The Democratic National Convention began today, so Jason and I are back to chat about politics. We begin by discussing the two main US parties, inspired by a listener question, and talk about how they evolved into the parties they are today—their differences then and now. This sets the stage for discussions about the party conventions (this also gave me a chance to sneak in a little story from my past). We look at the purpose of the conventions. Is the Republican McCain’s campaign doing anything unusual to target the Democrats during their convention? What do we think about Joe Biden? I actually met him once (did you hear who Jason and I met years ago?). We have a phone comment about our last political chat to end today’s episode with. We’ll be back next week, when we’ll go over comments to this episode. I’ll be posting a regular solo episode at the end of this week.

Don’t forget to visit Jason’s blog.

Please leave a comment, ring my US Listener Line on 206-339-8413, or send an email to arthur{at]amerinzpodcast.com.

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AmeriNZ 110 - Poltical Chat: Conventions Begin [ 35:57 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

It’s time again for a political podcast with Jason, but this one starts out with a special announcement. From there, it’s on to talk of Obama’s recent tour and McCain’s reaction to it, Condoleeza Rice in New Zealand and the Pacific, and then on to the vice presidential sweepstakes. We also talk about the scandals at the US Justice Department, and another story in the news that has nothing to do with politics.

Be sure to visit Jason’s blog!

The next political podcast with Jason is tentatively scheduled for posting on Friday, August 29 New Zealand time.

Special thanks to Ryan of The Way We See It podcast for the voicemail that opens today’s episode. I’ll go over all comments next time (this episode was running a bit long).

Please leave a comment, ring my US Listener Line on 206-339-8413, or send an email to arthur{at]amerinzpodcast.com.

AmeriNZ 105 - Monthly Politics [ 44:19 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Jason joins me today as we resume our political discussions. The primaries are over, and the focus has shifted to the November elections. So today we kind of re-set the stage for what we’ll be talking about in future episodes.

We begin with a chat about campaign finance, then on to talk about vice presidential choices. Should the candidates have to condemn every single supporter who says something stupid? We talk about the recent Supreme Court gun ruling, and whether it will affect the election. Will the anti-gay ballot measures hurt Democrats this year, too?

Our next political chat will be in about three weeks, tentatively the last week of the month. In the meantime, please leave a comment at http://amerinzpodcast.com/, send an email to arthur{at]amerinzpodcast.com, or ring my US listener line on 206-339-8413.

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AmeriNZ 98 - Presidential Sweepstakes [ 37:43 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Episode 64 is now available, and it’s free no matter where you get it from. You can listen to it or download it through the player at the bottom of this post, or subscribe for free through iTunes here (you must have the free iTunes player installed). You can also listen to it for free through the player on my MySpace page.

My last political podcast was before Christmas—which was before the Iowa Caucuses—and a lot has happened since then. Joining me to discuss all that today are Jason and Archerr from archerradio.com.

I begin today with a brief explanation of what’s going on for the benefit of non-American listeners. Then it’s a brief recap of where we’re at, especially the delegate totals. We then talk a bit about what’s wrong with public opinion polls. This leads into a discussion of Super Tuesday and whether it will or won’t be “all over” then.

I get the chance to slag off my home state of Illinois for it’s asinine primary system, before I go on to reveal who I voted for President in the Illinois Democratic Primary and why. I also talk a bit about how US citizens living overseas vote.

The rest is a wide-ranging discussion of all sorts of things related to this campaign. Do Republicans hate each other? One leader says they do. Did you know that Mitt Romney has far higher negatives than Hillary Clinton? What about the economy? Iraq? They all get a look from us and we’re not shy about saying what we think.

Leave a comment, or you can email me at amerinz(at}yahoo.com or ring my US listener line on 206-339-8413.

Links for this episode:

This Boy Elroy post on polls
Jason’s blog
ArcherRadio
“Blue Savannah” by Erasure iTunes USA Store or iTunes NZ Store. Or go to Amazon.com.

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AmeriNZ 64 - Political Catch-up [ 53:07 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Episode 61 is now available, and it’s free no matter where you get it from. You can listen to it or download it through the player at the bottom of this post, or subscribe for free through iTunes here (you must have the free iTunes player installed). You can also listen to it for free through the player on my MySpace page.

This is the last chance I’ll have for a political podcast before my big trip, and that also means it’s the last chance to talk politics before the Iowa Caucuses or New Hampshire Primary. Jason joins me today as we talk about events in the campaigns, including Romney and Huckabee trying to out fundamentalist each other. Aren’t they promoting a religious test for public office? Huckabee gets a a good look today, both for his call for quarantine of people with HIV/AIDS and is “fair tax”, which we think is anything but. A look at opinion polls and we wrap up for the day. I have a couple comments, a replay of my pretend commercial, and that’s it. Friday will be a normal podcast, and will probably be my last until January.

Check out Jason’s blog.

Leave a comment or send an email to me at amerinz{at)yahoo.com. You can also ring my US listener line on 206-339-8413.

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AmeriNZ #61 - Election Time Begins [ 39:15 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Episode 59 is now available, and it’s free no matter where you get it from. You can listen to it or download it through the player at the bottom of this post, or subscribe for free through iTunes here (you must have the free iTunes player installed). You can also listen to it for free through the player on my MySpace page.

It’s now one month until the first real votes will be cast in the US Presidential candidate selection process, so I’m joined again today by Jason for a talk about all that. What’s up with Huckabee? Is his star rising at Romney’s expense? And does Romney stand for anything? On the Democratic side, the media should be more responsible in talking about falsehoods, especially those directed at Obama. Will Obama be hurt by such an early Iowa Caucus? Does the media shape what the campaign is about? In future episodes we’ll talk about candidates and the campaigns as events unfold. I recorded this early because I knew I’d be too busy to record this week.

Also, I’ll soon be attending a candidate selection meeting here in New Zealand for our elections, which are also next year. I’ll talk about that in an upcoming episode. Comments and the expat briefing will be on Friday.

Leave a comment or send an email to me at amerinz{at)yahoo.com. You can also ring my US listener line on 206-339-8413.

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AmeriNZ #59 - Politics here and there [ 40:40 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Episode 53 is now available. You can listen to it or download it through the player at the bottom of this post, or subscribe for free through iTunes here (you must have the free iTunes player installed). You can also listen to it for free through the player on my MySpace page.

Jason’s back (he was last on Episode 20) for an extra-long episode where we have a wide-ranging talk about all sorts of things relating to politics. We begin by talking about a theme Jason sometimes writes about on his blog, namely the way soldiers in Iraq tend to be forgotten, and about how if this is a war, how come only the soldiers and their families are called to sacrifice? The poor treatment of the soldiers is the fault of both Bush and Congress, and this has nothing to do with supporting the war itself.

Then it’s on to a talk about Bush’s assault on the Constitution and the foolishness of their actions. This leads into talk about torture and the “war” on terror.

After a brief interruption, it’s on to the 2008 election, first up Ron Paul and his weird use of Guy Fawkes to raise money. Are Hillary’s “negatives” real? Guiliani and others get a mention, too. I’m not a big fan of the presidential selection system, but I see some positive possibilities with the change in primary dates. Jason’s less convinced. I tell you what I think historians will say is the great tragedy of the Bush administration.

We leave on a hopeful note, about how we can steer the world to a better place in many ways by moving away from fossil fuels and toward energy independence. Hey, I said it was a wide-ranging talk!

Leave a comment, or ring my US-based listener line, 206-339-8413. You can also send an email to me at amerinz[at}yahoo.com. Join my e-mailing list to find out when episodes are released.

Mentioned in this episode: Jason’s “Those We’ve Lost” series of posts.

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AmeriNZ 53 - Politics with Jason [ 1:06:22 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download