Wed. 1/24: State of the Union: Grim

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Last night in his State of the Union address, President Bush called for continuing war in Iraq – while his approval rating is at an all-time low, 28 per cent. (The lowest in history was Nixon’s, 25 per cent – right now Bush is ahead by 3.)
JOHN NICHOLS will comment – he’s Washington correspondent for The Nation, he writes “The Online Beat” blog at TheNation.com, and his new book is The Genius of Impeachment.

Plus: Jews and American Popular Culture: PAUL BUHLE talks about the deep influence of Jews in American art, literature, politics, humor and sports. He edited the new 3-volume anthology on the subject. “Relief for the Jews! How about relief from the Jews?” – Harry Cohn, president of Columbia Pictures, quoted in Jews and American Popular Culture.

Also: Democracy and slavery: for a brief moment, the country tried genuine interracial democracy. In the era of emancipation of Reconstruction in the 1860s and 1870s, the federal government passed laws promising former slaves equality and political rights, including the vote. Historian ERIC FONER will explain – his book Forever Free: The Story of Emancipation and Reconstruction is out now in paperback. (originally broadcast 1-25-06)

More stuff to read: my piece “Iraq: Counting the Dead,” at TheNation.com – the UN count of 34,000 civilian deaths last year is almost certainly far loo low.