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On this week’s COMMENTARY MAGAZINE Podcast, we discuss why it is that leftist Democrats and young people don’t seem to like Hillary Clinton, why they’re pushing for Bernie Sanders even though he has almost no chance to win, and why what Hillary has been doing to alienate them might just be a savvy long-term governing strategy. We argue over whether Sanders is being propelled by the power of ideas or by giveaways, and whether Donald Trump could have been forestalled if only Republicans had become Democrats during the Obama years. It’s more cheerful than last week!
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Fantastic podcast as usual. This has become my favorite.
Thank you!
I love John Podhoretz and enjoyed this podcast. Still, I was left with the feeling that he is still blaming the Tea Party for the mess the Republican Party is in, because the Tea Party was too impatient and demanding of Republican leadership in Washington. The commentariat in this regard, however, is flying willfully blind at 30,000 feet. For this Tea-partier, the last straw from the Republican leadership was the Corker-Cardin bill. That bill was completely unnecessary. Had it not been concocted, Obama could not himself have lifted the sanctions against Iran. He needed some action by Congress. The Republican leadership obliged Obama with this bill, which turned Constitutional treaty ratification on its head, scotching the 2/3 vote needed to ratify while authorizing the Iran deal unless the Senate could get 60 votes for cloture which they never had. And the reason the Republican leadership wanted the Corker-Cardin bill was its explicit authorization for Boeing to sell jets to Iran. Now that sale is in progress. The Republican leadership will get their campaign contributions from Boeing. Iran will get jets it can modify for military purposes, to aid transport of weapons to proxies everywhere. And Iran has been authorized to make a bomb. Stopping the Iran deal was critical for national security, Israeli security, Middle East security, and world security. Only Tom Cotton voted against the Corker-Cardin sham. Never have so few sold out so many so completely for so little.
John, many thanks to you, Abe, and Noah for transferring the excellence of Commentary magazine to the podcast format. Your insights, and thoughtful observations of the political scene can be found nowhere else. Kudos to all of you!
Kent, thank you for that. I am not disappointed by the Tea Party, but rather by those who declared themselves its leaders and who found it impossible to make the transition from an insurgent force into a realistic governing force. If you elect 63 people to the House of Representatives and then insist that any action they take to govern—which means compromise—is a betrayal of their purpose, you are condemning them to failure either way. As for Corker-Cardin, I simply do not agree with your interpretation. The president did indeed simply declare that he had the right to negotiate the deal with Iran, and sign it, and impose it. And he did it. Corker-Cardin gave Congress the opportunity to block its implementation with a two-thirds vote, and that vote was, alas, not secured. Without Corker-Cardin, the president would have done what he did anyway.
I agree that the Freedom caucus complete unwillingness to compromise with its own leadership, has forced that leadership to go to Democrats and make worse deals.
The deal Boehner made with Pelosi on his way out the door only happened because Freedom guys wont make any deals at all.
This is the best podcast on Ricochet.