Podcast 509

Final Primary In South Dakota. A gonzo talk podcast from the driveway aboard Mobile Podcast Command as we load in and run through the checklists before final departure to the Mount Rushmore State. Why South Dakota? First it’s been awhile since a road trip. Second, coverage of the Presidential Preference Primaries and Caucuses began with Wisconsin Governor Walker’s candidacy announcement last summer, continued into Iowa in February, onto South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, on through to Texas and back home in the first couple of weeks of March. So it is a fitting end that one of the states with the latest primaries, as opposed to the earliest, is South Dakota. While all eyes are focused on the June 7th primary in California, because Bernie Sanders is giving Hillary Clinton fits there, do you think anyone is going to cover voting in South Dakota? That’s why I am going. Aside from the fact that South Dakota is awesome, from the Sturgis celebration to Deadwood, Mount Rushmore, Rapid City and more. Even with the contest between Sanders and Clinton in the Golden State, the media still seems to be focused on finding some negative way to define ‘presumptive’ republican nominee Donald Trump and by extension, the Republican Party. First it was Trump the authoritarian. Then it was Trump the fascist with his incitements to violence – which as an aside seems to be on the other side, with ‘anti-trump protesters’ spitting at passive Trump supporters and my sense is this gets the New York Developer more votes and may just put him in the White House but I digress. Suddenly Trump is Zachary Taylor, 12th president of the United States, and the Republican Party is the Whig Party. Is this an apt comparison? Maybe, even with the scare quotes to describe Taylor and Whigs, but then again, kind of not really. Politics feels like heavy metal, the energy is so low and the results so negative. It’s gonna be good to get out on the road. Sponsored by Brush Studio and Hydrus.

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Podcast 429

Politics as Sport. Millions of people watched the most recent Republican debate on CNBC this week, and everyone is talking about how the candidates ‘really gave it to the moderators’. The moderators had it coming, but was this a surprise? Do you mean say the media is biased? Really? How shocking if true, right? Meanwhile this week a US Destroyer sailed past man-made islands claimed by China provoking quite a response. While the US should challenge Chinese ‘ownership’ of these islands this is just the kind of incident that creates foreign policy crises seemingly ‘out of nowhere’. To add insult to injury House Republicans this week voted to increase federal spending by 50 billion dollars in 2016 and something like 30 billion in 2017. (Editor’s Note: Republicans were shocked and dismayed in the 1970’s when President Carter’s budget deficit hit 45 billion.) Talk about the GOP betrayal of their voters? No, let’s talk about media bias, again. Republican and Democrat candidates running for their party’s nomination to run for president – technically not running for president yet – continue to play to the biases and fears of their most vociferous supporters, as part of a sick and dangerous symbiosis between media, pollsters, and politicians. People watch to see who will be ‘thrown off the island last’. Indeed, politics is being covered not as sports as covered, but is in fact a sport in itself. Why not talk about video games and fantasy football at the debates? The election is already a fantasy football league or video game, or reality TV show, anyway. With most people getting their news in shards from social media, google searches, You Tube and other sources like this, the story about three deep space objects hiding behind the moon is perceived with the same credibility as the story of US Special Forces and Navy Helicopters being deployed to Syria, where they may be as likely to get into combat with Russians and Chinese troops as they are to fight ISIS. We’re ‘Cruisin For A Bruisin’ in the United States if this is how we expect to elect the next President, and subsequently run the country. Don’t forget to join The Bob Davis Podcasts and Jason Lewis for a live podcast Saturday, Halloween at 11:00 AM in Lakeville, Minnesota at the Main Street Cafe. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul. (Editor’s Note: I refer to Russia Today, which is a propaganda outlet for the Russian Government as Russia Times. It’s RT or Russia Today.)

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