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Wednesday, March 30
Contentious Talk Shows Really Are Hurting America
by
Trish Nelson
on Wed 30 Mar 2005 09:45 PM CST
 Contentious Talk Shows Really Are Hurting America
American Prospect
By Mary Beckman
When The Daily Show's Jon Stewart
told CNN's Crossfire hosts that their form of combative political
commentary was "hurting America," he was on to something. And when
CNN/US President Jonathan Klein agreed and canceled the show, he also
might have sensed what new research is getting at: "In-your-face"
television has the capacity to polarize viewers on political issues and
turn people off of the political process.
What
has changed in the last 50 years has been the way Americans get to know
their candidates. Voters used to gather in town squares and watch
politicians live and in person. Now citizens welcome their favorite
candidates into their homes on television. And during the last decade,
rancorous "debate" shows such as The O'Reilly Factor and Crossfire have
gained in popularity, bringing obnoxious behavior up close and
personal.
When
faced with confrontation in person, people tend to back off to preserve
their personal space. But when conflicts break out on television, the
camera zooms in. Close-ups don't allow us to step back, making the
experience somewhat unnatural. Diana Mutz, a political-science
professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and her colleagues wanted
to know what effect incivility in televised political debates had on
viewers. Their results were published this month in The American
Political Science Review and presented at last month's meeting of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.
(Click here to read the entire article)
 Help stop media bias in Iowa. Click here to receive action alerts from Rapid Response - Iowa
Cedar Rapids Arm-Twisting
by
Chad Thompson
on Wed 30 Mar 2005 12:44 PM CST
 Cedar Rapids Arm-Twisting
For those of us stuck in "other places than Cedar Rapids" today, we've
been watching the various news sites and listening to the radio to hear
of any news coming from the latest stop on the Phase Out Tour.
From the Des Moines Register comes this little tidbit:
Shortly after landing around 10
a.m., Bush also joined Des Moines radio host Jan Mickelson of WHO-AM
(1040) for an interview at a Cedar Rapids diner before the event at
Kirkwood.
The interview included Sen.
Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican and chairman of the influential
Finance Committee. Bush's visit was seen as an attempt to bolster
Grassley's commitment to changing the decades-old financial safety net
for seniors.
Grassley, who generally
supports [Bush]'s call for changing the program, has expressed
doubt that Congress possesses the political will to approach the
popular financial safety net for seniors.
"I appreciate the chairman,"
Bush told Mickelson. "He's got some political courage which is
necessary to take care of tough problems. Sen. Grassley and I have
dedicated ourselves to tackling the tough problems."
Two things jump out at me immediately:
1) The inclusion of Chuck Grassley.
2) The seeming exclusion of Jim Leach. (Later reports can verify.)
As noted yesterday,
Jim Leach's own sales pitch on SS Phase Out fell flat in Iowa City -
and it probably wouldn't be that much of a stretch to say that he'll
feel pressure to vote against any such proposal from his constituents.
Grassley, however, is an interesting case. I have not seen
anything strongly worded from Grassley, who seems to have his finger
firmly planted in the wind. He's "generally supportive," yet is
placing enough distance between himself and the Bush position that he
could (he hopes) cleanly run away from the pending disaster.
This is another case in point why sometimes you have to look beyond
"the candidate" when voting - sometimes you have to look at the
leadership of his party.
The other item that's interesting: this tour isn't aimed at pressuring Democrats - it's aimed at pressuring Congressional Republicans, who will be eager to run away from an issue that will bear no fruit in 2006.
It's up to us to keep the pressure on.
UPDATE: I wonder who this comment was aimed at?
"Now is the time to fix it, and I think there is a political price for not getting involved in the process."
Bush added: "I think there is a political price for saying, `It's not a problem, I'm going to stay away from the table.'"
Suicide Gene Bill Passes Iowa Senate
by
Linda Thieman
on Wed 30 Mar 2005 04:39 AM CST
 Suicide Gene Bill Passes Iowa Senate
by Iowa State Rep. Mark Kuhn (D-Floyd)
Dear Friends,
SF 259,
the companion bill to HF 259, passed the [Iowa] Senate by a vote of
33-16 with 1 absent. I wrote and distributed a two-page letter to
the Senate [yesterday] asking them for further discussions before
passage of the bill, which is sure to be signed by Governor
Vilsack. My last ditch attempt to persuade the Senate to defer on
the bill for this legislative session and call for the appointment of
an interim study committee to study the issue failed. There was a
verbal agreement among Senate leaders to call for the appointment of an
interim study committee, but that was not written into the bill, and it
is not known if even that will happen. Even if it does, it's like
shutting the barn door after the cows are in the cornfield.
I want
to thank each of you for your support during consideration of this
bill. You all played a unique and important role in opposing this
bad piece of legislation. In conclusion, let me say that a democracy
void of discussion is not representative of the voices of the
people. Legislators introducing these preemptive seed laws are
not acting on behalf of the people they represent, they are acting
despite the will of the people.
Thank you for going against the grain and standing up for what's right.
Keep lookin' up,
Rep. Mark Kuhn, Mark.Kuhn@legis.state.ia.us
P.S. Please be assured I'll be writing Governor Vilsack ASAP to ask him to veto this legislation.
Click here to email Gov. Vilsack asking him to veto this dangerous bill.
 A big thank you from Blog for Iowa to Rep. Mark Kuhn for taking the lead on this important issue.
Submitted by Larry Hanus of Waterloo
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