It's a pledge drive Friday, so there won't be much posting...but here's today's summary and a few choice items to listen closely for -- links to follow in a separate post:

The fight over US energy policy has been the dominant message on the Presidential campaign trail this week: who’s got it right, who’s pandering and who’s been a demagogue? Tony Blankley’s for any plan that doesn’t involve tax subsidies, and prefers the multi-pronged approach. Bob Scheer and Arianna Huffington think Obama’s trying to play it too safe; and everyone thinks that no one’s facing the facts and telling the truth – they’re just playing politics. Matt Miller still believes the issues they should be focused on are health and pension security but that $4-a-gallon gas pushed the national agenda sideways. As Obama prepares to take a vacation, is he ceding the limelight to McCain? Why has McCain been successful in undermining Obama’s message? A reminiscence about Reagan, who stuck to his guns -- and won. Should Obama do the same? Plus, a brief mention of that other world event: The China Olympics.

Tony has an amazing line about "endive" -- (he doesn't pick a pronunciation -- he says both AHN-deev and EN-dive) --
he remembers that when Michael Dukakis ran for President, in the context of agriculture, he spoke about "endive." Tony says, it's wheat that's all-American, and that referring to endive made him sound "effete." The inflated tire comment, says Tony, is Obama's endive!

And I want you to pay attention: how many times in today's show do the panelists say "gouge" instead of gauge (gage) in referring to McCain's little tire gauge ploy? Get back to me with the answer!

And, lest we be left out of the TRUE national conversation, thank heaven Arianna rescues us with a rant about the John Edwards SEX SCANDAL! While we were busy talking about issues, the rest of the media was harping on Edwards' affair -- for hours and hours and hours. We gave that issue the 19.5 seconds it deserved. Jeez.

 *8.6.08 Updated posts below: Tony and Bob's weekly columns...

**Post updated--SEE BELOW  Today we talk about the terrorist enemy within...with the breaking news about Bruce Ivins--the bio-weapons researcher alleged to be the sender of anthrax letters that killed five after 9/11--who committed suicide on Tuesday as the FBI was closing in on him. Then the big political clamor of the week over whether McCain or Obama are the ones playing the race card. An interesting conversation about the Doha Round of global trade talks and the US economy follows (check out what Tony says about agriculture, it's quite interesting), and finally a wrap-up on whether or not Obama is an internationalist, what that means and whether or why it matters.  Photo on left above is from the Associated Press. Image on top right comes from MJMGroup.com/bullypulpitnews. Look for the "Links" post to view Obama's speech and McCain's ad...scroll down further for our volunteer bloggers' transcripts of what was said today, and even further for links to Bob's and Tony's weekly syndicated columns, both related to today's show in a big way.

Happy listening and SIGN UP for the RSS feed...we'll try to supply more content throughout the week! -- and don't forget, you can EMBED OUR MEDIA PLAYER ON YOUR BLOG! Just click the "embed" tab, copy the code, and insert!!

***UPDATE: Take a sneak peak at Matt Miller's new book, due out in January The Tyranny of Dead Ideas. By the way, during our pledge drive (Aug 8 and Aug 15 for LRC), we'll be offering signed copies of Bob Scheer's The Pornography of Power and Arianna Huffington's Right is Wrong....as premiums when you pledge. Even tho' the podcasts are free, it costs us to produce, post and stream this show...please join us as a subscriber!

He Is Who He Is

Tony Blankley Wednesday, August 06, 2008

It's getting tricky to know how to refer to he who presumes to be the next president. It was made clear several months ago that mentioning his middle name is a forbidden act. (Pass out more eggshells.) Then, having nothing honorable to say, Obama warned his followers last week that Sen. McCain would try to scare voters by pointing to Obama's "funny name" and the fact that "he doesn't look like all the presidents on the dollar bills."

Now, putting aside for the moment the racial component of His warning, what are we to make of the "funny name" reference? Many people have "funny" names. Some people think my last name -- being very close in spelling to the adverbial form for the absence of content -- is funny. Certainly, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee's name is funny. Many on the left have had great fun with President Bush's last name. But we all have found our names perfectly serviceable and would expect people to call us by the names by which we identify ourselves.

But He has made it clear that the mere use of His name would be freighted with coded innuendoes of something too horrible to say straightforwardly. One has to go back to Exodus 3:13-14 to find such strict instructions concerning the use of a name. Moses explained: "Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they say to me, 'What is His name?' what shall I say to them?" And God said to Moses, "I Am Who I Am." And He said, "Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, 'I Am has sent me to you.'"

So perhaps we can call Him, for short, Sen. I Am (full code name: I Am who you have been waiting for).

Another aspect of the now-infamous dollar-bill incident that has gone unmentioned is Sen. I Am's choice of the dollar-bill reference itself. He could have just said He doesn't look like other presidents. Even that is a little too cute for the nasty little point He slyly was trying to make, but at least He would be identifying Himself merely with the universe of American presidents. But His overweening pride found such company too base and demeaning for Him. So He needed to include Himself in the grander company of George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Jefferson and perhaps Andy Jackson. (I doubt He had in mind Woodrow Wilson on the $100,000 bill or Grover Cleveland on the $1,000.)

Perhaps I shouldn't dwell on these matters, but the more I watch this man the more stunned I am at His overconfidence and towering pride. I have known a number of great and powerful men (and read biographies of many more), and they surely don't lack confidence or ego. But who among the great would have answered the question posed to the junior senator from Illinois a few weeks ago as He did? Asked whether He had any doubts, He said "never." Is He so foolish as to think He has the world figured out to the last detail, or is He so proud of His intelligence that He cannot confess to ever having any doubt? Either explanation renders His judgment of dubious presidential caliber.

Here is a man who talked almost contemptuously of Gen. Petraeus. Explaining His differences with the general, He said that His "job is to think about the national security interest as a whole; (the generals') job is just to get their job done (in Iraq)." Of course, right at the moment, the junior senator from Illinois doesn't yet have "His" job, while Gen. Petraeus, as confirmed Centcom commander, has direct responsibility for both Afghanistan and Iraq and everything in between and around them. But in the mind of Sen. I Am, He already is, while He thinks the man who is perhaps our greatest general in two generations is just another flunky carrying out routine orders. It is repulsive to see such a mentality in a man who would be president.

All of us have our shortcomings, of course. But there is none so dangerous both to a man and to those for whom he has responsibility than the sin of pride. In the sixth century, Pope Gregory the Great recognized that pride breeds all the other sins and is therefore the most serious offense. St. Thomas Aquinas reaffirmed that pride is rebellion against the very authority of God.

Let me quote a private e-mail correspondent, who states the case better than I could: "Pride indeed is the cardinal vice -- it swings open the door to most of the other theological vices, and undermines the classical virtues of prudence, courage and justice. It thrives, not on what one has, but on what others do not have. And even when one has diligently practiced the most admirable virtues, there always lurks the danger that at some moment one will look in the mirror and say: 'Oh my! What a wonderful person I am!' Thus does the vice lunge from its hiding-place."

For a man, his personality is his destiny. If he becomes president, his flaws become the nation's dangers. The voters must judge carefully both the personalities and the ideas of those who would be president.

Copyright © 2008 Salem Web Network. All Rights Reserved.

Obama's "controversial" speech in MO:

McCain's Obama Celebrity Ad

NYTimes Blog, Who's Playing the Race Card?

SOME OF WHAT THE PANELISTS SAID TODAY: (part 3)

Matt:  we're the only country that doesn't provide basic healthcare or pension security that is not tied to your job.  It cannot work today.

Arianna:  during the primary both Clinton and Obama talked about NAFTA; right after the campaign, Obama called some of what was said 'overblown campaign rhetoric;'  there are too many other pressures on them (him and his campaign).

Bob back on the woes of the economy:  We occupy the 2nd biggest reserve of oil- Exxon's interest is not that of the avg. American people….at Goldman Sachs, Rubin was doing all this finagling - then he was doing it at Citigroup - now he's brought in as some kind of guru.  Obama is an internationalist, as opposed to the Nationalism, as part of the way politics in this country works.

 Arianna:  there isn't a single indication that Obama wouldn't put American first.  All of this drowning out of the real issues and real problems-- it enabled the McCain campaign to win the week.

The RANT:

Arianna railed against "another spate of totally unreliable polls…to draw incredible conclusions-  and this incredible confusion between different statuses of voter.  It's time to turn a very skeptical eye to all this polling!"

 

 

SOME OF WHAT THE PANELISTS SAID TODAY Part 2

The Economy and Doha

Bob:  Unemployment is at a 4 year high…Americans are hurting- does Obama emerge as something of a populist?  He needs to stick to the peace position; and he needs to take on the fat cats- I don't think he needs Robert Rubin or any of these people around him…

 Tony:  "The economy is neither good nor bad, because of a lack of memory that makes people think the economy is worse than it is."

 Arianna, in response to Tony:  You can't say the economy is neither good nor bad, Tony- come on!!"

The govt. is sending out checks- [the economy]'s not as bad as it will be, when these govt. efforts fade away…

 

Doha round of trade talks:

Matt: agriculture difficult because it is not just an economic matter, it's a cultural matter.

Arianna:  Candidates know that people are hurting because of free trade agreements.

Bob, on the expectation of broader prospects, in regards to agricultural issues:

"Then there's the third prospect, the 'line my pocket and take it out of yours-'  heavy regulation benefitted big agriculture- I think we're in very big trouble in this economy- people are scared…when you loose your house you loose everything.

SOME OF WHAT THE PANELISTS SAID TODAY (part 1):

topics: Bruce Ivins and anthrax; McCain attacks Obama; the economy, stupid!

Bob Scheer on Ivins and anthrax: 
It turned out we were attacked by our own industrial complex - it's a cautionary tale: instead of looking around...maybe we should look to our true blue boyscouts at home.

Tony Blankley said that "we are not the lead creator of bio-weapons..."  and that "Steven Hatfill eventually won a 6 million lawsuit from the govt for saying he was guilty."  And Tony actually agreed with Bob, that "you have to watch for terrorists from within as much as from without."

Arianna noted this "rare moment when the panel agrees."  And went on:  "Look at all the homegrown terrorists; and it's also the anniversary of the collapse of the Minnesota bridge, a lapse of infrastructure...all these real threats."

Bob wondered:  "The investigation has to be open, not closed---" "Why did it take them so long to crack this case?!"  mentioning that 3 years ago there were some rumblings that weren't looked into...

McCain Camp on Obama

Obama’s speech in Rolla, Mo raised the question whether Obama was using the race card. In his speech, Obama said that “"Nobody thinks that Bush or McCain have a real answer for the challenges we face. So what they are going to try to do is make you scared of me". When Tony was asked whether he thought Obama was playing the race card, Tony replied that he knew the answer, but he “ will leave it to the common wisdom of the common people out there" to form their own opinion. The McCain camp readily expresses their opinon, saying that Obama is "playing the race card from the bottom of the deck."

On Obama being a celebrity: "how can he be a celebrity, but also be ready to lead? 

Arianna pointed out that all these attacks on Obama's image have been going on since June...that he's not an American president, and so on.  she wondered how the McCain campaign had "reached such a low so fast- how much lower can they go??"

Matt:  the fact that people are talking about this-  does this mean that they're setting an agenda in this discussion