Podcast 427 – Michele Bachmann

Michele Bachmann. The Bob Davis Podcasts caught up with former Congressman Michele Bachmann at the Citizens Council For Health Freedom annual dinner. Bachmann proves she is still a firehose and a firebrand when it comes to talk about politics. The CCHF is interested in repealing Obamacare, so this is where we start. Does the former congressman really think this congress, or the next, is going to actually repeal the ACA? How would that vote be taken? Sharing some of her experience from the presidential campaign trail in 2012, she talks about Jeb Bush and Donald Trump, and responds to a question about Trump’s seeming support of not repealing the ACA, saying Trump is willing to change his mind. She goes on to blast current republican leadership in the House of Representatives, and especially Minnesota Republican Leadership for not taking the fight to the left. She also takes on what she feels are the big issues in the 2016 race, starting with illegal immigration, and her analysis of what the republican base wants. Bachmann says Minnesota Republicans are risk averse, afraid to take on the democrats and the left, on the issues. In comments sure to ruffle some careful republican feathers, Bachmann says Minnesota’s Republicans at the state and federal level ‘don’t want editorial boards mad at them’. Bachmann says the Democrats are pushing hard left to their base, while the right is doing the opposite; pushing more to the center and ‘kicking its base in the shins’. Current Republican leadership in Minnesota really isn’t going to like her critique and explanation of why she thinks they are doing a bad job, but the base will celebrate what she says. Bachmann agrees with many of her former constituents who lament the loss of what she calls conservative leadership in Minnesota and reminds people on the sidelines in the Republican camp that one person can make a difference, providing a detailed history of how she got involved in politics in Minnesota in the first place, and then on to Congress and a presidential campaign. The former congressman and 2012 presidential candidate travels the country speaking, and proves in this interview she is as capable as ever of shaking things up. Is there another election in her future? Listen and find out. Sponsored by X Government Trucks and Eric and Erum Lucero of Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate. 

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Podcast 425 – New Thinking Part 1

New Thinking Part 1. These days, politics is one emotional appeal after another. The media refers to politicians like Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders as ‘populists’ but in fact they are demagogues; Using emotional appeals and often stimulating people’s long held prejudices and biases to gain support for their campaigns. In 2016 we’re going to see the ‘new rules’ of politics come into play with a vengeance. Most of the action will take place on the so called ‘small screen’ which means your television and especially your smart phones, social media, news websites where viewers watch a video, or part of a video and move on. A strange and symbiotic relationship between media, polling and politics have turned American politics into a freak show. Outrageous characters and weekly ripples in story lines mean more eyeballs. Media moguls and the candidates are laughing all the way to the bank, to the Capitol and the White House. Meanwhile increasingly angry voters become frustrated, losing faith in the outcome of elections, voting and the government itself. Moreover, the worst invective is often heard at meetings where the same politicians and charlatans troop through and tell people what they want to hear. It’s time for a reboot of American Political Thinking. It doesn’t start with politicians or personalities. It starts with individuals, communities, and values. It means researching and thinking about the concerns of your community, developing ideas about issues, talking about those issues, and creating effective political organization around those ideas, not the rhetoric of some pol who will forget about you and your concerns the minute he is elected. A new America is being created.  A new way of thinking is being created, whether you want it or not. If we don’t change the way we think about politics, taking it back to the blocks and rebuilding it, we’re doomed to being controlled by personalities — demagogues — more interested in power than the people. I’m starting a new series of podcasts, which will bear the ‘New Thinking’ title. I’ll do them when the spirit moves me, or I encounter a person or situation I think will help build a new way to think, talk and DO politics in this country, because what we have right now, isn’t cutting it. Sponsored by Baklund R&D, Pride of Homes and Luke Team Real Estate. 

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Podcast 415

Republican Nightmare. With the suspension of Governor Scott Walker’s Presidential campaign comes an opportunity to critique Republican politics, specifically the leadership and Republican rank and file. Aside from the snark, the media has reported that the Wisconsin Governor lamented the absence of ‘Reagan Style Optimism’ in Republican politics so far in the 2016 cycle. Thing is, Republicans themselves aren’t optimistic. In fact Republicans these days are so pessimistic one wonders if they would recognize Ronald Reagan if he were resurrected, or even vote for him. It sure seems like most Republicans think the President is a secret muslim, hell bent on destroying the country, that China took all our jobs, that Jesus is coming back (as soon as the election is over) and all sorts of other rather negative ideas, even if you think they’re true. Can the Republicans win a national election with this kind of negative view of the present situation and the future? Can you win a national election with no real economic plan, save for tax cuts, no foreign policy plan, no real domestic plan and nothing but a list of debatable complaints? The solution appears to be Donald Trump, a reality TV star with a penchant for one liners, and the absence of something called ‘a plan’. As Trump’s popularity increases, preference for the so called Republican Brand decreases. And yet, because of GOP rule changes in 2012, if Donald Trump can translate poll numbers into wins in five states, he may have enough delegates to win the Republican nomination. Who will stop him? Jeb Bush? Chris Christie? Rand Paul? Mike Huckabee? Marco Rubio? Ted Cruz? Lindsay Graham? Which of these candidates can win five states? Or, even one? Scott Walker is suggesting the party unite around someone, anyone other than Trump. Who’s fault IS Trump anyway? Have the moderates — interested only in holding onto their power — screwed the pooch? The moderates are the ones who wanted the debates, and they’re responsible for the monolithically stupid rule changes in 2012, and the rules that allowed the debates to be stacked toward candidates who did well in hack polls. Because of this, you might be saying hello to Republican Presidential Nominee Donald Trump in the future. This is why 2016 may turn out to be a terrible sequel of 2008, and 2012 for the GOP. We are getting close to Halloween, after all. Sponsored by Autonomous Cad, and Pride of Homes. 

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