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New Maine Senate Candidate's Family Tree Ignites Controversy · 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary

0:02
Speaker 1: Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch. Grab a stool next
0:05
Speaker 1: to Greg Corumbus of Radio America and Jim Garritty of
0:08
Speaker 1: National Review.
0:10
Speaker 2: Free Martini's coming up.
0:13
Speaker 3: So glad you're with us for the Friday edition to
0:15
Speaker 3: the Three Martini Lunch and Jim. Once upon a time,
0:17
Speaker 3: Friday was the slow news day. You waited for public
0:20
Speaker 3: officials to release embarrassing information just before five o'clock so
0:23
Speaker 3: people wouldn't even notice, and by Monday the story would
0:26
Speaker 3: be gone. That's not true anymore. We've got so much
0:28
Speaker 3: to talk about all the time, including a senate story, yes,
0:32
Speaker 3: out of Maine, that broke last night. You know, Jim.
0:36
Speaker 3: Back in the nineties and early two thousands, one of
0:38
Speaker 3: the popular comedians was Jeff Foxworthy, who had this whole
0:42
Speaker 3: deal of you might be a redneck if and one
0:45
Speaker 3: of them was if you go to the family reunion
0:48
Speaker 3: to meet women, you might be a redneck. Well, Troy Jackson,
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Speaker 3: the now Democratic Senate nominee replacing Graham Platner up in Maine,
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Speaker 3: turns out out that he is in a longtime relationship
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Speaker 3: and his parent had two children with his second cousin
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Speaker 3: by blood. Yes, Jackson, who is fifty eight and by
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Speaker 3: the way, this story comes to us from the main wire,
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Speaker 3: fifty eight on his fifth pacemaker. By the way, so
1:15
Speaker 3: factor that into your vote as well. Says he finds
1:19
Speaker 3: his own ancestry under the same microscope that eventually ran
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Speaker 3: his predecessor, oyster hobbyist Graham Platner, out of American politics
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Speaker 3: and into hiding. Jackson, a twenty six year politician and lobbyist,
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Speaker 3: has made a career of bragging that he's a fifth
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Speaker 3: generation logger. But you don't have to go back too
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Speaker 3: far in the generational line to find where a cross
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Speaker 3: his paths with the ancestors of his significant other, Lana Pelletier.
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Speaker 3: Tipsters and genealogical records confirmed that Jackson's longtime significant other,
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Speaker 3: his high school sweetheart and the mother for his two
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Speaker 3: adult sons, is in fact his second cousin by blood,
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Speaker 3: and so she's been with him since he was a
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Speaker 3: pro gun, pro life conservative in the late nineties and
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Speaker 3: two thousands, and when he's been a pro gun control
2:01
Speaker 3: pro late term abortion socialist state Senate president. So Jim,
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Speaker 3: it looks like in certain parts of Maine this is
2:08
Speaker 3: in a way that are very rural. This is not
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Speaker 3: necessarily uncommon since their longtime partners and not husband and wife.
2:14
Speaker 3: I looked it up. You can marry your second cousin
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Speaker 3: in Maine. But the Democrats are having some issues picking
2:20
Speaker 3: senate candidates up there.
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Speaker 2: It's pretty clear. Well, first of all, you bring up,
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Speaker 2: you know, the beloved Jeff fox Worthy. A variation of
2:27
Speaker 2: that joke was, you know, if your family tree doesn't fork,
2:32
Speaker 2: you know, you're a redneck. And I just kind of
2:34
Speaker 2: looking at this and thinking, you know, if you're gonna
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Speaker 2: have kids with your second cousin, I think you should
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Speaker 2: make an honest Oneever, it's time to put a ring
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Speaker 2: on that finger, Like that's you know, come on, yeah,
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Speaker 2: it's it's controversial enough at least have the traditional values
2:48
Speaker 2: to say, yes, I married my cousin ilhan Omar. Like
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Speaker 2: she even she could kind of look down her nose
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Speaker 2: at this and say, come on, you know, marriage is
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Speaker 2: a sacred institution. Hey, Greg, what is trudged ex's favorite
3:00
Speaker 2: dating site? But twenty three in May. But we also
3:07
Speaker 2: recognize that they managed to pick a guy we're even
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Speaker 2: I'm assuming somewhere in Maine at his you know, neo
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Speaker 2: Nazi meeting Graham Plattner saying, people believe that weirdo. My god, like,
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Speaker 2: you know, we've gone from third Reich to second cousins. Lord,
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Speaker 2: I don't ask for much. Just make me as lucky
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Speaker 2: as Susan Collins. Like, just how how do they do this?
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Speaker 2: How do they end up with the guy who who
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Speaker 2: you know, has like And I'm like, at some point
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Speaker 2: there's probably some listener out there who's pointing out that
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Speaker 2: the you know, this is total second cousins are totally
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Speaker 2: different from first cousins and the risk of birth defects
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Speaker 2: is very low, and this is just like, really did
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Speaker 2: you have to have? This? Is where they just needed
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Speaker 2: the most normal, boring guy, imaginable and made Democrats ended
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Speaker 2: up with this guy. So we knew Troy was gonna fh.
4:00
Speaker 2: We just didn't know it was gonna happen this way. Yeah,
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Speaker 2: Maine Democrats, it's sometimes just you know, it's it's a
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Speaker 2: rebuilding here, and maybe you just kind of need to
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Speaker 2: go back to the basic blocking and tackling and vetting
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Speaker 2: of candidates and not picking the guy who married his cousin,
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Speaker 2: second cousin, second cousin. It's totally different.
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Speaker 3: I'll see. Even if you include both my dad and
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Speaker 3: my mom's side have only got three first cousins. So
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Speaker 3: second cousins were very much like first cousins in my family.
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Speaker 3: So you think of those people entirely as family, not
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Speaker 3: as datable material. And so I think that's true in
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Speaker 3: most families. I hope that's true most families. But you know,
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Speaker 3: the jokes are out there about certain states. I'd never
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Speaker 3: heard about Maine before.
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Speaker 2: Certainly, Oh yeah, Main's reputation has even been great in
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Speaker 2: the Senate. In the Senate campaign a bit, you know,
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Speaker 2: semi seriously, the Lord knows we're having a lot of
4:54
Speaker 2: fun with us. So there was a point where as
4:58
Speaker 2: listeners to this podcast know Barack Obama ate a dog.
5:02
Speaker 2: He did so in Indonesia as a child, and for conservatives,
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Speaker 2: you know, we had a lot of fun making jokes
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Speaker 2: about Barack Obama eating a dog, because most people find
5:11
Speaker 2: eating a dog really horrific and weird and strange. And
5:14
Speaker 2: I said, you know that the Mitt Romney campaign song
5:18
Speaker 2: in twenty twelve should have been the dog Days are
5:20
Speaker 2: over by Florence and the Machine. And so the argument
5:23
Speaker 2: of Democrats was it's perfectly normal over there in Indonesia
5:26
Speaker 2: and he only says he did it well. And the
5:28
Speaker 2: whole idea is like the more time you spend defending
5:31
Speaker 2: eating a dog, the worse it is for you. Right
5:34
Speaker 2: that there's no way to make that everything the idea
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Speaker 2: that Maine democrats, the more time they spend it's totally
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Speaker 2: normal to marry your second cousin, the worst it gets
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Speaker 2: him because a you're not talking about Susan Collins and
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Speaker 2: her record, and two, most people, it doesn't matter how
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Speaker 2: many numbers you put in front of that cousin. Marrying
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Speaker 2: your cousin and a lot of people just kind of
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Speaker 2: weird and it just is not going to strike them.
5:54
Speaker 2: As you know, this is not the topic Troidan wants
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Speaker 2: to spend the next couple months talking about.
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Speaker 3: While Susan Collins not focusing on that. We'll see if
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Speaker 3: she focuses on it eventually, but probably not. But Susan
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Speaker 3: Collins is out with an ad directly tying Troy Jackson
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Speaker 3: to Graham Platner.
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Speaker 4: Troy Jackson bragged about being one of Graham Plattner's earliest supporters.
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Speaker 4: When the news of Platner's Nazi tattoo came out, Jackson
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Speaker 4: stood with Plattner when Plattner blamed women for getting raped
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Speaker 4: because they get drunk, Jackson stood by Plattner. And when
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Speaker 4: the media reported Platner was violent toward women, Jackson stood
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Speaker 4: again with Platner.
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Speaker 2: I want to say thank you very much to Troy.
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Speaker 4: Don't be fooled by Troy Jackson. He's another phony. We
6:34
Speaker 4: can't trust. Pine Tree Results Pack is responsible for the
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Speaker 4: content of this advertising.
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Speaker 3: Oh so it's not Susan Collins, it's a it's a
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Speaker 3: pack that's putting the ad out. But Jim, it's perfect.
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Speaker 3: You got the ominous tone, you've got the disgusted lower
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Speaker 3: female voice, and just fact after fact, well done.
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Speaker 2: Just think now they could add the guy who banged
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Speaker 2: his cousin.
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Speaker 3: Main Democrats seriously, just just set out the next cycle.
6:57
Speaker 3: I mean, it just couldn't get more embarrassing than that.
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Speaker 3: But anyway, more on the main set a race, I'm
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Speaker 3: sure they just won't leave us alone with that. But
7:05
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Speaker 3: to renewal price void in Florida. All right, Jim, as
8:41
Speaker 3: we said yesterday, yesterday was the first day after Lindsay
8:44
Speaker 3: Graham was laid to rest, and that with just twelve
8:47
Speaker 3: days left at that time before the primary day to
8:50
Speaker 3: replace Lindsay Graham for the ballot and another six year
8:52
Speaker 3: term in the US Senate, you knew the politics had
8:54
Speaker 3: to start quickly. And the first one out with an
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Speaker 3: ad his sister, Senator Darlene Graham, the people of South
9:00
Speaker 3: Carolina for their condolences and sympathy and also starting to
9:05
Speaker 3: lately tell you what she thinks about issues.
9:08
Speaker 1: Thank you all for your prayers. They provided strength through
9:11
Speaker 1: an incredibly difficult time. I'm honored to serve South Carolina
9:16
Speaker 1: and grateful for President Trump's endorsement and I'll work hard
9:20
Speaker 1: every day to earn it. I'm a conservative Republican and
9:23
Speaker 1: I believe this. Every life is precious, men don't belong
9:28
Speaker 1: in women's sports, and only American citizens should vote in
9:31
Speaker 1: our elections. I'm Darline Graham. I approve this message and
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Speaker 1: I'm ready to serve so Jim again.
9:38
Speaker 3: Not a terrible start, but every life is precious. It's
9:42
Speaker 3: pretty vague when it comes to abortion. And non citizens
9:45
Speaker 3: shouldn't vote in our elections. Is about as far to
9:48
Speaker 3: the edge of the immigration debate as you can get.
9:51
Speaker 3: There's a lot of nuance that needs to be siphoned out.
9:54
Speaker 3: There also interesting twists from the South Carolina Republican Party.
9:58
Speaker 3: They're not going to have a debate. They're going to
10:00
Speaker 3: have like a stump speech, person after person after person
10:04
Speaker 3: this coming weekend, but not an actual debate. They are
10:06
Speaker 3: scheduling a runoff debate on August eighteenth, because they assume
10:10
Speaker 3: with a twelve candidate field, no one's going to get
10:12
Speaker 3: to fifty percent. We'll see if that's the case, but
10:14
Speaker 3: I find that odd that they're not going to have
10:16
Speaker 3: the candidates on the stage before people actually go to
10:18
Speaker 3: the polls on August eleven. So between the ad and
10:21
Speaker 3: that little twist, what.
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Speaker 2: Do you think no I was going to say the
10:24
Speaker 2: idea that Darlene Graham was going to run as a
10:26
Speaker 2: pro choice, pro men and women's sports, and pro non
10:30
Speaker 2: citizens voting liberal was really not that high. I felt
10:34
Speaker 2: pretty good about her getting those ones right. And it's good.
10:37
Speaker 2: There's nothing wrong with this ad, but we're we're going
10:40
Speaker 2: to need more. It sounds like we're doing as a
10:42
Speaker 2: kind of a traditional candidate forum, and there's nothing inherently
10:45
Speaker 2: wrong with those. But if I've attended a bunch of
10:47
Speaker 2: these at multiple levels, and it always is you know,
10:51
Speaker 2: I believe the children are the future. Teach them well
10:54
Speaker 2: and let them lead the way, show them the beauty
10:57
Speaker 2: they have inside or you know they like it's generally
11:00
Speaker 2: applause lines and happy talk, if you you know, I
11:03
Speaker 2: think James Carvel once said the genistrate a positive ED
11:06
Speaker 2: and a negative AD is that a negative AD has
11:08
Speaker 2: effect in it that you know you're going to have
11:10
Speaker 2: like It's the nice thing about debates is that they
11:13
Speaker 2: you don't get to. You know, for most offices, you
11:15
Speaker 2: have to choose one. So you have to choose the
11:17
Speaker 2: one who you think is the best. So it forces
11:19
Speaker 2: candidates to say I am the best candidate because axent
11:22
Speaker 2: my other candidate. They may be fine people, I think
11:24
Speaker 2: really highly of them. I want them to serve in government,
11:27
Speaker 2: but I am better than them because of X, Y,
11:30
Speaker 2: and Z, and they need explain that. And a candidate
11:33
Speaker 2: forum isn't great for drawing those kinds of contrast. It
11:36
Speaker 2: all kind of turns into who can deliver the the
11:38
Speaker 2: applause line best. I suppose it's better than nothing, and
11:41
Speaker 2: I suppose you know both watching that in live, and
11:44
Speaker 2: I assume it'll be on YouTube somewhere. It'll help give
11:46
Speaker 2: South Carolina Republicans some sense of what it is, of
11:49
Speaker 2: what their options are. I would also note that like
11:52
Speaker 2: a debate after the runoff, or presuming this is a runoff,
11:56
Speaker 2: and you know, with the sheer number of candidates, you
11:58
Speaker 2: figure Darlene Graham is the front runner just by name,
12:01
Speaker 2: recognition of the fact that she's the senator, now, public
12:03
Speaker 2: sympathy all that, not certain she'd get above fifty percent.
12:06
Speaker 2: I think you know you're probably gonna end up having
12:08
Speaker 2: her run off, So it's better to have that debate
12:09
Speaker 2: than none. This is all kind of subpar it's not
12:12
Speaker 2: a disaster, it's not a crisis, but kind of would
12:15
Speaker 2: like to see us again the best option. And again,
12:17
Speaker 2: you and I are not anti Darling Graham. We're just
12:19
Speaker 2: saying that, Like she's pretty much a newcomer, and everybody's
12:21
Speaker 2: just kind of assuming that she'll vote the same way
12:23
Speaker 2: as Lindsay Graham did. And I think that's likely to
12:27
Speaker 2: be the case in most cases, but not all cases.
12:29
Speaker 2: And I think South Carolinians have deserved the best portrait
12:32
Speaker 2: of the candidate they can get, so not terrible, but
12:35
Speaker 2: not great. And you know, time's a wasted We got
12:39
Speaker 2: a limited amount of time before that first that expect
12:42
Speaker 2: likely first round of a Republican primary occurs down there
12:45
Speaker 2: in South Carolina.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, you're applying for a six year job here, this
12:48
Speaker 3: is you got to come with it. You got to
12:49
Speaker 3: explain exactly where you stand on all this stuff. I
12:52
Speaker 3: think her or her team has some pretty good political
12:55
Speaker 3: instincts in realizing that her biggest threat probably comes from
12:58
Speaker 3: the right. The frustration with Lindsay Graham in the primary
13:01
Speaker 3: usually came from the right. The guy that's in the
13:03
Speaker 3: race now and challenge Graham back in June got over
13:06
Speaker 3: forty percent of the vote in the primary. So there's
13:08
Speaker 3: some Republicans that didn't like Lindsay Graham, and I don't
13:10
Speaker 3: know how they feel towards the sister, but the Ralph
13:13
Speaker 3: Normans and the Russell Fries, they're going to come at
13:15
Speaker 3: it from the right saying I have this strong conservative
13:18
Speaker 3: voting record and Darling Grahams doesn't have a record in
13:21
Speaker 3: the Senate that really has much on it. So I
13:23
Speaker 3: think that's one of the reasons you're also seeing her
13:26
Speaker 3: join this group that wants to keep the Senate in
13:28
Speaker 3: session this summer to pass the Safe America Act to
13:30
Speaker 3: make herself kind of appear more palatable to folks in
13:33
Speaker 3: the right who are very passionate about that issue. We'll
13:35
Speaker 3: see if it works, but right now, I think part
13:40
Speaker 3: of the style in her campaign is to get as
13:43
Speaker 3: little specifics as possible until the votes are counted.
13:46
Speaker 2: Yeah, and just one last thing, you know, at some
13:48
Speaker 2: point between now and election day, probably somebody is going
13:50
Speaker 2: to give her a questionnaire. The reason I like experienced
13:53
Speaker 2: candidates and I know people like, ah, the establishment, they're old. Well,
13:57
Speaker 2: the thing is they've got a record, right, you know,
13:59
Speaker 2: how they've voted. You know of what they've prioritized, you
14:01
Speaker 2: know what they put their time and energy into. Anybody
14:05
Speaker 2: can check the right boxes when running for office. That's
14:08
Speaker 2: the easiest part of the job, right Actually doing something
14:11
Speaker 2: about those priorities, that's a much harder getting things done,
14:14
Speaker 2: that's a much harder part of the job. And that's
14:16
Speaker 2: I feel like I've seen Conservatives get fooled by somebody
14:19
Speaker 2: who checks all the boxes and then gets into office
14:21
Speaker 2: and nothing really special, far too many times. So hopefully
14:25
Speaker 2: we'll have better results from that. But you know, again,
14:28
Speaker 2: all of this is less than ideal because of the
14:31
Speaker 2: passing of Lindsay Graham.
14:32
Speaker 3: I'll be honest, until two weeks ago, I didn't even
14:34
Speaker 3: know he had a sister, So the fact that I
14:37
Speaker 3: don't know what she believes politically is just a subset
14:39
Speaker 3: of that. So I would assume, since he's been around
14:41
Speaker 3: in South Carolina politics for over thirty years, that South
14:45
Speaker 3: Carolina Republican voters know a lot more about him and
14:47
Speaker 3: knew about her to some extent. But still specifics are
14:50
Speaker 3: important and hopefully they keep coming. And my guess is
14:52
Speaker 3: the other candidates are going to keep pushing for those specifics,
14:55
Speaker 3: especially if there is a runoff, so a lot to
14:57
Speaker 3: watch there. All right, Well, let's talk about your skin,
14:59
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15:02
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15:35
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16:33
Speaker 3: The Democrats have a way of just knifing their own
16:36
Speaker 3: candidates when they don't want them to be in the
16:38
Speaker 3: race anymore. We saw it with Eric Swalwell in California,
16:41
Speaker 3: allegations that have been rumored about for years. They were
16:44
Speaker 3: ready to report on it when he was running for president,
16:46
Speaker 3: that he dropped out. He's a sitting member of Congress,
16:49
Speaker 3: but there'll be less interest in these stories of him,
16:52
Speaker 3: you know, potentially assaulting and harassing women. Nobody's going to
16:54
Speaker 3: care about that, so we'll just drop it. And then
16:57
Speaker 3: a couple of stories came out about Graham Platner. The
17:00
Speaker 3: CREWDS still didn't care, and then they realized he was
17:02
Speaker 3: tanking in the polls against Susan Collins and oh well,
17:06
Speaker 3: now we're going to get more details on this allegation.
17:08
Speaker 3: So now Graham Platner has to go. Let's move to Wisconsin. Yesterday,
17:12
Speaker 3: former Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes dropped out of the governor's race.
17:16
Speaker 3: Now he was trailing pretty badly to the socialist Francesca Hong,
17:20
Speaker 3: but it's clear that the Democrats are trying to clear
17:23
Speaker 3: out the field to just one candidate to take on Hong.
17:27
Speaker 3: Sarah Rodriguez, the current Lieutenant governor, dropped out last week,
17:31
Speaker 3: not only because of that, but also because her campaign
17:34
Speaker 3: was rife with financial corruption. She and and' I mean
17:36
Speaker 3: money left. So now Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has
17:40
Speaker 3: left as the only candidate against Francesca Hong. But here
17:44
Speaker 3: is Mandela Barnes explaining why he's leaving the race.
17:47
Speaker 1: Last night, I had a.
17:48
Speaker 2: Very difficult conversation, must have. Now, we're incredibly proud of
17:52
Speaker 2: all the things that we've accomplished and all the resources
17:54
Speaker 2: that we have raised to spread our message, but it
17:57
Speaker 2: has become very clear who are nomine is going to be.
18:00
Speaker 2: Not from the very beginning when I launched his campaign,
18:03
Speaker 2: but the number one goal was taking on and defeating
18:05
Speaker 2: Tom Tip. Need to deliver big ways for Democrats up
18:08
Speaker 2: and down the ticket, and now it's our time to
18:11
Speaker 2: come together to focus our efforts on that one goal.
18:15
Speaker 3: And he never mentions who he thinks is going to
18:17
Speaker 3: win the primary. We assume he means Hong. He doesn't
18:20
Speaker 3: endorse anyone, but Molly Beck of the Journal Sentinel in
18:23
Speaker 3: Milwaukee says Mandela Barnes leaves the governor's race after receiving
18:27
Speaker 3: questions from the Journal Sentinel about allegations from sources who
18:30
Speaker 3: spoke on the condition of anonymity, who said Barnes used
18:33
Speaker 3: his role in the party to seek out sexual encounters
18:36
Speaker 3: with young adult women. Barnes has not been accused of
18:39
Speaker 3: any crimes. So, Jen, this is the guy who's lieutenant
18:42
Speaker 3: governor for four years Ranford Senate was very competitive against
18:44
Speaker 3: Ron Johnson. My guess is he was in the party
18:47
Speaker 3: for a while before that. None of that stuff came
18:49
Speaker 3: out while he was the Democratic darling in twenty twenty two. Now,
18:53
Speaker 3: as they're trying to clear the field, Mandela Barnes becomes
18:55
Speaker 3: a problem. So voila.
18:57
Speaker 2: So I am not going to give anything resembling a
18:59
Speaker 2: full rote a defense of Mandela Barnes. But I get
19:02
Speaker 2: a little bit annoyed when I see somebody allegations strike
19:05
Speaker 2: me as very vague. Where it says Barnes used his
19:08
Speaker 2: role in the party to seek out sexual encounters with
19:10
Speaker 2: young adult women. What's the difference between that and hitting
19:13
Speaker 2: on women? What did he actually do? Did he like
19:16
Speaker 2: offer people jobs and then expect sex in return? Did he,
19:21
Speaker 2: you know, sound like he was, you know, interested in
19:23
Speaker 2: recruiting somebody as a candidate and then suddenly, you know,
19:27
Speaker 2: put on some James Brown or something like. What was
19:31
Speaker 2: actually going on here that restruct people as being so inappropriate.
19:34
Speaker 2: Molly Beck also says that the State Democratic Party in
19:36
Speaker 2: twenty twenty five hired a law firm to look into
19:39
Speaker 2: similar claims. The internal review and outside pro found nothing
19:42
Speaker 2: actionable because the allegations they received were anonymous and unspecific.
19:47
Speaker 2: So if Mandela Barnes is nothing more than just a
19:50
Speaker 2: clumsy wanna be womanizer. That's less than something where he's like,
19:54
Speaker 2: you know, demanding favors or promising jobs, or sexual harassment
19:58
Speaker 2: or something like that. Get kind of annoyed when it'll
20:01
Speaker 2: get a lot of details to this. But Hi, I'm
20:03
Speaker 2: from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. We've got this report of
20:05
Speaker 2: allegations against you. If the next day you quit the race,
20:10
Speaker 2: that's that's not a good sign. That's kind of a
20:11
Speaker 2: sign I did absolutely nothing wrong and I'm totally quitting
20:14
Speaker 2: the race and I don't and there's no need for
20:16
Speaker 2: you to dig into this stuff any further. Boy, that
20:18
Speaker 2: doesn't look suspicious at all. So, uh, Mendela Barnes, maybe
20:23
Speaker 2: you're getting a raw deal here. Maybe you are a
20:26
Speaker 2: bad guy, maybe you did do terrible things. Kind of
20:28
Speaker 2: hard to tell, but quitting the race at a time
20:31
Speaker 2: like this certainly does make you seem like maybe there's
20:34
Speaker 2: some smoke and maybe there's some fire there.
20:36
Speaker 3: Yes, But also that second statement you read from back
20:38
Speaker 3: the state Democratic Party in twenty twenty five hired a
20:40
Speaker 3: law firm to look into similar claims. The internal review
20:43
Speaker 3: and outside probe found nothing actionable. That means they kept
20:47
Speaker 3: in their hip pocket and said, let's just use it
20:49
Speaker 3: when we need to.
20:50
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's also kind of that sense of like, clearly
20:54
Speaker 2: nobody at the State Democratic Party said Mendela Barnes no,
20:58
Speaker 2: come on, he would never do something. Clearly they thought
21:01
Speaker 2: there was this was serious enough to warrant some investigation.
21:04
Speaker 2: Sounds like they couldn't find any serious evidence, but it
21:09
Speaker 2: was this way. This doesn't happen to every candidate. So
21:13
Speaker 2: this does kind of make you think, huh, what went
21:15
Speaker 2: on there? Who really knew what? And you know, was
21:18
Speaker 2: there enough there in that internal review and outside probe,
21:20
Speaker 2: Like nothing actionable doesn't mean they didn't find anything. It
21:24
Speaker 2: just means it didn't pass a certain threshold. And what
21:27
Speaker 2: was that threshold? Yeah, so you know a bit of
21:29
Speaker 2: a cloud following Mendela Barnes after this departure from the race.
21:32
Speaker 3: Yeah, this is probably his last moments in major political life,
21:36
Speaker 3: but we will see second acts are nothing new when
21:39
Speaker 3: it comes to politics. But well, the business of his
21:42
Speaker 3: campaign is pretty much over. But your business needs to grow.
21:46
Speaker 3: Even if it's doing well, you always want to grow more, Right,
21:48
Speaker 3: So you want to keep the existing customers happy and
21:50
Speaker 3: you want to attract new ones. And the best way
21:52
Speaker 3: to keep everybody happy and impress. The new ones is
21:55
Speaker 3: with great communication systems and great people on your staff.
21:59
Speaker 3: But that's why today's episode is brought to you by
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22:17
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22:20
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22:23
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Speaker 3: Quote no missed calls, no missed customers. All right, Jim,
22:50
Speaker 3: Quite a weird day in politics. So let's cleanse the
22:52
Speaker 3: palette real quick and rejoice in the fact that NFL
22:55
Speaker 3: training camps have now opened. The Hall of Fame game
22:58
Speaker 3: is coming up very very soon. Here and by first
23:02
Speaker 3: Sunday after Labor Day, really the first Thursday after Labor Day,
23:04
Speaker 3: we're going have actual regular season games. Pairs, of course,
23:08
Speaker 3: made it to the Divisional round. Last year came tantalizingly
23:11
Speaker 3: close to the NFC Championship Game. I don't think they
23:13
Speaker 3: would have won at Seattle. I probably would have been
23:15
Speaker 3: the end of the line. But a lot of hope
23:16
Speaker 3: and optimism for the first time in a long time
23:18
Speaker 3: heading into a season in Chicago. The Jets a little
23:21
Speaker 3: bit of a different story. But I know you've watched
23:24
Speaker 3: the team closely, and I'm sure there's some roof for
23:26
Speaker 3: optimism there too.
23:27
Speaker 2: It's a low bar to clear. Can you be better
23:30
Speaker 2: than three and fourteen from last year? And I you know,
23:33
Speaker 2: as much as the Jets have beaten optimism out of
23:36
Speaker 2: me year after year, decade after decade, I feel pretty
23:39
Speaker 2: good about that. I think they could win four or
23:41
Speaker 2: more games this year. Also. I don't know if you
23:44
Speaker 2: saw it, Greg, but there was a highlight out of
23:46
Speaker 2: the Kansas City Chiefs training camp where everyone was like, oh,
23:49
Speaker 2: my goodness, it looks like Patrick Mahomes looks terrible. Look
23:53
Speaker 2: at how he throws this interception. During practice, folks. That
23:56
Speaker 2: was Justin Fields. That was Justin Fields, who was the
23:58
Speaker 2: Jets quarterback last year who looked terrible, got signed as
24:02
Speaker 2: the backup for the Chiefs. And Mahomes is coming off
24:04
Speaker 2: that serious injury, so everybody thinks he'll be ready by
24:07
Speaker 2: opening day, but there's always that chance that he aggravates
24:10
Speaker 2: it or something like that, and that that interception I
24:12
Speaker 2: reckon I was a mistaken I recognized that style of
24:16
Speaker 2: interception anywhere. That's a Justin Fields interception. In fact, In fact, Greg,
24:19
Speaker 2: I think you would recognize that too, wouldn't I would.
24:21
Speaker 2: I would.
24:22
Speaker 3: Indeed, he's great when he's running, not so great when
24:24
Speaker 3: he's throwing a lot of times. But he's a good guy.
24:26
Speaker 3: And I'm sorry it didn't org ou on Chicago or
24:28
Speaker 3: New York for him. But being the backup in Kansas
24:31
Speaker 3: City isn't a bad role as long as Patrick Mahomes
24:34
Speaker 3: stays healthy.
24:34
Speaker 2: I was gonna say, you play the last game of
24:37
Speaker 2: the season when they're resting all the starters, you know,
24:40
Speaker 2: maybe you come in for a driver or two when
24:42
Speaker 2: you know he's been you know, knocked around a little bit,
24:45
Speaker 2: or finishing up the ends of games. But really, your
24:48
Speaker 2: job is to sit on the bench, hold a clipboard
24:50
Speaker 2: and collect your Super Bowl ring at the end of
24:52
Speaker 2: the year.
24:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a guy named Jim Sorgie who is Peyton
24:54
Speaker 3: Manning's backup for years and years, and Manning had this
24:57
Speaker 3: consecutive games trick, so Sorgy never barely saw the field.
25:00
Speaker 3: Maybe some mop up duty, but that's that's just an
25:03
Speaker 3: awesome job to have. Josh McCown is another one who
25:06
Speaker 3: had that job with a number of teams for almost
25:08
Speaker 3: twenty years, including the Bears. He actually came in and
25:11
Speaker 3: did pretty well in twenty thirteen when Jay Cutler got hurt.
25:14
Speaker 3: But it's a great way to make a living and
25:16
Speaker 3: you probably won't have too many after effects as a
25:19
Speaker 3: result of not playing very much.
25:21
Speaker 2: I was gonna say Greg. Back when Kirk Cousins was
25:23
Speaker 2: the quarterback of the Washington then Washington Redskins and now
25:26
Speaker 2: Washington Commanders, my friend Liz Robbins used to say, my
25:30
Speaker 2: quarter team's quarterback has great stats?
25:32
Speaker 3: What is he?
25:33
Speaker 2: By the way, Kirk Cousins accumulated beautiful stats and didn't
25:36
Speaker 2: really win in the postseason, very much like my quarterback's
25:38
Speaker 2: got beautiful stats. What is your quarterback at this back
25:41
Speaker 2: when Josh McCown was quarterback of the Jets, it was
25:43
Speaker 2: actually being It's like Josh McCown has a complete set
25:46
Speaker 2: of in game Warren uniforms from every team in the NFL.
25:50
Speaker 2: He defined journeymen. He was not on every team, but
25:54
Speaker 2: I think he was in like ten to twelvey. He
25:55
Speaker 2: was always just good enough to be some It was somebody's.
25:58
Speaker 2: Actually it was kind of like the Ryan Fitzpatrick thing,
26:00
Speaker 2: where like he stinks, gets cut, goes to another team,
26:04
Speaker 2: the other team's quarterback gets you know, gets hurt. H
26:07
Speaker 2: Fitzpatrick comes in, actually looks pretty good, everybody gets a
26:10
Speaker 2: high on him. Then he starts to stick again, stinks,
26:13
Speaker 2: gets cut, and then's just that cycle went around year
26:15
Speaker 2: after year for Ryan Swirpatrick.
26:18
Speaker 3: But just like spring training in baseball training camp, hope
26:21
Speaker 3: springs eternal. So we'll watch some less than thrilling preseason
26:25
Speaker 3: games and then get to the real action in September.
26:27
Speaker 3: So Jim, have a great weekend. See him Monday.
26:30
Speaker 2: See you Monday, Greg.
26:31
Speaker 3: Jim Garretty, National Review. I'm Greg Corumbus of Radio America.
26:34
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for being with us today. Please be
26:35
Speaker 3: sure to subscribe to the Three Martini Lunch Podcast if
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26:40
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26:56
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