This week, Mike and Jay start by looking at the state of the Democratic race, where Bernie Sanders is still plugging away, arguing that Superdelegates interested in winning in November should support him over Hillary Clinton. Next is a look at new rules for overtime – Mike argues they’re a good redistributive and job-creation measure, while Jay believes that they’ll be a drag on the economy. Finally, the Guys talk about two Supreme Court rulings: one on religious organizations and Obamacare, and the other on the 6th Amendment’s right to a speedy trial.
Normally you guys are very good in your analysis and able to look through the BS and make some fair, cogent arguments. But I have to say, this podcast was a load of crap.
Who exactly are you speaking for when you say that Democrats are “okay with this” primary? How exactly do you interpret stories of major divides in the party and the outrage at the Nevada convention as Democrats being “okay”?
Secondly, clearly nobody wants take any time to actually investigate what happened at the Nevada convention. There was NO violence. There were NO chairs thrown. And Sen. Barbara Boxer is blatantly lying about being scared for her life. She was blowing kisses yo the crowd in a mocking manner as she left the stage.
Thirdly, what the hell was that part about Bernie Bros.? It was an incredibly tangential comment that had no relevance to the discussion.
You can dismiss this as just another annoyed Sanders supporter if you want, but your coverage in that section of the podcast really made you guys lose some credibility to me. I hope from now on you go beyond the corporate media nonsense and find the real story, so that at least your analyses are founded in reality from now on.
Hi Taylor – thanks for taking the time to comment. I don’t recall saying that Democrats are ‘okay with this’ primary, but if I did, I misspoke. What I should have said is that the majority of Democrats are okay with the primary, as the majority has chosen Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders. Out of the 22.9 million votes cast in the Democratic primaries, Clinton has won 12.98 million (56%) to Sanders’ 9.95 million (44%). As you know, we didn’t go into the Nevada primary, but had we done so, I would have argued that Clinton supporters greatly exaggerated the ‘violence’ angle when, as you point out, there was none. But we did discuss how the Democratic elite has pretty much designed the process to get Clinton elected.
I don’t agree that this episode was a load of crap with analysis not founded in reality, but I believe I can understand the frustration of Sanders supporters who believe (correctly) that the Democratic elite has rigged the system in favor of Hillary Clinton. I considered discussing the Nevada primary issue, but at this point – for better or worse – the Democratic nominee has been essentially decided, and I made the call to not focus on Nevada so that we could look at some other issues. Reasonable people can certainly disagree with that decision, but I thought you might want to at least know my reasoning. – Mike
Taylor– thanks for commenting and thanks for listening. My reference to the “Bernie Bros” bit was not so much about trying to indict Sanders supporters for being bad actors, as to note the message control that the Clinton campaign and media supporters have. There are always bad actors in campaigns on all sides, and I try not to impute supporters’ actions to a candidate, except in cases where the candidate either tacitly or explicitly encourages it (e.g., Trump saying he’ll pay the legal bills if someone punches protestors). Also, I’ve been in plenty of campaigns where one side tries to gin up outrage at something the other side’s supporters have allegedly done (and if the other side doesn’t do something offensive, sometimes you have your people do something outrageous anonymously). So I’m not blaming Bernie for the “Bros”–I don’t think he’s encouraged this, and I think he’s done a good job denouncing that sort of thing. That said–it’s out there and Hillary did a masterful job last week manipulating the media–especially social media– to make that the story. As to whether Democrats are happy with the primary system that they’ve got, I don’t know. Like Mike says, it looks like the majority are, but that’s up to the party to sort out. ~ Jay