The Weekly Filibuster

Last updated

The Weekly Filibuster was an American talk radio show moderated by politico Ben Goodman of the University of Maine that was usually broadcast on Sunday evenings. The show featured a panel of student commentators including Matt Cavedon of Harvard University, Thomas Dec of Yale University (formerly of The University of Connecticut-Stamford), Robert Burack of the University of Michigan–Flint, Bob Bowen of The University of Michigan, and Abigail Walls of Albion College. The show is best known for its involvement in the July 2008 Sonny Landham scandal.

Contents

History

The Weekly Filibuster was founded by Ben Goodman and Tom Dec and launched with special panelist Matt Cavedon on January 12, 2008. [1] Cavedon immediately joined the program as a permanent panelist to represent the political right against the liberal Dec.

The show first gained attention when presidential candidate Alan Keyes announced on the January 26, 2008 program that he was considering leaving the Republican Party. [2] As the Democratic National Committee's struggle with Michigan and Florida's delegates garnered significant media in March, Robert Burack and Bob Bowen of Michigan, and Rebekah Hammond of Florida joined the broadcast to comment on the scandal, and would become permanent panelists. Hammond would leave the show in early summer 2008, but return as a guest panelist during the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The show additionally aired on Wednesday nights during summer 2008 and 2009 as "The Weekly Filibuster: Wednesday Edition" and, alternatively, "The Wednesday Filibuster." Abigail Walls served as a conservative panelist during August 2008, and returned a year later to be named as a permanent contributor to the panel.

The show earned national attention in summer 2008 for its series of interviews with the Kentucky Libertarian Party nominee for United States Senate, Sonny Landham. [3] The show was also featured on Politico.com's KoteckiTV (and subsequently, MSNBC) for hosting a debate between MSNBC-TV's David Shuster and Politico's James Kotecki. [4] The show was among the first in the media to speculate that Sen. John McCain might pick Alaska Governor Sarah Palin as his vice presidential running mate. [5]

The show aired coverage from the floor of the 2008 Democratic National Convention and has featured interviews with many guests including Katrina vanden Heuvel, Chris Cillizza, Gov. Paul Cellucci, Jack Cafferty, Gov. Pete du Pont, Autistic Self Advocacy Network President Ari Ne'eman, James Kotecki, Gov. Jane Swift, David Shuster, Kerry Healey, [6] John Frary, Rabbi Dennis Shulman, Matthew Yglesias, Cyrus Krohn, Rick Noreiga, Joe Lauria, Former Senator Bob Smith, Thurston Clarke, Alan Keyes, Wayne Root, and Rick Davis. Sonny Landham, Mike Gravel, Brian Moore, and Gene Amondson all appeared on the program on multiple occasions.

The show last aired on January 3, 2010.

Sonny Landham comments

Sonny Landham first appeared on The Weekly Filibuster on July 23, 2008, to address controversial comments in the Louisville Courier-Journal . When asked if was calling for the genocide of Arab people. He replied, "I call for outright bombing them back into the sand until they surrender and if they don’t surrender, then you continue the war. Because if you don’t, you will never have peace in the United States. Now do you want peace in the United States or do you want to live to some utopian ideals that are impossible in a world?" He further called for Arabs to be banned from entering the United States, and referred that ethnic group as "camel dung-shovelers", and when questioned on this, suggested using the epithets "rag-heads" and "camel jockeys". [7] Landham was at the time the Libertarian Party nominee for a United States Senate from Kentucky held by Mitch McConnell. On July 28, the Kentucky Libertarian Party asked Landham to withdraw his nomination, cgiting those comments and explaining that his politics did not agree with their platform and values. [8]

Guest hosts and panelists

On several occasions, Tom Dec and Matt Cavedon guest moderated the program, though Burack typically substituted when Ben Goodman was unavailable.

While Robert Burack, Tom Dec, Bob Bowen, and Matt Cavedon appeared regularly, several panelists joined the show for extended stints, including Republican Sage Koontz at The University of Virginia, Jay Gobeil of the University of Maryland, College Park. Several guest panelists have made repeated appearances including Jonathan Padilla at Harvard University and Sam Free at The George Washington University. Ian Engdahl of Rhodes College made one guest appearance and would go on to serve a stint as the show's main announcer and semi-regular newsreader.

Bostonian Peter Christopher of the University of Maine was a frequent substitute and guest panelist. He co-hosted Drive Time, a popular morning show on the University of Maine's WMEB with Goodman during the school year.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">P. J. O'Rourke</span> American political satirist and journalist (1947–2022)

Patrick Jake O'Rourke was an American libertarian political satirist and journalist. O'Rourke was the H. L. Mencken Research Fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute and a regular correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, The American Spectator, and The Weekly Standard, and frequent panelist on National Public Radio's game show Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me! He was a columnist at The Daily Beast from 2011 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sonny Landham</span> American actor (1941–2017)

William M. "Sonny" Landham III was an American actor and stunt performer. He portrayed Billy Bear in 48 Hrs. and tracker Billy Sole in Predator.

<i>Whats My Line?</i> American panel game show

What's My Line? is a panel game show that originally ran in the United States on the CBS Television Network from 1950 to 1967, originally in black and white and later in color, with subsequent U.S. revivals. The game uses celebrity panelists to question contestants in order to determine their occupation, i.e. their "line of work". The majority of the contestants were from the general public. However, there was one weekly celebrity "mystery guest" for which the panelists were blindfolded. It is on the list of longest-running U.S. primetime network television game-shows. Originally moderated by John Charles Daly and most frequently with regular panelists Dorothy Kilgallen, Arlene Francis, and Bennett Cerf, What's My Line? won three Emmy Awards for "Best Quiz or Audience Participation Show" in 1952, 1953, and 1958 and the Golden Globe Awards for Best TV Show in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kennedy (commentator)</span> American political satirist, media personality

Lisa Kennedy Montgomery, referred to mononymously as Kennedy, is an American libertarian political commentator, radio personality, author, and former MTV VJ. She was the host of MTV's now-defunct daily late-night alternative-rock program Alternative Nation throughout much of the 1990s.

In American politics, a Libertarian Republican is a politician or Republican Party member who has advocated Libertarian policies while typically voting for and being involved with the Republican Party.

<i>Real Time with Bill Maher</i> American television talk show

Real Time with Bill Maher is an American television talk show that airs weekly on HBO, hosted by comedian and political satirist Bill Maher. Much like his previous series Politically Incorrect on Comedy Central and later on ABC, Real Time features a panel of guests who discuss current events in politics and the media. Unlike the previous show, guests are usually better versed in the subject matter: more experts such as journalists, professors, and politicians participate in the panel, and fewer actors and celebrities are included.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Shuster</span> American television journalist

David Martin Shuster is an American television journalist and talk radio host. He most recently served as principal anchor and managing editor for i24 News, previously serving as an anchor for MSNBC and worked for Fox News, CNN, Current TV, The Young Turks and Al Jazeera America.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Faisal al-Qassem</span>

Faisal Al-Qasim, also written as Faisal Al-Kasim in is a British-Syrian television personality based in Qatar, who is known for hosting the controversial live debate show The Opposite Direction on Al Jazeera, where two guests with contradicting points of views debate on various topics but mostly topics related to politics of the Arab world. Fights break out on some occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States Senate election in New Jersey</span>

The 2008 United States Senate election in New Jersey was held on November 4, 2008. Incumbent Democratic U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg won re-election to a fifth, non-consecutive term, defeating former Republican congressman Dick Zimmer. Zimmer had also been the nominee for this seat in 1996.

Soundstage is an American live concert television series produced by WTTW Chicago and HD Ready. The original series aired for 13 seasons between 1974 and 1985; a new series of seasons began in 2003, with the latest starting in April 2018, each presented in high-definition with surround sound. Some performances have been made available on DVD. The performances are taped on stage at the WTTW television studio in Chicago, as well as large venues throughout the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 United States House of Representatives elections in Michigan</span>

The 2008 congressional elections in Michigan were held on November 4, 2008, to determine who would represent the state of Michigan in the United States House of Representatives. Michigan had fifteen seats in the House, apportioned according to the 2000 United States Census. Representatives are elected for two-year terms; those elected will serve in the 111th Congress from January 3, 2009, until January 3, 2011. The election coincided with the 2008 U.S. presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">S. E. Cupp</span> American political commentator and writer

Sarah Elizabeth Cupp is an American television host, political commentator, and writer. In August 2017, she began hosting S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered, a political panel show, co-hosted by Andrew Levy, on HLN and later CNN.

<i>Stossel</i> (TV series) Defunct American TV series

Stossel was a weekly American talk show, hosted by John Stossel, highlighting current consumer issues with a libertarian viewpoint. The television program debuted on December 10, 2009, on the Fox Business Network and aired on Fridays. It originally aired at 8:00 pm EST, but was moved to 9:00 pm EST. In 2013, Fox News Channel began to replay the show which aired occasionally on the weekends.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Johnson 2012 presidential campaign</span> 2012 presidential campaign by Gary Johnson

The 2012 presidential campaign of Gary Johnson, the 29th governor of New Mexico, was announced on April 21, 2011. He declared his candidacy for the 2012 Republican Party nomination for President of the United States. On December 28, 2011, Johnson withdrew his candidacy for the Republican nomination, and declared his candidacy for the 2012 presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party. The 2012 Libertarian National Convention was held during the first weekend of May 2012. On May 5, 2012, after promoting his libertarian-oriented political positions to delegates, Johnson received the most votes at the convention and became the official 2012 Libertarian presidential nominee. On November 6, 2012, Johnson received just under 1% of the popular vote in the general election, amounting to more than 1.2 million votes, more than double what the Barr/Root ticket received in 2008. This was the most successful result for a third-party presidential candidacy since 2000, and the best in the Libertarian Party's history by vote number at the time. Johnson ran again in 2016 and received nearly four times his 2012 vote total.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey</span>

The 2012 United States House of Representatives elections in New Jersey were held on Tuesday, November 6, 2012, and elected the 12 U.S. Representatives from the state of New Jersey, a loss of one seat following the 2010 United States Census. The elections coincided with the elections of other federal and state offices, including a quadrennial presidential election and an election to the U.S. Senate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rand Paul 2016 presidential campaign</span>

The 2016 presidential campaign of Rand Paul, the junior United States senator from Kentucky, was announced on April 7, 2015 at an event at the Galt House in Louisville, Kentucky. First elected to the U.S. Senate in the 2010 election, Paul's candidacy for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in 2016 had been widely speculated since early 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Johnson 2016 presidential campaign</span> Political campaign

The 2016 presidential campaign of Gary Johnson, the 29th Governor of New Mexico, was announced on January 6, 2016, for the nomination of the Libertarian Party for President of the United States. He officially won the nomination on May 29, 2016, at the Libertarian National Convention in Orlando, Florida, receiving 56% of the vote on the second ballot. Former Massachusetts Governor William Weld was endorsed by Johnson for the Libertarian vice-presidential nomination, which he also received on May 29, 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2024 United States elections</span>

The 2024 United States elections are scheduled to be held, in large part, on Tuesday, November 5, 2024. During this presidential election year, the President of the United States and Vice President will be elected. In addition, all 435 seats in the United States House of Representatives and 34 of the 100 seats in the United States Senate will be contested to determine the membership of the 119th United States Congress. Thirteen state and territorial governorships and numerous other state and local elections will also be contested.

References

  1. ↑ "The Weekly Filibuster". ThomasDec.com . Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  2. ↑ "McCAIN, ROMNEY FIGHT FOR FL WIN; RUDY TO QUIT THIS WEEK; FL DEM PRIMARY; KEYES HINTS AT THIRD PARTY RUN". Politics1. January 2008. Archived from the original on 2008-11-27. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  3. ↑ "Libertarian Candidate Makes Anti-Arab Remarks". KYPost.com . Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  4. ↑ "A Whirlwind of Digital Pain". Politico.com. July 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  5. ↑ "July 2, 2008 Episode". The Weekly Filibuster. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  6. ↑ "Healey doesn't close door on Senate run, says Patrick is running out of time'". PolitickerMA. November 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-24.
  7. ↑ Pollard, Trey (July 25, 2008). "Landham reiterates anti-Arab sentiment on talk show: 'I said no Arabs into this country'". Politicker. Archived from the original on August 3, 2008. Retrieved December 24, 2008.
  8. ↑ "Libertarians drop Sonny Landham". Independent Political Report. July 28, 2008. Retrieved October 12, 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.