• The Iowa caucuses.
• Clips from Democratic Candidates' videos.
• Guest: Joan McCarter, Contributing Editor at the Daily Kos.
• Guest: Christy Harvey, Center for American Progress, MicCheckradio.org.

Topics, guests, upcoming events, quotes, links to articles, audio clips, books & bumper music.

Thursday 03 January '08 National show

• Iowa, a fraction of 1% of American public, will have some say in the outcome of the primaries.
• Article: DOJ launches investigation into CIA tape destruction.
• Article: Conyers demands special counsel in CIA tape investigation.
• Gold up, dollar down, oil up.
• Article: Carmakers braced for hard times ahead.
• Article: SEC eyes cross-border shake-up.
• Article: President Bloomberg?. Third party candidates.
• Bumper Music: I want a President, Peter Tracy.
• Upcoming Event: Monday and Tuesday Jan 07 - 08, Manchester, NH. Show "Live" from the NH Primary radio row.
• Bumper Music: Crazy, Gnarls Barkley.
• Article: Programmed for love.
• Article: US Senate candidate camps out on tower.
• Article: Large Louisiana men claim restaurant banned them because they ate too much from the buffet.
• You will hear the word 'change' a lot. Thom played clips from the final campaign ads in Iowa of several candidates, or recent ads.
• Clip: Dodd: I'm the 'experience' candidate.
  "Some people say I have too much experience to run for president, but the more you hear my opponents, the more you wonder whether they have enough. I’ve spent my life bringing Democrats and Republicans together to create real change. I know I can win the general election. And I am ready to be president. I’m Chris Dodd. I’d appreciate your support on caucus night. I approve this message because it’s time America had a president with the experience to lead."
• Barack Obama's final ad in Iowa:
  "I'm Barack Obama and I approve this message. It's with your power, it's with your voice that we're going to be able to make a difference. One voice can change a room, and if it can change a room, it can change a city and if it can change a city, it can change a state and if it can change a state, it can change a nation. If it can change a nation, it can change a world. Let's go save the world."
• Article: John Edwards: The Hater . Rich Lowry.
• Clip: "And later, with Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama publicly feuding, second tier candidate John Edwards makes a push to stick to the issues." Rich Lowry, standing in for Sean Hannity on TV.
• Quote:
  "That very word freedom, in itself and of necessity, suggests freedom from some restraining power. In 1776 we sought freedom from the tyranny of a political autocracy - from the eighteenth-century royalists who held special privileges from the crown...

  But since that struggle, man's inventive genius released new forces in our land, forces which reordered the lives of our people. The age of machinery, of railroads; of steam and electricity; the telegraph and the radio; mass production, mass distribution - all of these combined to bring forward a new civilization and with it a problem for those who sought to remain free.

  "For out of this modern civilization economic royalists carved new dynasties. New kingdoms were built upon concentration of control over material things. Through new uses of corporations and banks and securities, new machinery of industry and agriculture, of labor and capital - all undreamed of by the Fathers - the whole structure of modern life was impressed into this royal service...

  "Private enterprise, indeed, became too private. It became privileged enterprise, not free enterprise...

  These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power. In vain they seek to hide behind the flag and the Constitution. But in their blindness they forget what the flag and the Constitution stand for

  ".
  Franklin D. Roosevelt, 27 June 1936, "A Rendezvous With Destiny", Speech to the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
• At what point is it hating to call out what's going on?
• Bumper Music: Democracy, Dan Fogelberg.
• Call the Thom Hartmann Comment and Rant line at 202 536-5306 to leave a recorded message, agree, disagree, sound off - it's all welcome. Keep it shorter than 30 seconds, and know that it may be used on the air.
• Clip:
  "Good evening. As we start this New Year, America is at a crossroads.

  We're a nation at war in a dangerous world.

  We have a faltering economy, an energy crisis and 47 million people without health care.

  But after seven long years of this administration, we finally have the opportunity for a new beginning.

  Tomorrow, you can take the first step.

  After all the town meetings, the pie and coffee, it comes down to this: Who's ready to be president and ready to start solving the big challenges we face on day one?

  And we can solve them.

  We can end the era of cowboy diplomacy and bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq.

  We can make a new beginning for our economy and rebuild our great middle class. We can reform our government and transform our energy future.

  We can make a new beginning on health care: cut costs, improve quality and cover every American.

  "
  Hillary Clinton: America is At a Crossroads.
• Clip:
  "DOUG BISHOP: Now I myself was a former Maytag employee – I was laid off September of 2004.

  And I was asked "Would you and your family like to come up and meet Senator Edwards?"

  And this is something I'll never forget – he grabbed my seven-year-old son by the hand, he dropped to one knee, and he looked him straight in the eye and he said "I'm going to keep fighting for your daddy's job, I promise you that."

  You know, that stuff sticks with you. That's the kind of things we need in a leader in this country.

  Not somebody that's going to go to a big fundraiser and say "Write me a check for $2,300, and I'll let you know you have my support."

  I want a guy that's going to sit down and look a seven year-old kid in the eye and tell him "I'm going to fight for your dad's job." That's what I want.

  I'm going to do my best to make sure that my children aren't the first generation of Americans that I can't look them in the eye and say "You're going to have a better life than I had."

  And I think the person that's going to get that done is my friend, and yours, Senator John Edwards.

  EDWARDS: I'm John Edwards and I approve this message.

  "
  On The Day Of The Iowa Caucuses, An Iowan Speaks For John Edwards.
• Clip:
  "Are we ready to take our country back? Are we going to elect a Democratic president? What's that president's name?" We need you to go to ??. We need you to go to every Iowa voter. Talk to them about opportunity, about hope, about recognizing that to change this country you need experience. That to make America better we need to come together. So today, I am honored to be in this huge crowd. I am honored to ask for your support. I'm going to outwork everybody. I already have. And now it's up to you. Will you do it? Will you get out and get our vote out? We want to take our country back. Iowa, will you help? Will you help us take America back? Do we send George Bush back to Texas? Do we win in November? "
  Bill Richardson.
• Bumper Music: Some Days You Gotta Dance, Keith Urban.
• Clip:
  "Hi, everyone. Dennis here. Happy New Year from Manchester, New Hampshire. It's great to have this opportunity to speak with you at the beginning of a new year. A year that is filled with so much promise and so much hope for our country. A few weeks ago when I was in Manchester I kept meeting people who told me they're undecided about the race, and indeed, polls back that up. So I decided that we would make a strong effort here in New Hampshire to get our message out about a not for profit health care system; a single payer system, and I'm the co-author of a bill, as you know. As people hear about this, they say, 'that's a good idea; I want to hear more'. But when I noted that people are still looking for a candidate who will take this country out of Iraq and they learn about my history on it, they say, 'you now, I like what I'm hearing, I want to hear more'. I know that we have a chance to break through here, and with your help we're going to do it. So the next week, as you start to think about the impact that you've already had on this campaign, just note that you have a chance to make another impact. That whatever you can do to be of assistance to us in the closing days of this campaign in New Hampshire, know that we are putting all of your help to good use. "
  Happy New Year, Dennis Kucinich.
• Clip:
  "You know, there are two questions I think all caucus-goers will be asking themselves Thursday night. The first one is, 'who do you want behind the desk in the Oval Office next January to deal with the crises that you know exist; you know the next president will face? And second, who do you believe can beat the Republicans in this coming November election? Because before a Democrat can lead, he or she has to get elected. I'd like to think the answer to both those questions is me. We don;t have to imagine what the potential crises are for the next president: ending the war in Iraq, preventing a melt down in Pakistan, keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of terrorists. When you caucus Thursday night, you should close your eyes and imagine that the person you're supporting is president at this very moment. Do you believe that person? Do you have confidence that that person can handle any of these crises that you know exist? I've dealt with the toughest and most dangerous threats facing our country for the past 35 years. And more than any other candidate in the race, I've laid out and convinced an overwhelming majority of my colleagues about exactly what we should do to bring our troops home from Iraq."
  Joe Biden.
• Meredith MacKenzie of Talk Radio News in Des Moines, Iowa. When the caucuses begin, what happens, when they are likely to report results. Latest Zogby poll has Obama 1, Edwards 2, Hillary 3, and Huckabee ahead of Romney.
• Best of the Rest of the News: Guest: Joan McCarter, Contributing Editor at the Daily Kos. Iowa caucuses, one sixth of one percent of the population influences the decision. There is strong support for several candidates, and people are glad they do not have the Republican slate. Any of the top three candidates would be fantastic (Thom said any but Gravel would be fantastic, but he is still better than the Republicans). The FISA fight will be back soon. Chris Dodd is going to have to filibuster again. People power. Last night first caucus at Drinking liberally, Seattle. The result: Obama 17, Edwards 16, Dodd 13. After Iowa, global warming.
• Quote: "The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation. These are facts and we simply must face them. Moreover, I will soon submit legislation to Congress calling for the creation of this nation's first solar bank, which will help us achieve the crucial goal of 20 percent of our energy coming from solar power by the year 2000.

  What I have to say to you now about energy is simple and vitally important. Point one: I am tonight setting a clear goal for the energy policy of the United States. Beginning this moment, this nation will never use more foreign oil than we did in 1977 -- never. From now on, every new addition to our demand for energy will be met from our own production and our own conservation.

  The generation-long growth in our dependence on foreign oil will be stopped dead in its tracks right now and then reversed as we move through the 1980s, for I am tonight setting the further goal of cutting our dependence on foreign oil by one-half by the end of the next decade -- a saving of over 4-1/2 million barrels of imported oil per day.

  "
  Jimmy Carter televised "Crisis of Confidence" Speech on July 15, 1979.
• Article: Peak no evil.
• Guest: Christy Harvey, Center for American Progress, MicCheckradio.org. Iowa. The price of oil. A hearing in the Senate a couple of weeks ago, Levin, carnival of greed. History of peak oil, countries upping their reserves. The front page of the Financial Times has a graph today, world peak oil. OPEC yesterday saying they could run out in 2024. Violence in Nigeria, Iraq, and Venezuela also increases the price. The price at the pump is a covert tax of the Bush administration's policy failures. Jimmy Carter on the energy crisis. Political dirty tricks. Iowa. Last week there were fake Mitt Romney Christmas cards saying God had multiple wives. Rovian style. Thom guesses Giuliani. People who said they were for Romney were calling Huckabee supporters and giving them the wrong details for the caucuses.
• Bumper Music: Democracy is coming to the USA, Leonard Cohen.