveblogging Obama Town Hall (fbihop)
· McCain's Goons Throw Birthday Cake In Trash (fbihop)
· IA-04: Would-be independent candidate fails to qualify for ballot (desmoinesdem)
