Latest / 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary / John Fetterman Wins Over Pennsylvania Republicans as Democrats Turn on Him

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John Fetterman Wins Over Pennsylvania Republicans as Democrats Turn on Him · 3 Martini Lunch – Political Humor & Commentary

0:03
Speaker 1: Welcome to the three martini lunch.
0:04
Speaker 2: Grab a stool next to Greg Karambas of Radio America
0:07
Speaker 2: and Jim Garrity of National Review.
0:10
Speaker 3: Three martinis coming up. So glad you're with us for
0:14
Speaker 3: the Wednesday edition of the three martini lunch. We'll be
0:17
Speaker 3: getting to that South Carolina Senate runoff in just a moment.
0:20
Speaker 3: But first, we're going to look ahead a little bit
0:22
Speaker 3: till 2028, not the presidential race. another key Senate race.
0:26
Speaker 3: Democrats probably already licking their chops about Pennsylvania. They don't
0:31
Speaker 3: like their current Democratic Senator, John Fetterman. They think they
0:35
Speaker 3: can probably get him out of office. But the latest
0:38
Speaker 3: poll numbers from the New York Times and Siena suggest
0:42
Speaker 3: they'll only do that if he stays a Democrat. And
0:44
Speaker 3: if he does stay a Democrat, they'll definitely do that.
0:46
Speaker 3: But these numbers show among Democrats, Fetterman is very favorable
0:51
Speaker 3: among 10% of Democrats, somewhat favorable, 10%, somewhat unfavorable, 26%,
0:58
Speaker 3: very unfavorable, 42%. So overall among Democrats, he's underwater 69
1:03
Speaker 3: to 20. Among Republicans, his favorable 79%, his unfavorable 17%,
1:10
Speaker 3: and perhaps also significantly among independents, he's above water 54
1:15
Speaker 3: to 39. So if you add it all up, his favorable,
1:18
Speaker 3: unfavorable is 49, 43%. which is better than being underwater,
1:23
Speaker 3: but certainly not a lock in any sense. So, Jim,
1:26
Speaker 3: the question now becomes, does he stay a Democrat and
1:29
Speaker 3: get bulldozed in the primary? Does he become a Republican
1:32
Speaker 3: where he only agrees with the party on a couple
1:34
Speaker 3: of things, yet the Republicans in Pennsylvania seem to think
1:37
Speaker 3: that's plenty? Or do you go independent and try to
1:41
Speaker 3: hang on to this Senate seat with kind of a
1:43
Speaker 3: wink-wink from the Republicans, kind of like Joe Lieberman had
1:46
Speaker 3: there against Ned Lamont back in 2006? So, first of all,
1:48
Speaker 3: what do you make of the numbers and what do
1:50
Speaker 3: you think is His plan is here.
1:52
Speaker 2: Dear Pennsylvania voters, it gives me no pleasure to say this,
1:56
Speaker 2: but I think you're kind of stupid. And because here's
2:00
Speaker 2: the thing, John Fetterman, it's been a little while since
2:03
Speaker 2: I've looked at the numbers, but as of like the
2:04
Speaker 2: first year of Trump's presidency, he votes with the Trump administration. 23, 24,
2:08
Speaker 2: 25% of the time, depending on which measure. So like
2:10
Speaker 2: 75% of the time he's voting in opposition. This is
2:11
Speaker 2: a guy who is 75% Democrat, 25% Republican, if you
2:13
Speaker 2: want to define it as voting as the administration's position.
2:23
Speaker 2: And so, you know, like it's OK to like him.
2:26
Speaker 2: It's OK to say, OK, you know, this is better. Greg,
2:28
Speaker 2: am I correct that the numbers indicate that Fetterman has
2:32
Speaker 2: a higher approval rating amongst Pennsylvania Republicans than McCormick does?
2:36
Speaker 3: Yes.
2:36
Speaker 2: And McCormick is a traditional down the line, consistent conservative.
2:40
Speaker 2: I haven't checked his rate of voting with the administration,
2:42
Speaker 2: but it's got to be like 90 some percent. McCormick
2:46
Speaker 2: does not disagree with this administration very long. So there's
2:48
Speaker 2: kind of this question of the the average Pennsylvania Republican.
2:53
Speaker 2: thinks better of Fetterman for those couple of issues which
2:56
Speaker 2: he deviates from Democratic Party orthodoxy than he does with McCormick,
3:01
Speaker 2: even though he probably agrees with McCormick.
3:03
Speaker 1: On more issues.
3:04
Speaker 2: And I'm sorry, that's not particularly logical. I've been accused
3:07
Speaker 2: of being a Vulcan and not necessarily understanding– the gut
3:12
Speaker 2: instincts that drive a lot of our politics. But I
3:14
Speaker 2: think this is just like, one, it's overestimating the degree
3:17
Speaker 2: to which Fetterman is that. Which, oh, by the way,
3:19
Speaker 2: Pennsylvania Democrats, you guys really are a bunch of morons
3:22
Speaker 2: because Fetterman is voting your way three times out of
3:25
Speaker 2: every four issues. But you're still mad at him, which
3:28
Speaker 2: says it's interesting. And we know you and I like
3:31
Speaker 2: to bring up his relentless mockery of Bob Menendez for
3:35
Speaker 2: his corruption. But that's probably not the issue that's driving Pennsylvania.
3:39
Speaker 2: He said some positive things about border enforcement, but that's
3:42
Speaker 2: not really. Am I correct? My suspicion is that when
3:46
Speaker 2: Pennsylvania Democrats said they disapprove of Fetterman, it all comes
3:50
Speaker 2: down to the issue of Israel?
3:52
Speaker 1: That's most of it.
3:52
Speaker 3: He's also said a lot of things about Plattner and
3:56
Speaker 3: the socialists who are running this year. He's been very
3:58
Speaker 3: critical of them as well. But the Israel position is
4:00
Speaker 3: clearly what's driving the train here.
4:02
Speaker 2: So what's kind of saying is that if you disagree
4:04
Speaker 2: with the Democratic Party's orthodoxy of being more pro-Hamas, excuse me,
4:08
Speaker 2: more pro-Palestinian and more anti-Israel, that if that one issue,
4:14
Speaker 2: they will turn on you and they will say you're
4:15
Speaker 2: not like this has now become a litmus test issue
4:18
Speaker 2: in the Democratic Party arena.
4:19
Speaker 1: And in the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, which.
4:22
Speaker 2: May not have what you'd expected, I had always been
4:24
Speaker 2: a skeptic of the idea that Fetterman was going to
4:26
Speaker 2: switch parties. And I've argued that it doesn't really make
4:28
Speaker 2: sense to switch parties when you only agree with that
4:31
Speaker 2: party about 25 percent of the time. Now, I suppose
4:35
Speaker 2: if he switches parties, maybe there's certain other issues he's
4:37
Speaker 2: going to be more flexible on. But I think with Fetterman,
4:40
Speaker 2: what you see is what you get. The guy who
4:42
Speaker 2: had to be arm twisted into wearing a suit is
4:45
Speaker 2: not full of artifice and careful positioning. I think after
4:49
Speaker 2: you've been through the experiences he has, he just comes
4:53
Speaker 2: out and says what he really thinks. And this is
4:56
Speaker 2: a guy who is a pro-Israel, anti-socialism, pro-border immigration enforcement Democrat, right? Abortion,
5:06
Speaker 2: federal spending, all kinds of other issues. He is a,
5:08
Speaker 2: you know, he's a Democrat, but Democrats don't want him.
5:12
Speaker 2: And it sounds like Republicans do want him. So I
5:14
Speaker 2: don't have to say that him switching parties doesn't seem crazy. And,
5:18
Speaker 2: you know, like running as an independent, you know, Lieberman
5:21
Speaker 2: did that way back in the day in 2006. I
5:23
Speaker 2: don't think that can necessarily be done in today's era.
5:26
Speaker 1: But it's very bizarre.
5:28
Speaker 2: It is very bizarre how his position on one issue
5:30
Speaker 2: has caused the two– the perceptions of both Pennsylvania Republicans
5:33
Speaker 2: and Pennsylvania Democrats to completely flip regardless of how Fetterman
5:37
Speaker 2: votes on– Ninety percent of the other issues that are
5:40
Speaker 2: out there. Yeah.
5:41
Speaker 3: And he'll punch back to the Democrats who criticize him.
5:44
Speaker 3: I think that bothers them, too, because the more they
5:46
Speaker 3: tried to get him to flip or to be quiet
5:48
Speaker 3: about it, the more he's pushing back. Yeah, exactly right.
5:51
Speaker 3: But that puts the Pennsylvania Republican Party in a tough spot. OK,
5:54
Speaker 3: so let's say he flips parties. And again, he's voting
5:57
Speaker 3: three quarters of the time with the Democrats. Do you
6:00
Speaker 3: clear the field for this guy? Do you make him
6:02
Speaker 3: run a competitive primary? I would assume you would. If
6:05
Speaker 3: he goes independent, do you expect him to then caucus
6:09
Speaker 3: with Republicans if he wins that way? I mean, the
6:12
Speaker 3: Republicans in Connecticut 20 years ago basically laid down and
6:15
Speaker 3: backed Joe Lieberman. I'm not sure that happens in Pennsylvania,
6:18
Speaker 3: which— would make things more complicated.
6:20
Speaker 1: I was going.
6:20
Speaker 2: To say the fact that McCormick has won has demonstrated
6:23
Speaker 2: that a traditional conservative Republican can win.
6:25
Speaker 1: Before that, there was Pat Toomey.
6:27
Speaker 2: My sneaking suspicion is that if you're a Pennsylvania Republican,
6:31
Speaker 2: you welcome him. If he decides to switch parties, you say,
6:35
Speaker 2: thank you for joining the winning team. And, you know,
6:37
Speaker 2: we're more popular than ever, blah, blah, blah, but you
6:39
Speaker 2: don't clear the field. And you give a Somebody who
6:42
Speaker 2: votes with the administration more than one out of every
6:45
Speaker 2: four times or who would vote in the Trump position
6:48
Speaker 2: more than one out of every four times a chance
6:50
Speaker 2: to win.
6:50
Speaker 1: And you let your primary voters make that decision.
6:52
Speaker 2: Based on these numbers, it's not crazy to think that
6:55
Speaker 2: given the option of a traditional generic Republican and Fetterman,
7:00
Speaker 2: that primary voters would pick Fetterman. I think if you're
7:03
Speaker 2: a generic Republican, you could say something like, thank you
7:06
Speaker 2: for your service. Thanks for standing up on Israel. But
7:08
Speaker 2: there's a whole bunch of other issues that we Republicans
7:09
Speaker 2: care about. And you're not with us on those. But
7:14
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, it went from saying, oh, come on,
7:16
Speaker 2: this is never going to happen to you. With numbers
7:17
Speaker 2: like this that have not been a blip, the cement
7:21
Speaker 2: is starting to harden. I think you kind of leave
7:23
Speaker 2: the point of possibility of your Fetterman. Maybe you have
7:25
Speaker 2: to think about this for two years down the road.
7:27
Speaker 3: A few years ago, Fetterman was promising to be the
7:30
Speaker 3: final vote to kill the filibuster. Another thing he's changed
7:34
Speaker 3: his mind on. He now says he's in favor of
7:35
Speaker 3: keeping the filibuster. But I mean, he was a he
7:38
Speaker 3: was a hardcore lefty. He was the he was the
7:39
Speaker 3: far left guy in that Senate race against Conor Lamb
7:42
Speaker 3: and and won easily. And then he got to Washington.
7:44
Speaker 3: And I think, you know, he saw the reality and
7:47
Speaker 3: and changed his mind on, again, not a lot of things,
7:49
Speaker 3: but a few things. But of course, the Democrats, you
7:51
Speaker 3: can't you can't go off the path at all without
7:54
Speaker 3: them hating you. And then there's also this joint fundraising
7:57
Speaker 3: thing he's doing with Dave McCormick. These guys are like
7:59
Speaker 3: the best bipartisan buddy cop movie we've ever seen. I'm
8:03
Speaker 3: not even sure how this account's going to work, but
8:05
Speaker 3: they basically decided neither one of them is going to
8:08
Speaker 3: campaign against the other.
8:09
Speaker 1: So weird.
8:10
Speaker 2: Some of this is that there are fewer states that
8:12
Speaker 2: have one Democratic senator and one Republican senator.
8:14
Speaker 1: So that's one of the reasons you don't see it.
8:16
Speaker 2: But for a long time, regional issues and regional alliances mattered,
8:22
Speaker 2: if not as much as partisan differences.
8:24
Speaker 1: But it was a major factor. And you do.
8:26
Speaker 2: Two senators who represented the same state had to work together.
8:29
Speaker 2: They couldn't spend a lot of time. They're occasionally bristling
8:33
Speaker 2: in disagreements, but You always had to protect your home
8:35
Speaker 2: state industries. You always had to protect your home state demographics.
8:40
Speaker 2: You were never going to get a Republican in Michigan
8:42
Speaker 2: who strongly opposed bailouts for the auto industry. You were
8:46
Speaker 2: never going to get an Iowa Republican who hated farm subsidies.
8:49
Speaker 2: It was just– That's the way things were. And maybe
8:54
Speaker 2: the partnership of McCormick and Fetterman demonstrates you don't have
8:57
Speaker 2: to be that way. But if Democrats see Fetterman as
9:00
Speaker 2: a de facto Republican, then it doesn't seem as quite
9:03
Speaker 2: as bipartisan as it might initially have seemed. Yeah.
9:05
Speaker 3: Despite the numbers, I don't expect him to flip parties
9:07
Speaker 3: because recent history is still pretty recent. Arlen Specter tried
9:10
Speaker 3: that move in 2010. And got smoked in the Democratic primary,
9:14
Speaker 3: which he deserved for bailing on the Republican Party. But nonetheless,
9:17
Speaker 3: it's not easy to pull that off. And I'm guessing
9:19
Speaker 3: there's more than a few Republicans interested in the job.
9:22
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9:25
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10:56
Speaker 3: last night, the runoff in South Carolina. The one poll
10:59
Speaker 3: we did see had a tenth of a point difference,
11:01
Speaker 3: as we talked about yesterday. In the end, it was
11:04
Speaker 3: a five-point difference. Darlene Graham, 52.5 to Ralph Norman's 47.5%.
11:10
Speaker 3: And so last night, Darlene Graham thanking her supporters and
11:15
Speaker 3: pivoting to the general election and saying, we've got a
11:18
Speaker 3: state to save from the socialists.
11:20
Speaker 4: People are moving to South Carolina in droves to get
11:23
Speaker 4: away from the blue state policies of the Democratic Socialists. Yeah,
11:28
Speaker 4: I remember you. Massachusetts, right? We cannot and must not
11:38
Speaker 4: allow Democratic Socialists to gain a foothold in our conservative
11:43
Speaker 4: state like South Carolina. Thank you.
11:46
Speaker 3: Over at Norman headquarters, obviously a more somber mood. Still
11:49
Speaker 3: can't quite figure out why Trump didn't have his back
11:51
Speaker 3: after Norman claims he had Trump's back all these last
11:54
Speaker 3: few years.
11:54
Speaker 4: You know, the.
11:55
Speaker 5: President got involved. He has that right. That's his prerogative.
11:59
Speaker 5: As I told, I never, well, y'all, his policies are good.
12:05
Speaker 5: I never understood why he got in this race to beat,
12:09
Speaker 5: you know, but it.
12:12
Speaker 3: Is what it is.
12:13
Speaker 5: And I'll accept it. We will, something good, and I've
12:17
Speaker 5: always said, something good will come out of this.
12:20
Speaker 1: I don't know what it is.
12:22
Speaker 3: So obviously some hard feelings there in the Norman campaign.
12:25
Speaker 3: And Jim, I understand it. According to some statistics, he
12:29
Speaker 3: was the most Trump-friendly member of the South Carolina House delegation,
12:33
Speaker 3: which has a lot of Trump-friendly people in it. And
12:36
Speaker 3: of course, he also had a lifetime A-plus rating from
12:38
Speaker 3: the Susan B. Anthony list, only to watch the SBA
12:41
Speaker 3: list and the National Right to Life Committee endorse Darlene Graham,
12:44
Speaker 3: who's been on Capitol Hill for just a month. On
12:47
Speaker 3: the other hand, you've got a general election to win
12:49
Speaker 3: and only 70 days left to do it. Annie Andrews
12:51
Speaker 3: is pretty darn far left as the Democratic Senate nominee.
12:54
Speaker 3: So it'll be interesting to see how quickly fences can
12:57
Speaker 3: be mended here, if they can be mended.
12:58
Speaker 1: Yeah.
12:59
Speaker 2: So when you say something good will come of this,
13:02
Speaker 2: but I don't know what, how about another Senator Graham?
13:07
Speaker 1: Could you mention that?
13:08
Speaker 2: Look, obviously, The feelings there are pretty raw. You know,
13:12
Speaker 2: Congressman Norman has good reason to feel that way. I
13:14
Speaker 2: don't begrudge him those feelings. I do think articulated them
13:18
Speaker 2: in your concession speech is probably less than ideal for
13:21
Speaker 2: a Republican Party unity.
13:24
Speaker 1: And again, so there's two thoughts.
13:26
Speaker 2: One is, you know, we talked about in Mike Rogers'
13:29
Speaker 2: ring against Abdul El-Sayed, you know, whether the state is friendly,
13:33
Speaker 2: whether the state is a tough territory, you always want
13:36
Speaker 2: to have your best players on the field. Maybe she
13:40
Speaker 2: can get better between now and Election Day, but that
13:42
Speaker 2: debate performance was very shaky. And I think it's safe
13:45
Speaker 2: to say that name recognition and the president's endorsement are
13:49
Speaker 2: what carried her to.
13:50
Speaker 1: This runoff victory. That's less than ideal.
13:54
Speaker 2: Also, regarding Annie Andrews, she may be the most far
13:58
Speaker 2: left candidate South Carolina has ever had. But she's not
14:01
Speaker 2: running that way. And I was watching one of her ads.
14:04
Speaker 2: She's put up a half million dollar buy. First of all,
14:07
Speaker 2: she's a medical doctor. So she's campaigning in the white
14:09
Speaker 2: coat and she's talking about how she wants to make
14:12
Speaker 2: sure everyone has health care and she's going to go
14:14
Speaker 2: after insurance companies that are screwing us. And it was
14:17
Speaker 2: it was a it was the sort of message that
14:19
Speaker 2: usually works very well in states that are less Republican
14:22
Speaker 2: than South Carolina. Now, South Carolina is a very Republican state.
14:26
Speaker 2: I think Trump won it by like 18 points or
14:27
Speaker 2: something like that.
14:28
Speaker 1: So I'm not that worried about this.
14:32
Speaker 2: The Republicans have a lot more Senate races they need
14:34
Speaker 2: to worry about compared to this one. But this is
14:38
Speaker 2: not great to have a candidate who kind of botched
14:41
Speaker 2: it and who's kind of still running on folksiness and
14:44
Speaker 2: most people had never heard of a couple months ago.
14:46
Speaker 2: And I'm sure if you're a South Carolina Democrat, you're like, look,
14:50
Speaker 2: this is not a friendly state. This is not a
14:52
Speaker 2: place where we'd like to have a chance. But we've
14:55
Speaker 2: got our best player on the field. And she's running
14:56
Speaker 2: on a message. It's pretty not... She also emphasized how
14:58
Speaker 2: much she wants to work with Republicans, which if you're
15:01
Speaker 2: a South Carolina Democrat, you have to work with Republicans.
15:04
Speaker 1: They're everywhere. So I don't really think this is going to...
15:08
Speaker 1: This is still considered.
15:09
Speaker 2: In every prognosticator, strong Republican. I don't even think it
15:14
Speaker 2: shifts over to lean Republican or something like that. But
15:17
Speaker 2: It is something where, you know, for six, you want
15:20
Speaker 2: to have your best candidates and your best potential senators
15:22
Speaker 2: on the field. And I'll be honest, I'm not sure
15:24
Speaker 2: she was the choice for this, but we will see.
15:27
Speaker 2: She'll probably win and she'll probably be fine, but we
15:30
Speaker 2: will see, Greg.
15:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, we still don't know a heck of a lot.
15:33
Speaker 3: So she's got a little more than two months to
15:36
Speaker 3: flesh out a lot of those positions. I think Alan Wilson,
15:39
Speaker 3: the Republican nominee for governor in this cycle, has handled
15:44
Speaker 3: this pretty well. Right after the first round of the primary,
15:46
Speaker 3: he's like, okay, two more weeks, and then we got
15:48
Speaker 3: to come back together. And then he basically said the
15:50
Speaker 3: same thing. He did not endorse in this race. I
15:53
Speaker 3: think in the end, he's going to win probably by
15:55
Speaker 3: a lot more than Darlene Graham will, because there will
15:57
Speaker 3: be some bitter feelings here. And there's definitely a lot
16:01
Speaker 3: of Norman supporters out there saying, I'm leaving that one blank.
16:04
Speaker 3: Once you get down to the actual vote and do
16:07
Speaker 3: you want a Democrat in that seat or not, I
16:10
Speaker 3: think that'll change the calculation for some. But but not all.
16:12
Speaker 3: So we'll see how well the Republicans coalesce. One of
16:15
Speaker 3: the downsides of having a primary this late, obviously under
16:17
Speaker 3: unusual circumstances, is you don't have as much time to
16:21
Speaker 3: bring everybody back together as you would have if everything
16:23
Speaker 3: had just worked out the way it normally would back
16:25
Speaker 3: in June.
16:26
Speaker 2: So as you're going through that, Greg, I'm thinking of
16:28
Speaker 2: two more points that might be relevant to this. Back in,
16:31
Speaker 2: I want to say 2020, Jamie Harrison was the Democratic
16:34
Speaker 2: nominee and there were polls that had him ahead of
16:37
Speaker 2: Lindsey Graham. I remember it was Quinnipiac. There was like
16:40
Speaker 2: one pollster who kept showing him ahead.
16:42
Speaker 1: And everybody's like, really?
16:42
Speaker 2: A Democrat's ahead in South Carolina? On election day, Lindsey
16:46
Speaker 2: Graham won by 10 points, 55 percent, 45 percent. So
16:48
Speaker 2: I don't know if he was ever that close. I
16:50
Speaker 2: think this was always they may have just a series
16:53
Speaker 2: of bad polls created this narrative that Jamie Harrison was
16:56
Speaker 2: neck and neck and could win this thing.
16:58
Speaker 1: What, in fact, no, he never was. Jamie Harrison, I.
17:01
Speaker 2: Believe, raised like more than $ 100 million for that rate.
17:04
Speaker 2: Like there was just a ton of money.
17:05
Speaker 1: The record. I don't think Annie.
17:06
Speaker 2: Andrews is going to have comparable funding just when there's
17:09
Speaker 2: just so many other big Senate races for Democrats this year.
17:12
Speaker 1: So there's that. And also Alan Wilson.
17:14
Speaker 2: In a year where there's not a lot of Republican
17:16
Speaker 2: candidates where I feel really enthusiastic about, Alan Wilson has
17:20
Speaker 2: been the state attorney general for the last eight years,
17:22
Speaker 2: I want to say. And he's just been this platonic
17:25
Speaker 2: ideal of everything you want in a Republican state attorney general.
17:27
Speaker 2: So I think like you know, great choice, South Carolina
17:30
Speaker 2: primary voters. I think he's going to be a great
17:31
Speaker 2: governor and that should help Graham in her bid for
17:34
Speaker 2: a full term to the Senate. So like all other
17:37
Speaker 2: reasons why I just think this is probably not going
17:39
Speaker 2: to be a huge factor in this, but candidate quality matters. And, uh,
17:43
Speaker 2: you know, I don't think this is, you know, you
17:45
Speaker 2: should not take any state for granted. Yeah.
17:47
Speaker 3: And you don't want the party having to spend a
17:49
Speaker 3: lot of money to get you across the finish line.
17:51
Speaker 3: They're already going to have to do that in Texas
17:52
Speaker 3: to some extent, if that even happens. Uh, and so
17:55
Speaker 3: you want that to be, uh, a relatively smooth operation there. Yeah,
17:59
Speaker 3: Jamie Harrison set the record. He beat Beto's record for 2018.
18:03
Speaker 3: And so thankfully this year, Jim, there's no such thing
18:06
Speaker 3: as wildly incorrect polling. So we won't have to deal
18:09
Speaker 3: with that in the general election.
18:10
Speaker 1: Yeah, I know. All right.
18:15
Speaker 3: So South Carolina is behind us next week. I think
18:18
Speaker 3: it's just Massachusetts. So it's Moulton versus Markey. Who comes
18:22
Speaker 3: away with the win there? It looks like Ed Markey's
18:24
Speaker 3: probably in front.
18:25
Speaker 1: But in the meantime.
18:26
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18:28
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18:31
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Speaker 3: No missed calls. No missed customers. Music Oh, man, Jim,
19:21
Speaker 3: just when we thought the main Senate race was quieting
19:24
Speaker 3: down to some extent, at least in terms of craziness,
19:27
Speaker 3: the polls.
19:28
Speaker 1: Are still close. Here we go again.
19:30
Speaker 3: We, of course, now have Graham Platner on the sideline.
19:33
Speaker 3: Troy Jackson was put in as the Democratic Senate nominee
19:37
Speaker 3: by a few hundred delegates after Platner dropped out at
19:40
Speaker 3: the last second before his name would have been finalized
19:42
Speaker 3: on the ballot. He, of course, was easily the Democratic
19:45
Speaker 3: primary winner back in June. But some people are still
19:49
Speaker 3: kind of frustrated. that the will of the people was
19:52
Speaker 3: not honored by the Democratic Party. And so a opinion
19:56
Speaker 3: contributor to the Banger Daily News up there in Maine,
19:59
Speaker 3: wants people to write in Graham Plattner when it comes
20:04
Speaker 3: to the November general election, saying over 156,000 Mainers in
20:08
Speaker 3: June cast their ballots for a working class candidate who
20:11
Speaker 3: spoke directly to the daily struggles we Mainers are facing.
20:14
Speaker 3: We chose Graham Plattner, an oyster farmer, combat veteran and
20:17
Speaker 3: former harbormaster. But when sexual assault allegations came out after
20:21
Speaker 3: the primary, it was shocking how quickly the party establishment
20:23
Speaker 3: pulled the rug out from under him. I can only
20:25
Speaker 3: imagine that Graham must have felt that everyone had abandoned him.
20:28
Speaker 3: And to our disappointment, he dropped out under the pressure. Overnight,
20:31
Speaker 3: voters had their votes and their voices essentially stolen from them. Now,
20:35
Speaker 3: this was not written by Troy Jackson, but Troy Jackson
20:39
Speaker 3: seems to be pretty upset that Graham Plattner is still
20:41
Speaker 3: not in this race, too.
20:42
Speaker 1: And again, when this all happened, I really wish it hadn't.
20:45
Speaker 1: I mean, I wish nothing would have happened with Graham.
20:48
Speaker 1: I wish, you know, things would have continued like any
20:51
Speaker 1: all that. would have been, you know, much better.
20:55
Speaker 3: Now, it's worth noting that you can be a write-in
20:59
Speaker 3: candidate in Maine, but you have to be a declared
21:01
Speaker 3: write-in candidate or the votes for you don't count. So, Jim,
21:05
Speaker 3: I don't think we would have said this a couple
21:06
Speaker 3: of months ago, but hey, people in Maine who are
21:09
Speaker 3: really upset, go ahead and vote for Graham Platt.
21:15
Speaker 2: I mean, you might as well leave your ballot blank.
21:16
Speaker 2: And so that's a good option, too. Greg, I should
21:20
Speaker 2: point out that the Banger Daily News is a real newspaper,
21:23
Speaker 2: although I think some people say it peaked with its
21:25
Speaker 2: coverage of Washington from 2001 to 2004. But I was like,
21:30
Speaker 2: that's kind of a strange. Yes, I was covering Washington
21:33
Speaker 2: for the Banger Daily News. So listeners, you should know
21:36
Speaker 2: that every almost every time we have talked about Susan
21:39
Speaker 2: Collins on this program. Greg has had to correct me
21:42
Speaker 2: because I say Olympia Snow because they used to have
21:45
Speaker 2: two nice lady senators who were moderate Republicans from Maine.
21:49
Speaker 2: And they tend to– the filing cabinet of my mind
21:52
Speaker 2: has both of those names in the same place.
21:54
Speaker 1: But this columnist.
21:55
Speaker 2: Writes and says that he probably feels like everyone has
21:58
Speaker 2: abandoned him. Greg, the reason he feels like everyone has
22:02
Speaker 2: abandoned him is because.
22:03
Speaker 1: Everyone abandoned him. It's like– Oh, good.
22:06
Speaker 2: You got the message, right? And I'm kind of left wondering, like,
22:10
Speaker 2: was this guy in a coma for much of the summer?
22:11
Speaker 2: Did he miss why Graham Plattner stopped being the Democratic
22:17
Speaker 2: Senate nominee? This didn't just happen. He didn't get struck
22:20
Speaker 2: by lightning. This was not some sort of abducted by aliens.
22:24
Speaker 2: There was a lot of bad things that this guy did.
22:27
Speaker 2: And Maine Democrats became very uncomfortable with the idea of
22:31
Speaker 2: the neo-Nazi racist.
22:34
Speaker 1: I thought about this.
22:35
Speaker 2: My first thought was, oh, the abusive boyfriend assault stuff.
22:39
Speaker 2: And I almost forgot about the Nazi tattoo. Now think
22:41
Speaker 2: about what kind of a year it is when people
22:44
Speaker 2: are like, oh, I'm not even worried about the Nazi
22:46
Speaker 2: tattoo anymore. The other thing that just seems very bizarre
22:49
Speaker 2: about this is just the degree to which, think about
22:51
Speaker 2: in January, my guess is certainly like by the end,
22:54
Speaker 2: if you didn't live in Maine, there's a good chance
22:57
Speaker 2: you had either never heard of Graham Platner or you
22:59
Speaker 2: barely heard of him.
23:00
Speaker 1: By the mid-summer, late spring, he's on the cover of
23:03
Speaker 1: Time magazine, right? He's everywhere.
23:07
Speaker 2: He was the candidate who the Democratic grassroots nationwide were
23:10
Speaker 2: most excited about. And I had the sneaking suspicion that
23:13
Speaker 2: a portion of it was the Nazi tattoo. So there
23:15
Speaker 2: was kind of this sense of like the edginess, right? This,
23:18
Speaker 2: you know, he was not a cookie cutter candidate and plutocracy.
23:24
Speaker 2: And then, of course, more and more bad stuff comes out.
23:26
Speaker 2: He drops out of the race. And I believe that
23:28
Speaker 2: video was the last anyone's ever seen of him, Greg,
23:30
Speaker 2: as far as I know, right? Like there was some
23:32
Speaker 2: talk that he was going to speak at some Democratic
23:34
Speaker 2: event up there. There was a big, a little bit like,
23:36
Speaker 2: The guy might as well have been abducted by aliens
23:38
Speaker 2: or grabbed by Bigfoot or whatever Stephen King monster is
23:41
Speaker 2: up there in Maine that makes people disappear. But it's
23:43
Speaker 2: just kind of this way where you can go from
23:45
Speaker 2: a nobody to the hottest guy in the Democratic politics
23:49
Speaker 2: in the country to a nobody again in a six
23:52
Speaker 2: month span is really kind of bizarre. I don't expect
23:55
Speaker 2: this will catch on. I suspect most Democrats are going
23:57
Speaker 2: to vote for Jackson. Jackson is admittedly in a tough
24:01
Speaker 2: spot where he can't sound too critical of Graham Plattner
24:04
Speaker 2: because he's still got his Clearly, he still has a
24:06
Speaker 2: bunch of fans... goose stepping around up there. But at
24:10
Speaker 2: the same time, he's got, he can't be too positive
24:13
Speaker 2: because he can't say, and I've all, you know, every
24:15
Speaker 2: one of those ex-girlfriends had it coming or.
24:16
Speaker 1: Something like that.
24:17
Speaker 2: He's got to, you know, walk this tightrope. And so
24:20
Speaker 2: I think this is one of the reasons I'm actually
24:21
Speaker 2: not that worried about Susan Collins.
24:23
Speaker 1: Look, I did it right that time.
24:25
Speaker 2: Didn't have to correct me. But, you know, I would
24:28
Speaker 2: point out the polling, you know, for her looks bad.
24:30
Speaker 2: It looked bad in 2000, I'm sorry, 2020. And she
24:33
Speaker 2: ended up winning by eight or nine points anyway. So
24:35
Speaker 2: my suspicion is that, you know, We mentioned bad polling
24:38
Speaker 2: in the last martini. Maine is traditionally a state that's
24:42
Speaker 2: really tricky. And I have a sneaking suspicion that those
24:45
Speaker 2: flinty Mainers, those lobstermen, they may not want to share
24:48
Speaker 2: their opinions to the pollster when they call. Or alternately,
24:51
Speaker 2: it's none of your business who I'm voting for. And
24:53
Speaker 2: my suspicion is that Collins will probably be fine. But
24:57
Speaker 2: this really does gain steam if there aren't enough angry
25:01
Speaker 2: Platner supporters out there and they decide to write him
25:04
Speaker 2: in even though it's not going to count for anything. Well,
25:06
Speaker 2: it just makes life a little bit easier for Susan Collins.
25:08
Speaker 3: Well, Susan Collins still seems pretty enthusiastic on the campaign trail.
25:11
Speaker 3: I think she's still pretty confident. It will probably be close.
25:15
Speaker 3: But again, if main polling was bad six years ago
25:18
Speaker 3: and other polling is pretty bad already this year, take
25:22
Speaker 3: everything you hear with a grain of salt up there.
25:24
Speaker 3: But even the surveys we do have, have it within
25:26
Speaker 3: the margin of error. So anyway, when it comes to
25:29
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25:31
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25:38
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25:39
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25:44
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25:46
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26:54
Speaker 3: All right, Jim, double-fisted chaser, which is not too common.
27:03
Speaker 3: This is supposed to be our really short segment. But yesterday,
27:05
Speaker 3: of course, the amazing Dolly Parton died at the age
27:09
Speaker 3: of 80. Whether you like country music or not, she
27:11
Speaker 3: was absolutely a fixture and an influence on country music
27:15
Speaker 3: and music way beyond that. Just an absolute legend. But
27:18
Speaker 3: it's really what she did with that fame and that
27:21
Speaker 3: wealth and that stardom that came through country music. She
27:23
Speaker 3: had this imagination library program that gave out millions upon
27:27
Speaker 3: millions of books to kids age birth through five to
27:29
Speaker 3: encourage them to read. She gave money by the thousands
27:33
Speaker 3: to people in the area of the state where she
27:35
Speaker 3: grew up, Gatlinburg, when there was a major fire that
27:38
Speaker 3: blew through the area. Just a very charitable, good-hearted person.
27:41
Speaker 3: And a lot of people consider her like the last
27:43
Speaker 3: universally loved person in the United States, which is probably
27:45
Speaker 3: part of a larger discussion. We're so polarized now that
27:49
Speaker 3: even if people love the acting or the singing or
27:51
Speaker 3: whatever you do, the sports that you play, if you
27:54
Speaker 3: have a comment on anything politically related, well, then you're
27:57
Speaker 3: a 50-50 person in this country.
27:59
Speaker 2: I was going to say, depending on when you want
28:02
Speaker 2: to measure when her career really took off, she's been
28:05
Speaker 2: a big star for the entirety of our lives. So
28:09
Speaker 2: that's one thing is just the longevity and her cultural
28:11
Speaker 2: influence by that measurement. But also, I just think the
28:15
Speaker 2: degree to which whenever she appeared on television or at
28:19
Speaker 2: some event or was doing a charity, she just made
28:23
Speaker 2: people smile. You just felt good. And she always had
28:26
Speaker 2: this very positive attitude. And, you know, Lord knows she
28:30
Speaker 2: got her share of jokes. But first of all, it
28:32
Speaker 2: was very hard to joke about Dolly Parton or any
28:35
Speaker 2: part of her physique or anything like that because she
28:37
Speaker 2: already made the joke first. And there's somebody with this
28:39
Speaker 2: remarkable ability to to laugh at herself and to be
28:42
Speaker 2: silly and to kind of, you know, there was just this, um,
28:46
Speaker 2: endless effervescent, effervescent charm, uh, that just kind of made
28:50
Speaker 2: everybody feel good.
28:51
Speaker 1: That is really a lost art.
28:53
Speaker 2: Uh, I don't know if it's because, uh, you know, the, the, the,
28:56
Speaker 2: you know, increasing polarization in our society politics, but then like,
29:00
Speaker 2: you look at the, the daily, the Dolly Parton fan base, uh,
29:03
Speaker 2: was basically human beings. There was not a, you know, uh,
29:07
Speaker 2: you know, like she started out as a country star,
29:09
Speaker 2: did a bunch of Hollywood movies, nine to five, like,
29:12
Speaker 2: you know, there there's references to Dolly Parton in Deadpool, right?
29:15
Speaker 2: Like she just, she always represented as this, uh, as
29:19
Speaker 2: this delightful figure. And there was kind of this, like, um, I,
29:23
Speaker 2: she apparently had like, I don't know, it's like a
29:25
Speaker 2: couple of weeks ago, they were opening up some new
29:28
Speaker 2: ride at Dollywood and she had been scheduled to appear
29:31
Speaker 2: and didn't. And I had the thought of like, you know,
29:33
Speaker 2: she's getting up there in years. You know, I hope
29:35
Speaker 2: people appreciate her while we have her. And it turns
29:37
Speaker 2: out that she was in a very brief but unfortunate
29:39
Speaker 2: fight with cancer and passed away.
29:41
Speaker 1: So, like, I don't know if we'll ever see anyone
29:43
Speaker 1: like her again.
29:44
Speaker 2: And it is a really there will be a great
29:47
Speaker 2: loss in American life, not just for her enormous talents
29:50
Speaker 2: and her singing ability and all the hits she had.
29:53
Speaker 2: But just that charisma and warmth and generosity that she brought,
29:59
Speaker 2: it's just an extremely high bar that I don't know
30:01
Speaker 2: if any other celebrity will ever equal.
30:03
Speaker 1: Mrs.
30:04
Speaker 3: Karambas' grandfather had a radio show long before I knew
30:08
Speaker 3: any of them. And it was a traveling show. And
30:11
Speaker 3: he interviewed Dolly Parton several times. And so I don't
30:13
Speaker 3: know that Mrs. Karambas ever met her. But just every
30:17
Speaker 3: story you've ever heard about Dolly Parton is exactly what
30:19
Speaker 3: they experienced every time. Just extremely interesting. enthusiastic, kind, good hearted,
30:23
Speaker 3: happy to be there, really encouraging along the way. So
30:26
Speaker 3: you don't get that reputation by only being that way
30:29
Speaker 3: part of the time. So rest in peace to Dolly Parton.
30:32
Speaker 3: But we have excellent news in one other area. And
30:35
Speaker 3: that is that our great friend John Gabriel reporting yesterday
30:38
Speaker 3: on X Gym that after six surgeries and a month
30:41
Speaker 3: and a half in the hospital, a stem cell transplant,
30:43
Speaker 3: his cancer is in full remission. And so he's still
30:47
Speaker 3: got to do some things to keep multiple myeloma in
30:50
Speaker 3: check because that is a bear and it doesn't ever
30:52
Speaker 3: really truly go away. You got to keep batting it
30:54
Speaker 3: down like whack-a-mole. But he's in full remission and that
30:58
Speaker 3: could not be better news.
30:59
Speaker 1: You know, absolutely thrilled.
31:01
Speaker 2: You know, I think of John Gabriel as a peer,
31:04
Speaker 2: known him a lot of years and, you know, back
31:07
Speaker 2: from the start of blogging, you know, back during the...
31:09
Speaker 2: Bush years and Obama years. John is joining the ranks.
31:13
Speaker 2: Apparently now about one out of every 18 Americans, roughly 18.6
31:18
Speaker 2: million people have survived cancer. And so it's one of
31:21
Speaker 2: those things. I talked today in the morning, Joel, about
31:23
Speaker 2: things in the country that are getting better because I've
31:25
Speaker 2: been Driving people to drink hemlock for the first two
31:28
Speaker 2: days of this week by talking about all the problems
31:30
Speaker 2: we have that we're not doing anything about. The remarkable
31:33
Speaker 2: developments in cancer treatments. And I noticed that this can
31:38
Speaker 2: seem like bad news. I've heard people say, God, it
31:41
Speaker 2: feels like everybody I know is fighting cancer. It may
31:44
Speaker 2: seem like that, but that's because we've gotten a lot
31:46
Speaker 2: better at noticing the symptoms, a lot better at detecting
31:49
Speaker 2: it early, and a lot better at treating it. So
31:52
Speaker 2: I'm so glad that John is joining the ranks of
31:54
Speaker 2: this And, you know, we talk about some dark things
31:56
Speaker 2: on this podcast, but John being in the state that
31:59
Speaker 2: he's in is definitely one of the best developments we've
32:01
Speaker 2: heard in a long, long time.
32:02
Speaker 3: Yeah, fantastic news. Brandon keeps that way, and he certainly
32:06
Speaker 3: thanks everyone for their good wishes and their prayers over
32:09
Speaker 3: the last several months. And so hopefully we've got great
32:12
Speaker 3: news again tomorrow, but it's going to be hard to
32:13
Speaker 3: top that. Jim, see you then.
32:15
Speaker 1: See you tomorrow, Greg.
32:16
Speaker 3: Jim Garrity, National Review. I'm Greg Karumbas of Radio America.
32:18
Speaker 3: Thanks so much for being with us today. Please be
32:20
Speaker 3: sure to subscribe to the podcast. If you don't already,
32:22
Speaker 3: tell your friends about us as well. Thanks also for
32:24
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32:27
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32:28
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32:37
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32:40
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