This week on CounterSpin: George Bush's choice of Robert Gates to replace Donald Rumsfeld as Defense Secretary is being portrayed in the media as a sensible choice; part of a White House turn to more pragmatic policies and advisors in the wake of GOP congressional defeats. But in his report, "The
Secret World of Robert Gates," investigative reporter Robert Parry of ConsortiumNews.com sees Gates differently. Robert Parry will joins us to talk about the Gates nomination.

Also on CounterSpin today: In 2003, Dixie Chicks singer Natalie Maines declared on stage in London that she was ashamed that George W. Bush was from Texas. The campaign against the group that followed was astonishing—radio stations banned the group's music, pundits lined up to denounce them for speaking out on the eve of war, and all the while defenders of free speech were left wondering where it would all end. A new documentary takes us back to those days. Barbara Kopple spoke with CounterSpin's Janine Jackson about her film Shut Up and Sing, and how things have changed—and haven't—in the last three years.

Links:

—The Secret World of Robert Gates, Robert Parry (ConsortiumNews.com, 11/9/06)

—Shut Up and Sing