Sunday shows: Warren, Huckabee, Obey, Bayh

ABC's " This Week With George Stephanopoulos": Sens. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

Bloomberg's "Political Capital" with Al Hunt: Kati Marton, author of "Enemies of the People: My Family’s Journey to America," and Robert Merry, author of "A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent."

CBS' "Face the Nation With Bob Schieffer": Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.); former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas); Dede Scozzafava, former Republican candidate for New York's 23rd Congressional District; Ed Gillespie, former Bush White House counselor.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS": Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt, journalist Maziar Bahari.

CNN's "State of the Union With John King": Sens. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.) and Jack Reed, (D-R.I.); Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.); former British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

"Fox News Sunday With Chris Wallace": Sens. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.), and Evan Bayh (D-Ind.); former Gov. Mike Huckabee (R-Ark.); Howard Dean, ex-chairman of the Democratic National Committee; Maj. Gen. Carla Hawley-Bowland, commanding general of Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

NBC's "Meet the Press With David Gregory": Bill and Melinda Gates, co-chairs of the Gates Foundation, and the Rev. Rick Warren, pastor of California's Saddleback Church.

-- Steve Padilla

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File photo: The Rev. Rick Warren. Credit: Don Bartletti / Los Angeles Times

A Kennedy battles a bishop: church, state and abortion

Rhode Island Democrat Patrick Kennedy, son of the late Massachusetts Sen. Ted Kennedy, has, like his father, long been a public supporter of abortion rights.

Because of his stance on abortion, Bishop Thomas Tobin, the archbishop of the Providence diocese, three years ago banned Kennedy from receiving Holy Communion but promised to keep the decision confidential.

Now, the 42-year-old Kennedy is going public. And the bishop is fighting back.

On Friday, Kennedy told the Providence Journal that Bishop told him he was "not a good practicing Catholic because of the positions that I’ve taken as a public official,” particularly on abortion.

Bishop Tobin replied that even though “I have no desire to continue the discussion of Congressman Kennedy’s spiritual life in public," he will defend the church or his pastoral ministry from "inaccurate statements." The truth, said the bishop, is that he never discussed their conversation with anyone else, and that he prays that Kennedy will “enter into a sincere process of discernment, conversion and repentance,”

Kennedy first attacked the church in October during the House debate on abortion protections in the healthcare bill. At the time, the Rhode Island congressman told Catholic News Service, “I thought they were pro-life. If the Church is pro-life, then they ought to be for health-care reform because it’s going to provide health care that (is) going to keep people alive."

Despite the war of words in the public arena, the church has been winning in the halls of Congress. A few weeks ago, lobbying by Catholics helped preserve limits on government funding for abortions in the healthcare bill, protections they are again seeking in the Senate.

As Politico's Jeanne Cummings reported this morning, the U.S. Conference of Bishops hit on a winning lobbying strategy: deploy paid staff to Capitol Hill, tap influential bishops to lobby key congressional leaders and distribute bulletin inserts to 19,000 parishes with easy instructions — and sample wording — for sending a message to local representatives.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Associated Press

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Huckabee: Republican attacks on Obama 'deplorable'

He could go down as the first Republican to spar with conservative icon Rush Limbaugh and live to talk about it.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee told the Hudson Union Society some weeks ago that Republican attacks on President Obama for everything from visiting Dover Air Force Base to opening the White House to local trick-or-treaters on Halloween are hurting the country.

Now, his comments are circulating on the net, posing a direct counter to Limbaugh, who has criticized Obama's Dover visit as a photo op.

Said Huckabee:

When he was at Dover the other day, and went there to pay respect for soldiers, I heard a lot of people on the right say, "Aw, that's just a cheap photo-op." No, I think it was the commander-in-chief of our military paying respect to a dead soldier, and I'm grateful that he did that, and I was proud of him for doing that. And I think we all -- as Americans -- should give him credit for doing that.

Perhaps cognizant of public opinion polls that show Obama personally popular with most Americans, even those who disagree with his policies, Huckabee added: "When he and Michele hosted the trick-or-treaters on Halloween, quit finding something wrong with that. Say. 'Good, I'm glad that he and the first lady are treating children to an experience at the White House.' And I just find it deplorable that some people on my end of the aisle want to find everything wrong and nothing right about the man as a man."

Finally, recalling that liberals regularly reviled George W. Bush no matter what he did, Huckabee, a former pastor, pleaded for comity.

I hated it when people did that to George Bush. They couldn't even laugh at the man's jokes. They found something wrong with everything and if we do that to Barack Obama, then shame on us, shame on us. No wonder our country is so divided when that happens.

Huckabee made the comments while on book tour for "A Simple Christmas." Republican insiders, mindful of all the attention focused on former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's "Going Rogue," are calling Huckabee's "the other book tour."

-- Johanna Neuman

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Mitt Romney talks about the economy, tea parties and the future of the Republican party

A few minutes before Mitt Romney spoke to conservative donors at a dinner hosted by the Young America's Foundation conference in Santa Barbara this month, he made a surprise appearance before a roomful of student attendees who had been squeezed out of the dinner due to lack of space.

"Hey, everybody!" he said. "Ho! Ho!"

The 200 or so young conservatives cheered. "You are a good American!" one young man shouted.

For a few minutes, the former Massachusetts governor bantered with the crowd with the ease of a stand-up comedian. He fielded questions about the economy -- "It will get better"  -- and the 2012 presidential election.

"Are you running?" someone asked.

Romney laughed. "I'm running up the stairs," he said.

Romney, who sought the Republican presidential nomination last year and lost to Arizona Sen. John McCain, is widely seen as a front runner in the race for the 2012 nomination. Although he hasn't announced his intentions, he spoke like a candidate at the conference, seeming eager to impress the deep-pocketed donors in attendance.

The Young America's Foundation aims to groom high school and college students to be future leaders by exposing them to the conservative philosophies that organizers say are missing from many classrooms. Last weekend's conference brought nearly 300 high school and college students to the Reagan Ranch Center, where the foundation is based, for a series of lectures.

A website tracking potential candidates for the 2012 presidential election reports that...

Gay rights advocates get good news from unusual sources: Salt Lake City and the AMA

 
Gay rights advocates were disappointed last week when Maine voters voted to repeal a state law allowing same-sex marriage. But they got a boost on Tuesday from two unlikely sources: the American Medical Assn. and the Salt Lake City Council. 

At its semiannual meeting in Houston, the nation's largest doctors' group voted to oppose the military's "don't ask, don't tell' policy because it sometimes restricts the "honesty and openness . . . that is the basis of the patient-physician relationship."

The AMA also reported that same-sex couples excluded from civil marriage often do not have access to the same healthcare benefits that married couples do.  

Same-sex households are less likely to have health insurance than their married counterparts and are therefore at a higher risk of "living sicker and dying younger," said Dr. Peter Carmel, an AMA board member. The AMA said the disparity is also linked to a basic fact: Same-sex families aren't eligible to receive other benefits afforded to married couples, including tax breaks and Social Security survivor benefits.

The group resolved to "work to reduce the health disparities suffered because of unequal treatment . . . by supporting equality in laws affecting healthcare of members in same-sex partner households and their dependent children."

In Utah, the Salt Lake City Council passed two ordinances making it illegal to discriminate against gays in housing and employment. As the Ticket reported last week, voters in Kalamazoo approved a similar ordinance that grants anti-discrimination protections to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender individuals.

Significantly, the ordinances in Salt Lake City were endorsed by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This is the same Mormon Church that strongly urged members to contribute money to the campaign in support of Proposition 8, the 2008 ballot initiative that banned same-sex marriage in California.

Mormons were credited with playing a strong role in the measure's victory in Salt Lake City.

Have the Mormon's had a change of heart?

No, said Michael Otterson, a church spokesman. He told the City Council that the church "remains unequivocally committed" to opposing gay marriage.

-- Kate Linthicum

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Photo: A car flies the gay pride flag in protest past the Mormon Conference Center during the 179th Semi-Annual General Conference of the Mormon Church on Oct. 3 in Salt Lake City. Credit: Getty Images

Sarah Palin breaks with GOP to endorse Conservative Party candidate in N.Y. House race

Sarah Palin, who a few people may recall was the vice presidential candidate on last year's Republican Party ticket that crashed and burned, has broken with her party in the race for a House seat from New York and endorsed the candidate of the state's Conservative Party.

Palin announced late Thursday night that she was endorsing Doug Hoffman as, well, more conservative than the Republican Party candidate Dede Scozzafava in the race to fill New York's 23d District.

That seat was vacated by President Obama's appointment of Republican Rep. John McHugh as secretary of the Army. Hmmm.

"Doug Hoffman stands for the principles that all Republicans should share," Palin said, "smaller government, lower taxes, national defense and a commitment to individual liberty."

Palin then urged her supporters to contribute to Hoffman's third-party campaign against the establishment GOP pick that some conservatives complain is not Republican enough, a complaint sometimes also aimed at Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who thrust Palin into the political spotlight last year.

During the last two congressional elections that were so disastrous for the GOP, Republican McHugh won the 23d's House seat with ease, even as Obama beat out the Palin-what's-his-name ticket with 52% of the vote.

Palin's backing of Hoffman matches the endorsement of Hoffman by former Sen. Fred Thompson and ex-Rep. Dick Armey and puts the trio in direct conflict with former GOP House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who  has endorsed and helped Scozzafava, and the party's Washington establishment.

The schism on the right creating a three-way race may well mean that Democrat Bill Owens squeaks to a victory in the normally GOP district, a House gain that probably never even crossed the minds of political strategists in the White House when they named McHugh to the Pentagon.

The New York House race and the governor's races in Virginia and New Jersey will be closely watched as indicators of voter attitudes 10 months into the hectic Obama presidency and 12 months out from the congressional midterm elections. Hence, the White House and Democratic National Committee investing so much effort in helping their party's candidates.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Jenny Sanford, book deal in hand, makes first public appearance since splitting the governor's mansion

She never played it like the good wife, standing dutifully by as her husband, Gov. Mark Sanford, went gaga over his love affair with a Argentine woman, a tryst that prompted him to go AWOL from his gubernatorial duties last June. You remember, the guy they called the "Love Guv," the one who suffered what the Washington Post called an "Appalachian-Trail-no-wait-I-mean-Argentine-mistress meltdown."

Now, South Carolina First Lady Jenny Sanford will make her first public appearance since separating from her scandal-plagued husband and moving out of the governor's mansion in August. An aide announced that Saturday she'll participate in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, a Charleston-area 5K run/walk to benefit breast cancer research.

Jenny Sanford, who moved with the couple's four sons to their beach home on the South Carolina coast, is also writing a memoir. According to Ballantine Books, which plans to publish the "inspirational" tell-all next May, the former investment banker will talk about her transition from Wall Street executive to Southern political spouse, and about  "the universal issue of maintaining integrity and a sense of self during life's difficult times."

As for the governor, once considered a likely Republican candidate for president in 2012, he still lives at the mansion, and still talks about serving out his term, which ends in early 2011. And the marriage? A former advisor called it effectively over, saying the book is part of the rehabilitation process. "This book is a personal story of pain. It’s not a feminist statement. Frankly, I’ve never seen someone as loyal to her husband as Jenny has been to Mark, and this is what it’s left her with. It’s just a tragedy,” the former advisor said.

-- Johanna Neuman

Photo: Associated Press

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Q&A with Max Blumenthal, author of ‘Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party’

Max Blumenthal is excavating secrets about the nation’s ultra-conservatives.

Showing us their text messages, exposing the psychology behind their actions, and getting behind the curtain to show us who holds the strings.
 
He’s taking investigative journalism to a more visual landscape -- not only telling, but showing readers (and viewers) what he sees out there. His viral videos from the 2008 presidential campaign trail have become popular hits, especially with young audiences.

In his first book "Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement That Shattered the Party," the writer minces no words. He is clear that the GOP has seen its heyday and is left now with a radical right, Christian base that seeks to replace democracy with theocracy, and permanently keep moderates out.

Blumenthal talked about his book, the future of the Republican Party -- which he called the "party of birthers, deathers and Civil War reenacters" -- and how he feels about being called a muckraker.

Why’d you write this book?
I’ve been covering the radical right -- primarily the Christian right -- for six years, particularly their role in national politics and how they took over the Republican Party. I covered the 2008 campaign intensely, and I covered the 2006 midterms. So, this book is really just a culmination of my reporting and my research and my analysis.
 
There have been a lot of books about this movement, but I wanted to write something unique that not only told people who the players are and what they do, but why they are the way they are. I think that’s what people want to know. Because that’s what really animates how the movement will behave in the future.

Breaking: Sarah Palin book so exciting publisher jumps release date; only 50 days to wait!

You Sarah Palin fans/haters who thought you had until next spring to buy and then read at least the first part of Sarah Palin's book need to change your plans. Pronto!

Grab your lawn chair and get down to the local bookstore immediately.

The book is so delicious and revealing -- according to the publisher, who might just have a stake in ginning up excitement over this -- they are moving up the publication date.

"Going Rogue: An American Life" will now go on sale on Nov. 17.

So everyone can get copies as Thanksgiving presents.

Harper publisher Jonathan Burnham says the ex-governor obviously invested herself deeply -- and also quite quickly -- in penning the 400-page volume, and it contains "fascinating details."

Some of which, no doubt, will not be so fascinating to some within the failed campaign of Arizona Sen. John McCain, who picked her as the first GOP female on a presidential ticket in an obvious bid for the Arctic vote.

Many in the mainstream media will also be eager to see how the Republican hockey mom praises them for their objective portrayals of her -- and, indeed, her entire family -- all last fall.

First stop on the book promotion tour, no doubt: CBS to chat with David L. and Katie C.

Harper's says it's ordered a whopping advance printing of 1.5 million copies. But that still means that more than 300 million Americans will have to share copies.

Or perhaps they'll print more.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photo: Associated Press

A special Labor Day tribute to those Americans on duty from those of us off

Sometimes, things happen.

But heading into this Labor Day holiday today, The Ticket's goal is no politics. In a bi-nonpartisan way, of course.

Today, our goal is to pay tribute to those of our countrymen and women around the world who don't have a day off, who will be eating MREs instead of backyard BBQ, for whom "a cold one" might mean an actual shower.

Without them and their predecessors and their successors, none of us would have the political freedoms we enjoy, very often take for granted -- and sometimes don't even bother to exercise because we're just too gosh-darned busy back here out of harm's way.

Turn your sound way up high to watch this moving musical video.

Give a three-minute mental salute to these folks. And then pass this link here on to anyone you think might like to join us.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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