Purple Matters Tuesday night

Here's what you need to know from my "Purple Matters" internet radio show Tuesday night.

Pastor and host of the popular conservative Iowa blog, Caffeinated Thoughts, Shane Vander Hart, talked about his private meeting, along with about ten other Iowa religious leaders, that he had with former Governor Terry Branstad. The short of it...Shane wasn't too impressed. He recorded the encounter.

He is a big early backer of former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. He's not buying the story that Palin wanted 100-grand or so to speak to the Iowa Family Policy Center. But he also doesn't sound like he thinks it's the best idea for a possible presidential candidate to ask for a huge chunk of change to come speak to Iowans. His interview is in the first video segment below.

University of Iowa Professor Marshall Poe also described a horrifying experience he and his family had when a drunken student came pounding on his family's door in the middle of the night recently. Poe wrote an op-ed piece in the "Des Moines Register" Sunday. He wants the university to crack down on all the binge drinking that's going on. He recommends the university start suspending students for serious alcohol incidents. That, he believes, will get people's attention that the university is serious. Poe's interview is also below. By the way, on the side of his work as a professor, he also runs a website to highlight historical works (he's an accomplished author himself). Check it out here. His conversation with us is in the second video segment.

New York Times political writer Jeff Zeleny just finished a big project on how Iowans view President Obama since they helped elect him a year ago. Jeff knows Iowa well. He used to write for the Des Moines Register. He went back and interviewed several dozen of the same Iowans he interviewed before the election. He asked the Democrats, Republicans and purple Independents what they think of the Prez's performance. It seems some of the luster of the hope and change has worn away as reality has set in. Here's his piece in the NY Times. Jeff describes what he learned in his project in the second video segment below.

During the show, I asked for your opinions on whether it's o.k. to show a woman's breasts in a television story. WJLA-TV, the ABC station in Washington, D.C., aired bare breasts in video of a story showing how women should check for breast cancer. It is good journalism or is it just a ratings stunt for the "November sweeps"? Here's the story. What do you think?

As always, please share your news,views, questions, comments and suggestions.