Elections Blog

Are old media doomed to be replaced by new media? Or is there more likely to be some sort of symbiosis?

Lots of people wonder about that, and we took the opportunity to talk with Angela Diegel and David Dunbar from %%AMAZON=B00005N7SA Popular Mechanics%% when they came to town. Diegel is the magazine’s online director, while Dunbar is the Executive Editor. They say that print isn’t dead, but that magazines that are going to make it will make much smarter use of the web — and they relay their experience that putting free content on the Web helps to sell magazines, rather than cannibalizing sales.

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The Democrats have taken the House and, it appears, the Senate. Donald Rumsfeld has resigned, to be replaced by Robert Gates. What’s next for the War on Terror and U.S. national security?

We talk to Jim Dunnigan, publisher of StrategyPage.com and author of numerous books on war, intelligence and security, and Austin Bay, who blogs at AustinBay.net, and who is the author of both novels and nonfiction works on war and military matters. They describe Rumsfeld’s legacy of military reform and warfighting, and talk about what’s coming next. Sounds like it’s not quite time to get fitted for a burka just yet.

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The American media have been obsessed with this week’s Congressional elections, but the foreign media have been just as interested. We caught up with Mark Little and Ken O’Shea of Irish TV’s “Primetime,” a show that’s a bit like our “Nightline” — to see what interests them about the American elections, and what has surprised them about their reporting. Plus, a look at the effect of American portion sizes on Irish waistlines.

Music is “Tom Brokaw,” by The French Broads.

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Mark Warner looked to be the strongest Democratic contender for President in 2008 except for Hillary Clinton. We’d been slated to interview him when he decided not to run. We talk to Warner about that decision, about the state of politics today, and about what he’ll do next. We also discuss anti-terrorism, the Democrats’ problems with flyover country, and the importance of alternative energy. Plus, an interruption by Jimmy Carter!

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: Mark Warner on Politics, Family and the Future..

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Guns and gun control are a big issue as the 2006 elections loom. We talked with Dave Kopel, author of %%AMAZON=0879757566 The Samurai, the Mountie, and the Cowboy: Should America Adopt the Gun Controls of Other Democracies?,%% %%AMAZON=0879759585 Guns: Who Should Have Them?,%% and %%AMAZON=0814747604 Gun Control and Gun Rights: A Reader and Guide.%% He’s also research director at the Independence Institute, and a regular blogger at The Volokh Conspiracy. (He’s also got a page with lots of gun information at DaveKopel.com).

Dave talks with us about violence and nonviolence, whether legalizing marijuana would cut down on gun crime, ways to prevent school shootings, questions of whether the right to keep and bear arms should be part of international law, and the likely impact of gun rights issues on the 2006 elections, and vice versa. Plus, discussion of which Second Amendment writers are “hotties.”

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: Dave Kopel on Guns and Politics.

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How’s the Army doing in the Long War? Pretty well, according to Dr. Francis Harvey, Secretary of the Army, who notes that reenlistment is at a 9-year high and that recruitment is doing very well.

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Helen couldn’t make it — it was a bit late for her — but I caught up with milblogger Scott Koenig, better known as Smash, when he passed through Knoxville last week. Since he’s a celebrity blogger, I took along a portable recorder and managed to cadge an interview.

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With the elections only a month away, we talk to John Fund, Wall Street Journal writer and author of Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy. Fund talks about high-tech problems with electronic voting machines, more mundane problems with ineligible voters and phony ballots, and the general slackness and incompetence that have made our voting system one that can only aspire to the high standards of Mexico.

Music — “Oh, Just Have Some Faith in Me” — is by The Mr. T Experience.

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: John Fund on Election Fraud and its Cures.

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Michael Totten is an independent blog-journalist who has covered the Middle East with support from his blog readers. He’s reported from Libya, Tunisia, Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt — and he’s now planning another trip.

We talk to Michael about what he’s observed, and what it’s like to make a career-change from blogger to professional blog-journalist. Plus, reviews of Libyan restaurants!

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: Michael Totten on Independent Journalism and the Middle East.

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Jim Geraghty talks with us about his new book, Voting to Kill: How 9/11 Launched the Era of Republican Leadership. Geraghty talks about “security voters,” the Democrats’ problems and what they can do to address them, and whether Hillary can save the Democratic Party. Plus, Bush’s own problems with his “war base.”

Music by The Mr. T Experience.

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: Jim Geraghty on Politics and National Security.

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The House and Senate have passed landmark legislation imposing transparency on earmarks in the appropriations process. The Senate is also looking at the John Bolton confirmation, and legislation aimed at trying terrorists before military tribunals.

We managed to catch up with Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist this morning and talk about all of these subjects, plus Frist’s new Blogging for Bolton venture and the joys of blogging and podcasting.

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: Bill Frist on Porkbusting, the Bolton Confirmation, and the Joys of the Blogosphere.

Transcript follows:

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With Senator Bill Frist retiring and leaving his seat open, Tennessee is one of the handful of states where Democrats have a chance of picking up a Senate seat this fall, making it crucial to Democratic efforts to recapture the Senate. Earlier this year we interviewed the Democratic candidate, Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., of Memphis.

Now we’ve got the other side of the story, with Republican candidate Bob Corker. Corker answers questions on Iraq, the war on terror, the Second Amendment, immigration, and more. Plus, questions about earmarks and pork!

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: Republican Senate Candidate Bob Corker.

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Our podcast on divorce with lawyer Lauren Strange-Boston was popular enough that we thought we’d follow up with some non-legal issues. We talked to Russell Friedman, relationship expert and author of Moving On: Dump Your Relationship Baggage and Make Room for the Love of Your Life about, well, pretty much what the book title suggests.

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: Russell Friedman on Moving on After Divorce.

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With the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks coming up, we thought we’d talk to law professor and U.S. Court of Appeals Judge Richard Posner, whose latest book, Not a Suicide Pact: The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency looks at terrorism, the Constitution, and issues of surveillance, civil liberties, and history. One quote: “Civil libertarians are in a state of denial.”

Surveillance-themed music by The Nevers.

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show: Richard Posner on Terror and the Constitution.

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We talk to Nina Planck, author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why. and Rod Dreher, author of Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party). There’s a surprising degree of overlap, and we learn about how the Internet is revolutionizing small farming and how foodie impulses and back-to-the-land sentiments defy traditional political categories. Plus, the dangers of vegetarianism and the benefits of beef and butter.

Play or download The Glenn and Helen Show — Nina Planck and Rod Dreher.

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We talk to David Dunbar and Brad Reagan, editors of Popular Mechanics’ new book, Debunking 9/11 Myths: Why Conspiracy Theories Can’t Stand Up to the Facts. But are we just part of the vast conspiracy? Listen and find out . . .

Play or download The Glenn & Helen Show.

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Terror plots being busted via electronic surveillance and confidential tips, Israelis in Lebanon, Ethiopians in Somalia, Iranians in Iran, and what Montgomery Ward taught us about fighting terrorism — all in the latest Glenn & Helen Show with guests Austin Bay and Jim Dunnigan.
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Play or download Glenn and Helen with Austin Bay and Jim Dunnigan.

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