Podcast 391 – Walker’s Announcement

Walker’s Announcement. The Bob Davis Podcasts first official campaign 2016 coverage, and now from here it’s on to Davenport, Iowa, where the Walker campaign starts an RV trip through the state. Why Scott Walker? Because it is a neighboring state, and its close. Why Davenport? Same reason. This was the first time covering a presidential announcement for someone who is considered a ‘front runner’, in the Republican Party, if such a thing exists, given the score or so politicians running on the Republican side. This was a campaign announcement loaded with red meat for standard republicans, but the three thousand or so supporters in Waukesha — a strong Republican suburb of Milwaukee — loved every minute of it, from the Lieutenant Governor, to Congressman Sean Duffy’s wife, Rachel Campos Duffy, who threw barb after barb at Hillary Clinton. It’s way more fun to be inside the story than to watch it on TV. You’ll hear the whole gamut in this podcast, from the handful of protesters with bags over their head because they are ‘ashamed’ of Walker, the media trucks, local and national media segregation, and how hot it was in there, to the Mobile Podcast Command Unit 8’s Diesel idling for eight hours while its owner connived to get press passes. While the left loves to hate the Wisconsin Governor, both Republicans and Democrats would do well to take him seriously. As his campaign likes to point out, he has beaten what he calls ‘big government special interests’ three times in the last five years, after they have thrown everything they had at him. He might just be the wild card in this republican primary season. Then again … The most fun? Watching a major CBS reporter melt down with the guys in New York, while the First Lady of Wisconsin was introducing her husband. “I don’t care, I’ve got to have that cut!”, he shouted at one point, provoking laughter from the folks in the back row. Reporting live from these events is kick ass. More to come … from Davenport, Iowa. Sponsored by Ryan Plumbing and Heating of Saint Paul.

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Podcast 390

Midnight Run To Waukesha. The Bob Davis Podcasts are back on the road, with a trip across Wisconsin to Waukesha, where Governor Scott Walker will make his announcement that he is running for the Republican nomination for President, Monday, July 13th. This is a short trip which starts ’round midnight, in a blinding thunderstorm. It’s time to cover politics by getting in the story, rather than read what others are writing about candidates, and react. So we’ll be covering Walker for a couple of days; The announcement in Waukesha and a rally later in the week in Davenport Iowa. Special attention will be paid to the media gaggle which inevitably follows these candidates. This podcast features some impressions prior to the announcement at Waukesha’s Expo Center. One of the biggest problems with the growing ‘presidential’ race is, all of these candidates aren’t necessarily running for president, which is how their campaigns are portrayed. In fact they’re running in scores of individual primary elections and caucus ‘straw polls’; which is a nice way to say some people sit at a table in a high school gymnasium and write their favorite candidate’s names on scraps of paper, which are then gathered up and ‘counted’. In fact, the score of candidates on the Republican side, and a few on the Democrat side are competing for delegates. What comes after the primaries and caucuses are the political party conventions. On the GOP side, the danger is a bruising floor fight due to the possibility several candidates will win just enough delegates to stay in the race. The mainstream media covers this circus as an national ‘election’. The real question is how many of these candidates have the money and organizations to stay in the race through the conventions. Live from the Wisconsin Dells, in the middle of the night. Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

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Podcast 380

Rural Virginia. The road trip continues in the Old Dominion. It’s already hot in the south. As darkness falls, the night is alive with frogs, and insects; Many invading the Mobile Podcast Command Unit. With no bug spray, an interesting collection of available tools was used to rid the unit of critters. A hair dryer, compressed air for cleaning electronics, swatting, biological cleaning spray, and lysol air freshener. Then, finally down to business. A few hundred yards down a dirt road where this podcast was recorded are the remains of a village that has been here since before the revolutionary war. How often do we think about where this country will be in one hundred, or two hundred years. The people who lived here two hundred years ago depended on an expression of modern technology – at the time – to assure their livelihood; The mill. They did not know they were living in ‘ancient’ times by our standards. They didn’t worry about slow Internet, or decry broadcast television and its endless commercial clusters detailing drug side effects or how much cheese is on a pizza. When it comes to the news, this podcast has some stories for political junkies to consider. No one seems to be able to say with any clarity or authority what’s wrong with economy, or why its important. Meanwhile the same story lines regarding the latest GDP numbers keep replaying. Then there is the trans pacific partnership trade authority bill republicans are inexplicably supporting. More executive authority for this president? American citizens can’t review or read the bill and reporters can’t read it either. That doesn’t stop Paul Ryan and the Speaker, and the Senate Majority leader and other so called ‘conservatives’ from supporting it. Meanwhile, the Chinese have apparently hacked all the US Government data bases and extracted potentially damning information about high US officials. How is it possible the FBI can fly over our cities listening to our cell phone calls, but the government is unable to protect our privacy rights from the Chinese? We have a government that can’t seem to protect our rights, is riddled with incompetence and corruption, but seems to be quite capable of violating our privacy, and running amok. Why couldn’t Americans find reasons to shut down the federal government, regardless of where they stand on the political spectrum. And another theme that comes up every time we approach a presidential cycle is ‘why don’t we have an independent political party’. The solution, according to some brainy analysts, yet more candidates in the debates. Sigh. The fact is, American political parties have traded places, shifted and changed names, and have been born and died throughout our history. Sponsored by X Government Cars. 

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