This Week on TPT: Democrats Meeting In Denver

The Democratic National Convention is being held this week in Denver, Colorado. America will cross an historic threshold as Senator Barack Obama becomes the first African American to be nominated for President by a major political party. Obama has also announced his vice-presidential choice, Senator Joe Biden of Delaware.

This week on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY, we'll talk about the convention and preview Wednesday evening's speech by Joe Biden and Thursday evening's acceptance speech by Barack Obama. Joining us with c-in reports from Denver will be two well-respected political analysts and friends of the show:

• Matt Glazer is rhe Editor-in-Chief of the Burnt Orange Report, a widely-read blog covering Democratic politics in Texas.
• Gardner Selby is the chief political writer and columnist for the Austin American-Statesman.
  

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY airs from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. CDT on Wednesdays and is the weekly radio show devoted to Texas state and local politics. TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is produced by longtime Capitol insider Deece Eckstein, who shares hosting duties with Austin community leader David Kobierowski.

Americans: Keep Religion, Politics Separate

A new study by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows significant changes in how Americans view the relationship between personal religious faith and political behavior. In the wake of the Saddleback Church forum on faith held last Friday with presidential candidates Barack Obama and John McCain, this study shows a much different message environment for candidates and interest groups wanting to use hot-button religious issues to motivate voters.

From the report:

A new survey finds a narrow majority of the public saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters. For a decade, majorities of Americans had voiced support for religious institutions speaking out on such issues.

As you can see from the graph, the lines have crossed since 2004, when Karl Rove and the GOP deliberately placed initiatives to ban gay marriage on the general election ballot as a way to energize social conservative voters.

The report goes on to note that

most of the reconsideration of the desirability of religious involvement in politics has occurred among conservatives. ... As a result, conservatives' views on this issue are much more in line with the views of moderates and liberals than was previously the case. Similarly, the sharp divisions between Republicans and Democrats that previously existed on this issue have disappeared.

Another chart shows this evolution in stark terms:


Among those who think that gay marriage is a very important issue, the percentage of people who favor greater separation between religion and politics has increased 25%! Among those who think abortion is a very important issues, the percentage of people who favor greater separation between religion and politics has increased 16%! These are significant shifts in opinion among social conservatives. There could be several reasons for this.

• First, on the issue of gay marriage, the war is over (for now). The self-righteous, er, social conservatives have won. The steam has gone out of arguments from James Dobson, Tony Perkins, et al., that the threat of gay marriage was the end of American civilization.
• Second, other issues like the sagging economy, inflated gas prices, and the war in Iraq have supplanted hot-button social issues as concerns for Americans.
• Third -- and I think this is most important -- people of faith who thought their religious values were best expressed in issues like abortion and gay marriage have watched the cavacade of corruption, venality, heartlessness and incompetence that characterizes the modern Republican Party and realized they'd been had -- that party leaders like George Bush, Dick Cheney and Tom DeLay cynically manipulated their heartfelt faith to advance a vicious, amoral agenda, all the while laughing behind their back.

In any case, the study shows that a shifting political landscape for social conservatives and the politicians who would exploit them. To be sure, the culture wars are not over, but this election season may pass without them being a central focus of the campaigns.

Faith and Politics

Last Saturday evening, Rick Warren, the California mega-church pastor and best-selling author, hosted a forum on faith and politics in his church. The forum, televised nationally, included interviews with presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. The fact that Warren could compel the appearance of both candidates (who have not shared a stage in several months) was interesting, and the nature of his interviews as well.

This week on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY, we're talking about the intersection of religious faith and civic engagement in American life. Should an individual's faith have nothing to do with her politics? Should a church dictate a person's political values, even how he votes?

Our guide in this inquiry will be Bee Moorhead, the executive director of Texas Impact. Texas Impact is one of those "faith-based organizations," a grassroots network that includes regional and statewide religious organizations, local congregations and alliances, and individuals. Texas Impact strives to make information about state government and public policy accessible to people of faith and all interested Texans. Bee has been with Texas Impact since 2000, but before that served our state as a policy analyst in the Comptroller's Office. Her insights will be both entertaining and, well, insightful.

The show airs every Wednesday from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. CDT on KOOP, Austin’s community radio station. KOOP broadcasts at 91.7 FM in Austin and also streams live over the Internet at http://www.koop.org/. Tune in for this interesting presentation!


TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is the weekly radio show devoted to Texas state and local politics. TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is produced by longtime Capitol insider Deece Eckstein, who shares hosting duties with Austin community leader David Kobierowski.

Energy Policy -- This Week onTPT

Last week, U.T. politics guru Jim Henson joined us to review the Texas Lyceum Poll 2008 just released last month. Among other things, the poll asked over 1,000 Texas respondents to identify what they thought were the top issues facing the nation and the state. Here they are:

MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL ISSUES:
Economy 33%
Gas Prices/Energy 20%
Iraq War 14%
Leadership/Gridlock/Corruption 6%
Security 4%
Immigration 4%
Health Care 4%
Morality 3%

MOST IMPORTANT STATE ISSUES
Gas Prices/Energy 21%
Immigration 20%
Economy 17%
Education 12%
Leadership/Gridlock/Corruption 7%
Health Care 4%
Roads/Traffic 4%
Environment 2%
Taxes/Property Taxes 2%

Dr. Henson discussed these important results with us last week. This week on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY, we’re taking issue Numero Uno at the state level — gas prices and energy — and comparing the two presidential candidates, presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain and presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama, and comparing their positions on short-, medium-, and long-term solutions to America’s over-dependence on foreign sources of energy.

The show airs every Wednesday from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. CDT on KOOP, Austin’s community radio station. KOOP broadcasts at 91.7 FM in Austin and also streams live over the Internet at www.koop.org. Tune in for this interesting presentation!

For more information, you can check out Senator McCain’s energy platform here and Senator Obama’s energy plan here.

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is the weekly radio show devoted to Texas state and local politics. TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is produced by longtime Capitol insider Deece Eckstein, who shares hosting duties with Austin community leader David Kobierowski.

Last week, U.T. politics guru Jim Henson joined us to review the Texas Lyceum Poll 2008 just released last month. Among other things, the poll asked over 1,000 Texas respondents to identify what they thought were the top issues facing the nation and the state. Here they are:

MOST IMPORTANT NATIONAL ISSUES:
Economy 33%
Gas Prices/Energy 20%
Iraq War 14%
Leadership/Gridlock/Corruption 6%
Security 4%
Immigration 4%
Health Care 4%
Morality 3%

MOST IMPORTANT STATE ISSUES
Gas Prices/Energy 21%
Immigration 20%
Economy 17%
Education 12%
Leadership/Gridlock/Corruption 7%
Health Care 4%
Roads/Traffic 4%
Environment 2%
Taxes/Property Taxes 2%

Dr. Henson discussed these important results with us last week. This week on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY, we’re taking issue Numero Uno at the state level — gas prices and energy — and comparing the two presidential candidates, presumptive Republican nominee Senator John McCain and presumptive Democratic nominee Senator Barack Obama, and comparing their positions on short-, medium-, and long-term solutions to America’s over-dependence on foreign sources of energy.

The show airs every Wednesday from 2:30 to 3:00 p.m. CDT on KOOP, Austin’s community radio station. KOOP broadcasts at 91.7 FM in Austin and also streams live over the Internet at www.koop.org. Tune in for this interesting presentation!

For more information, you can check out Senator McCain’s energy platform here and Senator Obama’s energy plan here.

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is the weekly radio show devoted to Texas state and local politics. TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is produced by longtime Capitol insider Deece Eckstein, who shares hosting duties with Austin community leader David Kobierowski.

Today on TPT: What's On Your Mind?

This week on TEXAS POLITICS TODAY we'll be paraphrasing Sigmund Freud's famous question and asking, "What do Texans want?" Our topics is, "What is on Texans' minds as we go into the election season?" Our guest will be Jim Henson, Director of the Texas Politics Project at The University of Texas at Austin and co-author of the recent poll released by the Texas Lyceum at the end of June. You can read more about the poll here.

TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is the weekly radio show devoted to Texas state and local politics. TEXAS POLITICS TODAY is produced by longtime Capitol insider Deece Eckstein, who shares hosting duties with Austin community leader David Kobierowski.