Pundit Review Radio

I welcomed my friend Jonathan Lewis back to the show this weekend. Jonathan is a liberal and someone I really enjoy talking politics with. Last time he was on, the conversation was mostly about the fine art of political discourse, agreeing to disagree without becoming disagreeable. That said, we never did get around to disagreeing much, so this weekend, we kept it simple, Does President Obama deserve a second term? Jonathan said yes and had every opportunity to make his case. That in and...

This was indeed an honor to speak with Gen. Dave Palmer, former Superintendent of West Point and author of a fantastic book, George Washington: Military Genius "Palmer, historian and former superintendent of West Point, makes a convincing case that America is free, united, and governed by civilians because of Washington’s strategic foresight and tactical brilliance. No subsequent revolution in a dozen other nations ended so happily. Palmer pooh-poohs historians who describe Washington as a...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Army Sgt. Julia Bringloe A nearby Apache gunship pilot radioed Bringloe’s crew, “Medevac, you guys are crazy.” Helping her strap the dead translator to the line while she stayed behind,...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Medal of Honor recipient Leslie H. Sabo Jr. "SP4 Leslie H. Sabo Jr. distinguished himself, May 10, 1970, in Se San, Cambodia, while serving as a rifleman in Company B, 3d Battalion, 506th...

With Fauxcahontas-gate entering month number two, we welcomed back to WRKO William Jacobson, an Ivy League law professor, to talk about Elizabeth Warren and her, ahem, authenticity problem. In the new media, this scandal has been advanced in two places, Breitbart, and Legal Insurrection, Professor Jacobson’s outstanding blog. The fact that Elizabeth Warren is still today claiming Indian heritage, despite all we’ve learned about the lack of evidence, is astounding. She’s not doubling down,...

This was a double treat for our eight anniversary show on WRKO. One of my favorite guests has been Eric Maddox, author of Mission: Black List #1: The Inside Story of the Search for Saddam Hussein—As Told by the Soldier Who Masterminded His Capture. This book was fantastic and the story of how Staff Sergeant Maddox used Saddam’s social network to squeeze his close in support was fascinating. It’s about to get the Hollywood treatment with Twilight’s Robert Pattison in the starring role. Eric...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Sgt. Clifford Wooldridge, Wooldridge, 22, of Port Angeles, Wash., was a vehicle commander when his convoy came under enemy fire on June 18, 2010. He led four Marines in outflanking 15...

What a rude host I am sometimes. I invite my friend Sam Bowlby to the WRKO studios for a couple of hours of radio fun and we lasted thirty minutes, bumped by the Red Sox game that would not end. The Celtics playoff pre-game show was starting on WEEI so baseball was headed to WRKO at 6:30pm. Sam, you may recall, is a veteran of two tours in Iraq. He graduated in 2004 from Hamilton College, one of the nation’s finest, and instead of law or business school, he entered the Marines. Two tours...

Hard for me to put into a few words how thrilled I was to welcome Frank Warren to Pundit Review Radio. Frank Warren is the man behind PostSecret.com. So what is Post Secret? PostSecret is an ongoing community art project where people mail in their secrets anonymously on one side of a homemade postcard. PostSecret 13345 Copper Ridge Road Germantown, MD 20874, USA A very simple idea that has led to some pretty amazing, moving and inspirational things. It has launched a massive community, the...

We classed up the show last night by welcoming Professor Maurice Cunningham to the WRKO studio. While he may be the chair of UMASS Boston political science department, more important to us, he’s a terrific blogger, and yes, tweeter! In addition to some great columns for Commonwealth Magazine, Professor Cunningham writes at a great group blog, Mass Politics Profs. We discussed the impact of blogging and social media and we also talked a lot about Massachusetts politics. The Senate race is...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Staff Sgt. Trevor D. Tow. From the Army Times account, With rounds from both enemy weapons flying by his head, body and feet and hitting the ground around him, Tow continued to fight in...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Captain Barry F. Crawford Jr., recipient of the Air Force Cross. The Someone You Should Know radio collaboration began as an extension of Matt Burden’s series at Blackfive. Bruce does an...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about a story you probably remember from the earliest days in Afghanistan, a prison revolt in which CIA agent Johnny Spann lost his life and the world became aware of John Walker Lindh, the...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about "Staff Sergeant Killeen’s heroic actions under effective enemy fire on the objective undoubtedly saved the lives of his squad, prevented the possible destruction of his platoon, and were...

When I heard this book was blurbed by Bing West, I said, “Say no more, just send me a copy”. Well, that was a good decision. I learned a ton about the Vietnam War reading this book. It is very much written from the perspective of the Vietcong, using an amazing amaount of original source material. The title, Grab Their Belts to Fight Them, had a double meaning for me after finishing the book. Obviously, it is a reference to close quarters, hand-to-hand combat. It also speaks to the Vietcong’s...

A few thoughts from WRKO tonight, Treyvon Martin, George Zimmerman and the vultures The Pundit Review Radio Podcast RSS feed can be found here and you can find us on iTunes at Pundit Review Radio. What is Pundit Review Radio? On Boston’s Talk Station WRKO since 2005, Pundit Review Radio is where the old media meets the new. Each week we give voice to the work of the most influential leaders in the new media/citizen journalist revolution. Called “groundbreaking” by Talkers Magazine, this...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Captain Matthew A. Chaney. From his Silver Star citation, "Although wounded, Captain Chaney relentlessly continued to control actions on the objective ensuring that all structures were...

Bruce McQuain from Blackfive joined us once again for Someone You Should Know, our weekly tribute to the troops. Bruce spent 28 years in the U.S. Army and he is a veteran of the Vietnam war. He brings a perspective and understanding to these stories that we could never match. This week Bruce told us about Gunnery Sgt. Brian M. Blonder, "Gunnery Sgt. Brian M. Blonder was awarded the Navy Cross, the second highest award given for valor in the face of danger, during a ceremony at the Marine...

Anytime I can welcome Professor William Jacobson to Pundit Review Radio I feel as though we are delivering on the premise that launched this radio show nearly eight years ago, and that is to bring the best of the blogs to the radio. In addition to his work at Cornell law school, Professor Jacobson runs Legal Insurrection , a daily must read blog for me. I invited Professor Jacobson to talk about a pretty amazing week for his blog. He wrote a post so compelling that it was the subject of Rush...

Last night I welcomed local author Dan Ferullo to the WRKO studios for a discussion about his novel Monster Hill, "It’s the early sixties, and the wife of Henry Sommers, the leader of the notorious Winter Hill Gang, is brutally murdered in her Boston hospital room, resulting in a gangland war lasting over thirty years and throwing a close-kit Irish family into a whirlpool of violence, deceit, and heartbreak." This is a purely fictional story, not a Bulger-book (not that there’s anything...