News Roundup - Hour 1
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-08-20/news-roundup-hour-1
Political debate heats up nationally over the proposed Islamic Center in lower Manhattan, the Blagojevich trial ends in a hung jury and GM begins cutting ties to the U.S. government. A panel of journalists joins Diane for analysis of the week's top national news stories.
Guests
Dante Chinni
director of the PBS NewsHour's Patchwork Nation Project; journalist, Christian Science Monitor.
Eleanor Clift
contributing editor for "Newsweek."
Byron York
chief political correspondent, Washington Examiner, and author of "The Vast Left Wing Conspiracy."
News Roundup Video
The panelists discuss the controversy over the proposed building of an Islamic center in Lower Manhattan and explore what may be behind a recent Time Magazine poll finding more Americans incorrectly believe President Obama is a Muslim:
Comments
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Re: President Obama's faith.
This subject is blown way out of proportion. It does not matter what his religion is or lack of it. As far as I am concerned the people dwelling on this subject are superficial and hippocrits.
With regard to the proposed NY Muslim Community Center, it seems that after 911, even though I do recall Muslim community leaders condemning the attacks, I feel that such condemnation was not as clear, strong and persistent as the situation required. Perhaps, this has caused a degree of skepticism in the public as to the feelings of the Muslim community toward the terrorist acts of the Muslim extremists. Such skepticism maybe underlying the negative response to the proposed community center near "ground zero".
John in Columbia, MD
Regarding the world trade center "mosque" controversy, NPR recently reported that it will not be a mosque, but a community center, much like a YMCA that will promote diversity explain Islam to non-muslims. So why does NPR and all other media outlets continue to call it a mosque?
Also, Laura Schlesinger has been vilified in the media for using the N-word, yet I think her most offensive comments were when she told the woman that she shouldn't have married outside of her race if she was racially sensitive. Why is no one focusing on that?
Ms. Clift has a point about the missed opportunity in infrastructure investment. Part of the frustration of Americans is the fact that the administration has still not yet allocated or spent portions of the project cash. These were supposed to be the "shovel-ready" projects but it appears the administration was completely unprepared to follow through, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.
The government should be criticized for "Cash for Clunkers" and "Home Tax Credit" programs because they produced no sustainable improvement in the economy. Real long-term investments in infrastructure that make the economy more efficient are what we need to recover and grow.
More and more people of all stripes question Obama's religion. Knowing his religion would give us some insight into his core belief system as motivation for his actions. Certainly more so than listening to his speeches which everyone believes are mostly insincere, or at least tacticly written and given. This is true for all politicians, not just this one.
Being a member of Wright's church was seen as a political move that got Obama in with the political force of Chicago preachers. As an outsider and then community organizer facing an entrenched opponent, Obama needed preacher support to break into the Illinois Assembly and then the Senate.
What would it take for us, as a nation, to come together under a purpose of rebuilding our infrastructure? You mentioned that WWII was what drove us out of depression in the 30s & 40s, but it worked so well largely because the whole country was motivated toward one goal. Or have we crossed to such a place in our society that we're too focused on the debate rather than the outcome?
-Katie
Who decides what questions pollsters like Pew ask?
President Obama has been out on the trail promoting the bill that has been stalled in the senate. H.R.5297 was passed in the House. This bill is designed to help community banks and give small businesses credit to grow their businesses and do some hiring. Let's call it the "MADE IN AMERICA" bill.
But, what does the media focus on....?
I don't know about you, but I think that's something more important than what 20% of people choose to believe about our President. God help us!
Regarding the comment that we lump all Muslims together but not other religions: Christians are often stereotyped as all rightwingers and conservatives. Also not true!
Did the 20% forget the Rev. Jeremiah Wright? Then, Obama was slammed for being in the wrong CHRISTIAN congregation.
I'm a United Church of Christ minister who first heard then-Senator Obama speak at our national UCC gathering. He was very articulate about his progressive Christian faith and his decision to join his UCC church in Chicago. Later his pastor, Rev. Wright, was reviled in the press and Obama had to leave his church -- the church where, I believe, he was married and his daughters were baptized -- because the contraversy regarding his faith. Now he is thought to be a Muslim. Clearly, when it comes to President Obama and religion, he can't win.
you people are getting on my nerves with Obama on religion i dont care so much what he believes but none of you have addressed whether or not
he is loyal to the US. which i dont think he is i have questioned that
from day one. i dont understand why you dont get it.
it's not just the mosque - it's everything today related to Obama. The problem is that 91% of today's talk radio is right wing. People are being poisoned hour after hour listening to the radical opinions of a few celebrity hate mongers. The mosque is just one more issue to fire up peoples' emotions.
Blogs are out of control and facts are no longer important - it's all about firing up negative emotions.
Vicki
This mosque being built has absolutely nothing to do with religious freedom.
We may as well be honest about it and name it what it will be viewed as in the radical Islamic community, "The 911 Victory Center" or "Mecca Pt. 2"
I struggle to understand how people can believe President Obama being a musslim, after the Rev Right scandal that occupied the air ways for months.
The American media has certainly failed in explaining and covering the current economic downturn. However, international media, such as The Guardian or BBC in the UK, and others in Australia, have been doing an excellent job. With the internet, American media has become irrelevant.
Look at the way Jehovah's Witnesses have been treated. A number of strong Supreme Court rulings on religious freedom in the 20th century came from addressing the persecution that witnesses have faced -- at the hands of "Christians".
Why do journalists not call out Fox News representatives for their bias?
What, in you, prevents you from doing that?
additional stimulus spending can blunt downturns - but that's it. Critics of stimulus create too much of a strawman and don't acknowledge the very major benefits to millions that blunting deeper economic pain. The press has been too naively willing to buy into this exaggeration.
An issue I haven't heard discussed is that any prominent mosque near Ground Zero will be vulnerable to attacks from vigilantes. My belief or lack of belief in any religion is irrelevant. Islam has been maligned freely in the United States, and the dangerous people who would attack the mosque do not listen to The Diane Rehm Show or anything else that features rational, non-biased discussion.
[My last name is not Bee, but I choose not to post identifiable information about myself in a public forum like FaceBook.]
Byron seems unable to speak one sentence without being deceptive, dishonest, or (downright) despicable. The primary difference between a Sarah Palin conservative and a so-called mainstream conservative like Byron seems to be the latter's facility with the English language. Edmund Burke is rolling in his grave.
News Media needs to do homework. Obama's mother comes from a Protestant family that goes back to Plymouth in 1636 and includes founder of 7th Day Baptist Church. His line is as long as Bush's on his mother's side.
On Muslem issue..Has everyone forgotten Jeremiah Wright ? Obama was baptized in a Baptist church !
I did not hear anyone on the show mention the extensive news coverage and outrage involving President Obama's famous break with his longtime pastor, the Rev.Jeremiah Wright. How quickly and conveniently we forget. Obama is a Christian. The efforts to tar him with being a Muslim are outrageous. Thanks to Diane Rehm for saying his religion should not be an issue.
Also, Fox "News" is clearly not news, but rather biased political propaganda. The New York Times may have an agenda, but Fox is unwavering in their attacks on anyone not extremely right wing.
Criticizing a news outlet for being biased is completely bogus.
If you can't argue with the facts they report, then you are wasting everyone's time. Otherwise, your opinion only confirms your bias.
1. Northern Ireland has experienced more recent violence between two Christian religions.
2. If the attack on 9/11 was based on an extremest faction of one religion attacking the freedoms of another culture, then what would be a better memorial than celebrating all of these cultural freedoms at ground zero? What if a memorial at ground zero was surrounded by religious institutions of ALL faiths--Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists etc. If we let the events of 9/11 cause us to oppress legal religious AND non-religious activities, then haven't the terrorists succeeded?
3. I don't believe that President Obama is a Muslim--and I don't really care. Character, strength and wisdom are not dependent on the religion one claims to follow.
Diane's code of conduct says I have to be civil . . . well ok. The fox news contributor said the muslim / mosque issue became huge because our President spoke about religous tolerance and the first amendment to the United States Constitution. GIVE ME A BREAK FORM MR SLANT THE NEWS PLEASE!! It became an issue because the Fox News Crowd starting fanning the flames of anti muslim feeling in the land and painting all with a broad brush as "extremists" when they are not - as is already proven in this instance. And now the Fox Network has just donated a million dollars to the Republican National Committee and employs a bunch of people who are considered presidential contenders. This is not a news network, it is in fact a high income producing propaganda machine that then takes its profits and donates them to political parties. NO OBJECTION TO THAT EXCEPT THAT THEY ARE TREATED LIKE A NEWS ORGANIZATION even by your show. Its time for that to stop because charactterizing them as a news organization instead of a documented propaganda outlet is NOT the truth. I am just a midwest citizen with no political office or career to promote and I can figure it out. (P.S. I have listened to the show here in Michigan for at least 6 years and try to tune in every day. I do like that different views are presented - but am irritated by propaganda spin instead of direct discussion. )
When I watch MSNBC I often see them play clips from fox people and then play clips where they say the exact opposit on another day. They catch them in propaganda lies repeatedly and consistently. However, I refer you to my comments earlier about Fox News one million dollar donation to the republican party and employing and grooming presidential contenders. If that is not a definition of propaganda machine then I do not know what would be. Fox News is not News. It is propaganda. It is one sided to the extreme. It takes its profits and donates them to the republican party.
People can not live a life contrary to their beliefs, avoiding their convictions while attempting to do our daily work. It is simply wrong-headed to think a person can have high moral standards while working as a criminal selling drugs or in human trafficking. John Kennedy was reviled during his presidential campaign for his Catholic faith while his conduct as a womanizer and recreational dealings with organized crime figures showed he may have been Catholic by birth but had no grounding in moral behavior. We have nothing to fear from Mr Obama faith as he has continues to show the world he has no interest in living a devout Muslim or Christian life. He is a politician, nothing more. Let's demand he lives according to his words and that he serves the country whose highest office he holds.
This was meant as a reply to John in Columbia, MD's post, but I messed up somehow.
I agree with you that it appeared that the American-Muslim community in general did not unequivocally "refudiate" 9/11.
I think part of the problem is that a majority of American-Muslims are immigrants - you know, brown skinned with accents. It seems obvious to me that they're still making their way into American-style democracy and politics. The "Ground Zero Mosque" debate is a PR debacle. No one in the Muslim community at large or the Sufis who pray at the existing lower Manhattan mosque has been seen or heard from - in the mainstream media, at least - during this mayhem. Can you imagine any other religious group in America remaining so silent and invisible during what seems to be an existential crisis?
Another issue is that Islam is a highly decentralized religion. No one mosque or Imam speaks for other mosques and Imams, and certainly no mosque or Imam can speak for all adherents of Islam - which, like Christianity - is quite diverse, especially in the US. (Shia Islam is more centralized but still they cannot speak for Sufis or Sunnis.)
Because American Muslim communities are dispersed and their mosques autonomous, we never hear a single, loud voice speaking for or against an issue or event, creating perhaps the impression of an indifferent community hostile to American values.
It is misleading, disingenuous "reporters" like Byron York to make statements like:
"People faced ostracism simply for pronouncing the President's middle name" when he knows good and well that the reason Fox News was using Barack Hussein Obama was to create the false impression that he is Muslim. They certainly did not make it a habit to use John Sidney McCain.
"or today the President on Sundays can often be seen playing basketball or golf" when he knows that Sunday is a 24 hour time period and even most observing and even devout Christians may be able to fit in both prayers or church and sports into that time period. I am sure most of our previous Presidents didn't spend ALL of Sunday worshiping.
and worst is his statement "It is not any surprise to me that a number of American people would be confused about what his religious status is."
Of course you are not surprised you and your cronies have been working diligently to make sure you obfuscate the facts as much as possible.
The reason we believe Fox is bogus is because they both state falsehoods at a much higher rate than other large news organizations, present opinions as facts, and use specific wording knowing that it will obfuscate facts even while the letter of what they say is factually correct.
An example of their selective wording used to obfuscate facts used to create uncertainty in their viewers over Obama's religion. Fox News repeatedly used and uses Barack Hussein Obama which is factually correct, but the slant is that they did this despite not using John Sidney McCain. There is just wink wink knowing that if they use his middle name people will then incorrectly assume he must be Muslim. Fox is deliberate in what they are doing.
It is a well known effect, for example Juan Trippe who founded PanAm Airways, was constantly assumed to be Hispanic or Latino, but in reality he was of Northern European descent. His Mom and Dad just happened to like how the name Juan sounded.
I listen to your show most day, and appreciate your work. Generally, I go to NPR because they deliver a lot of relevant news the MSM won't touch.
In any event, this one (fri political roundup) leaves a lot to be desired. If I wanted York's opinion about anything, there's plenty of hard right media that give him voice. I personally don't care what he has to say, as he's been so consistently an unreliable voice on anything.
And again today I'm reminded of this: York says Obama's responsible for all this is-he-a-Muslim stuff. As evidence, York quotes from BO's book: when asked in a Chicago barber shop if he was Muslim, Obama replied: "“Grandfather was,”...
Huh? What kind of critical mind interprets that as evidence equating to Obama being a Muslim?
How about a friday session reviewing the many, many similar untruths opined by York going back as far as I recall. Or at least, a monthly fact check of they guy...
You do (IMO) a disservice to your show giving this guy a seat at the table. Let Fox be fox, and there's plenty of that. But please don't emulate 'em.