The Brian Lehrer Show

A helicopter of the US Blackwater security firm hovers over the site where a car bomb exploded in central Baghdad, 23 Oct 2005. (Marwan Naamani/AFP/Getty Images)

Are "The Internet Married" the new "Soccer Moms"?

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

What’s in a name? Quite a lot, if you are political strategist Mark Penn, the man who coined the phrase "Soccer Mom." His new book, Microtrends, groups voters into categories that politicians can then use to target their messages. Also, Jeremy Scahill joins us to talk about the private military contractor, Blackwater, and their recent fall from grace; street literature; and the "taser incident."

Listen to the whole show

Are the "Internet Married" the Next "Soccer Moms"?

Mark Penn, political strategist, pollster, and author of Microtrends: The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes, identifies the small groups that win elections.

Microtrends is available for purchase at Amazon.com

Street Lit

Writer Martha Southgate, and Malaika Adero, founder of the Up South Festival and senior editor at Atria/Simon and Shuster, discuss African-American books and the publishing industry.

The Up South Festival website
Martha Southgate's website

Blackwater Down

Jeremy Scahill, reporter for The Nation and author of Blackwater: The Rise of the World's Most Powerful Mercenary Army (Nation Books, 2007), discusses the role of private contractors in the Iraq war, and Blackwater's recent troubles in Iraq.

Blackwater is available for purchase at Amazon.com

Don't Tase Me, Bro!

Boston Globe reporter Sasha Issenberg talks about the fallout from the use of a taser on a heckler at a John Kerry talk at the University of Florida. He’s joined by investigative journalist Greg Palast. The heckler was holding a copy of his book Armed Madhouse.
Sasha Issenberg has a new book out: The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy (Gotham, 2007).

Greg Palast's website