America's Democrats

Richard Bulliet

Columbia University Professor Richard Bulliet is an expert on Islam and Iran, and he says there is respect for American institutions among Muslims worldwide, even if there are differences in foreign policy. 

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Catherine Poe

Catherine Poe is concerned about that doomsday clock that appears on the cover of the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists. It has been moved one second closer to midnight, due to fear of war in Iran, bleak prospects for nonproliferation, and continuing concern about the safety of nuclear power plants.

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Angelo Carusone

An interview by Bill Press with the man behind the movement to pressure Glenn Beck off of Fox, and who is now behind the “stoprush.org” Website.

Bill Press

http://stoprush.org/

Andrew Baumann

Andrew Baumann is a pollster with the firm Greenberg Quinlan Rosner and has studied the electorate carefully. He believes that while voters are with the Republicans on cutting spending and job creation, Democrats can win by crossing a threshold of credibility on spending with independent voters.

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Fred Rotondaro

A senior fellow at the Center for American Progress, says “American exceptionalism” is a lot more than what today’s Republican candidates say it is. And he gives credit to Richard Nixon for clean air and clean water laws, proving, as he says, “not all Republicans at all times have been lunatics.”

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Brian Schweitzer

An interview from the National Governors Association meeting February 27 with Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer by Bill Press. Governor Schweitzer explains that 85 percent of what he and his colleagues do is “educate, medicate and incarcerate.”

Bill Press

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John Halpin

John Halpin of the Center for American Progress coauthored a study on how President Obama can put together enough electoral votes to win a second term. It won’t be easy, and victory will depend on turnout of the Democratic base.

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Mike Barnes

According to Mike Barnes, a former congressman and now a foreign policy analyst, President Obama’s foreign policy has made the United States much better regarded throughout the world. And, he says, Russia’s Vladimir Putin is nothing but a dictator.

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Leon Billings

An environmental expert, who says Barack Obama is “a light green president” – much better on the environment than his predecessor but still somewhat tepid on some issues.

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Charles Postel

Historian Charles Postel has studied the value and successes of various political pledges throughout history – against slavery, for prohibition and for woman’s suffrage – but he says the Republicans’ universal pledge to oppose any new tax is different because it is destructive … and forever.

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Fred Rotondaro

A senior fellow at the Center for American Progress says Mitt Romney’s claim that Democrats are envious of the rich is the “most extreme and stupid comment” he has ever made. In reality, he says, by attacking government so much, the rich actually get benefits from the government that keep them from having to compete fairly.

Center for American Progress

Cecilia Munoz

The director of the White House Domestic Policy Council says President Obama made some hard choices in his budget … a budget that asks all Americans to do their fair share.

Bill Press

Andrew Baumann

Andrew Baumann, a Democratic pollster, says more Democratic candidates are embracing the president’s new populism theme, but are not necessarily going to  embrace him.  He also says watch out for a flip in both houses of Congress … the House returning to Democrats and the Republicans taking the Senate.

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Richard Bulliet

Columbia University Professor Richard Bulliet  says preventing Iran from getting nuclear weapons is probably impossible until and unless testing begins. He also predits a negotiated withdrawal from Afghanistan, with the Taliban taking control.

http://www.columbia.edu/~rwb3/Bulliet/Richard_W._Bulliet.html

Steny Hoyer

An interview by Bill Press with Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 Democrat in the House, who points out that if the middle class does well, people at the top will do well, also.

Bill Press

http://hoyer.house.gov/

Maria Teresa Kumar

Voter ID laws, foreclosures in poorer neighborhoods and increasing immigration enforcement are among the factors that could make it hard for President Obama to match his electoral strength among Hispanics. But Maria Teresa Kumar, head of VotoLatino,  says the Republicans don’t have it so easy, either.

http://votolatino.org/

Peter Galbraith

Former Ambassador Peter Galbraith says the Administration’s “reset” of relations with Russia has been successful because Moscow is now less hostile to the United States.

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Eleanor Smeal

An interview by Bill Press with Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, who calls family planning “a life and death issue” and criticizes the Susan G. Komen Foundation for politicizing women’s health. The interview was recorded before the Foundation apologized and changed its mind.

http://www.billpressshow.com/

http://feminist.org/

Ralph Becker

The mayor of Salt Lake City, deep in red-state Utah, is a Democrat. He has worked with the Mormon Church and state leaders to come up with a more humane immigration policy than neighboring Arizona.  But the Justice Department is suing Utah, and Mayor Ralph Becker explains how things might ultimately work out.

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Peter Galbraith 

Former Ambassador Peter Galbraith says it is hard to overstate how much the Bush administration destroyed America’s standing in the world, but he says its restoration is President Obama’s greatest foreign policy achievement.

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Tom Buffenbarger 

An interview by Bill Press with Tom Buffenbarger, head of the Machinists Union, who denounces the Apple Corporation for relying on the business model of slavery. 

The Bill Press Show

International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

Fred Harris is now a political science professor, but he was once a U.S. senator, chairman of the DNC and a candidate for president. He says the outcome of the open Senate race in his adopted state of New Mexico could depend on how President Obama does at the top of the ticket.

Wikipedia

Former Congressman Mike Barnes, who spends the cold weather in Florida, says the likely Republican Senate candidate in the Sunshine State “is not the sharpest knife in the dishwasher.’

Center for International Policy

An interview by Bill Press with Representative Steve Israel, who heads the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Congressman Israel reveals that current polling actually puts the Democrats ahead in the race for a majority in the House.

Bill Press

Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee

Ralph Becker

Ralph Becker is Mayor of Salt Lake City, a Democratic island in a “red sea.” His advice to other Democrats? Develop our message on social justice and never stray from it.

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Dal LaMagna

Businessman Dal LaMagna says the company that made him rich was eventually sold for more than it would otherwise be worth because of the skill and loyalty of his employees. He says all corporations should be more socially responsible and rich guys like himself should be taxed on their income, not their capital gains.

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Twitter

Tom Perriello

An interview by Bill Press with Tom Perriello, former Congressman from Virginia, who says the President’s recent speech in Kansas is a message that can resonate with both independents and conservatives. 

The Bill Press Show

Center for American Progress

A one-time reporter who signed on to write the final chapter of a government report on the financial crisis says if it weren’t for Social Security, there would be as high an unemployment rate as during the Depression.

Kirstin Downey's Website

Her book on Amazon

David Sirota, a radio host, Democratic strategist and author, has written a book explaining how bad 1980s movies and TV shows like Rambo, Familiy Ties and the A-Team led to today’s culture of greed and militarism.

David's website

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The President of the Ploughshares Fund, who warns that recent moves in the Persian Gulf by Iran could slide America into a conflict neither nation really wants.

The Bill Press Show

Ploughshares Fund