KHF #2 In The Can

Just finished recording the second edition of the Kole Hard Facts show for Indiana Talks. It will probably air on Wednesday, as the first is still in a rotation.

Topics? Gun control, Piers Morgan deportation petition, importing Coca-Cola from Mexico, the fiscal cliff, the Colts make the playoffs, holiday sports TV viewing, sports gambling, NHL's cancelled Winter Classic, and holiday traditions.

A lot for one hour? You bet. It's chock full!

Not a Joke

LNC Chair Bill Redpath is scheduled to appear on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart tonight on Comedy Central. Link to LP press release.

Redpath is scheduled to talk about the Census. That's nice, but I wish he was going to talk about the wars in Iraq & Afghanistan, the Patriot Act, and civil liberties under the Bush-Obama continuum. Better than not appearing.

In other news, candidate for LNC Chair Wayne Root was on CNN with Larry King earlier this week. Here's the video:

Barr on Glenn Beck, Repeated. Twice

(Big Sky, MT)- Let's hear it for hotel room dial hopping. I was pleased to find Bob Barr's full hour with Glenn Beck being repeated on CNN tonight. Here's the first quarter-hour:

Beck wasn't throwing Barr softballs. I'd love to see McBama get questioned the way Barr does. Let's hear it for Barr, though. He comports himself well. The more I see of Barr, the happier I am with him as the Libertarian nominee.

Barr on Colbert Report

Bob Barr will appear on the Colbert Report on Wednesday, June 4, on Comedy Central at 11:30pm Eastern.

Barr will also be on CNN's Glenn Beck program that evening at 7pm, but I'm far more interested in the Colbert appearance, because you never really know what Colbert will do with a guest. I'm thinking this will turn out better than Barr's cameo on Borat, although I'm fond of the idea of him as a member of the ruling regime.

I'm jealous of my friends in NYC who could attend the taping of Colbert. This would be a fun one to catch in person! Link to tickets.

Rare, Honest- Refreshing

I was bowled over by a CNN article, on it's own news story.

It's very rare that I'm going to be interested in that kind of story. News that talks about itself? That's usually self-absorption on the order of an American Idol contestant, and thus, not at all interesting. But since it may signal that finally, FINALLY, on the day after the holiday to celebrate the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., finally CNN and other mainstream media may begin to be getting the greatest essence of King's great speech:

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

You see, CNN and all the other major media tend to denote Barack Obama as the 'black candidate', and Hilary Clinton as the 'female candidate', at least implicitly. A recent CNN article promoted this 'vision' as the main way for black female voters to look at the Democratic primary in South Carolina, with race and gender the only factor; issues a non-factor, John Edwards a non-factor... nevermind for Dennis Kucinich. Choose: a female president, or a black president.

For these women, a unique, and most unexpected dilemma, presents itself: Should they vote their race, or should they vote their gender?

In the context of Dr. King's words, or any other intelligent context, it's appalling. But, it's refreshing that CNN viewers and website readers rebelled. It's just as refreshing that CNN had the courage to create an article out of the acknowledgment of their stupidity. That's the sort of accountability in media I would like to see more regularly, so kudos to CNN.

The email response is just marvelous. Here's just one message:

An e-mailer named Tiffany responded sarcastically: "Duh, I'm a black woman and here I am at the voting booth. Duh, since I'm illiterate I'll pull down the lever for someone. Hm... Well, he black so I may vote for him... oh wait she a woman I may vote for her... What Ise gon' do? Oh lordy!"

Tiffany urged CNN to "pull this racist crap off" the Web site and to stop calling Hillary the "top female candidate."

"Stop calling Barack the "Black" candidate," she wrote.

The entire articles are worth reading. And if you didn't yesterday, read the entire text of Dr. King's great speech. Then remember: 'content of character', and think about the policy they would promote.

Ron Paul Finishes 2nd in Nevada

I was happy to see RP's high finish in Nevada. Sure, it isn't a win, but if you don't win, you can do worse than second- just ask Rudy Giuliani. The newsletters were a real downer, but even with that baggage, Ron Paul is really the only candidate talking about liberty, so I have to hold out hope for him- at least until the Libertarian convention in May.

McCain won the South Carolina Republican primary, with Paul coming in 4th there. Interesting quote from CNN's political analyst, Bill Schneider:

"Essentially, McCain did it on a personal vote. It wasn't ideology; it wasn't issues. It was a vote for him personally, which has always been his strongest appeal," Schneider said.

Gosh, that gives me a warm fuzzy. If the last two presidents taught us anything, it's that ideology and issues matter. Give me the flattest, dullest personality possible with the right ideology, and the country will go far.

More Unsolicited Advice For Ron Paul

Keep apologizing. Please- do everything you can to renounce the racist and homophobic views put forward on your old (circa 1992) newsletters.

The attacks on you have been numerous. They probably hurt you in New Hampshire. If you don't make strong statements, they are going to continue to hurt you within the offended groups.

I am glad you made this statement, which was published by CNN:

"Libertarians are incapable of being a racist, because racism is a collectivist idea."

That's important to me, because nationally visible libertarians are few. When Ron Paul, most-visible libertarian is seen as a racist or homophobe, then libertarianism is liable to be seen as racist or homophobic.

So, keep distancing yourself from these writings. You would do even better if you identified who wrote them. There is fair criticism about not identifying the writer, if not you. Check out what Alex Blaze had to say, on Bilerico.com, a top gay issues website:

But still, laziness isn't a good quality in a president. If he didn't have time to edit a newsletter with his name in huge letters across the top, or at least read it before it went out and make sure that the "Ron Paul column" was something he'd agree with, then he should have stopped publishing.

Until the writer is identified by you, those who were hurt by the comments on your newsletter are going to continue to sling arrows and mud your way. It distracts from your very worthy message of liberty, and worse- makes people equate liberty with racism or homophobia, which of course is patently wrong. It's a huge disservice to liberty and the libertarian movement, but if the primary evidence they have are these news items about the 'racist and homophobic writings of Ron Paul', then what else are they to think?

People In Glass Houses...

While Ron Paul was being excluded by Fox News from their GOP candidate roundtable, CNN was interviewing him. Here is what was easily the most amusing comment that Wolf Blitzer referred to, with regards to Paul's chances. It was a quote from the Campaign Manager of a former presidential candidate:

"Ron Paul's only option is to buy as many flat screen TVs as he can, put 'Ron Paul' bumper stickers on them, and hand them out to voters in New Hampshire. I just don't see where he goes... He will probably be the only presidential candidate ever to have a surplus when he drops out, because he has an incredible amount of money and no campaign strategy to win."

So, this came from Bill Clinton's campaign manager? Or George W. Bush's? No, this came from Scott Reed- the manager of Bob Dole's LOSING campaign.

Ron Paul was much too nice in dealing with this goofiness, saying what he plans to do. I would have dismissed the credibility of the quote out of hand, and chatised Blitzer for pulling up something so irrelevant, from someone so without credibility. Link to the CNN video. The quote is about 6 minutes in.