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Say, Kids! What Time Is It?
If you said, “Howdy Doody Time!” you’re both wrong and old. Because the answer is “Question Time!”
Yes, it’s that time again when we open up the floor to the membership (you are a member, right?) and allow you to take charge, drive the bus, call the shots and generally grill our congenial hosts.
Drop your questions in the comments below and we’ll get to as many of them as we can!
Published in General
Ricochet’s been around for 10 years now. Has it developed differently than your initial vision for it? In what ways is it better than you anticipated?
No question just yet.
Just wanted to comment on the fitting picture above, since Monty Python troupe member and director Terry Jones died today. Clearly his work and the work of his other Python cohorts has influenced a great deal of comedy and been an endless source of commentary on our age – and even more relevant today as it’s applied to our “woke” culture.
From The Guardian:
Gossip. Whatever did happen to Mark Steyn?
For Peter Robinson: How have past presidents interfaced with their speechwriting teams to craft a message and support their goals? And do you have any insight or knowledge of how this has worked with President Trump? Do you think he has been effective with it, or has there been a disconnect between speeches and administration activity?
How do you justify carrying Bill Kristol’s podcast in the Ricochet platform? Do you consider him a member in good standing of the “conservative” tent? If so, where would you draw the line, as it were? Max Boot? Jen Rubin?
PS, this is not about Trump skepticism. It’s more a question of supporting Democrats and leftists, in other words, ANTI- Conservatives in his stead. If Kristol’s position is valid, then the position for supporting Trump’s re-election cannot be.
How have you had the courage to offer a full range of Podcasts, from Severe Trump Skeptics like Bill Kristol to “All-In” Trump Advocates like Andrew Klavan, Bill Bennett, and Victor Davis Hanson, despite the pressure of various members?
I’ll answer this one: We have been carrying Bill’s show since (I think) 2015. And as a reminder, watching his show is totally optional. Don’t like it? Don’t watch it. And we disagree with your contention that Bill Kristol is Democrat.
Maybe sit down before you read this next sentence: in the right circumstances, we’d carry a podcast with a Democrat. A left, right, and center type show, for example. For a while we were trying to do a Ask A Socialist type podcast with Elizabeth Bruening. We thought it was a fun idea to do once once a month or once a quarter, but her then employer would not let her do it.
Just coming off the general #NeverTrump theme, does the ongoing lurch to the left by the Democrats make it tougher to grasp the thinking of those who remain steadfast to the #NeverTrump cause, even if that could mean trying to argue this fall that Bernie Sanders, Liz Warren or even wacky-but-lovable Uncle Joe is the candidate that True Conservatives need to support, because defeating Trump trumps everything else?
(I’d think #I’mSittingThisOut would make more sense, in that if you’re to that level of #NeverTrump-ism, I just can’t figure out what the game plan is for waltzing back in and thinking you’re going to have a seat the conservative ideological table in 2021 that anyone else is willing to pay attention to, if you’ve spent 6-8 months shilling for the Democrats’ nominee.)
Andrew Klavan was asked this today.
Who was the best Democrat President?
Watching Cheers reruns on Netflix, Rob, which has led me to wonder, how do you pronounce Phoef Sutton’s first name?
Grover Cleveland was pretty doggone good.
Ronald Reagan of course.
YES!!!!
I imagine this question has been asked and answered more than once in the past, but I will ask anyway. And that question is – how did the name Ricochet for this endeavor come about?
Who owns Ricochet? Are there owners other than Rob and Peter? Is Ricochet a partnership, a corporation or a LLC? Who is the CEO? These appeal to my lawyer side, and it may not be helpful to Ricochet for public dissemination.
Who thought up the mods? How do you get them to serve without pay?
How do you justify carrying Bill Kristol’s podcast in the Ricochet platform? Do you consider him a member in good standing of the “conservative” tent? If so, where would you draw the line, as it were? Max Boot? Jen Rubin?
I did not say Kristol was a Democrat. I said he supports Democrats. Is Hillary Clinton not a Democrat? Joe Biden? By what possible strategy can 8 years of these people advance any conservative cause or for that matter, save the Republican brand for some future time?
He’s a Republican alright, because being a Republican is much like being a boy or a girl in this modern age, one needs only proclaim oneself to be one and it must be accepted.
Is this also the case with being a conservative?
This site brands itself as “Conservative Conversation”. Certainly conservatives can have discussions with socialists, communists, fascists, whomever. But does a conservative site give a platform on a regular basis to a non-conservative? Perhaps Ricochet agrees that Kristol is a conservative. If so, I fail to understand Ricochet’s definition of the word in our political environs. In our modern world I have to point out our language begins to be rendered meaningless by sloppy definitions.
Indeed the word “define” means to draw lines or boundaries around a category. This means that some things fall inside those lines and others outside. It’s actually quite a conservative concept, without which conservatism itself could not exist. You are either damaging the brand you are attempting to put forth, or you are misappropriating the term “conservative” by the broad, and I would say, sloppy, application.
In the “Ask a Socialist” podcast, I’m guessing the host would be asked challenging questions, and not be granted free reign to spout socialist tropes unchallenged. This is quite likely why they refused to participate. I guess they have certain boundaries they won’t cross.
I’m going to mark down in my calendar that this is the second time in a month Gary Robinson and I are in total agreement.
Here’s to hoping February will be three times!
I know him too and it’s pronounced “feef”.
For @jameslileks: I have always remembered your line, from the AEI panel on “The Dadly Virtues,” about what it would feel like sending your daughter to college: “She will go to college, and when she goes, I will regard it as sending her off to an enormous electrical outlet. And I just borrowed $60,000 to give her a knife.”
Since I think your daughter is a freshman now, how’s it going? Do you have any words of reassurance for those of us who fear that we’ll be financing the leftist indoctrination of our children if we send them to a typical American university?
@franco I’m happy to have this discussion with you, but not on this thread which is meant for questions for the R> Podcasts hosts. Start a discussion elsewhere and I’ll chime in.
I’d ask James the percentage chance that Ilhan Omar is re-elected this year and the percentage chance that she will still be in Congress in another 5 or 10 years.
Louisiana’s 2nd congressional district was essentially as Democrat-leaning as Minnesota’s 5th congressional district when it voted for a Republican U.S. Representative at the same time that Barack Obama was winning 72% of the vote in that district in 2008.
I’m burned out on politics, as the ongoing theatrics in DC are giving me a toothache. Therefore, I’m going to ask something completely frivolous and non-political instead.
Neil Sedaka wrote the music for the two opening and one closing title themes for the seminal 1980s anime Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam:
Zeta – Toki wo Koete
Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete
Hoshizora no Believe
Which is your favorite, least favorite and why?
Alright, let me challenge you for some insights into international, specifically German politics, since I live here and frequently get into such discussions with my neighbors: At what point do you think the other parties in Germany are going to have to start treating the Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) as a legitimate political party? They are now, nation-wide, the third or fourth most powerful political party in terms of popular support. They are pro-life and pro-Israel in a way that the other major conservative parties (CDU/CSU) are not, yet they also have a real Nazi problem- there are dyed-in-the wool NSU-types and others in the party. Yet there are many in the party who do not possess any such turn of mind and who condemn such Nazi sympathies unequivocally. Do you think the AfD will eventually purge these elements and if it does, would that lead to acceptance from the other parties?
Red or green?
For Rob Long: I assume that when a big Hollywood production ramps up that there are all sorts of contingency plans quietly set up in case of problems with the production, like a major star or a location suddenly not being available or something. Probably there are also special clauses in contracts to account for known issues with actors or other talent in the production. What’s the oddest contingency or clause you’ve run across?
For James Lileks: Is Birch a good boy? Is he a good boy? Is he? Is he? He’s a really good boy, right? A good boy!
Why don’t Peter and Rob “join the conversation” more often?
What do Rob, Peter and James do when they are not podcasting?
What are their pet peeves?
What are their secret joys that we don’t know about?
We know that John Yoo loves Philadelphia teams. What are the favorite teams of Rob, Peter and James?
What accomplishments are they most proud of?
What generally unknown accomplishments are they most proud of?
Who was the greatest Republican President in history?
What mistake would they do differently if they could go back in time?
For Rob, what are the advantages and disadvantages of moving to New York City? Should New York City and Long Island succeed from the State of New York? Is Rob a registered Republican or Conservative? What percentage of the people in his area are Republicans? Any surprising discoveries? What does he miss the most about California? Which state has the higher state income tax rate?
What attracts James to Minnesota? How cold is it in the winter. Does he have an electric heater for his car engine? Does he have a remote ability to start his car to warm it up? What vehicles does he own? How bad are the mosquitos in the land of 10,000 lakes? What is his favorite bug spray or ointment? Do he resent the LA Lakers retaining the “Laker” name after moving from Minnesota? What does he think of Amy Klobuchar? Has he ever voted for her.
For Peter, if he ever retires, will he remain in California? Should California be split up into 2-6 states? Where would he move to? What are the best aspects of California? What are the worst? Did Pete Wilson kill the Republican Party with his support of Proposition 187? How well does he know Victor Davis Hanson? What don’t we know about VDH?
What are their favorite US vacation spots? What are their favorite foreign country?
What do they do for fun? What do they do for fun that we would not expect?
If Alberta breaks away from Canada should we offer them statehood?
How much would they pay for Greenland?
Should Puerto Rico be admitted as a state? D.C.?
Who are their members of Congress? What do they think of them? What do they think of their Senators and Governors?
If it were a lead pipe cinch for a Democrat to win in 2020, who would they prefer?
If they had a magic wand, what if anything would they change about Trump?
Trump allegedly will repeat what he last heard from someone. If so, what would you want to say to him?
Who was Trump’s best Chief of Staff? Who would be a better Chief of Staff for Trump?
What marriage advice would they give to a young man? What marriage advice would they give to a young woman?
Boxers or briefs?
Rob’s mentioned he’s been on 11th Street in Manhattan where Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn’s pals blew up the townhouse in 1970. Has he been down the block yet to where Foghat shot the cover for their “Fool for the City’ album a few years later?
This one is for Rob – Hollywood produced two products based on Fox News and Roger Ailes.
Do you think they will do anything on the problems that occurred in other networks (e.g. NBC New/Matt Lauer, withholding the Weinstein report).