Thursday, May 11, 2006

Podcast with Ken Mehlman and Michael Barone

Articles such as this one make it sound like Conservatives are fleeing the Republican Party in droves. However, some are just disenchanted with the GOP and want to know how the party will address their concerns. Today, we are talking with Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and Michael Barone, Senior writer for US News & World Report and principal coauthor of The Almanac of American Politics. Chairman Mehlman discusses what the GOP is trying to do to keep the constituents happy and touches on topics of immigration and spending. We then turn to political expert, Michael Barone, for a discussion of the possibility of a third party in the 2008 Presidential election--he thought Oprah might have a chance! I sure hope not.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking here or subscribe via iTunes. You can listen to our previous podcasts at the podcast archive here, and there's a dialup version here.

As always, comments and suggestions are welcome.

24 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm not sure Mehlman enjoyed it, but I did.

3:56 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I like Ken Mehlman, but frankly after having seen him on Fox, CNN, MSNBC and heard him on various radio shows, his message has really not evolved much, if at all, over the past 6 months.

It's not that what he says doesn't sound good, but it doesn't sound fresh at all -- especially on illegal aliens, he doesn't yet seem to grasp how mad people are about it. The Dems can easily make that their baby, well not that easily given their own disarray, but if they do, the Reps are dead in November.

4:09 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I love the "jobs americans won't do."

How tone deaf can these idiots be? I'm a lawyer, but law would be a job this American would refuse to do if I was asked to give legal services for $3.25 an hour because of hordes of illegals driving down the wages for everyone else...

My father worked in construction. Why does El Presidente Jorge Bush and his sidekick Ken "Moleman" Mehlman, feel the need to spit in his face denigrating his career as something real Americans are too good to do?

I have donated to Republican candidates in every statewide and national election for the past 10 years and all I'm sending in response to the dozens of requests I will inevitably get this year are some "cero dineros" I'm printing off the web.

Not one cent and not one vote for these elitist SOBs willing to sell America's future for a wink and a smile from Vicente Fox.

Can you tell I'm a little ticked off?

4:16 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hitlary/Orca 2008!

4:26 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

So there's a supply and demand problem!! What do you think prices are for? The GOP money men want thier cost of labour controlled by
millions of Mexicans and the rest of us have our wages depressed to benifit them. NOT , see you in november. PS , stop pointing out deficit to gnp ratios of Reagan as he had a democrat congress , that reference is offensive!!!

5:45 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Damn right Anonymous!

Mehlman, if you're reading this, what would you say to letting in 80 million illegals from the poorest countries in the world?

Then all the Americans with "respectable" jobs can live like Saudi princes with servants and manual laborers of every sort (construction, manufacturing, landscaping etc...) working for pennies a day! We could be another economic "miracle" like India or China...

6:01 PM, May 11, 2006  
Blogger Laura said...

This is nothing but corporate welfare. What consumers save on a head of lettuce we more than make up for in billions of dollars of social services, federal reimbursement of ER bills run up by illegals, less health care being available because hundreds of hospitals have closed, HUGE increases in leprosy, drug-resistant TB, and other diseases we haven’t had to deal with in decades, higher education costs, the costs of printing thousands of government documents in English and Spanish, and the list could go on.

Cheap labor, it’s not. It’s just taxpayer-subsidized. And at this point the GOP refusal to stop it is making me think a "time out" for them while Democrats run this country further into the ground is a good idea. After all, Democrats can pork up the budget just as well as the GOP can.

6:07 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

"...want to know how the party will address their concerns."

I find this question puzzling. What concerns remain out there that this uniformly Republican government has not addressed? Tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Addressed. Bigoted, anti-family "marriage protection" legislation, including a proposed amendment to the Constitution? Addressed. War for oil and the energy extraction/processing industry? Addressed. Manipulation of science, pretty much across the board from female reproductive health to climate change? Addressed. Dramatic enhancement of the political power of an anti-intellectual fundamentalist ideology? Addressed. Precisely what does the hard-right conservative body politic have to complain about? It seems to me their agenda is in full swing and its disturbing economic and societal consequences obvious to all.

6:10 PM, May 11, 2006  
Blogger Sissy Willis said...

'Love you, gal, but as I told you way back when, I'm too old for podcasts. I'm definitely a reading type. Is there still room for my type out there?

6:38 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm there, too. I get most of my blogs at work. (I spend a lot of time waiting on things to compile, download, install, or break.) But I can't play podcasts in that environment, and I'm a little distressed that all the best commentary seems to be going to the podcast.

Lamont

6:54 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Way too little, way too late..

Mehlman is woefully out of touch which is just typical for this administration. A couple of years of Democrat smears, investigations, and jackbooted persecution may wake up the GOP. Then again maybe not.

Strategically the only hope now is give the public a couple of years of Democrats in power and hope that they see something that they don't like.

Nothing is going to happen between now and November to restore the conservative base. Mildly put, Bush is incompetent and the GOP is leaderless. I voted for W twice (what were my choices, Gore, Kerry???). But he has proved to be the reincarnation of Jimmy Carter. Will the next two years be any worse if Democrats control the house?

I doubt it.

W is unlikely to get anything useful done in the remaining two years of his administration. If the Democrats try to pretend to be fiscal conservatives for 2 years, so much the better. The GOP has abandoned that principle apparently.

The point is that if the Republicans do not field an intelligent, articulate, conservative candidate for president in 2008 then there is no point in voting GOP (for me). A couple of years of Democrat insanity might put the fear of the electorate into the Republicans. If not, then I don't see how we are much worse off. The GOP is sounding so much like the Dems anyway (particularly on immigration) and not taking any action on other issues.

I like your 3rd party fantasy but fat chance of that happening.

Ken from Tucson

7:05 PM, May 11, 2006  
Blogger Laura said...

Ken, that's about where I'm at too. I've only voted Democrat once, when the only Republican choice was the odious David Duke, but I'm expecting to either stay home or vote Democrat in the next two elections unless the GOP cleans up it's act. I don't think the Democrats will be better for the country, mind you. But I'm starting to believe that they won't be any worse, and the GOP needs to remember that they work for us, we don't work for them. The pork is a disgrace, but the lack of enforcement of our laws re: the border is the last straw.

7:18 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very interesting. I agree with your comments at the end. The GOP has become a very liberal party and has turned its back on Ronnie. They did this before with another liberal President (with the same name) and in 1992 Clinton "won" with only 42%. The other liberal Bush only got 32% and the only way the GOP put him up for a second term was they had (and have reaquired) a death wish.
Republicans are bad liberals. If we have to have a liberal (and the is the only choice the GOP now gives despite their lies to the contrary) Democrats are better at it.
Of course they culd cut the government 10% by Oct and actually increase their majority. And cows will fly!
The liberals running the GOP refuse to learn history and instead will repeat it!#@?!

7:44 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm disappointed you two didn't call him on the "jobs Americans won't do" comment. Unless you did it after I turned it off.....I was tired of the drivel.

A friend of mine at church was let go from his Dad's business because his Dad couldn't afford to employ him anymore due to how much illegals have driven down the rates they were getting for painting apartments....from $.15/sqft to $.8/sqft.

And the real kicker is this guy and his Dad legally immigrated from the Czech Republic a few years ago.

Oh yeah, there's a job Americans won't do now.

11:04 PM, May 11, 2006  
Blogger Greg Kuperberg said...

So why should I pay 15 cents per square foot for painting when I can pay 8 cents per square foot?

11:30 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Hi Helen,

Another good interview.

It sounds like you guys duped some of the Barone part, where he is answering Glenn's question about who the 3rd canidate takes votes from.

That is, unless I hit the rewind button.

Thanks for doing these.

11:34 PM, May 11, 2006  
Blogger Greg Kuperberg said...

Actually, I rather like what Harry Browne had to say about immigration. I'm told that Glenn voted for Browne in 2000. (I don't know who Helen voted for then.) "A government War on Immigration will be no more successful than the War on Poverty or the War on Drugs," was one of the interesting things that Browne said back in those times.

Unfortunately, it sounds like a lot of people are just plain forgetting about libertarianism on a lot of issues.

11:52 PM, May 11, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

My first podcast.
I love Helen's voice! But Glenn "sounds" better in print. :)
I regard the Dem Party as so far out of it that I won't vote for them, I won't even stay home. But I will sure get excited if given a chance to vote for a Repub or (especially!) a Repub primary candidate who wants to win in Iraq, secure the borders, cut spending and confirm judges. Can't have too many of those!!...

2:13 AM, May 12, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I did not find your interview to be "tough". Too friendly with Mehlman. Its obvious the GOP is not getting the message on immigration, and will lose at least one house. I suppose Mush is not interested in the message people are sending him.

11:24 AM, May 12, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

You have got to be kidding me--tough interview? You two let Mehlman walk all over you! The Bush administration has spent like drunken sailors-which is an insult to drunken sailors-and Marines for that matter-because at least they spend their own money on the booze!Where has this GOP congress and Bush adminstration tried to limit spending? Tax cuts? Tax cuts have nothing to do with cutting spending. Tax cuts stimulate the economy and thereby bring in more revenue for the govt. You can either piss away that revenue by SPENDING more, which the govt has done, or you can use it to balance the budget like most of us have to do. Mehlman says wait and see the results? I have been waiting since 2001! Now I am going to see something between now and November? I am really starting to despise the Republican party as much as I do the Dems. Oh, did I say your interview was lame? I could go on, but I have work to do. Thanks for for nothing.

11:36 AM, May 12, 2006  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Total softball. You let Mehlman drivel on about taxes, spending, blah, blah, blah and did not push him to inform El Presidente of our MAJOR concern: Border control/employer enforcement/complete overhaul of immigration department/NO GUESTWORKER EARNED CITIZENSHIP. I won't let this cowardly crew of so called conservatives prevent me from voting but I'll be writing in Tom Tancredo. He is one of the few in D.C. who believes in the wisdom of ordinary Americans, who remembers that he serves "we the people" and hasn't succumbed to the Elite Syndrome: Stubborn, willful pride in knowing what's best for ignorant voters along with always making sure campaign coffers are full of cash from craven business interests.

5:29 PM, May 12, 2006  
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