Today was the first time in a week we covered anything other than the convention – albeit for the last 20 minutes. We’ll be back to our normal coverage by Monday (though the convention news will invariably crop up in the politics roundup).

I must say it was interesting producing the show with Brian 275 miles away. Though it felt like he was right next to us, the production was split between the two cities and we developed a system of what we dubbed “ghost producing” for the week’s shows. We managed everything from clips to calls in the studio in New York but most of the guests were at the Fleet Center spot. We hope we brought the Boston atmosphere to New York ears seamlessly. Let us know how you think we sounded. We’ll do it all again in a few weeks (minus 272 miles closer!).

Posted by leboheme at 03:50 PM

Deutsche Welle's website has included the Brian Lehrer Show Blog in a feature on convention bloggers (in German).

It's always Brian Lehrer Show time on the web

Posted by leboheme at 05:38 PM

It's 5:26 pm and for the first time, this blogger has enocuntered a line of more than two minutes to enter the Fleet Center. Apparently one of the two main entrances has been closed, and demonstrators and police are gathering at the perimeter.

Posted by leboheme at 05:36 PM

John Kerry did a dry run today on the main podium this morning at about 11:45...

Hillary did her first "in studio" with us today

So did Robert Reich!

Posted by leboheme at 12:58 PM

[unity, unity, unity]
Coming up this morning: Hillary Clinton and Elliott Spitzer. Listen for any chink in their message of unity. As one reporter remarked to us yesterday, all this talk of getting together behind one candidate is making things awfully boring for us! We know, everyone wants to put the bruising '01 mayoral and '02 gubernatorial primaries behind them--not to mention unseat Bush--but you gotta give us some red meat!

[political buttons]

Taking poetic license with Teresa's words

[Stakeout: Louisbourg Square]

The Kerry-Heinz-Kerry (?) residence is somewhere near the far corner, according to a secret service agent

Also convening in Boston this week: followers of Falun Gong

This is what we see every day on the way to and from the Fleet Center

Kerry-Edwards not working for you? Try this.

What do you want to see? Email us!

[protesters]

Posted by leboheme at 07:36 AM

Yes, we got a preview of tonight's musical component--a seriously thumping tune by Black Eyed Peas, which got what appeared to be 90% of the on-hand press onto the convention floor

Where is the love? Right here in the Fleet Center!

[some candids from the morning show]

Senator Jon Corzine

Senator Robert Byrd and Andrea Bernstein

What do you want to see? Email us!

The Christian Science Monitor's Dante Chinni

Congressman Jerrold Nadler

Nassau County bad boy Tom Suozzi...or Nassau County bad boy Alec Baldwin?

Posted by leboheme at 06:34 PM

Day three begins and our base at booth 56, which Brian has often described as "six feet by six", is rapidly expanding...

What will the neighbors say?

He was supposed to be on our show right after Katie...not!

[Dept. of Political Rising Stars]

Dude, I just saw Ben Affleck. rotfl! ;}

Al Sharpton protege Jarrett Maupin Jr. (aka "mini-me")

[Night and Day]

One of the things we've been noticing while doing our regular morning show and an evening show is the difference between day and night here at Fleet.

DAY
musical acts practicing on the podium
no people in silly outfits
no politicians milling around
Dunkin' Donuts closed

C'mon guys, follow your lines on the TeleprompTer!

NIGHT
floor passes hard to come by
lots of people in silly outfits
top politicians suddenly appear out of nowhere
Dunkin' Donuts open and doing a roaring business

Senator Clinton ambushed by the cameras in front of a bathroom. Her suit matches the walls.

Take one step closer, Jesse, and you're dead meat!

click below for a gallery of some political expressions

Posted by leboheme at 07:48 AM

All parties are low in carbs. Choose on taste.

The convention opened last night with famous Americans such as Jimmy Carter, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Patti Labelle. But don’t think we got any closer to the action than any of you. Radio broadcasters are mostly confined to several “radio rows”, impromptu studios squeezed in right next to each other. Technically our allotted space is six feet by six, but who’s counting?

Radio row at night. That’s Congresswoman Loretta Sanchez (putting on headphones) and former Labor Secretary under Clinton, Alexis Herman (taking them off)

Another former Labor Secretary, Robert Reich, being interviewed by one of our radio row colleagues

The difference between morning and night on Monday was huge. Before the convention opened at 4 pm, anyone could wander onto the floor and check out the preparations.

Just follow the TeleprompTer

By the evening, though, you needed a temporary 30-minute floor pass to get to the action. That’s OK, we like to think the real action is in the hallways where deals are made and interviews are given.

If you want to be interviewed, it helps to have a goofy hat

…or the right dress

Celebrity (?) sighting with the signature to prove it: Omarosa!

Posted by leboheme at 07:25 AM

Brian speaks with DNC Chairman Terry McAuliffe. It's his party.

The view from Brian's seat.

Guest David Chastine

Posted by leboheme at 12:37 PM

We arrived in Boston yesterday and immediately made our way to the Park Plaza Hotel, where a who's who of New York Democrats (and the journalists who follow them) is convening all this week.

On the BL Show today: New Jersey Governor James McGreevey , cyber opinionmaker Instapundit fills us in on the first political convention with credentialed bloggers, and more.

Meeting pols is easy when you know where they're staying...Brian and Gifford Miller

Will I know him when I see him?

There you are!

Beth Fertig and Andrea Bernstein grill Elliott Spitzer

"It's the college kids...they're the worst"

Inside the Fleet Center, everything is coming into place

Stretchers...check!

Popcorn...check!

Posted by leboheme at 07:13 AM

We're packing our bags and moving our act to Boston for the next week. We've made lists of what we need to take with us: alarm clocks, blackberries, energy bars. And made a list of who we want to see: Bill and Hillary, Teresa Heinz Kerry and her husband, one member or more of the Kennedy clan, Andre 3000, Ben Affleck-we may be able to convince him to actually register and vote this time around.

Stay tuned for our regular show and our hour evening special. And remember it's not a convention unless there's a Party!

Posted by leboheme at 05:08 PM

The September 11 Commission released it's final report today (and since their website is down right now, the public interest must be more than they expected). Among the recommendations were the creation of a center for counter terrorism and a new Intelligence Director post. This was no surprise for news outlets like ourselves who had reported this all week, but the commission also recommended specific reforms for Congress like new committees dedicated to intelligence oversight. We will devote all of tomorrow's show to examine this and look at some of the report's findings about New York.

Here is the report in its entirety (all 567 pages and 1000+ footnotes).

Email us.

Posted by leboheme at 04:09 PM

Next week, we will be joining the hoardes of bloggers covering the Democratic National convention (that's in addition to our broadcast show). We'll do our best to write about the interesting happenings from the floor of the Fleet Center and hopefully post some stuff you won't see or hear anywhere else. In the meantime, the bloggers credentialed for the convention (as discussed on Monday's show) are getting pretty organized thanks to Dave Winer's convention bloggers site. In fact, CNN just announced they'll

Email us your thoughts.

Posted by leboheme at 04:44 PM

Pico Iyer, author of Sun After Dark: Flights Into the Foreign , talked to guest host Mike Pesca about his most recent book, his international upbringing, and his interest in intercultural collisions. Their conversation sparked one of our listeners to write in:

My grandfather, the Greek archeologist Homer Thompson, said to me once: “After I’ve been in a place for a week I feel I can write a book about it. After being there for a year, I can’t even write an article.”

In the spirit of the recent Parks Commissioner’s foray into repurposing the New York State Pavilion, listeners called in with their nominations for spaces most worthy of restoration. One favorite was Brooklyn’s Monument for the Prison Ship Martyrs .

What forgotten structure do you think needs a little TLC? Let us know.

Posted by leboheme at 02:36 PM

Today's entire show was composed of those meaningless, culturally divisive questions that cause us to forget our common Americanness and vote against our class interests...I mean, cause us to run down to Federal Court and get a look at Martha Stewart: martyr or martinet?

Adolf Hitler: appropriate for use in Democratic or Republican political advertising?

Bill Cosby: dissing the victim, or speaking uncomfortable truths about black youths?

Gay wedding music: at long last, something we all could agree on! "I Do", a popular new aisle accompaniment (as reported last Wednesday in Metro), is dreadful! [for a musical take on Martha, try this submission by Elisa, a listener]

Coming up Monday: Mike Pesca is in for Brian. He'll be talking with one of the first generation of bloggers to attend a political convention with press cards. Find out more.

Posted by leboheme at 04:12 PM

Bill Cosby's May 17th comments taking black youth to task provoked a storm of controversy--not to mention a blistering riposte from New York Times guest columnist, author Barbara Ehrenreich, who said on today's show that "if (Cosby) wants to do something to increase positive attitudes toward education among black youth, I don't think you start with a public tantrum and spanking." Which, in turn, caused caller (and Village Voice columnist) Nat Hentoff to cry foul.

Ms. Ehrenreich also dusted off her background in research (she holds a Ph.D. in biology) to calculate how many blue collar men a female T.A.N.F. recipient needed to marry in order to lift herself and her family out of poverty--and came up with a controversial 2.3. Expect a constitutional amendment banning polygamy to go before the Senate any day. But don't expect Senators Kerry and Edwards to vote on it.

Posted by leboheme at 05:34 PM

The USDA's food pyramid has confounded eaters since 1992, when it replaced the "four food groups". Can anyone really be expected to eat six to eleven servings of grains and starches a day? Where do Cheez Doodles® fit in? Eighty percent of Americans recognize it, but they have only gotten fatter in the past 12 years!

Today came the announcement that the government wants to seriously revise or even dump the pyramid. Our guest, Marion Nestle of NYU, called herself "the last remaining nutritionist in America who thinks there's anything good about it at all". Nestle warned that the food industry may seek to use the occasion to suggest that all food groups are equal.

listeners respond:

as a Mexican, the pyramid is not useful for us, because we have the idea that the most important thing goes at the highest point of the pyramid. I think this is an interesting point for the next planning of the pyramid.
-PR

I would like to suggest that we change the food pyramid to the food circle, i.e., concentric circles. The outer circles should represent the less desirable foods, i.e., foods more likely to cause obesity. The visual impression would be of becoming fatter as you eat worse.
-GK

The new food pyramid has a date of 1992. Is that the latest? It does not distinguish between complex and simple carbs and between animal and vegetable fats. It has too few vegetables. Fruit is not juice and fruit should be eaten with meals. Refined carbs and potatoes are like sugar. Meals should be frequent, every 3 to 4 hours. Calories are important if a person is gaining or losing weight inappropirately, in spite of doing daily exercise.
-DY

What do you think? Send us an email!

Posted by leboheme at 04:01 PM

Should the Presidential election be postponed in the event of a terrorist attack? Today's Newsweek story that Tom Ridge sought guidance from the Justice Department brought a flood of diverging opinions. Some smelled a conspiracy, while others were angry at the media for bring the issue up at all.

In our ongoing bid to publish listener feedback, here's a selection of your comments. Please email us your thoughts (and let us know where you're listening).

The delay of the election has been a “conspiracy” thing circulating on the internet for a while and seemed too unreal to take seriously. But now it’s real! I don’t care what happens to us – more crashing planes, dirty nuclear bombs, anthrax. I want an election! Nothing trumps an election in a real democracy.
-anonymous

In "investigating the possibility of postponing the presidential election in
the event of a terror attack", is the Bush administration admitting to the
American people that they [administration] do NOT have the confidence in
themselves to prevent any terrorist attacks from happening in the first
place?
-GS

If there was another attack, the possibility of the Bush administration to "postpone" or even cancel the election in an extreme time of fear I believe is a very real possibility. The Bush administration has used extraordinary circumstances in the past to win an election.....
-DS

Remember the movement post-9-11 to keep on Rudy Giuliani as mayor for an unspecified time, rather than turning the reigns of power over to a new and untested individual? Seemed plausible at the time, didn't it? But Michael Bloomberg took over in what seems now like a seamless transition. How much would we be regretting now a one-time change back then?
-HL

I'm disgusted that you would even suggest a debate on postponing the elections. Apparently, you remain open-minded about any nut idea that the right floats.
-PK

Posted by leboheme at 04:31 PM

Part of the today's show devoted time to the press conference held by Sens. Pat Roberts and John D. Rockefeller IVrepresenting the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Neither senator was shy about taking the CIA to task on grossly misrepresenting the Iraq threat.

Check out the news conference, the full report and email us your thoughts

Posted by lehrer at 02:51 PM

Inspired by the footage of the former Enron chief being led away in handcuffs, many listeners called wondering where Kenneth Lay, if convicted, would serve his time - as one put it "in a hardcore prison or a federal Marriott?" (apologies to the hotel chain). One caller informed us that the ultimate decision is made by the Bureau of Prisons, although the trial judge can make a recommendation. Of course, regarding sentence the judge will be guided by the U.S. Dept of Justice. The energy company's founder and former top executive says he
failed to save the company -- but that "failure does not equate to a crime." But in this case, does it? Email us your thoughts

Posted by lehrer at 03:27 PM

We waited for the two Johns to step on stage this morning, hoping to hear them tell us about their happy union. It did not happen in time, and we turned to our trusted listeners to tell us who they thought were the best political speakers. The greatest hits led us down memory lane Mario Cuomo, Bill Clinton, Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Martin Luther King Jr.,Robert Kennedy, Barbara Jordan. Our sitting president did not make the line up, although one caller did defend Kerry's lack of charisma.

One thing that has been brought up over and over again in the last 24 hours has been the critique of Edward's inexperience. The worry over what we will all do if Kerry dies seems to be too much for some. Perhaps this will provide a little distraction if George Bush dies our next president will be a man with serious heart problems.

Posted by leboheme at 04:07 PM

At long last we know who will be John Kerry's Sundance to his Butch Cassidy. This morning in a flutter of excitement Kerry announced that John Edwards would be his Vice Presidential candidate (will they storm out of a building in the Southwest guns blazing?). Was anyone ultimately surprised?

Apparently the folks at the NY Post were. They slipped up and announced the wrong running mate- Richard Gephardt.

Posted by leboheme at 04:45 PM

Today's discussion on the rhetorical value of Fahrenheit 9/11 drew a flood of calls and emails. So much so, we will devote more time to the film on Monday's show. In the meantime, here are some emails we didn't get to read on the program. Be sure and email us your own opinion too.

Rollins had one strong point: that the footage of Bush talking about terrorism while on the golf course and then saying: "watch this drive was ACTUALLY in the context of questions about terrorism in Israel. But by Bush's own rhetoric, it doesn't matter where terrorism occurs,
US, Israel, Saudi Arabia, anywhere, he's ag'in in it, right? So, QED, even if Moore made it seem like terrorism in the US was the subject, it is intellectually consistent to "take it out of context"
since it shouldn't make any difference to his point or to Bush's attitude.
If it in the Israeli context it better strike fear in the hearts of Jews-for-Bush, no? Golf is more important than terrorism in Israel.
-DG

I couldn't be more opposed to the current administration and I agree with much of what Michael Moore says. With that said I have not seen his film (I will sooner or later) and am afraid I will react like one of your callers and walk out. I've read his books and am always disappointed. Cheap shots and preaching to the choir is no way to inform or educate the general public and will just anger some.
-Patrick

The implication that the film is tearing down people's support of the troops is unfounded, completely. There's a whole section of the film which deals with a woman who lost her son, Mrs. Lipscomb, who hated protesters until she realized they were protesting the government, not the soldiers. Or how about the military man standing in front of the camera saying he'd rather go to jail than go back to Iraq to kill "other poor people?" The voice of the military is well-represented in this film. It's not about knocking them, and I think it's irresponsible to even imply that it is.
-CH
Brooklyn, NY

I was one of John Grierson (mentioned on the show as a documentary pioneer)’s last students at McGill University in the 1960s. Speaking of his work in propaganda during WWII, Grierson liked to take credit for a particular little bit of film from that unit. There was a little segment of Hitler stomping his foot after, I believe, the surrender of France in the same train car that WWI ended.
Grierson's unit edited the clip, looping it a couple of times to make it look like Hitler was doing a little jig, hoping it would make Hitler look a little foolish. Was that a good idea? Grierson never, in my hearing, evinced doubts. The point was to win the war. That is Moore's ultimate point as well, although his definition of the enemy is George Bush rather than the people who really want Americans dead. In that respect, then, this movie is an Al Qaeda propaganda movie, without all those really annoying AK-47s and Arabic diatribes.
-BC

To me, the film didn't present much new since I follow these issues, but my
friend who saw the film with me (a Kerry voter already) came out really
ANGRY. She has friends in Ohio and is going to try to work on them...
-John

I'd anticipate that the success of Fahrenheit 9/11 will embolden more critical coverage by mainstream media going forward, to the benefit of the Kerry campaign.
-MD

your guest comments that Michael Moore puts his interpretation of events as documentary instead of reporting straight facts. however - is it not true that history is always an interpretation, always read/seen through the lens of the author?
-JH

Certainly the film is propaganda. It’s a 'negative commercial' similar to the one the republicans spent $80,000,000 on in May against Kerry. However, the negative statements are taken and presented out-of-context, making them outright lies.
Moore's genius is two-fold. First, he presents straight-forward provable facts -- just bare facts -- with little or not explanation -- leaving the viewer to come to his own conclusion. Second, yhe's produced the equivalent of a wonderful commercial without mentioning Kerry at all, and gotten the general public to pay almost $30,000,000 for the privilege of seeing it.
-Jerry

Here’s how I feel about Moore's films. I totally agree with his viewpoint, but the "documentary" value is questionable; I don't like feeling manipulated by my own. His sensationalism of serious issues is undermining.
-JS
Brooklyn

What is propaganda? Is propaganda just a one-sided argument? While one of your callers said she already knew all the stuff in the film and it
made her sick, a lot of people don't, maybe they need this one-sided argument,
this propaganda to kick them in the butt, to urge them into finding the facts for
themselves.
-JS

Michael Moore repeatedly states that his film is NOT a documentary, but rather an Op-Ed piece. Why argue that it IS a documentary??? His opinion is perfectly clear and I think everyone knows that going into the film.
-Joey

Posted by leboheme at 03:13 PM

Why doesn't the USA have a broad working-class movement, akin to European social democratic parties? It's been a vexing riddle for American lefties for decades. At a recent conference at SUNY-Stony Brook's Center for Study of Working Class Life, professors, activists, and members of the working class got together to lay the groundwork for a discrete academic discipline called working class studies.

Listeners' thoughts (via email):

Some time ago, I heard that a UN agency placed the middle class threshold at:
having indoor plumbing, and hot and cold running water.

On the other hand, it is clearly the intent of the 'powers-that-be' that the American worker become a third-world worker in a few generations. (see WalMart, and many others.)
--Mark in Stamford

Your speakers are not dealing with the associations of the word "class" with Communism, where the terms are laid out very clearly. They are skirting the issue of what classes have been in the past and are trying to redefine it in a way that is acceptable to Americans. They are playing games a bit‹using the word "power" instead of who controls the "means of production." You can't talk about "class" without talking about what the words mean.
--Sam

What about ideas of class imported with immigrants? America started with the
English elite at the top but each wave of immigrants brought their own ideas
of class. For example, German Jews were "superior" to Eastern European
Jews.. . . . . . . .And these habits still play out. Maybe forever?
--Laura

Posted by leboheme at 05:38 PM