PODCAST 423

Republican Crack Up. A Republican Majority struggles to nominate a successor to Speaker Boehner. Moderate leadership is losing its grip because 40 ‘insurgent’ ‘freedom caucus’ Republicans refused to support top candidate Kevin McCarthy. Amid controversy over McCarthy’s Benghazi Hearing comments, and allegations of an affair, the collapse of order in the election of a new speaker, the candidacy of Donald Trump and the terrible performance of moderate candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Jeb Bush, one must wonder whether the moderate leadership is finally losing its grip. They have no one to blame but themselves. The moderate leadership of the Republican Party seems more and more out of touch with an increasingly frustrated and angry base. ‘Going along to get along’ seems to be the wrong course of action. What does the base want? Can the Freedom Caucus lead the house? Those are turning out to be much more complex questions. In a free wheeling stream-of-consciousness podcast, we discuss the underpinnings of Republican rank and file political philosophy and find … none. Senator Ted Cruz recently suggested what is needed to change America is a ‘grassroots’ movement, only without organization, there is no movement. Without philosophical underpinnings, there is no organization. Republicans, tea partiers and others on the right might suggest a ‘freedom caucus speaker’ might lead them out of the wilderness. Lead them where? To What? How? Uh….yeah. Thus, the best opportunity to elect a Republican President in years begins to fade, with a moderate leadership that can’t even run an election for speaker of a house it controls, and a rank and file that wouldn’t recognize, or vote for Ronald Reagan today. With this kind of comedy in progress, Democrats never had it so good. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul and Pride of Homes.

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Podcast 335

Political Crossroads. Freewheeling discussion of the big stories from the week. The Hillary Clinton Email spectacle, police shot in Ferguson, Senator Tom Cotton’s letter to the Iranians, and in the wake of his DHS vote and visit to Selma, Congressman Tom Emmer gets the better of the North Metro Tea Party. Police groups say ‘anti government’ sentiment is the cause of a disturbing increase in ambush shootings of officers. Weak minded individuals are influenced by ‘anti government’ types, who then go out and shoot cops. Really? Or, do criminals use popular protests as a justification for their bloodlust? The city manager and police chief of Ferguson, Missouri resigned, provoking a late night, unruly group of people to protest. Shots rang out and two police officers were wounded. Michael Brown’s family and protest groups issued statements decrying the shooting, blaming ‘outsiders’, without knowing whether it’s true. Who can forget the chants at one of Al Sharpton’s protests, “What do we want? Dead Cops”. Yes, words matter, protesters. Surveys show more Americans do not trust their government. Can you blame them? The United States was in fact created by anti government types. Their creation is designed to protect citizens from the government, not the other way around. If you don’t trust the government, you’re American! Democrats think Freshman Senator Tom Cotton is anti American because he had the temerity to challenge President Obama’s unilateral (that means he didn’t consult Congress on it) deal with the Iranians. A deal the President claims will prevent them from getting nuclear weapons. Tom Cotton and 46 other Senators don’t agree, and they wrote a letter to Iran’s government suggesting a future president could obviate the deal, sooner than ten years. Oh The Humanity! The wailing and the gnashing of teeth! How dare the Senate step on the constitutional toes of the White House! And when the Senate hits pay dirt, what does leadership do? Run away as fast as it can. With moderates running the House and Senate flexing their muscles and coming down on ‘extremist’, ‘populist’, ‘upstart’, and ‘radical’ lawmakers, it looks more and more like the so called Freedom Caucus and the Tea Party Movement is waning. The same dynamic played out in the wake of Congressman Tom Emmer’s controversial vote on DHS funding. Pilloried by the North Metro Tea Party, Tom responded on this podcast, and in other media outlets, and despite being called names, shouted at, and threatened with competitors in 2016, the Congressman appears in the mainstream media as a reasonable, hardworking congressman, humbly serving his constituents. Did Emmer win this round with the Tea Party? Squeak all you want, the wheel that gets the grease these days is the one with the votes, and money. As the tea party and libertarian movements falter, and perhaps fade, the political crossroads is one way. The chances of a Bush/Clinton contest in 2016 only increases if this is true. Sponsored by Baklund R&D. 

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