LIBERADIO(!)

Conservative blogger, Andrew Sullivan, gives mad props to Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In today’s episode Harold Ford drives a big fat wedge between your hosts.
Mary: I’m disappointed that Harold Ford voted for the Detainee bill.
Freddie: I’m less disappointed than you are. Harold Ford believes he is representing the best interests of Tennesseans.
Mary: No! No! No! No Way! It’s all politics!
Freddie: But the politics are expressive of the representations of people’s interests!
And it just gets better from there…
Also, 485 direct contacts with the White House, Soft Voices in the Wilderness, W for Vendetta, and the FBI takes a bite out of Corker’s crime record. McGruff!

Listen to “Have You Been Driven Crazy by Ford Lately?” (32:00 13.9MB)

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The ACLU has decided to sue the Wilson County school system for “School-based religious activities” at Lakeview Elementary in Mt. Juliet. RightMinded’s Glen Rose, in all his intellectual dishonesty, leaves off the “school-based” part to further his erroneous conclusion that the ACLU is “against Christianity”. Was the ACLU against Christianity when they joined the lawsuit supporting a New Jersey second-grader’s right to sing “Awesome God” at a talent show, or when they joined the fight of a student who’s entry had been deleted from the yearbook because it contained a passage from the Bible?

The Establishment Clause of our Constitution, also known as the First Amendment, prohibits the federal legislature from making laws that establish a state religion or a preference for a certain religion. In other words, Congress cannot declare a national religion nor can they set a preference of one religion over another, or religion over nonreligion.

Public schools (the operative word here being “public”) come under the jurisdiction of these federal laws. The answer, therefore, is a simple one. Instead of standing around the flagpole each morning holding a morning prayer to Jesus, have a moment of silence instead. Then all God’s children can, in their own way, worship as they choose. This answers Rose’s argument that “if you want to argue the establishment clause, then I will argue the free exercise clause.” A moment of silence gives students the time to freely exercise religion, silently, and in their own way.

And for those who belives that secularism is taking over the country and that there’s a “war on Christianity“, let me remind you that The Supreme Court decided that private prayer in public schools is acceptable but that school sanctioned religious assemblies, for instance, are not.

There are compromises to be made in this area that are not served by reactionary hyperbole about “the secularism that pervades public school system” or the ACLU is “just against Christianity.”

We love Kleinfelter…er..I mean Kleinheider over at WKRN’’s other blog, VolunteerVoters.com. Even though we don’t always agree with him, his indepth analysis is always a good read. Today, however, not so much. In his response to a post about the nexus of hate and politics by The Oracle. K-Heddy writes, “Politics is not personal — or at least it shouldn’t be. Ideas and policy are important but they are not life.”

Whoa. Tell that to the loved ones of our soldiers and the innocent civilians dying in Afghanistan and Iraq.

It’s impossible to divorce yourself from the “game” of politics if someone you love is fighting and/or dying overseas. To them, ideas and policy, in this case, foreign policy implemented by politicans playin’ the game, is life and death. U.S. domestic policy is also all about mortality if you’re one of 46.6 million people who don’t have health insurance or one of 38 million who have trouble keeping food on their table.

If you’re lucky enough not to know anyone who serves in the military or who lives in Iraq, then you should at the very least be able to muster up some empathy for those who do. If you can visit the doctor whenver you need to and eat a hot meal every night, then you should at the very least be able to muster up some empathy for those who can’t. Politics can be so much more than a game.

This week, we had another example of how it all goes down. The Detainee bill, passed in the House and Senate, is all about sport. There’s an election coming up and Republicans are using this bill to box in Democrats. Some get the nuance of our political game. Others do not and instead only see that the U.S. has made it easy for its President to label anyone he wants an enemy combatant, decide what interrogation methods are permissible (without making his decision public), remove the right of habeas corpus, and restrict judicial review. They have no way of knowing that this bill will once again be struck down by the Supreme Court as unconstitutional. For them, friends and family are our foreign policy.

Yesterday, Rudy Giuliani defended President Clinton from those that say he was at least partially responsible for Sept. 11. He said, “The idea of trying to cast blame on President Clinton is just wrong for many, many reasons, not the least of which is I don’t think he deserves it.” His next point, which I’m sure Condolezza Rice wishes came out of her mouth, was “I don’t think President Bush deserves it. The people who deserve blame for Sept. 11, I think we should remind ourselves, are the terrorists – the Islamic fanatics – who came here and killed us and want to come here again and do it.”

Thinking outloud during our podcast this afternoon it became quite clear: to say that neither Bill Clinton nor George Bush are responsible for the brutal events of Sept. 11 is the collegial thing to say, and there may be some greater truth in the statement, but there is only one person, as the leader of his party and of the current administration, who can be blamed for what’s happened since that day.

Only George Bush can be blamed for the complete politicization of the events of Sept. 11. Only he can be blamed for using them to advance his policy agenda. Only he can be blamed for using them to catapult us into the war with Iraq. Only he deserves full credit for the strategic manipulation of the American people. He keeps us afraid. He fertilizes the skittish atmosphere we all live in which enables the Republican Party to divide and conquer. He took the path of polarization that Nixon paved and turned it into a four-lane highway.

Considering Mr. Bush is the only executive in the Executive Branch at the moment (Mr. Clinton having long-since moved to Harlem), only he can be blamed for the hate, the fear-mongering, the blind patriotism, the smear-merchants, and the absolute division of this country. He used a national tragedy for political gain and that is all his – and only his – fault.

Today we discuss the Detainee bill passed in the House yesterday. The Republicans have a strategy to win in November and it’s dastardly. And please pay attention to the real reasons why Democrats oppose the bill.

Also, Froomkin takes Bush to task for his responses to recent criticism of his foreign policy; Timothy Noah of Slate wonders whether Bush can read; in the wake of a recent interview of Bill Clinton by Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, Gallup released a new poll revealing that a majority of Americans blame Bush than Clinton for failing to capture bin Laden; and Mr. Lott, have you ever been threatened by a dog while delivering laundry? Yeah, we think it’s a stupid question too.

Listen to “The Straw Man Behind the Curtain”

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A link from the New York Times online homepage goes to a story about the Democrats best hope for the November election. Nice picture of Harold Ford and this, “In Tennessee, another Southern state long considered safely red, Representative Harold E. Ford Jr., a Democrat, has run a strong campaign that has kept that state in contention.”

Races in Virginia, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and others are highlighted:

Perhaps the most unexpected development this year is the competition in two Southern states. Democrats have fared poorly in the South in recent years, which has accounted, in large part, for their difficulty in gaining a Senate majority.

Tennessee, where the seat is held by the retiring majority leader, Bill Frist, is drawing intense interest from national Republicans. President Bush was in Memphis on Wednesday to raise money for Mr. Corker.

This is Bob Corker’s race to lose and he’s doing a fine job, thank you.

Today, the Bush Administration is tested on warming trends; Secretary Rumsfeld is tested by retired generals; Richard Ben Veniste of the 9/11 Commission is tested by Wolf Blitzer; John Negroponte is tested by another NIE report; and Republican Bob Corker is totally tested by Democrat Harold Ford. And we have a question for “popular” conservative talk-show host Laura Ingraham: “Laura, sweetie, is there also national referendum on being stranded on a deserted island, cheating housewives, and motherf**cking Snakes on a motherf**cking Plane?

Listen to “The Rumsfeld Test”

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Is the one-two punch for the November election the release of the National Intelligence Estimate and Clinton’s articulate, intelligent and inspirational smackdown of Chris Wallace? We can dream, can’t we? Is the leak of the NIE in any way a response to Daniel Ellsberg’s recent piece in Harper’s? We can hope, can’t we? Why doesn’t George Clooney run for office? We can fantasize a Clooney-Franken 2016 ticket, can’t we?

Listen to “Fleur de Clooney”

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In this episode we conclude that New York City, with all it’s ethnic, racial and religious diversity, is still 100% American. Stephen Colbert interviews Daniel Ellsberg, staying safely on his side of the studio while Mary stays safely on hers. Hugo and George and Mahmoud take Manhattan. Sixteen different spy agencies conclude that our war in Iraq is making things worse. And President Bill Clinton rides to the our rescue speaking truth to Fox. It’s about freakin’ time. Also, it’s the debut of our weekly ‘Media Matters Smackdown’ segment with MediaMatters.org Research Fellow, Elbert Ventura. I Heart NY!

Listen to “Where’s Our Ellsberg?!?” Part 1
Listen to “Where’s Our Ellsberg?!?” Part 2

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