Today’s Heading Right Radio w/ MediaLizzy

Lizzy Blackney invited me to join her program today, and we had a great ole bi-partisan love fest. (She makes it easy, being very thoughtful and intelligent and such.) We discuss many things, including the role of the millennial generation in this election, our high hopes that next week’s final debate will deliver some major punch, the release of Oliver Stone’s “W” next week, moving beyond the divisive legacy of Karl Rove politics, voter suppression and fraud, the role of online activism in public policy, and many other wonderful topics.

Listen to it here, and check out Lizzy’s blog here.

W&W: Has CA’s Assault on Marriage Fallen Off the Gaydar?

West Hollywood Deputy Mayor, Jake Stevens, joins Ted, Teresa and I to discuss reports that support for the Prop 8 anti-gay marriage measure appears to be surging in California. 

Teresa and I didn’t have time to weigh in on the show, but it infuriates me when Democratic candidates, including Obama and Biden, don’t step up to the plate on this issue. One of the things I admire most about Obama was that he showed courage in being against the Iraq war from the start when it was politically unpopular. It’s very upsetting that in an election that has brought inequality to the forefront of our national conversation, the senators are on the right side of the law but continue to acquiesce to semantics that enable gay Americans to be treated as second-class citizens. As Teresa notes in the program, it’s confusing for voters to hear, as they did in the Vice Presidential debate, or read on the candidate’s web sites that they do not support marriage rights. 

Obviously there are pressing issues (the economic collapse, the war in Iraq) that continue to upstage identity politics this election season, including with respect to race and gender. It’s fair and reasonable to argue that the focus should remain on them through November in order for progressives to take office and effect real change down the road. Still, this measure is blatant discrimination based on hate and it should not be tolerated. If our leaders aren’t going to make it an issue, the progressive people of California need to step up in these last few weeks and do so. What happens here will send a message to the country and the world. This is not some Sarah Palin-loving red state that the Democrats must drag to the finish line on Nov. 4, and it would be a travesty if the rights of gay Americans were to fall to the wayside as collateral damage in a war for middle-of-the-road voters.

Listen to the show here or use the Blog Talk Radio player:

DNR magazine: ‘Obama by a Thread’

This article by Brenner Thomas (a Medill almun!) deconstructs Obama-as-fashion-icon and how style effects his power brand, which the campaign has tried to contain. Read through to the end for some very insightful comments from a short, loud, opinionated brunette with a penchant for her “Hot Women Vote Obama” button …

Katie Couric’s Taste of Gotcha Journalism

Hitting the Snooze Button on McCain-Obama Round 2