NOTE: Welcome to this new column series. In "BTB Review" we will be discussing US national politics through the relatively unclouded lens of Beyond the Beltway, a weekly two-hour syndicated political radio talk show headquartered in Chicago. On this independent Sunday evening program which airs from 6 to 8 PM Central Time, veteran host Bruce DuMont teams up with conservative, liberal, Republican, Democratic, and independent guests to "take America's political pulse" and provide "a fresh and balanced perspective of national politics." I discovered this show in late 2003 and have been listening to it ever since on Fort Wayne, Indiana station AM 1190 WOWO. Given that after twenty-eight years of steady running Beyond the Beltway is still not well known, I hope that this column will encourage people to listen to the show, to learn and think more about the issues our country faces, and to become better informed and more responsible citizens of the United States of America.

As Sean Hannity and others make clear, the Republicans would like to toss all the real issues away and run against Barack Obama's former pastor, Reverend Jeremiah Wright.

One point needs to be abundantly clear to Hannity and all the other right wing propagandists exploiting the "Wright issue."  These well paid zealots harp on an extreme compilation of over 30 years of Wright sermons into a 10 to 15 second sound bite.  Even they needed to be taken out of context to deliver the intended resounding message.

It is necessary to take nothing out of context to analyze the McCain spiritual advisers that he continues to retain in his ranks.  John Hagee calls Catholicism "the great whore" and asserts that New Orleans residents had been punished by God for having scheduled a gay pride parade.  He looks forward to what he sees as a God-ordained nuclear war known to the reverend and his followers as "rapture."

Reverend Rod Parsley of Columbus, Ohio is another McCain spiritual adviser who speaks in harsh, raging tones of doctrinal self-righteousness.  Parsley fashions himself as something of an historian as well as he informs listeners blisteringly that "one of the reasons" why America was created was to "destroy Islam."  

John McCain's speech and policy constructs on Global Warming have gotten a bit of attention from the Energy Smart blogging world. The following are few of the worthwhile discussions to date.

Last week was the 5th Annniversary of Bush's idiotic "Mission Accomplished" moment. And John McCain tried defending Bush, blaming it on the Navy. This led to a considerable amount of attention on John McCain's own suggestion that we should stay in the Iraq Quagmire for 100 years. Howard Dean in particular slammed McCain for his willingness to sacrifice American soldiers for oil profits for 100 years. Poor John McCain didn't like having people pick on him, so John "wimp" McCain began whining and complaining about it. Well, Mr. McCain, if you can't take criticism of a stupid policy, how the hell are you going to stand up to al-Qaeda? Oh, yeah...just like Bush you plan on wasting time, money, and lives in Iraq for 100 years rather than actually fighting al-Qaeda, the people who attacked us.

With the mainstream media's steady firepower being directed basically in one direction, one would think that the big story of this presidential campaign season revolve around statements made by Reverend Jeremiah Wright of Chicago and how they politically impact on Barack Obama.

How essentially silent this same media has been concerning the statements of Reverend John Hagee of San Antonio.  The only recent definitive study I have seen done on Hagee came from Hagee's fellow Texan Lou Dubose in the excellent political journal he edits and writes for, The Washington Spectator.

Here is how the mainstream media has handled the Hagee matter when it has focused on it at all.  There were two infamous statements that were discussed.  

One dealt with Hagee's explanation that Hurricane Katrina involved an act of vengeance wreaked on the city of New Orleans by an angry God because the city had scheduled a Gay Pride Parade.  Hagee later backed away from the statement when pressured for an answer by media sources.

This week was Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. It also was the fifth aniversary of Bush's infamous "Mission Accomplished" speech. This aniversary was unique in that for the first time the Bush administration has admitted that the banner was a huge mistake...though John McCain blamed it on the military, excusing Bush for the fiasco. The Republicans are finally acknowledgig the dismal failure of "Mission Accomplished" but refuse to take the blame. Typical. Absolutely typical. Republicans wouldn't know responsibility if it bit them in the ass.

Gallup's polling of 13,000 voters, released April 17, shows Barack Obama ahead of McCain in competitive so-called Purple states, as well as deep blue states. Here's the summary (link is found below).

Reading further tells you that Clinton would also better McCain in the purple states. However, it is Obama who has the larger margin in be trusty stalwart blue states. (Obama ahead of McCain by 14 points, Clinton ahead of McCain by 11.)

So all together that beats down the idea that Obama's not our electable candidate. The numbers show it's he who's the one who is more electable.

Last week I discussed the economic mess we are in. Someone commented that I am making things up and that job growth has been fine under Bush. She claimed I gave no evidence that job growth has been nearly flat during the Bush administration. Well, let me quote Paul Krugman, with an illustration:

In the year 2008, most Americans would acknowledge that their national politics has degenerated into quite a sorry state in recent years. Name-calling and mudslinging, detraction, slander and libel have never been so commonplace. Not a single solidly-pro-life candidate is likely to win Republican nomination, much less Democratic nomination, for the presidency. People are being asked which candidate they like or trust instead of which candidate measures up to their core convictions. A significant minority of allegedly pro-life Americans is even placing a candidate's support for the "War on Terrorism" ahead of his position on abortion. Finally, thanks to the endemic corruption of our modern political system, the presidential candidates likely to be nominated do not come close to truly representing the American people.

If you feel U.S. oil companies should receive the $16 billion tax break Bush believes they should receive then by all means vote Republican!

If you believe that U.S. oil companies' profits of $250 billion in 2007 represent a good result for America, then vote Republican.

George W. Bush does not believe that this $250 billion profit is excessive.

If you believe Social Security should be privatized, believing that investment banks and Wall Street are safer than the traditional conservative federal government approach represented to this point, then do vote Republican.

This last week I think marks when Iraq is finally sinking into genuine civil war. And our troops are caught right in the middle with no loyal allies, no goal, no exit strategy. I'd say there's a 50/50 shot it will calm down again, but if so it will be on Sadr's terms. Like last time. It could also spiral into even worse chaos and the Republicans have no idea what to do. I fear for our troops and I fear for the civillians of Iraq. 50/50 it calms down if Sadr wants it to...50/50 it will get really ugly.

The Clinton campaign wants desperately to woo primary voters – and swing superdelegates – with the argument that wherever she has led in the "big states" when she matched against Barack Obama she will surely carry the day in November in a faceoff against Republican John McCain. Her strategists cling to that hoped for scenario in states like CALIFORNIA, NY, FLORIDA, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, and so on.

But the numbers that came out since mid-March, though overshadowed by Obama confronting the controversy of his pastor, expose the Clinton big-state falsehood. Obama bests her against McCain . . .

. . . in the very biggest states.

The Clinton campaign wants desperately to woo primary voters – and swing superdelegates – with the argument that wherever she has led in the "big states" when she matched against Barack Obama she will surely carry the day in November in a faceoff against Republican John McCain. Her strategists cling to that hoped for scenario in states like CALIFORNIA, NY, FLORIDA, OHIO, PENNSYLVANIA, and so on.

But the numbers that came out since last weekend, though overshadowed by Obama confronting the controversy of his pastor, expose the Clinton big-state falsehood. Obama bests her against McCain . . .

  . . . in the very biggest states.

Justin Soutar

(NOTE: This article currently appears as the cover story in the inaugural issue of U. S. Politics [April 2008].)

In response to a February 18 Seattle Times editorial column where Kate Riley had concluded "nation's two-party vice leads to needless frustration."

Dick Schwartz of Bellevue, Washington had this rather startling response in his letter to the Seattle Times Editors on May 1:

"Americans are stupid.  If they weren't why would so many of them be so deeply in debt?  Why would they give our politicians such low approval ratings but then just keep re-electing the same people year after year?  Why would so many be obese?  Why would they keep driving one person to a car regardless of the fact it creates gridlock?  Why are they unable to locate foreign places on a map?"

But perhaps the most frightening declaration makes is simply this: