National Public Radio (NPR)
October 18, 2007 Thursday
SHOW: Morning Edition 10:00 AM EST

Armenians, Sen. Dodd, Sports

DEBORAH AMOS, host:

Time now for your comments.

(Soundbite of music)

AMOS: Our coverage of a controversial House committee vote last week
prompted an outpouring of letters. The vote referred to the World War
I mass killing of Armenians, and what is now Turkey, as genocide.

Harry Bulkley of Galesburg, Illinois, writes: You didn’t answer one
basic question – why now? What is it that’s prompted the House to
find that an incident that occurred 92 years ago suddenly needs to be
condemned?

STEVE INSKEEP, host:

We called John Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna
College in Claremont, California. He’s an expert on congressional
politics and offered this answer.

Dr. JOHN PITNEY JR. (Associate Professor of Government; Claremont
McKenna College): The key is Democratic control of the House. During
the dozen years when Republicans control the House, Republicans
tended to defer to the president, first to Clinton and then to Bush.
Also, some argue that Turkish lobbyists had a good deal of influence
with the Republican House members. But when control of Congress
shifted to the Democrats, you had leading members, including Speaker
Pelosi, with strong ties to the Armenian community who did not have
any great deference toward the president.

AMOS: And we continued our series on the presidential candidates’
first campaigns last week with a piece on Connecticut Senator
Christopher Dodd. We reported accurately that Dodd told the Federal
Election Commission he will not seek reelection for his Senate seat
in 2010. But his campaign wrote us to say that while Dodd is
currently focused on his White House run, he will, quote, "cross that
bridge to his Senate run if he gets to it."

INSKEEP: Sheri Dour of Louisville, Kentucky, crossed the bridge to
writing us in order to ask this question: Are you kidding me? She was
responding to this week’s Frank Deford commentary, which argued that
collegiate sports take a backseat to the arts.

Mr. FRANK DEFORD (Senior Contributing Writer, Sports Illustrated):
Sport is not considered art. Instead, it is invariably dismissed as
something lesser, even something rather more vulgar than the more
traditional performance activities.

AMOS: Duer writes: I spent four years as a theater major of a small
college in a small town where the losing football team got all the
money they needed. They had a beautiful new building with a nice gym
for training. I realize money is not the same as respect. However,
while performing in a shed in my own clothes using props I made
myself, it is difficult to feel valued or respected.

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