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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Podcast 409 – Sunny Lohmann

Sunny Lohmann. Sunny is back making videos and getting trolled. As always she is uncompromising and thought provoking, from the Blood Moon, to the Trump candidacy, to free speech, racism and the Paleo Diet. Back for a weekend chat on the heels of two new You Tube videos which generated surprising controversy and response. First up is her satire of the Trump candidacy, followed up by a discussion of reaction to another video lampooning the Hollywood videos complaining about the lack of make up choices for people of color. These days it seems like it doesn’t matter what side your on, the trolls come from all sides. If someone doesn’t like what you say, they want to destroy you. It doesn’t matter that every liberal democracy in history has guaranteed free speech, with the US going so far as to actually amend its constitution to guarantee said speech (it is, of course the first amendment). The cyber equivalent of street thugs are out there, ready to pounce if you say anything that might offend their sensitive psyche. Then there’s the question of racism; Sunny suggests that some black activists are racists themselves, or at least that’s the impression she was left with from comments on her videos recently. In the end its pretty clear people aren’t very interested in working together in this country to solve any problems. Has diversity and political correctness destroyed free speech? Everyone seems to want to start their own activist group, attack the Facebook posts of someone they don’t agree with, or protest somewhere. Against something. Hence, Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders, or any other candidate that ‘tells it like it is’, which is really just screaming, “I’m mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it anymore”. Now, if everyone says they’re mad as hell and they’re not gonna take it anymore, but no one really knows what they’re mad about, or they’re all mad about different things … well you can see what kind of problem that presents to actual governing. Sponsored by X Government Cars and Pride Of Homes.

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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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