October 9 – Evangelical Zeal Behind the Shutdown; Obama Should Call the Right’s Bluff on the Debt Ceiling; The Author of “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel”

Full Program

Part 1

We begin with an analysis of how much the shutdown and the impending default is being orchestrated by an evangelical cabal whose apocalyptic vision of Armageddon is compatible with bringing the house down and purging evil in order to purify and be re-born. Lee Fang, a reporting fellow with the Investigative Fund at The Nation joins us. He has an article at The Nation “Meet the Evangelical Cabal Orchestrating the Shutdown”.

Part 2

Then we speak with John Stoehr, the managing editor of The Washington Spectator where he has an article “Obama Must Call the Right’s Bluff”. We  examine whether instead of calling the Speaker’s bluff on the government shutdown, Obama should be calling Boehner’s bluff on the debt ceiling and, as John Stoehr argues, if Obama wants to break the fever of an extreme reactionary GOP, he should make an example of Boehner by crushing him following Machiavelli’s advice “if you do a person minor damage they will get revenge, but if you cripple them there is nothing they can do”.

Part 3

Then finally we speak with award-winning investigative journalist Max Blumenthal about his latest book “Goliath: Life and Loathing in Greater Israel” and examine how much Israel has moved and is moving to the Right, as well as discuss Max’s earlier book “Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party” which is certainly topical since the Tea Party has not only shattered the Republican Party but they are now shattering the country.