If We Are the 99 Percent, Who Is the 47?

Making News

Troop Reduction in Afghanistan Signals New Strategy ()

The US is scaling back operations in Afghanistan after a spate of so-called green on blue violence. Green refers to the trained Afghan security forces, while the blue is the military designation for foreign allied forces. Correspondent Deb Riechmann is in Kabul for Associated Press.

Guests:

• Deb Riechmann: Associated Press

Main Topic

If We Are the 99 Percent, Who Is the 47? ()

New York's Zuccotti Park has little vegetation. It's mostly sleek black ledges and an odd red sculpture.  But one year ago yesterday a movement began there which centered on issues of income inequality, under the slogan "We are the 99%." Last night over a hundred protesters were arrested on Wall Street to mark the movement's first anniversary. At about the same time a video was leaked showing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney telling supporters that the 47 percent of non-income-tax paying Americans won't support him. We discuss income inequality, Romney's remarks, and the direction of the Occupy Wall Street movement.

Guests:

• Chris Cillizza: Washington Post, @thefix
• James Antle: Daily Caller News Foundation, @jimantle
• Jon Bakija: Williams College
• Todd Gitlin: Columbia University, @toddgitlin

Links:

• Cillizza on Romney's '47 percent' problem
• Antle on the real problem with Romney's '47 percent' gaffe
• Gitlin's 'Occupy Nation: The Roots, the Spirit, and the Promise of Occupy Wall Street'

Reporter's Notebook

Salman Rushdie's New Memoir ()

Novelist Salman Rushdie was a target of Islamic fundamentalists 20 years before an anti-Islam video sparked protests around the world. Warren Olney spoke with the author yesterday about controversial art, religious extremism, and Joseph Anton, his new memoir about living under a fatwa.

Guests:

• Salman Rushdie: author, @salmanrushdie

Links:

• Rushdie's novel, 'Shame'