Glenn & Helen podcast with Jonah Goldberg and "Liberal Fascism"

I have some catching up to do in my podcast listening. The only one I've had to listen to, so far, is the Glenn & Helen Show podcast with author Jonah Goldberg, who of course is better known for his writings for the National Review.

The show's hosts of course are Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds and his wife, Dr. Helen Smith.

Goldberg's latest book is Liberal Fascism: The Secret History of the American Left, From Mussolini to the Politics of Meaning.

That title is drawing a response, and those on the left side of the political sphere are "in a tizzy" can't get past it as they denounce a book they haven't read.

The book's cover doesn't help calm passions, it shows a smiley face with a Hitler mustache scrawled above the lip.

Goldberg patiently explains the the term "fascism" in its original sense, and the title comes from an H.G. Wells speech given at Oxford in 1932--Wells was a socialist in addition to being a fabulously successful science fiction writer, and although it's largely forgotten now, he was a major international political force in the first half of the last century.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama (followers of the "cult of unity") are hit hard in the podcast, as is Mike Huckabee, who Goldberg took to task for his neo-compassionate conservatism in the most recent National Review.

Goldberg shuts the door on HRC's It Takes a Village, and discusses the book's suggestion of how "The Village" should put jumbotron television screens in public places to offer parenting skills, with those suggestions coming from the government.

To me that sounds like the underground "village" of the post-apocalypse world in the cult movie classic, A Boy And His Dog, where loudspeakers dispense homespun wisdom such as the recipe for apple pie.

Looking at the DVD cover of the film, I noticed it has a mushroom cloud on it--with a smiley face in the smoke.

After listening to the podcast, which you can listen to or download here, I did the sensible thing I bought the book.

Or you can head to the iTunes site and have it on your iPod or iPhone.

Jonah Goldberg has a new blog on the National Review Online site, by the way, which is called Liberal Fascism.

Finally, regular readers of this blog know I spent the night in Liberal, Kansas last year. There are no jumbotron screens there.

The podcast is sponsored by Volvo Cars.

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