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Edited on Wed May-16-07 10:24 PM by Adenoid_Hynkel
(H is me. S is Sam.)
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Sam Seder has been a fixture on Air America Radio since its launch, serving first as co-host with Janeane Garofalo on The Majority Report. In 2006, he moved to the morning slot as host of “The Sam Seder Show,” providing biting commentary on the day’s headlines. His first book “F.U.B.A.R.: America’s Rightwing Nightmare,” was co-written with Stephen Sherrill and details the frightening agenda of the religious right in American politics.
H- On the show, you approach topics with a mix of serious and comedic approaches. In ”F.U.B.A.R.”, you've concentrate primarily on a comedy to address issues.
S - - I think the idea behind that was just that we wanted to be able to reach a larger audience and, frankly, I've talked to so many people who have written great books on the subjects we cover in the book. We just felt we were better positioned to write a more comedic version of it.
It's really meant to be a bathroom book - one that you can pick up every time that you go in. That's where we wrote it. Stephen and I both have Wi-Fi, so we were able to trade our writings while still on the toilet.
And frankly, I don't have the academic background people who write about these things do. Our forte is comedy, so we went with our strength.
H - The book focuses heavily on the Bush domestic agenda. Do you feel that this coverage of these policies have been eclipsed by the media's focus on the war?
S - I think that's accurate. Much of our foreign policy problems have their roots in the Bush administration's domestic agenda. I think a lot of what the Bush administration does is really about domestic politics. I don't even believe that they have any type of real policies, as opposed to political positions.
Ron Suskind in his latest book, “The Price of Loyalty” talks about how Paul O'Neill said he'd never seen an administration so devoid of policy people, as opposed to political operatives. There's two ways you make policy - one is based on developing solid policy that is oriented towards the problem that the politics are supposed to solve, and the other way you do that is “What is going to help us most in a political sense?” I think this administration operates under the latter.
H - Do you think foreign policy is intentionally used as a cover for the domestic agenda?
S - I think it feeds into it, sure. It's certainly one of the things the Bush administration used to get reelected. It's one of the things they used to chill the media. It's one of the things they do to distract the country from what they're doing domestically. And although the implications of Iraq are going to be with us for 10-20 years, what's happening in terms of the Republican Party being taken over by the American Taliban is something that's not going to go away without more awareness by liberals, independents and moderates.
H - In the book you have a chapter providing instructions on how to argue with conservative family members and friends. It seems like sometimes it’s possible to persuade them on some issues, but the second they bring up abortion or gay marriage, you hit a brick wall and they won't budge. Do you think there's a way to get through and reach these people or are they a lost cause?
S - I think they're a lost cause. When it comes to gay marriage, I think that's just a matter of time. I really don't think younger people have the same knee-jerk prejudices against gay people that older people do. And you see that just in the change in the polls on gay marriage since '04.
H - The latest one shows a 15% shift.
S - Exactly. In terms of abortion - It's just the fist step for them. It's really more about contraception. It's really more about sex.
H – Such as the cervical cancer vaccine?
S - The HPV vaccine and this movement of so-called pharmacists - and I say “so-called” because they're not really doing they're job - to prevent people from having contraceptives-or even emergency contraceptives.
H - In saying they're a lost cause –
S - They're not convertible because they are, literally, zealots. And I don't think there's anything you can do with zealots. I don't think you can reach these people and, frankly, while they are the electoral strength of the Republican Party, they're a significant minority in this country .But I think one of the biggest points of the book is to make people who think they are simply marginal and hysterical realize that they control the Republican Party.
H- Recently here in West Virginia, two prominent Democratic Party leaders allowed the American Family Association to take part in drafting an attempted anti-gay marriage amendment to the state constitution. What do progressives in the south do when members of what’s supposed to be their side adopt rightwing issues?
S - I think it's going to take time. In terms of progress, the south as a whole has lagged the west, the southwest, the northwest and the east. The bottom line is while there are people who aren't as progressive as the mainstream of the Democratic Party, they still at the end of the day, hopefully, provide a majority for Democrats - and they'll have to deal with the implications of that.
H - Do you think Bush won the election because of so-called “values voters?”
S - You mean 2004?
H – Yes. If you believe he actually won it.
S - Yeah, I'd put an asterisk next to the word “won/” But yes, I think that's the electoral strength of the Republican Party. It's not “values voters.” Everyone votes their values. But, yes, the Dominionists and the theocrats put George W. Bush over the top.
H - The media often adopts the Republican frame of debate. What do you think is the best way to counter the Republican noise machine?
S - More books like “F.U.B.A.R.” And I think the Internet is part of it. I haven't totally given up on the mainstream media, but I don't have high hopes. People have to get more involved. That's really why we wrote a more humor-oriented book. When we gave the book to our editor it was like,
“Is all this stuff true?”
“Yeah, that's the point.”
“Holy shit. That's scary.”
H - How has the religious right been able to so successfully sell the idea that they're the ones who are persecuted and that Christianity is under assault, such as with the semi-annual “War on Christmas” hoax?
S - It's because you have these zealots who are immersed in a world that's hermetically sealed. It's almost like Morgan Spurlock’s film, “Super Size Me,” where all he did is eat fast food. If you were to do the same thing with rightwing media, you would begin to believe it, too. I think that's why they do it.
H - And anything contrary to these beliefs, such as finding out about Bill Bennett's gambling or Rush Limbaugh's drug use is disregarded.
S - Of course. That's the very definition of a zealot. Facts are irrelevant. They start with the premise and then they just receive the facts and mutate them into a system that works. In college, one of the things I studied was millenistic cults, and the most fascinating things - You'd think when the date comes for the world to end, that the next day, the group would break up and they'd be like “Hey, wait a second. You were wrong.” But in fact, it actually has the opposite effect. Because the fact that the world didn't blow up somehow gets mutated into this notion of “We were right, but there was something else that was wrong.”
The Sam Seder Show can be heard on Air America Radio affiliates from 9am to noon on weekdays. It is available for streaming at www.airamericradio.com
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