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Birthright Citizenship Fight Enters a New Chapter · 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to the Three Martini Lunch.
• 0:05
  Speaker 2: Greb a stool next to Greg Corumbus of Radio America
• 0:07
  Speaker 2: and Jim Garritty of National Review.
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: Free martinis coming up. That's right, it is the Three
• 0:13
  Speaker 3: Martini Lunch. I am not Greg. My name is Craig
• 0:16
  Speaker 3: Collins filling in.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: But you do have Jim Garrity right there in all
• 0:19
  Speaker 2: of his glorious splendor. So many things to talk about,
• 0:23
  Speaker 2: so many things to discuss on the Three Martinis today.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: One of the biggest ones was the Supreme Court.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: It's Supreme Court of Palooza season where they put out
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: all of their decisions. They made a lot of big
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: ones and some were talked about more than others. Birthright
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: citizenship probably the biggest among them. Jim, is that where
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: you want to start today?
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: Sure? And I point out that I'm not a specialist
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: in the Supreme Court at National Review. My colleague Dean McLaughlin,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: this is like an accountant on April thirteenth. This is
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: like John mcleane at Christmas. This is just like the
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: busy season where and I was talking with another one
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: of my colleagues yesterday about how I understand the Supreme
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Court traditionally the biggest decisions get announced on the last day,
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: and it makes sense, like the ones that you know
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: are going to be the biggest, most controversial, or most consequential,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: they want to take their time. You're writing for history
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: and your briefs and your descents and your you know,
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: concurrence is fine. I don't mind that. It does feel
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: a bit like the airplanes stacked up waiting to take
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: off at you know, national airport or something like that.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: You're like, you know, we have not won to three
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: huge decisions today and the day before and all that stuff.
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: But I think that you're right. The birthright citizenship decision
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: is the one that most people were buzzing the most about.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: I was surprised that everybody else was surprised, because you
• 1:39
  Speaker 1: don't you know, basically, since eighteen ninety eight, it's been
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: pretty clear you're born in the US territory, you're a
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: US citizen kind of regardless of circumstances. Yes, there are exceptions,
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: like you know, children are foreign diplomats and things like that.
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: And you know, the reason the Trump administration tried to
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: stop it wanted to argue, no, you're not automatically a citizen,
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: is of the concept of birth tourism, as well as
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: illegal immigrants who come over here and the children are
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: born in the United States. I think we have a
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: you know, it is entirely legitimate to be concerned about
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: birth tourism. This is not a small phenomenon. Quite a
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: few folks, particularly from China, but really from all over
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: the world. If you're wealthy enough, you get a tourist visa,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: you come over pregnant, and you give birth, and now
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: you have a US citizen child. And usually if you
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: want to apply for citizenship down the road, it is
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: advantageous to have a family member who is a US citizen.
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: So now you can say, oh, I am the mother
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: of a US citizen, therefore I should be given priority.
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: I think feeling all of this stuff is I understand
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: like these are all rules and laws that the executive
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: and legilative branch can change if they want to, right,
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: you know, being born in the United States, you're not
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: automatically a citizen. That's changing the Constitution, or at least
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: the interpretation of the Constitution. For a long time, Craig,
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: what did you make of all this?
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Well, the first thing, and I think you pointed it out.
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: Brett Kavanaugh probably wrote the most inter sting. It was
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: he was an agreement but then also dissented at the
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: same time, which is weird. And Kavanaugh was pretty much
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: creating the roadmap that you mentioned of changing the rules
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: to prevent things like tourism from being a way to
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: you know, circumvent or abuse our system. I also do
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: like what Clarence Thomas said. Clarence Thomas several times referenced
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: the fact that this amendment was not designed for the
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: purpose it's used for now. It was helping slaves get citizenship,
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: and it was really more about subject of the jurisdiction
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: thereof meaning people that you know, were only really controlled
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: by the United States, meaning US citizens to begin with,
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: are people that lived here and just deserve that status
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: if you're subject to jurisdiction somewhere else, if you're a
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: foreign person, you know, we're loyal to another country. I
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: think that there was an argument that deserved to be
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: made that you shouldn't be able to have a kid
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: here and that kid have US citizenship, but it didn't
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: work in the court.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: So who knows what We'll stay now.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you know, look thinking back to the arguments
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: people had about Dhaka and deferred you know, arrival. The
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: idea that if you're a child and you came over
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: when you're two years old, and you know that question
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: of are you you know, well, we're setting you back
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: to a country that you haven't been in in many,
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: many years, you have no memory of, you have no
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: real connection to. And you were saying, well, but legally
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: you're now in this case, like the argument would be like, well,
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: you're you know, you're born in the United States. You
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: may have never been in that country, but we've decided
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: that you're a citizen of that country because of your lineage,
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: because of the citizenship of your parents. That was always
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: going to be a very tough sell to this Supreme Court.
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: And so I'm not the least bit surprised by that.
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: Other decisions, you know, preserving women's sports again, I don't
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: think the court that did not surprise me. And that
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: one went the way most folks on the right wanted
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: to see presidence authority to fire people in the executive branch.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: I think, you know, John you has a piece on
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: this in uh in National Review this morning. I think
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: it makes perfect sense. I also think that the Federal
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: Reserve is sort of different and was designed to be
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: independent of presidential you know, firing people for decisions he
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: doesn't like. The consequences of getting that wrong are pretty
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: darn severe. So, but ultimately, in the end, if you
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: work for the executive branch, you answer to the president
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: because the president, the president is really the only the
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: vice president only people in the executive branch who get elected.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: Everybody else in the cabinet they're appointed, so that I
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: have no ripes with any of that one. All in all,
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: I think it's been a pretty good Supreme Court term.
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, no, I agree with you.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: I think that I am disappointed in some of the rulings,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: but I'm not surprised by the rulings. I guess the
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: right way to say it, and so all in all,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: it kind of went the way you thought it would.
• 5:40
  Speaker 3: I think if I'm disappointed in a.
• 5:41
  Speaker 2: Justice, it might be Amy Comy Barrett, but I'm not
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: sure that that matters.
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say. I noted like when you not,
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: particularly when you're right of center, you're you're strict constructionist.
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: Do you believe in a you don't believe in emanating
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: p numbers? Right? Some days the Supreme Court justices that
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: you like are not going to rule the way you
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: want them to because the Constitution doesn't. Not every bad
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: idea is unconstitutional and not every good idea is constitutional,
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: and you just have to, you know, accept that. And
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: some people did not have that acceptance. So you know,
• 6:13
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• 7:43
  Speaker 2: We move on to our second martini on the three
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: Martini lunch. This one very interesting. NPR had to beg
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: forgiveness to Justice Alito and several others because they kind
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: of tried to force retire him. At least one reporter
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: at NPR did, and they were totally wrong about that.
• 8:00
  Speaker 2: Alito is not retiring, even if they were claiming he was.
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: What do we have on this story, Jim.
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: So, First of all, I have never been a fan
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: of Nina Totenberg. And it's not merely she's left of
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: center and I'm right of center. Year two thousand, I
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: was at the Supreme Court for one of the last
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: days of the term. Sometimes the justices read their decisions
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: and the Supreme Court building, you're not allowed to bring
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: in cell phones. Actually this might have been like before
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: cell phones were super common back then, but it was
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: one of those things where they have to run out
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: to the press part where they're allowed to write out
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: their articles and send out the bulletins and all that
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: I know, Nina Totenberg does not look particularly big or intimidating. Craig,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: I know, and I am, you know, six two, I'm
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: two hundred pounds, and so I am much bigger Craig.
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: She cloppered me. Absolutely. If you've ever seen a full
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: back just run over a linebacker, that happened there. And
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: I say this with no pride, But first of all,
• 8:57
  Speaker 1: she's tougher than she looks. And second, like when you
• 9:00
  Speaker 1: know she is running out to give that report. So
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: out of nowhere, or you know, surprise people who speculated
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: Alito's getting up there in years, Thomas is getting up
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: there in years. Always this time you year, there's questions
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: about people are they retiring, But both of them, to
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: the extent they've addressed it, have said that they love
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: what they're doing and have no intention to retire. And
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: as as we know from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, oh, by
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: the way, a close personal friend of Nina Totenberg for
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: five decades. Yeah, in Supreme Court justices, once they're on there,
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: they you know, they generally intend to diet off as
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: they are not interested in retiring. So out of nowhere,
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: you know, we get this report from NPR, and the
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: report is confirmed by nobody. And after a while and
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: so apparently my stuff for like five ten minutes, and
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: then they have issue or attraction and everyone's asking, how
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: could this possibly check out this way? Well, according to
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: her statement, she misheard Supreme Court Justice John Roberts talking
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: about upcoming retirements plural and I assume he's talking about
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: employees of the court, maybe wants to pay tribute to
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: somebody or something. But she hears the word retirement, and apparently,
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: according to her explanation on NPR's she just assumed he
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: meant Alito. Sure went out, told executive editor Krishnadev Colin
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: Moore as well as her intern NPR broadcasts it out,
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: NPR does live, you know, and it just is up
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: there for you know, about ten to fifteen minutes, and
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: then they say, oops, never mind, that's not the case.
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: She just assumed it was Alito.
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: That's amazing, Craig.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: If you did something like that at your radio stations,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: how would they react.
• 10:36
  Speaker 2: I would be fired. Yeah, yeah, I And especially if
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: that was my explanation. If I had a huge, breaking
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: news story and then they asked me, how did it happen?
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: And I said, well, I heard a word and then
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: I added the rest of it like a mad lib.
• 10:48
  Speaker 3: And I just thought that this made sense.
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like if you know, if you would say I
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: had a source and the source burned me. Okay, that's me.
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: By the way, a lot of people yesterday were speculating
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: this was Alito's smoke out, the leaker of the Dobbs decision.
• 11:02
  Speaker 1: I would love for that to be the case, but
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: at this point we have no reason to point to that.
• 11:06
  Speaker 1: The other thing is is that almost immediately afterwards, on
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: Twitter and or ex and social media, you started seeing
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: what I'm gonna call Alito retirement truthers, who insists that
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: he is retiring and that he just didn't want it
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: to be announced yet. And so Nina Totenberg, with her
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: excellent sources, got word of this and published it too early.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: If that's the case, she could have said, I stand
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: by my reporting. You wouldn't retract it, you'd say, or
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: you would have reported Alito is thinking about retiring or
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: something like that. You know, like that all would have
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: been for that's not what happened here, And she's not
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: that she's saying happened there, Craig. Nina Totenberg is eighty
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: two years old. She is She has covered the Supreme
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: Court since literally the year I was born. I have
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: a child in college. That's a really long time. And
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I kind of think this is a sign that people aren't, like,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: you know, I don't.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: I know.
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: Someday I'm gonna be eighty and probably somebody's gonna say,
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: Jim stopped doing the podcast, Jim stop writing You're old
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: and senile, and you know I'm not gonna enjoy that.
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: But this is a sign, you know, yeah, now this
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: is this is the time to hang it out. This
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: is the athlete who's still playing the sport and shouldn't
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: be playing anymore. And we all feel bad for the
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: person when we see them out there, and we'd like
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: to see them go away.
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I even think right now, Nina Totenberg probably could not
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: knock me over.
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: Hi second that I bet you can't.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so Nina to I don't even want to say
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: a great career, but because I've never been a fan of.
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: Her, but now we're starting it. Now she's retiring, she
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: really should exactly.
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: This is the anitt retirement we should have gotten yesterday.
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: But here's the thing, and she did not have any secret.
• 12:43
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• 13:53
  Speaker 2: And now we move on to our final Martini of
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: the day. This one very interesting. Even though the excuse
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: scene is good, the excuse is something that we can
• 14:02
  Speaker 2: all be somewhat compassionate toward. That depression could cause you
• 14:06
  Speaker 2: to struggle in a whole lot of ways. Professionally or whatever.
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: Taking four months off from Congress seems like an extreme
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: thing that maybe people should not be able to do.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: Regardless of what they tell us. The reason is when
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: they return back. We have a congressman who said exactly
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: this when he returned to his job after taking a
• 14:25
  Speaker 2: four month simbatical.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Jim, what do you want to say about this one?
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Tom Kin, Junior, Republican from New Jersey. First of all,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: it stops showing up for work about four months ago,
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: and there was really no explanation. A lot of people
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: speculated about health because he was not issue appearing on
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: camera or anything like that. I heard a lot of bit
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: of people think they did have a stroke. Is there
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: something you know physically wrong with him? Can he not speak?
• 14:48
  Speaker 1: And the issues he's dealing with, the health, the shoe,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: and he'll be back as soon as he can, but
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: with no further explanation. I think if you're a congressman, first,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: I think you owe your constituents as clear an explanation
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: as possible when you stop showing up for work and
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: stop doing your job. Yesterday morning he returned to Capitol Hill.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: We're glad to see that. But he said that he
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: was being treated for depression. Now that deserves sympathy anybody
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: who's dealt with depression, or anybody who's dealt with someone
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: who's someone else who has struggled with depression. That is
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: a horrific experience. And it just can make you a
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: point where you just feel like there's no point in
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: anything what you're doing. You don't want to get out
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: of bed, you have no motivation, You think everything is
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: meaningless like this. That's some dark, you know, dark stuff.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: But if your depression is so severe that you can't
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: show up to work for months at a time, I
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: think you have to let somebody else do the job.
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Your constituents deserve a presentation, They deserve someone who's be voting.
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: You know, maybe they like the way you're voting, maybe
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: they don't. And the other thing is, apparently, at no
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: point did Tom Kean Junior contemplate retiring from Congress. At
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: no point that we know the complate was resigning from Congress.
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: He was renominated in a primary process. And I also
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: let that have the president, you know, issued a statement
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: and said he will never let you down, when he
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: hadn't been an off showed up for work like a
• 16:01
  Speaker 1: two months. It's that's where you know, these endorsements are
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: sort of on autopilot, that's you know, but then he
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: just like so he won, and you know, Democrats think
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: they have a shot at knocking him off this fall
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and not being there for four months like that gives
• 16:14
  Speaker 1: your opponents a very easy target. And you can do
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: this kind of in a more in sorrow than an anger.
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: But like you know, Republicans get really mad at Karen Bess,
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the mayor of Los Angeles, for not showing up or
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: not being in the city when there's a terrible wildfire. Well,
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: when you don't show up to work for a long
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: stretch of time, I think there's a and look, it's
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: great sympathy, but like you know, at some point you're
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: you have to prioritize the interests of your constituents. And
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: unfortunately that's not what Tom Keane Jr. Did here. And
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: I don't know if that makes it any You know,
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: there are people who think add depression, you know, just
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: watch something happy or something and it's not that big
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: of depression could be really serious and often it's a
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: biochemical issue in your brain that you're not able to
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: have positive emotions anymore, and you usually it requires some
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: degree of medication, but you know, if you just disappear
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: like this, this makes it really tough to trust you with,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: you know, the responsibilities of high office.
• 17:07
  Speaker 2: Not that it's the same thing, but one of the
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: first people I thought of was Fetterman and the medical
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: struggles that he had a few years ago. And even
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: though Fetterman is now somebody who will say a thing
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: that makes conservatives happy, I still think that the right
• 17:20
  Speaker 2: approach for him for his own health when he was
• 17:22
  Speaker 2: struggling after a stroke would have been to walk away
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: from government. And I think the same is true for
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: Keen here that if you have depression, and if it's
• 17:30
  Speaker 2: impacting you to the degree that you can't do any
• 17:33
  Speaker 2: job over a four month periods, and nonetheless a job
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: as important as this one for your own mental and
• 17:39
  Speaker 2: health benefits, it probably would be a good idea to
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: no longer have this be a aspect of how you
• 17:46
  Speaker 2: live your day to day life. He is going to
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: have scrutiny tie like there are going to be ways
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: where it could enhance his depression or risks of additional
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: issues now that he's back in a role that's as
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: stressful as the one he's in.
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: I was going to say, if you're really struggle with depression,
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: is Congress the best place for you? Because I imagine
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: like people are gonna be telling you you stink and
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: how what a terrible job you're doing all day long,
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: and that's their you know, first aimement Right. Yeah, Fatterman
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: is an interesting comparison because you know, there are a
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: lot of reasons that we like things Betterman is saying,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: and he seems to have made a really solid recovery,
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: but it took a considerable amount of time. He was
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: afflicted by the stroke right before a primary day, and
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: he kind of denied Pennsylvania Democrats the opportunity to reevaluate
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: their options in those last couple of days before the primary.
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: We all remember the debate with mement Oz and he
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: really he couldn't speak, and that's kind of an important
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: part of the job. And then he had his issues
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: with mental health. He went to a Walter read, glad,
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: that's working out great, And look, I imagine if you
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: are used to being a certain kind of person and
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: you're afflicted by this terrible stroke and you can't do
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: things the way you used to. Heck, yeah, not surprising
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: you're depressed. Not surprising, you are you're really struggling. It
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: sounds like, you know, he really went through some dark times.
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: Really glad that he's better with it. But it just
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: was a sign that like, hey, hey, members of Congress,
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: the elected officials, you really got to put your constituents first,
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: and you know, like and also like maybe also you
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: gotta put your own health first or is it best
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: for you to you know, continue in these jobs.
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: But so yeah, no, I really think it's more about me.
• 19:17
  Speaker 2: Like I know that the selfishness of being gone for
• 19:19
  Speaker 2: four months and thinking your job will wait for you
• 19:22
  Speaker 2: is kind of a negative. But I really think that
• 19:23
  Speaker 2: for any of these people's sake, when they go away,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: it would benefit them.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: But if being in Congress has, you know, given you
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: this terrible depression, yeah, that's the other things you can
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: do with your life. So anyway, hopefully this episode has
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: not been depressing.
• 19:39
  Speaker 3: I'm not depressed.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Good well, Craig, thank you very much for joining us.
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: Greg is off enjoying himself with his family and you know,
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: missing all of this fun.
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: Uh.
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: But you know, as everyone is as we headed to
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the fourth of July weekend, are.
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: We going against the Declaration of Independence. Here, the declaration
• 19:55
  Speaker 4: says all men are created equal under the law, but
• 19:58
  Speaker 4: not in the tax code. Power to couples with the
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: same income but at different age paying a three thousand
• 20:04
  Speaker 4: dollars difference in taxes. Check out the Watchdot on Wall
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: Street podcast on Apple, Spotify, wherever you get your podcast.
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: And that's all for this edition of the Three Martini Lunch.
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: I will be back tomorrow. Craig will be back tomorrow.
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Greg is still out and he's missing all this fun,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: but we hope you will join us tomorrow on the
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: Three Martini Lunch