Brain Trust - Matt Barber

Matt Barber is Director of Cultural Affairs with Liberty Counsel and also serves as Associate Dean with Liberty University School of Law. On today's Brain Trust segment, Barber talked about the current political scope. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

How about Herman Cain?

He's really looking strong. We know that there's a bunch of malarkey trying to paint conservatives and Tea Partiers as racists. There's a long way to go, but he's really going strong. If he starts looking like he'll go all the way, expect the media to pull out the long knives.

He would take probably a third of the African-American vote away from Obama. And if that happens, it's done. President Obama is president no more. Then we'll see who the real racists are. The only people who can't tear themselves away from the race issue are the leftists.

What will people start saying about Herman Cain?

"He's just an Uncle Tom, he's working for the man, he doesn't really represent his people." Which is all racist.

They cannot accept the black Americans who pick themselves up by their bootstraps and make themselves successful.

Is Obama going to retain the African-American vote?

We saw with Rep. Waters, she was really frustrated. He's condescending. His whole voice changes when he's addressing that kind of crowd. Why can't he just speak like he always does?

It's condescending, it's patronizing. I think they're starting to wake up to this.

Are Americans going to fall for the jobs bill ploy?

I don't think so. I think they see it for what it is. It's a straw man theory. "Those obstructionist Republicans."

It's a cynical political ploy. He knows his bill can't pass, he knows it won't work, but this way he has someone else to blame.

What about the education budget?

I don't understand it. When are people going to realize that throwing billions of dollars at this problem isn't going to work?

This is not about education, it's about power. We've seen that this centralized education plan hasn't worked. This experiment in socialized education has been a failure.

Your prediction for the election?

I think Herman Cain is gong to continue to gain some momentum.

It's definitely too early to say who's going to win. These polls are a flash shot at the moment of what's going on right now.

Brain Trust - Janice Shaw Crouse

Janice Shaw Crouse, columnist and senior fellow for the Beverly LaHaye Institute, joined the Brain Trust segment to share her perspective on recent cultural and political issues. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of her interview.

A new study says that evangelical youth are having sex almost as much as non-Christians. Has the Church done something wrong?

I think it's very obvious that we have. This goes hand in hand with the fact that we're losing our young people when they go to college.

It's absolutely appalling how difficult it is in college for Christian young people to do anything socially. Oftentimes the Christian groups are very shy; the meetings are not announced; it's just a small group of people who meet in the background. The prospects of a social life without sex are very dismal.

How do you hand your values down to your kids?

I think primarily parents do try to pass their values along to their kids. But what they don't understand is the overwhelming peer pressure, and the loneliness when you have to leave a party because you don't approve of the conduct there. Even in the classroom, they're getting professors who are making fun of their beliefs.

Young people face an uphill battle, and they've got to have support from their family. Many young people have gotten into situations that they are ill-prepared to handle.

What's your opinion on the presidential candidates?

Don't we have a really good slate of candidates? Everyone of them is pro-life, and against same-sex marriage. They all take the same stand publicly. That's a very unusual thing. I think we've got a number of great people on the GOP field.

It's going to be very interesting, because the race is really going to tighten up.

Brain Trust - Ken Klukowski

Ken Klukowski serves as the Director of the Center for Religious Liberty for the Family Research Council. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview as today's Brain Trust.

Is it a bad thing to have a Bible study in your house? Is that illegal now?

It isn't supposed to be, but in a California town we have an issue with an ordinance that is targeting religious and non-profit organizations that are attempting to met in residential areas.  

Can they do that?

They aren't supposed to be able to do this.  In theory some ordinances might, legitimately, impact some religious groups, but this case the law is not being applied properly

Did this come about by someone complaining?

We really aren't sure in this CA case.  The records of the case are obscure.  Someone contacted the authorities, but we aren't sure as to the nature of that complaint or contact.

With the increased interest in home churches, what does this type of conflict/issue look like?

While I am not sure of the actual police procedure for this CA town, I do realize that throughout the history of the Christian church small groups meeting in individual homes has been crucial.  

Furthermore, our nation's constitution is there to protect this free assemblage of people.

How is this legal drama playing out?

It has been taken to court, but not yet to the district level. This is, however, a violation of the constitutional "free-exercise" clause.  So it has significance on a federal level.  

This particular ordinance targets the assembly of religious groups in residential zones.

Even if this ordinance didn't target religious groups, the limitations of people to meet freely would appear to be infringement upon the individual's rights.

The MFShow Audience Quotes

Wanda from MS - God doesn't make mistakes when people are born. People just have problems with their identity sometimes.

Chris from KY - I want to address the debate issue. I think we get caught up with how the candidates look. In the Bible, David was chosen not because of appearance, but because of substance. I think we're missing the substance of the candidates.

David from TX - It's amazing to me how many people in the church would rather go with their sentiments than what the Scriptures say. About the sanctity of life, and about divorce. Where's the passion in the Church for the scriptures?

Tammy from FL - The only thing I have against Mitt Romney is what he doesn't believe in.

Ben from NC - Many times people don't realize that God has established the government to carry our His wrath. God uses them to execute the wrath that he desires.

Jimmy from TX - I believe Rick Perry does believe in Christ. But I don't understand why he continues to engage with criminals, and educate their children at our expense.

Robert from AR - [Rick Perry] needs to start talking about what he's going to do for the United States.

Ricky from AL - [The Mormon] faith is unbelievable. I don't think any Christian in his right mind would vote for Mitt Romney.

Scott from OH - I called to caution the Christian audience that it's not so much about what [a particular candidate] looks like or how he sounds....we don't need a great orator, we need a godly president.

Sherry from IL - It occured to me what our standard is. When Barack Obama was elected...I feel like he was elected for his image. We need to know the issues and be informed.

The MFShow Audience Quotes

BJ from NV - I think [Barack Obama] knows exactly what he's doing, and he's proud of his work. I think he's doing it intentionally.

Robert from IN -  In the Bible it talks about Israel misusing its resources to become friendly with other nations. I think we could take that as an example of what we should be careful of in America.

Jim from IN - If Obama's confused, and [Bill] Clinton's confused, what are we supposed to be?

Matt from OH - For a long time, most people based their political choices on a set of priorities. As a Christian, my #1 priority is pro-life. As a Christian, my position is to emulate Christ.
Jack from OH -

Brain Trust - Patrick Fagan

Patrick F. Fagan is Senior Fellow and Director of the Marriage and Religion Research Institute with the Family Research Council. He joined The Matt Friedeman Show's Brain Trust segment to discuss the impact of the breakdown of the family. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

We've seen the national SAT scores falling. Talk to us about that.

Well, it's a gradual decline. Yes, they're continuing to fall.

We can see that the human capital is falling as well.

It's all related to the family breakdown.

When kids are raised in a family other than their mother and father, the majority of them are weaker adults.

Some would say that it's not nice, lacking compassion, and even bigoted to say that.

Anyone who denies reality is not being very nice, is being bigoted, and lacks compassion.

The work I've been doing seems to some people to be inflammatory.

But it's very dull, basic work. I'm gathering data and showing people what's out there.

By now, the breakdown of the family has been ignored so long that it's having long-term effects.

You can see it in the decline of the SAT scores and the human capital.

Public schools get a lot of blame; is it their fault?

God bless the public school teachers. They're doing very tough work.

They have to play the hand that's dealt them.

What can the teachers do to help?

There's two things we have to look at: long-term and near-term.

Long-term, what teachers have to start pushing for is parents taking responsibility for their children.

Pull that off, and the kids are going to thrive.

Near-term, they do the best they can.

Brain Trust - Rich Lowry

Rich Lowry has served as the Editor of National Review since 1997. He is a syndicated columnist and a commentator for the Fox News channel. He joined the Brain Trust segment of the program to discuss the current political scene. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Presidential sweepstakes: Is Rick Perry in the driver's seat, or is he vulnerable?

Somewhere in between.

He's a much more natural nominee than Mitt Romney.

Although I haven't been as hard on him as other people have about his debate performances, he definitely had a few stumbling points in the second debate.

It looks like a two-man race to me.

The president is proposing 1.5 trillion in new taxes, and a special tax for millionaires. Is he serious?

He's trying to bait the Republicans mostly. These kinds of ideas have been bouncing around for a long time.

They aren't going anywhere. They're just campaign talking points.

Ultimately, if you want to get a lot of revenue, you have to reach down into the middle class. And that is exactly what they want to avoid as a political strategy.

What's the best response from the Republicans?

It's not something you want to do in this economy.

Also, it's kind of gimmicky, and it doesn't address the fundamental problem, which is that we need tax reform.

[Obama] has created a disaster for the short-term.

Where are we with the Solyndra debacle?

It's been such a huge selling point for the administration.

And it's a heck of a lot of money at stake.

The mainstream media is engaged on this one. There's been a lot of good reporting over the last week or two.

At the least, it's an intellectual and political scandal, a policy scandal.

What's your reaction to the new congressman in NYC?

It's amazing. It's a sign of the discontent that is running rampant among the voters, even the Democrats.

Brain Trust - Hunter Baker

Hunter Baker is the Associate Dean of Arts and Sciences at Union University, and a blogger at First Things. He joined The Matt Friedeman Show for the Brain Trust segment. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

Talk to us about the GOP debate: What's going on?

[Rick Perry] has a big advantage from being the governor of TX.

Mitt Romney looks better than him in the debates to me, but Perry has a huge advantage. Romney is still the one-term governor of Massachusetts.

We'll have to see. I thought Perry looked terrible in the first debate, but in the second he was stronger.

The word is that he's a fast learner. I'm looking for him to step up again in the third debate.

You can tell Michele Bachmann really has her eye out for her main chance.

She very briefly rose to the top of the heap, then Perry displaced her.

She's circling him like a shark in the debates now.

Does the New York Nine election tell us anything about the mood of voters in general?

I think it does. This is a district that has been Democrat for about a hundred years.

This was a very solid Democrat district. It's a very Jewish district.

I think [the Jews] are sufficiently alarmed about Obama's views on Israel that they are reconsidering.

Are there other people groups that Obama should be concerned about?

He probably is a lot stronger with American Muslims.

The big question is Latinos, and whether or not Republicans can win the Latino vote.

It's tough to say what their vote will be.

Is Obama staying in or going out?

If we get the right nominee, he'll probably be defeated. If not, he'll stay in.

And the right nominee is?

I think Mitt Romney can beat him. I'm not sure Perry can.

Brain Trust - Robert Rector

Robert Rector, a Heritage Foundation Senior Research Fellow, is a leading national authority on poverty, the U.S.welfare system, and immigration. Here are the "CliffsNotes" of his segment.

Tell us about the report that just came out on poverty.

Well, yesterday's census reported that in America, 46 million people were "poor".

The report is accurate in that it measures the level of unemployment, and a lot of people in the working class have been hit very hard by the recession.


But to the average American, poverty means you don't have enough food to eat, or a house to live in.

The reality is that only one percent of the "poor" are homeless.

The typical home of a poor American has air conditioning and cable TV.A quarter of them have a TiVo.

96 percent of parents who are poor say that their child was never hungry because of lack of food in the home.

A poor family in the U.S. today is struggling to pay for the cable, the air conditioning, the computer, rather than struggling to put food on the table.

Do we have too low of a bar?

When these polls are done, they don't count any of the assistance that poor people receive - the cash, food, housing, medical care, and social services targeted at poor Americans.

These polls are designed to exaggerate the state of poverty in the U.S. in order to engender greater welfare spending.

A third of poor people now have a plasma TV. A poor child is much more likely to live in a home with a cable tv, a computer, and a tevo set than they are to be hungry.

These are things that we should feel good about. Poor people are living much better than anyone expects.
Those that are hungry are a pretty small percentage of the poor.

We as taxpayers are paying an awful lot to support the poor, and we're not getting much credit in this annual poverty report.

The MFShow Audience Quotes

"My husband and I have really had the opportunity to reach out to Muslims through the foreign exchange program. Our exchange student comes to church with us every week and asks questions."

"Why does President Obama think that now people are going to believe in somebody who's done nothing but social work?" - Monty from VA

"[Obama's speech] just seems to be political theater to me. It's exactly what he wants the American public to see. He wants to put the image in the public mind that he's got ideas, and Congress just sits on its hands and does nothing." - Dan from VA

"I feel like the Tea Party is just the extremist groups of the Conservatives". - Gary from MS

"I was a Muslim for 30 years, and I just want to say, if Christians would read the Koran more, it would be easier for them to express the concept of Jesus being God." - Shukriyya from TN

"The big difference between the enemies we have as Christians and the enemies of Satan is that we wish to help our enemies, while Satan tries to destroy his." - Ronny from AR

"Our country suffers from a low Knowledge Quotient. We have low knowledge of God, low knowledge of morality". - Brad from KY

Brain Trust - Fred Jackson

Fred Jackson serves as the News Director for American Family Network. He came on The Matt Friedeman Show to discuss last night's Republican debate. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his segment.

It doesn't look like the debate changed the race much.

I don't think there's any question about that.

Rick Perry and Mitt Romney stood next to each other on the stage last night, and looking at all the reports this morning, everyone is saying the same thing. The reality is that at least for the next several weeks, this is a showdown between Mitt Romney and Rick Perry.

Last night, everybody wanted to hear what they had to say.

At one point, Michelle Bachmann didn't speak for twenty minutes.

Everybody was listening to Romney and Perry.

Is that fair?

I think at this stage, you want to hold on as candidates.

 At some point, you have to decide when it stops being worth it, monetarily speaking, to stay in the race.

Like Tim Pawlenty said, "It just wasn't worth the investment anymore."

It is possible that Perry or Romney would have a fatal political fall that would allow someone else to rise to the surface.

The mood of Republicans right now is that they're looking for a governor.

Right now, I would say that the polls are showing that conservative Republicans are saying, "We believe Rick Perry is the guy that can beat Barack Obama."

Talk to me about the civility, or lack thereof, in the political arena.

We can't say on the air what Jimmy Hoffa said about the Tea Party.

He basically said, "Take them out."

The White House has said nothing about this kind of language.

On and on this is going. You'll remember when Congresswoman Giffords was shot, the first thing that was said was that conservative talk shows were to blame for the shooting.

The White House is not showing leadership in this issue.

Listener Quotables from the MFShow

Mike from VA - When people ask me what religion I am, I tell them I'm a Christ-follower. Some people call that a Christian.

Ben from NC - The key element to the word of God is truth, not religion. Religion is ideology, concepts, and tradition to me.

Roger from TX: I think the people expect too much when they expect the President to create jobs. The President can't do anything about creating jobs.

John from VA - The government is designed for a specific cause, just like the body of Christ. Each member has a certain purpose.

Debbie from LA - I have a lot of reservations about [the Constitutional Convention]. I just don't want to give anyone carte blanche like that.

Alec from AR - I can see a pattern of [Obama] coming up with excuses...too late.

Jeff from KY - The reason Obama's approval rating is the way it is is because of the lack of education in this country.

Dave from OH - I think that [illegal immigrants] are taking a lot of jobs away from Americans.

Brain Trust - Phil Bryant

Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Phil Bryant came on The Matt Friedeman Show to discuss Mississippi's reaction to Hurricane Katrina in light of recent natural disasters. Below are the "CliffsNotes" of his interview.

I saw a poll recently saying that people are skeptical of federal money coming in after natural disasters. Did that concern you after Katrina?

I was very concerned about it. You're looking at almost 30 billion dollars along that Gulf Coast after Katrina came through.

What is remarkable to me is that the taxpayers understand that federal dollars cannot fix everything.

Believe me, to see the public finally saying that federal money cannot sold every problem will help conservatives like myself when we have to say no to federal spending.

What were some lessons we learned from that situation?

What you've got to do is have an early response. As a matter of fact, you have to have a plan in place before the disaster hits.

Here in Mississippi we've got contractors, First Responders, relief teams, and emergency communicators .

That first 48 hours are so critical to be able to save lives with search and rescue.

We have learned to not think we can stick it out on our own.

And then to begin the recovery process. You have to have an emergency plan in place.

You have to know how you deal with the lack of food, water, electricity.

I think Mississippi has done a great job with that.