Mayor Pete Endorses Bernie Sanders

In Episode 7, Cody, Katy, and Robert discuss presidential candidate and mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Worst Year Ever, a production of I Heart
Radio Everything. So don't don't don't whoa, whoa, whoa, what's

(00:22):
going on? Welcome to the Worst Year Ever. I'm going
to do it again. No, no, no, reacting to the
fifteen pages you just quoted, do not cut that in
all that was amazing in no way. That is our
legally mandated only introduction from now on. You can't redo that, Cody,

(00:44):
I'm sorry, we don't. There's no editing in podcasting good
editing podcasting. This podcast we're doing, it's called Worst Year Ever.
We're the podcast that you're listening to. My name is
Cody Johnson. We're gonna say your names. Katie stall is mine,
Katie Robert Evans. That's correct it, oh man names out.

(01:08):
I mistake myself for Katie regularly because I use her
driver's license. Oh that's where it's been. I've just been.
I had to get a fake one on the black market.
You might be in trouble in Nevada. Okay, Well, you
know when I never go to Nevada, So you guys
can if we ever have to go to Nevada for

(01:30):
this show, you guys can go without me. I just
don't use my I D Robert, all right, well, also
I pronounce it Nevada. But now you've made me into
some sort of bad guy just because I'm stealing your identity,
which I feel doing is unfair. No, no, Robert, not
because of that, but because of whatever you've done with

(01:50):
my identity to make me barred from Nevada. Why are
you attacking rubber like this Nevada? What the crimes I
commit Nevada are between me and Caesar's palace? Tomato Tomata,
I d D. Hey, you know what we're gonna talk
about today? What we're going to talk about mayor Pete?

(02:13):
And uh, I'm actually kind of excited about this because
I kind of didn't pay much attention to him, um,
and in looking into his history, his views, his whole
his whole deal, I'm actually kind of a huge fan
of his now. Um. Yeah, So I mean I would
say I would call myself as a Pete brot to

(02:35):
Jedge yourself these days. Yeah, yeah, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. No,
I'm just saying no to the name to Pete. No, No,
I'm a I'm a brod to Jedge through and through
and so to actually kind of start this out. I
wanted to read like a kind of a speech I

(02:55):
wrote about him for him, kind of like an endorsement.
And uh, here we go. Um. I don't get a
little music going, um, because I feel very passionate about this.
More appropriate? Where where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Keep
going throughout your talking. No, in this new century, there

(03:21):
are a daunting number of important issues which are to
be confronted if we are to progress as a nation.
Each must be addressed thoroughly and energetically. But in order
to accomplish the collective goals of our society, we must
first address how we deal with issues. We must re
examine the psychological and political climate of American politics. As
it stands, our future is at risk due to a

(03:42):
troubling tendency towards cynicism among voters and elected officials. The
successful resolution of every issue before us depends on the
fundamental question of public integrity. A new attitude has swept
American politics. Candidates have discovered that it is easier to
be elected by not offending anyone, rather than by impressing

(04:02):
the voters. Politicians are rushing for the center, careful not
to stick their next out on issues most democrats shy
away from the word liberal like a horrid accusation. Just
as film producers shoot different endings and let test audiences
select the most pleasing, some candidates run test platforms through

(04:22):
sample groups to see which is most likely to win
before they speak out on a major issue. This deserving
trend reveal cynicism a double sided problem, which is perhaps
the greatest threat to the continued success of the American
political system. Cynical candidates have developed an ability to outgrow
their convictions in order to win power. Cynical citizens have

(04:44):
given up on the election process, going to the polls
at one of the lowest rates in the democratic world.
Such an atmosphere inevitably distances our society from its leadership
and is thus a fundamental threat to the principles of democracy.
It also calls into question and what motivates a run
for office, in many cases, apparently only the desire to

(05:05):
occupy it. Fortunately for the political process, there remains a
number of committed individuals who are steadfast enough in their
beliefs to run for office to benefit their fellow Americans.
Such people are willing to escue political and personal comfort
and convenience because they believe they can make a difference.
One outstanding and inspiring example of such integrity is the

(05:29):
country's only independent Congressman, vermonts Bernie Sanders. Bernie' wait hold
on this. I didn't write this about Pete. This is
you were you played giarizing Cody? Yeah, I was, I
was bidening around. This is um wowee. So this is

(05:55):
the first prize in the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library
Museums Profiles and Courage Essay Contest from two thousand by
Pete Buddha Judge when he was in high school. When
he's in high school, and he was in high school.
Essay is called Bernie Sanders um. And there's so much more.
There's so much more to this this essay of his,
and we're gonna get to it. And it must be

(06:15):
so surreal for him to be running against one of
his obvious heroes, obvious heroes. It's so odd um. And
I yes, I like what he said about how one
of the great problems in politics is that candidates just
keep running to the middle and focus testing their messages
and are terrified to actually take a strong ideological stance

(06:39):
because what they really want is to hold the office
It would really be heartbreaking if the author of that
essay did exactly that eighteen years later. It would be
such a sad and quick Eighteen short years later, politicians
are rushing for the center, careful not to stick their

(06:59):
neck out on issues. Yeah, anyway, I hope this doesn't
have anything to do with anything we're gonna talk about. Um,
you know, the things that we say on the show
usually don't have anything to do with the things that
we say on the show. So no, no, no, So
that's um, that's a fun little essay. There are other
sac wrote during this time period. One is called Rock

(07:21):
the Vote and it's about post nine eleven music, specifically
Dave matthews solo album Some Devil and radio ants on
the Chiefs. Did You did You? Did you find an
essay from Pete where he described all of the other
people in his Scott High school as aunts marching No no, no.
You know, if he has one of those Dave Matthews

(07:42):
band bumper stickers on his car, we're gonna ask him
when he's on this podcast. He calls them Dave Katie
come on ouh so uh pizza complicated guy, um and uh,
we're gonna come back to his essay little bit later, probably,
but let's get into like who he is a little

(08:03):
bit where it comes from. I'm actually just going to
sort of list off a bunch of things he's done.
This is his resume, and I wonder why I'm saying
it like that. Peter Paul Montgomery buddhag Edge, that's his
full name, Peter Paul Montgomery Buddhagedge. Sorry Montgomery. Yeah, this
is something to take note of. I think, uh, just

(08:25):
listening to those few paragraphs about Bernie Um, when you
listen to what Pete has done, it just really sounds like, oh, yeah,
you're like kind of a rich white liberal who grew
up in the suburbs and went to you know, you
did all the things to do the politics. He's sounding
a lot like haven't seen the Politician yet? Okay, well,

(08:45):
first three episodes are very good. Anyway, it sounds a
lot like that, sounds a lot like that I've heard. Um.
Peter Paul Montgomery buddhag Edge got his undergraduate degree in
history and literature at Harvard University. Was president of the
Student Advisory Committee of the Harvard Institute of Politics. Studied philosophy, politics,
and economics at Pembroke College, Oxford, on a Rhodes scholarship.

(09:06):
During college, he intern for Jill Long Thompson's two thousand
to campaign for a congressional seat she narrowly lost to
a conservative businessman. In two thousand and eight, he was
her research director for her bid for governor of Indiana,
she lost to Republican Mr. Daniels. He did an internship
for Ted Kennedy, worked on John Kerry's two thousand four
campaign trail campaign for Obama two thousand and eight, worked

(09:27):
on Democrat Joe Donnelly's two thousand six congressional campaign he won.
Two thousand four. Two thousand five he worked as the
conference director of the Cohen Group, a Washington based business
advisory firm that consults clients on international investment advice, and
from two thousand seven to two thousand ten he worked
for McKenzie and Company, a global management consulting firm. Later,
he volunteered for Barack Obama's campaign to seven. He joined

(09:49):
the military in twousand seven and was a U. S.
Navy Reserve officer from two thousand nine to twenty seventeen.
He ran for State treasurer in two thousand and ten
as a fiscal conservative. In twenty eleven, at age twenty mine,
he was elected mayor of South Bend, reelected once, and
is now running for president. Um. Now we're gonna get
into a little more detail later. But there's a reason
I just sort of listed these off as a resume

(10:11):
and why we're now going to talk about two thousand
seven to when he worked at McKinsey and Company. Yeah,
that's been lately, yes, Cody, Before before we get to that,
is there a chance his parents were a fan of
the famous folk trio Peter Paul and Montgomery. I was
wondering the same thing. There's a chance I haven't found anything.

(10:31):
I haven't found any like folk albums. I haven't found
like the Buddha Jedge jug band doing covers or anything
that was a Peter Paul and Mary joke for four people. Yes, yes,
they're big. Hit was Pup the Sleeping Pug? I don't
know that was? That was the Irish k oh Right,
I'm getting confused anyway, his parents were both professors and

(10:54):
Notre Dame literature and things like that. So McKenzie and
Company is a multi billion dollar management consulting firm formed
in nine. According to a two thousand four article and
independent by Ben Chow, McKenzie's fingerprints can be found at
the scene of some of the most spectacular corporate and
financial debacles of recent decades. Some of these scandals include

(11:18):
this is just me talking now. Some of these scandals
include working with ICE, assisting Saudi Arabia, and cracking down
on dissidence. They've worked with, UM, Saudi Arabia even after
Jamaka Shogi was murdered dismembered as we all remember, UM,
and that's why they're in the news lately. Right, They've
been in news this week, even news a bit this week. UM.
They still attended a major Saudi investment conference after this event. UM.

(11:43):
They've also worked with the President of Turkey, who we've
also discussed on this podcast, I believe and speaking of
Heridawan Turkey, Jamaka Shogi, Saudi Arabia. Just some quick breaking
news apparently, UM, it's being reported that Jared Kushner gave
the okay to arrest Jamaica show to Saudi Arabia and
Turkeys intercepted that message and used that to get Donald

(12:05):
Trump to because yeah, the last place I saw it
was the Daily Mail, who I am. I am not
gonna go all in on UM. Yeah no, uh, not
all in um. The Spectators reported that with several sources
UM their right of center. Anyway, we'll probably be talking

(12:26):
about that on even more news. It just seemed like
a really relevant thing to mention saying all these things.
But in regards to these scandals, Peter Paul Montgomery has said, quote,
I think they've made a lot of poor choices, especially
in the last few years. Buddha Judge said on the
campaign trail in IOI recently I left about ten years ago.
But it's really frustrating as somebody who worked there to
see some of the decisions they've made. UM. These reasons

(12:50):
scandals aren't the only uh. They were directly involved in
a little company you might remember called Enron mckensey fully
endorsed the dubious accounting methods that caused the penty to
implode in two thousand one h This was years before
Pete worked there. Because Pete's answer there UH in general
is uh mackenzie speak sort of what they specialize in

(13:12):
their a consulting firm. They do mean Pete's answer there
he has when he talks about like answer to talking
about the play. Yeah, and I would I would argue
that his answer to almost everything is Mackenzie speak um
because they talk around everything they know using phrases like,
you know, affordable access to sort of obviously obvious skate

(13:32):
what they're actually talking about the illusion of freedom and
choice and so on. Word flourishes that when you look
into them, mean nothing. So in regards to ICE, I'm
gonna read this from a Justin Joff article at PR
News about the reaction of the company. In a July
ten all staff memo, Mackenzie's managing director, Kevin Snayder, got

(13:56):
out in front of the crisis. He explained that McKenzie
was not working with ICE to implement its border activities,
but simply providing quote, management consulting services for the agency's quote,
Enforcement and Removal Operations division. Say that one more time,
they're not They're not working with ICE to implement its

(14:16):
border activities. They're doing management consulting services for their Enforcement
and Removal Operations divisioning them to STA arrest and in
their enforcement and removal operations. Removal is nice. That's different
from like putting people in a camp or deporting them.

(14:37):
It's different It's like when I remove something I don't
want from my house, yes, yes, and put it in
a camp or send it to El Salvador where it's
being hunted, which is what I do. That's what you do. Um.
You also wrote that the company will not, under any circumstances,
engage in any work anywhere in the world that advances

(14:59):
or assist policies that are at odds with our values.
So this is kind of I think the crux of
Pete Buddha Jedge. He was here this company for about
four years, and if you listen to him talk these days,
you see this in everything he says. And it's interesting
when he talks about this specifically. I know that he's said, like, oh,

(15:20):
this stuff happened after I had left, a lot of
it happened before. It was happening before, So you knew
what the company was when you started working there exactly. Um.
A Routers actually describes these incidents as indicating not bad apples,
but a culture of corruption. UM. And this has been
again true for for a long long time. UH. It's

(15:41):
this approach to UH society as like this weird, like technocratic,
like means based again, like the test audience sort of
thing like testing, like, how do we talk about this
um approach to what you believe in? Uh, seems kind
of at odds with what were he was writing about
out earlier with cards to Bernard Sanders. One of the

(16:03):
things of this company they have an up or out
policy where consultants who are not promoted are asked to leave.
So it's a sort of hypercompetitive arena that fosters that
way of thinking all across the way you approach things.
And it's why I like when I was saying, here's

(16:23):
his resume, Uh, these are the things that he can say, Oh,
I did this, I did this. He actually had McKenzie
and Company on his resume when he was running as
a physical conservative earlier. He no longer talks about it. Weird. Yeah,
he said that the company had the people were good,
but there was a culture of corruption. What was the

(16:43):
exact wording? That's incredibly weasily well, So that's what how
Reuter's describes it. It's not bad apples, it's a culture
of corruption. Um, so it's a bunch of good apples
and a box made of poop, Like, how do you
have a bunch of good people? But the cultures corrupt.
I don't. I don't understand exactly what's that show. It's

(17:06):
like bloodline. They're not bad people, they just did bad things. Right.
Well then right, and like you, some of you will
get that looking at this company and what they do
and how they speak about things. Um, you can say
it's a culture of corruption, but you can also say
what they're doing is bad, because if you have a
culture of corruption, chances are those aligned with what the

(17:27):
company's goals are, right. Um. So just the way he
distances himself from it to UM is McKenzie and company
through and through. Um. And so I wanted to talk
about this company and how they talk to sort of
inform or they talk like politicians. Yes, yes, yes they

(17:47):
do exactly. Um. It's the good training ground for a
little politician and training. Yeah, I want to be politicians,
want to be politician training? Who used to understand that
people hate that and I don't like when people talk
like that. And uh, maybe you come off as a

(18:08):
bit of a fraud when you slowly evolved or at
the very least hypocrite, At the very least hypocrite if
we go back to earlier in his resume too, I
also noticed that like his his first kind of fourays
into politics were like failing to get a liberal elected
against conservative Republicans um and that's after he wrote that

(18:30):
essay about Sanders, So it kind of you can kind
of see I feel like met him going like, well,
I guess maybe maybe it doesn't work going to the left,
and if I want to get elected, I have to
be able to compete with conservatives on conservative issues exactly. Yeah, Yeahary,
I think his entire sort of career from like that

(18:51):
essay two now it's very clear what he's slowly turned into,
and that would be something that probably young people are
turned off by, and it will inform everything we say
in the future about him. Uh it's it's why you know,
because he went to even went to Harvard when Zuckerberg
was there, and we know on Zuckerberg's recommendation, he hired

(19:14):
two different people to work for him. His policy director
is a former Goldman Sachs VP. So just the entire
culture is this technocratic thing that people don't like and
it's very sort of dishonest approach to politics, which I
think that a young budage might have not liked. Goldman
Sachs is the company that's famous for not having anything

(19:36):
to do with the two eight economic crash, right, nothing
with nothing to do with that. That's what they're best
known for. Okay, cool cool cool um. And it's just
like this like tech broy kind of thing too, where
like a lot of things he did as mayor was
like smart streets, smart sewers, Like when he talks about
he has a national service program idea because he served,

(19:59):
that's something that I think people tend to He served
in the money, um, and so he has these ideas
for like a climate core, you know, community improvement core,
and these we talked about. His dream is when people
apply for jobs, the first question is where did you
serve and what did you learn? Again, it's this sort

(20:19):
of weird obsession with like getting the resume right, making
sure like you've got the right tools and as opposed
to again stuff we're gonna talk about, but also this
National Service program um. He wants to create a position
on the National Security Council to manage these programs. What. Yeah,

(20:39):
I don't know what it needs to be on the
National Security I don't know why that needs to be
on the National Security Council. I don't know if we
should have that right. What I can tell you is
that Barack Obama back in two thousand I think eight,
vaguely suggested something kind of like this um, but less extensive,
and the right wing media ran with it as Obama's
trying to build his own secret military, like separate military

(21:03):
to like take over the country and destroy the rest
of the military. So if Buddha becomes the candidate and
pushes this further, I am very excited for how bright
Bart's going to cover this. Well, maybe that's why he
would put a position on the Natural Security Council so
that it's not a secret. I don't know anyway, Yeah,
it's just a weird um. It unsettles me personally, the

(21:28):
National Security Council aspect, And when he when he talks
about this, he has ads called recruit we're recruiting you
to do this, and that I'm torn about that man,
because like, okay, so, my my family probably wouldn't exist
if FDR hadn't created something vaguely similar the Civilian Conservation
War UM during the Great Depression, which was hiring a

(21:49):
bunch of Americans because there were no jobs. Was the
government hiring them and paying them to do stuff like
build up all of our national parks. That's where like
all of the trails on parks, you go, like we're
started out and formed from a lot of the cabins
and stuff. And um, I think that especially if we're
talking about like a green New Deal and we actually
mean that literally as opposed to like a buzzword, I

(22:10):
can see there being a place for some sort of
like national service program where people can like help work
on this giant project that is unfucking the environment in
some way. So I'm not inherently against every aspect of
this idea. Um, the militant the military aspect. Yeah, that's

(22:31):
that's what's a little bit, that's what's off to me,
because it shouldn't be like military. Yeah. When I first
started hearing about this, that gave me pause wondering what
exactly it is, what like what things that I'm not
seeing on the surface here that it might lead to.
But at its core, the idea of encouraging people to

(22:53):
take this time post high school to you know, be
of service, I think is actually a pretty lovely idea
and could maybe help uh a lot of a lot
of young people. Um. Yeah, it's a it's a lovely idea,
and I think it's just it's when you put it
through this guy who is fundamentally changed via this sort
of corporatist like consulting firm stuff and the military aspect,

(23:17):
it warps it into something that I think is unappealing. Yeah,
at what point you guys gonna get rented out to
carry out work on behalf of private corporations and like
building up facilities for private corporations, uh, for pennies on
the dollar? Like at that point is that going to happen?
Three weeks? Four weeks? Right? Um? Speaking of speaking of corporations,

(23:40):
here are advertisements, well together everything. Those are some ads
from places. There were powerful ads from powerful places Colodia.
I'm dying, do you or what else you have to
say about Pete? Excuse Katie, that's not fair. Dare you

(24:09):
say that in front of a brodag edge? Okay, so
here here are more of my thoughts on Pete Bota edge. Um,
I've I'm going to continue my speech. Sanders is courage
is evident in the first word he uses to describe
himself socialist in a country where communism is still the
dirtiest of ideological dirty words, in a climate where even
liberalism is considered radical and socialism is immediately and perhaps

(24:32):
willfully confused with communism. A politician dares to call himself
a socialist, he does. Indeed, here is someone who has
looked into his own soul and expressed an ideology, the
endorsement of which, in today's political atmosphere is analogous to
a self inflicted gunshot wound. Even though he has lived
through a time in which an admitted socialist could not

(24:54):
act in a film, let alone hold a congressional seat,
Sanders is not afraid to be candid about his political persuasion.
Wasn't his data potential Marxist? Um? There's suspicions of that
with you if he was a Marxist, Um, he's translated
some Marxist writings. Um. People that are asked about that

(25:14):
are usually say like, well, he never really expressed that
kind of politics. I don't think he's a Marxist. He's progressive.
So there's no confirmation of that. Um, it doesn't super matter.
Probably also like his Marxist dad, Yeah, I'm gonna go
to Harvard, You're gonna do this political thing. You're gonna
go you know all that, all the stuff, we've talked about.
Um doesn't really speak to Pete's ideology. But uh so,

(25:39):
in regards to this section of Pete's joyful, resounding endorsement
of Party Sanders, I'd like to talk quickly about Bernie's
opinion of the rise of socialism these days. Pete calls
himself a democratic capitalist. Um, I don't think I'm just

(26:05):
gonna read I'm just gonna read this real quick. Um.
I think the word socialism is largely lost. This is Pete, Mr,
Mr Pete. I think the word socialism is largely lost
as meaning in American politics because it has been used
by the right to describe pretty much anything they disagree with.
To the extent there's a conversation around democratic socialism even
that seems to be a little squishy in terms of

(26:25):
what it actually means. Squishy, Pete. I think of myself
as progressive, but I also believe in capitalism. But it
has to be democratic capitalism. And uh, this is more
McKinsey speak, because if we know what capitalism is, would
probably say it's uh, people of capital make the decisions, etcetera,
and so forth. And if you make that democratic, what

(26:46):
would that be? Yeah, what would it be what would
you call what's the democratic stock market? What's like? What's Yeah,
I'm trying to think of a good word for that.
I can't. I'm failing. Well, we could maybe higher cans
sulting firm like, Uh, we can ask them if they
could come up with some branding for us. Yeah. In

(27:07):
this democratic uh capitalism, If a company, say we'll call
them Fastly, uh, buys up, say, a huge chunk of
the nation's water rights, it uses them to package up
water and tiny plastic bottles that killed the ocean and
ship it off all around the world. Um, as drought
and whatnot threatens huge chunks of the country where those

(27:28):
awkwiffers are. Would we get a vote on whether or
not that's okay? Or would the fact that they'd already
paid for it mean that none of us has a
choice in what happens to that water? Oh, none of
us has a choice. None of us has a choice.
I think democracy, right, it's definition of democracy. Um. Continue,

(27:49):
So Pete believes in democratic capitalism. Um, because he's a
very honest boy. Um. He's also said, I'm I think
much more concerned about the debt than what is fashionable
among most people in my party side note, Pete, we
made up money. We made it up. It's made up.
But Cody, the debt's the highest it's ever been. Surely
that's had a concrete impact on the lives of the

(28:11):
people listening to this. I don't know, man, I have
to ask Pete, do you want to call Pete called pizze?
What has to say about it? I want to highlight
that word fashionable among most people in my party. That's
more McKenzie and company bullshit, because it's it's distancing yourself,
but it's also like ingratiating yourself with the with the

(28:31):
ideas like I'm not. It's not fashionable these days. It's
just very weasily how he talks um and it's political.
It's all political um. And to sort of really illustrate this,
we're gonna talk about a little thing called Medicare for all.
Great so Pete Buddha, Judge Wild, Bernie Sanders fan has

(28:52):
uh discussed Medicare for all in the past. He has
been for it. In fact, when someone asked him about
this in the past, he has tweeted this is from
February who has an eighteen His response asking about why
you don't why don't you support Medicare for all? Response
was bu when where have you ever heard me opposed
Medicare for all? How does he spell? But b u
h question mark. Yeah, that's rights. Yeah. Uh he's follow

(29:16):
up gosh exclamation point. At least it wasn't God, what
a dweep? Um okay, I pete Buddha gedge politician, do
henceforth and forthwith declare most affirmatively and indubitably unto the
ages that I do favor Medicare for all, as I
do favor any measure that would help get all Americans covered. Now,

(29:36):
if you'll excuse me, potholes a weight. Um, well, I
love that firm, bold stance. Firm bold stance from a
couple of years ago, from only slightly over a year ago,
from only slightly over a year ago. Um, and uh,
people like to talk about this, and our friend Nate

(29:56):
Silver front of the show, um has tried to himself
a little bit from this, like, oh, he didn't change
his mind about Medicare for all. Medicare for All was
always a sort of blanket idea of like we're eventually
gonna do this kind of thing. It's like a universal
healthcare kind of idea. UM. It's not when you say
medical for all, you don't mean single payer specifically, um,

(30:16):
which of course is nonsense. There's also an essay by
Pete Buda Edge from about a decade ago quote we
could finally see a single payer healthcare system that closes
the gap between the US and other nations when it
comes to medical treatment. Um. And before we get into
Pete's current plan, I'd like to quickly uh go through

(30:38):
some healthcare industry donors to Pete Buda Edge and the
third quarter of two nineteen UM. These are all about
between like two thousand, six thousand dollars. Executives at Decibel Therapeutics,
Truman Medical Centers, Ironwood Pharmaceuticals, aztecs Are Pharmaceuticals, the director

(31:00):
of Anthem, Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Norton Healthcare. Surely they
support single payer health. Surely you know who else probably
does Fighter if I know Fiser, they love people having
access to healthcare, Advent Health, Cello Health, Kaiser Foundation health Plan.

(31:21):
These are just some of the many we get the idea.
I think maybe you get the idea. So UM here is,
according to Pete's website, is Medicare for all who want
it because health care is a human right. Guarantee universal
coverage through Medicare for all who wanted. The Medicare for
All who wanted Public Alternative will help America reach universal

(31:45):
coverage by providing an affordable insurance option to the currently uninsured.
The Public Alternative will provide the same essential health benefits
as those currently available on the marketplaces and ensure that
everyone has access to high quality comprehend of coverage. I
love the word access. Yes, it's a good word. If

(32:05):
you cut the word access out, then it would just
be saying everybody has high quality healthcare coverage. Right do
you add the word access? I wonder if that changes
the meaning of the sentence. I think it You know
what Robert good point? I think it does? It might?
Does it might? Does it might? Does? It? Always frustrates

(32:27):
me this conversation when it comes Medicare for all who
want it just inherently means not Medicare for all? Well, yeah,
it just means that people. That puts this in a
situation where a lot of people can't afford it. I
imagine him sitting down with some guy going through the
early stages of insulin shock because he can't afford four
dollars a month for his insulin because it costs more

(32:47):
than his rent, and being like, do you want healthcare?
And the guy is saying like, yes, for the love
of God, please, And I'm saying, okay, well, if you
want healthcare, it's going to cost you fourteen hundred dollars
a month. Do you have four two hundred dollars a month? No? Ah,
Well you didn't want healthcare. You had the access to it,
you heard the offer, but you didn't want it, so
you didn't want it enough. Yeah, this is UH an

(33:12):
issue that I think other candidates could be a little
stronger in communicating. The whole point is of insurance is
that healthy people everybody pays in you see, healthy people
also pay um. Wealthy people also pay so that the
sick people can get that access. And if you have
all these private UH insurance companies that are tied to

(33:34):
your employment, and then you have this public option of like, well,
if you need it, you have this, that's not going
to be a very good plan because the people who
have the very good jobs and the good insurance aren't
paying into the medicare and so that will actually not
get to what we wanted to be uh one interesting

(33:55):
sentence also on his website, the plan will automatically enroll
individuals in affordable coverage if they are eligible for it.
If they are eligible for it. And yet at the
very top it says, because health care is a human right.
If health care right eligible, then other than being alive
and a human? Interesting? Uh I guess, m I guess

(34:15):
we'll have to read the fine print. So we have
the right to a lawyer. Yeah, and there's no eligibility there.
You don't have to run through hoops. It's not anything
other than you get a lawyer. Yeah. And uh So,
if you're saying health care is a human right, but
you're also putting it in this way, maybe maybe you

(34:37):
don't actually mean that people. You don't actually mean that, Pete.
Maybe you don't actually mean that Pete. Maybe you learn
what's his definition of human? I feel like nobody's asking that.
Maybe he has a very narrow definition of human that
starts at a certain income. That is because like, we
have freedom of speech in the United States for humans,

(34:57):
but you're not a human. If you put on a mask,
then the police can fire tear gas grenades into your skull.
So maybe it's sort of like that, maybe you know what,
maybe maybe maybe we'll have to ask Pete when he's
on this show for sure. So I'd like to play
one clip, uh real quick to really fully here Pete's

(35:17):
approach to politics and just the utter smarm that he
uses when he talks about this issue. He is being
asked by George Stephanopolis, is your main argument against medicare
for all now is that it can't get past or
that it won't work? And here's what Pete Buddha g
Edge has to say about that. You used to be

(35:38):
for broader medicare for all, you didn't qualify it in
any way. Is your main argument against medicare for all
now that it can't get past or that it won't work? Look,
I think it could very well be the long run destination.
But I think there's got to be some humility in
our policy here. Let's put this out there and see
if it's really the best plan for everybody. I think

(35:59):
it will be the best plan, but I'm not willing
to assume that it is the right plan for you
out of Washington and order you to take it whether
you want to or not. If it's the right plan,
then everybody will move to it until it is the
single player pair. And if it's not the right plan
for everybody, then we're gonna be really glad we didn't
kick some Americans off their private plans. I'm thinking for example,

(36:20):
but a lot of union members who fought and negotiated
for good plans they have today. They don't want to
have to abandon those plans because Washington tells them they
must do that in four years or less. It doesn't
make sense. And the most important thing is, we can
get to universal healthcare coverage without putting America through all
of that, without kicking people off their private plans, without

(36:41):
disagreements to the tune of ten or fifteen trillion dollars
over how much this is gonna cost, which is equivalent
to the entire GDP of the country. We have a
plan that is affordable, that is paid for, and that
allows you to choose instead of Washington shooting for you.
And it's the boldest thing we will have done to
American healthcare in a half century. Oh what a policy.
Asian's answer the utter smarm of that. Like first of

(37:04):
the first thing he says is we have to have humility.
The last thing he says, it's the boldest plan we
can get in half a century. It's like so interesting
how it doesn't even quite make sense. Like, yeah, I
think in the long run is very well could be.
But you know, not if it's for everybody does that's
not what they want. So we're going to have to
wait and see what people want. What are you saying?

(37:28):
He's not saying anything. That's and that's the thing with
this Mackenzie nonsense. You're not actually saying anything. When he
talks about humility, what does he mean because he's also
talking about a bold plan. Also speaking of humility, you
are a mayor for like two two times, and now
you want to be the president of a country. Um,
it's and like very very humble. There's a phrase that

(37:50):
he says at the very beginning, I think it could
very well be the long run destination. That's so many
qualifiers to not actually say anything. It's not saying anything
about what you want. It's not this bold new plan.
It's nothing. And he's just a real piece of wonderful politician.

(38:11):
As I've said, I am a proto judge. You guys
want to know how many votes Pete has received in
his life that that gave him the position that he has,
unless you already please tell me that I would guess, um,
under ten thousand votes, eight thousand, five hundred and fifteen,
what get that man's strength of eight? Talk to me

(38:35):
about we have to be fair to Pete, which is
that by saying that, like the current president had zero
votes ever before he became the president, So we are
in a different era, you know. But yeah, yeah, and
in light of everything we've already talked about and how
we've certain essays we've read from Pete, Yeah, Um, he's

(39:01):
the least bold uh person, he's an empty vessel. Uh.
It really seems that is Uh. He's got a lot
of languages, got a lot of languages. Um. I think
he's a very intelligent Like everything you're saying paints a
picture to me of a very intelligent, very ambitious person
who actually does believe things, or at least did at

(39:22):
one point, but who believes more than anything else that
he should be in office. Because that that's clearly like
with Sanders, Like that's the whole point, the whole point
of buddagess essay on Sanders is that Bernie Sanders is
a guy who the things he believes matter more have
always mattered more to him than the political viability of

(39:44):
those things, because he just actually believes things. And that's
like the whole point he is making about the courage
of like identifying as a socialist back when that was
even more poisonous than it is now. And everything that
we learned about Buddages his career is that he doesn't
he doesn't really believe in anything other than he wants
to be in power. Like's not he doesn't. He's not that.

(40:07):
It's not like to the extent where he would do anything,
Like I don't think he would run as a Republican.
I don't think he would do what Trump has done
and like like lean into racism and xenophobia to get elected.
He has a conscience. He's not a he's not a
sociopath um, but he clearly I think he's can I
think I think I'm gonna guess he's a huge fan
of the West Wing. And in fact, I'm almost about

(40:30):
him being a fan of the West Wing, and I'm
gonna guess he's a you know, one of the one
of the most famous scenes in the West Wing was
the president of like the Democrat president in that show
unveiling a banner that was labeled pragmatic idealism, um, which
I think that's his attitudes, like if I can get
in into office because I'm I'm so intelligent and because

(40:54):
I'm so such a decent person, like I don't have
to stand for any thing. Me being in office will
allow me to do good things. I mean, i'd say
best case scenario. He has these ideals and is more
idealistic than we're seeing right now. But his time in office,
his time McKenzie, has made him, uh, you know, more

(41:19):
more a politicians, you know, But like I also don't
I think that now we actually are in a unique
moment in time where uh, people can be bolder and
can say is flat out what it is that they
want and what we need, and we might be able
to harness that momentum and gets done. And he has
talked about this on the debate stage. He's even said
like we have the opportunity to do the boldest plans

(41:40):
in the generation. Um. And it's just clear he is
a sort of empty vessel, but he is intelligent. He's
been just like a politician, guy, I want to be
a politician. So why we see a lot of CNN
pieces on like he's he's Obama. He's like Obama. Now, um,
I wanna really quick read this quote from a New
York Times piece about that aspect of it, because it
is just sort of he's perceived as intelligent. He plays

(42:01):
the piano. Um let's quote. Uh, there's just something about him.
He's intelligent. When an audience member asked about conditions in
Gaza during a campaign stop in Mason City, Mr Buddha
Jedge began responding in Arabic. The overwhelmingly white audience, largely
unaware of what he said, broke into rockets applause. And

(42:24):
I think that is just the chef he is. Kiss
That's exactly what he is. I'm not going to take
a stance, but I'm going to do the thing that
would get a cheer if this were an episode of
The West Way. Exactly. It's all performative. He doesn't really
believe in much. We don't know what he believes, but

(42:44):
we don't know that. We don't know. What I do
know is that it's time for us to take a
quick ad break. So let's do that real quick, and
then we'll come back for more together. Welcome back, to

(43:06):
the show, fellow broto Jedges, Are we excited pumps bro Judges, Judges,
I do. My butt is on the edge, that is
it on the edge edge, It's on two edges, actually
on the edge of edge of my butt. Continue. Um,

(43:28):
so we're gonna continue. We're gonna get to some more
of Pete's issues. I'd like to return to his essay
about Bernie Sanders, because I don't think that Pete uh
necessarily is going to be sticking around. He may be
picked as a VP. We'll see. I don't know. Um
V Pete vpe. Oh that's good boot Jedge Jesus. But

(43:51):
I I have I want to use this opportunity, and
I think it's necessary to um basically bully Pete and
shame him into dropping out of the race and endorsing
Bernie Sanders. I'm being best um and I'm I think
he should be bullied UM and shamed UM and UH.

(44:15):
For more on this, We're gonna go to Pete Buddha Jedge.
After numerous political defeats in his tradition in the Republican state,
Sanders won the office of mayor of Burlington by ten votes.
A successful and popular mayor. He went on to win
Vermont's one congressional seat in Since then, he has taken
many courageous and politically risky stands on issues facing the nation.

(44:37):
He has coming to fire from various conservative religious groups
because of his support for same sex marriages. His stance
on gun control led to n r A organized media
campaigns against him. Sanders has also shown creativity in organizing
drug shopping trips to Canada for senior citizens to call
attention to inflated drug prices in the United States. He
still does this. By the way, is Cody speaking. He's
still doing that. While impressive, Sanders is candor very nice,

(45:02):
Pete does not itself represent political courage. The nation is
teaming without spoken radicals in one form or another. Most
are sooner called crazy than courageous. It is the second
half of sanders political role that puts the first half
into perspective. He has a powerful force for conciliation and
bipartisanship on Capitol Hill. In Profiles and Courage, John F.

(45:22):
Kennedy wrote that we should not be too hasty and
condemning all compromises bad morals for politics and legislation on
not mad is for inflexible principles or unattainable ideals. It
solid solid JFK and a slightly better mayor quimby. Yeah,

(45:43):
I was trying to say this voice he didn't say
read as John F. Kennedy, But John F. Kennedy quote
put in quotes um a little on the fly. They're
giving it a go. Um. It may seem strange that
someone so steadfast in his principles has a reputation as
a peacemaker between divided forces in Washington, but this is
what makes Sanders truly remarkable. He represents President Kennedy's ideal

(46:04):
of compromises of issues, not of principles. Sanders has used
his unique position as the loan independent congressman to help
Democrats and Republicans force hearings on the internal structure of
the International Monetary Fund, which he sees as excessively powerful
and unaccountable. He also succeeded in quietly persuading reluctant Republicans

(46:24):
and President Clinton to ban the import of products made
by underage workers. It's kind of weird, actually that that
had to be done right. Moving on, uh, Sanders drew
some criticism from the far left when he chose to
grudgingly endorse President Clinton's bids for election and re election
as president. Sanders explained that while he disagreed with many
of Clinton's centrist policies, he felt that he was the

(46:46):
best option for America's working class. And I'm gonna quickly
stop here because I think this is kind of interesting. Um,
because so recently Pete was at a union UM meeting
in Cedar Rapids. You know how he meant, and actually
that union members are worried about their private insurance. That's
not super true. Um. Actually the nurses union supports it

(47:07):
Medicare for all specifically. UM. Seems like those like a
real important endorse um. But but what what wh nurses
know about healthcare? They're just failed doctors. There you go. Yeah,
I don't mean that, nurses. You don't believe that. I
do not believe that. What if you listen to teachers
and nurses on things. No, no, no, no, no no no,

(47:29):
under no circumstances. They are allowed to teach our children
and give us life saving healthcare, but we do not
listen to them under any circumstances. Shut up and do
your job, nurses. Yeah, and Cody, Yeah, thank you? Okay,
all right then. Um, so I actually looked into Bernie's
endorsement of Bill Clinton. I'm not going to read it
but all but it is fucking hilarious. Um I'm just

(47:52):
gonna be some real, real quick quotes endorsement of Bill
Clinton that he's talking about. In terms of who to
support for president, the choice is really not difficult. I
am certainly not a big fan of Bill Clinton's politics.
As a strong advocate of a single payer health care system,
I oppose his convoluted healthcare. He goes on and on.
He's basically the entire time he's saying, without enthusiasm, I've

(48:15):
decided to support Bill Clinton for president. Perhaps support is
too strong a word. I'm planning no press conferences to
push his candidacy and will do no campaigning for him.
I will vote for him and make that public. Why.
I think that many people do not perceive how truly
dangerous the political situation in this country is today. If
Bob Dole were to be elected president and Gingrich and

(48:35):
the Republicans were to maintain control of Congress, we would
see a legislative agenda unlike any in the modern history
of this country. He goes on to warn about this.
He talks about how he knows these people. He talks
to them every day. He knows what they want, and
it's more important to support Bill Clinton because do I
have confidence that Clinton will stand up for the working
people this country, for children, for the elderly, for the

(48:56):
folks who are hurting. No, I do not. But a
Clinton victory could of us sometime to build a movement,
to develop a political infrastructure, to protect what needs protecting,
and to change the direction of the country. I hate
it when people are wrong. Mmm. Tie this back in
with it's not my favorite, so I I I'm telling

(49:16):
you this is with Pete because I think that this
is a solid endorsement of Pete if he were to
get the nomination. UM. But more than anything, UM, I
think it shows an understanding of what Republicans want and are,
and even back in the days we've talked about with Biden,
he thinks that Republicans are gonna have like this big
epiphany and like come to their senses and and compromise. Um.

(49:39):
Pete is recently uh said to union members and Cedar
rapids he genuinely believed President Trump when he got it
off it would pass an infrastructure bill that he promised
and he's surprised that he hasn't yet. And this, I
think is about what's surprising about that. It's that it's
the West Wing is m I think that Pete still
embodies it has where he doesn't unders stand really what's

(50:01):
going on. He's trying to appeal to everybody instead of
having those principles and a bold vision because as we
read in his essay about Bernie Sanders, he's he's gotten
things done with Republicans as as well as Democrats while
staying true to his vision. I don't think Pete has that.
And uh, you know I I thought that that was
a little a little relevant and interesting. Um. Uh, something

(50:23):
that he had praised in the past and probably wouldn't
understand nowadays. UM. But uh, where we are at with
Pete now? UM? I want to talk about a story
that's sort of developing. UM that we may have heard
that Pete is struggling with black voters. UM. And there's

(50:46):
this narrative of that. It's there's a homophobia and a
memo in his campaign basically saying that like they think
that older black voters are too homophobic to vote for Pete. UM.
This is mostly based off of one uh focus group
they had, Yeah, with twenty four people, and some of

(51:10):
the older black folks were a little uneasy about Pete
and I would pose it that perhaps there are better
candidates on issues that black potters care about, and perhaps
his history and has something more to do with it
his relationship with the police. And yeah, and uh so

(51:35):
he actually fired his city's city as mayor of UM,
their first ever black police chief, Darryl Boykins. There's a
federal investigation revealed that South Bend police were illegally recording
phone calls of officers. UM. This was done to basically
h see if there were many racists in the police force,

(51:57):
UM and to find corruption and at glacs from them. Um.
Boykins was replaced by two white police chiefs. Yeah. Wait
so they he was fired because he instituted the program
of recording police officer phone conversation. Boykins was looking for

(52:17):
racism and corruption UM in his police force. And uh
he was fired when that was discovered by Mayor Pete
and and Boykin, the police chief was illegally recording the
phone conversations of his mean, I mean that sucks to
be That is a fucking g move. I am not

(52:37):
normally pro cop, but I am definitely pro cop who
illegally records other cops. That's fucking solid solid. I feel
like that's a crime. But okay, I agree, I get
the point. Like and yeah, I mean I think whether
or not it's a crime to me means less than
like was it was? It was it morally the right thing? Yeah,

(53:00):
it sounds like so I have super no problem with
what boygans did. UM. And actually the police communications director
alleged that the recordings UM actually captured for senior police
officers making racist remarks and discussing a legal acts. UM.
So perhaps though yeah, surprising, although it was illegal, UM,

(53:22):
maybe it was not the worst move to find this information.
So that's one thing that maybe people have a problem with.
And maybe that's more what his Uh the issue is
UM among black voters. Also, UM, white police officers shot
Eric Logan, black man. And after this, Pete met with

(53:43):
Black Lives Matter. He did call for a special prosecutor
to investigate UM. But he had these calls with Black
Lives Matter activists and the reaction was not great. Uh,
they kind of felt like he didn't really care. He
was insincere on the calls. And felt like he was
sort of rushing along like it was something he had
to do. Um, although the police union criticizes his decision

(54:04):
as being politically motivated. So it's kind of the same thing. Yeah,
both becausing the same thing. Yeah, kind of a damned
if you do damned if you're getting down't a little
bit share a little bit. And his sort of response
is just like, yeah, I messed up. And I think
that it's a little disingenuous to frame it as though
it's this homophobia when there are actual issues the community

(54:26):
that he has in his past and that that like
that that really ties into one of his constant issues,
which is just this like this complete failure to be
willing to take a bold side, Like it's one of
those things. Even if the side he'd picked in that
had been like going all out for the police, at
least it would have been a stance. But like he

(54:47):
clearly he wasn't willing to do that, this disappointing hedging,
this willing unwilling to like, yeah, take a bold stance
or like take when when he talks about it, I
think least people cold because there's a lack of taking
any responsibility or uh, seeming to learn from things that
have happened. Yeah, yeah, you're you're running to be the

(55:09):
president of a party that doesn't win without the black vote.
Take a stance in favor of Black Lives Matter? Um,
Like what do you like? What do you what? What
election do you think this is? Do you think you're
gonna get like the maga hat voting crowd to go
for you because you weren't willing to back b LM?

(55:29):
Like what is what is your strategic decision there, Pete? Exactly,
it's it's nothing. Um, it's and it's sort of why
I wanted to read that, uh, the Bill Clinton endorsement
from Bernie, because it's at least an understanding of, like,
this is what the situation is, and here's what we
need to do. So I'm just gonna say that. Um.
And with Pete, he is a sort of I have

(55:51):
an empty vessel. And his responses to like the Black
Lives Matter criticism things like that are McKenzie h through
through um and he really doesn't really want to talk
about his time there. Um. Another program he actually had
when he's mayor. It's called one Thousand Homes in one
thousand Days. Who's his plan to uh demolish or renovate homes.

(56:15):
Um and uh Bouts took note Um later of the
fact that many homes within communities of color were the
ones demolished. Interesting did they get rebuilt? They just got
taken away demolished homes. So shame he couldn't have done
anything about the way that program was executed. I wish
we know what he needed to do to fix up.

(56:35):
Only he'd been the mayor. I think he should have
been the president. If you were the president, that would
have been taken care of. So I think that there's
there's an element Pete. Pete is the if we ignore
Joe Biden because I think Um, despite being very popular
with older voters, Pete is the d n C candidate. Well,
he's certainly over the course of this election cycle has

(56:57):
taxed to the middle like you've seen him be like, yep,
I'm gonna I'll be the young moderate option. Would you
say that politicians are rushing for the center, careful not
to stick their next out on issues, I would say
that one specific politicians. Would you write it down if
you were a senior in high school and you wanted
to win the John F. Kennedy Profiles and Cocourage say contest, alright,
cool thin. Anybody who wrote that in a John F.

(57:20):
Kennedy Profiles and Courage essay contest while they were in
high school would grow into the kind of person who
would never perfectly embody those words and would always take
the right stance, even if it wasn't the easy one. Okay,
I agree with you completely. And it's very clear that
the DNC wants this man and the media is very
into him. You see a lot of headlines recently about

(57:41):
Buddha Jedge being in fourth place, but a strong fourth
Buddha Judge surging to third place, this kind of uh
inevitability of bud Yeah, there's certainly a narrative happening. It's
like they're testing the wins and seeing like, oh, people
don't love that Biden guy. Let's write they need somebody
else to get in because they can't have a Sanders
or a warrant. It almost feels like there's also just

(58:03):
this idea that the media is hyping up the conflict.
I mean, there's conflict, but you know like, oh, now
this person is coming like the drama, the drama of
it for likes and clicks yeah, and shares and stuff,
and there's just a lot of excitement about um, maybe

(58:24):
perhaps having a long term goal of medicare for all,
but for now having a glide path. A glide path
is a is a fun little term. Well, you've got
to have some humility when you're talking about the humility
when you're talking about health care. Um, if you had
arrogantly insist that people deserve access to life saving medical treatments,

(58:44):
well you can't say healthcare is human right and then
actually put forth an actual vision of that being true. See,
my my job as a leader is not to lead,
it's to let people figure it out. Mm hmmmm mmmmmmmm um.
And uh, we talk on the worst year ever about

(59:06):
sort of like what's to come and um, I think
one of the things that we don't it's not talked
about much or considered in terms of uh the candidate, um,
is how will this person speak around or to Donald Trump?
And I'm just not sure if this dweeb from South

(59:26):
Bend is up for the task? Um I think so.
I think in term of the energy we're gonna get
from Pete, is this sort of mealy mouthed uh not
committed to much uh Foe Bold mckenziean company speak about
choice and so on. Um, there's a clip going around
that you can see of his campaign getting ready for

(59:48):
a rally and they're teaching everybody this dance and it's
just the dorkiest thing you can imagine. It's you you roll,
you roll around your arms to the left and you
do it to the right and then you clap and
we're it's uh it really musical theater, high school stuff. Um,
it's very reminiscent of there's a clip you can see
from d n C. Yeah, I retweeted that. Yeah, Um

(01:00:10):
it's them. It's all these lanyard dorks doing the macarena. Um.
And it should be pointed out they won. They won
that year, you know. Um was a hit. Also it's
a different time now, Um, they were running up against
other complete dorks. I just have a hard time seeing
him holding his own next to Donald Trump on stage,

(01:00:31):
just uh, you know, in terms of how how he
comes across it energetically. But that's that's going. It was
more important stuff. But to consider, right, it's the They
have an ad on on his website to enter to
win tickets to see Hamilton's with my husband, Why would
I want to go with Jastin to be like it's yeah,

(01:00:55):
so you know, I didn't want to get too much
into it. Every single thing he's done or is form
because I don't think that matters as much as knowing
the kind of politician he is. And so again I
want to shame him into basically just reading what he
wrote in high school and dropping out and supporting Bernie

(01:01:16):
s love to have somebody bring it up with him, like, oh,
we found this essay that you wrote in high school
all about Bernie Sanders and everything would be an interesting
um place to jump off of to talk about your
political evolution. I suppose what do you still believe from this?
It's interesting that a lot of your career is sort
of opposed to this essay. So I'm just gonna close

(01:01:38):
it out with Pete Buddha j Edge on his endorsement
of Bernie Sanders for president. Sanders positions on many difficult
issues are commendable, but as real impact has been as
a reaction to the cynical climate which threatens the effectiveness
of the democratic system. His energy, candor, conviction, and ability

(01:01:58):
to bring people together stand against the current of opportunism,
moral compromise, and partisanship which runs rampant on the American
political scene. He and few others like him have the
power to restore principle and leadership in Congress, and to
win back the faith of a voting public weary and
wary of political opportunism. Above all, I commend Bernie Sanders

(01:02:21):
for giving me an answer to those who say American
young people see politics as a cesspool of corruption beyond redemption.
I have heard that no sensible young person today would
want to give his or her life to public service.
I can personally assure you this is untrue. Well, that
is a resounding endorsement of Bernie Sanders that he wrote

(01:02:42):
when he was eighteen. Resounding endorsement. Um and again, I
think it speaks to that Robberty you were talking about
earlier of like he just wants to be in office,
you know, like that's what his evolution has sort of
happened again, very much like the politician. Oh, there's like
an aspect of that that's like that's defensible because obviously

(01:03:05):
if you don't win office, you can't do anything. And
so I am on that side of it's like it's
better to have a moderate Democrat in there than a
literal fascist, because you can push the moderate democratic at
the same time. I've lived through the last twenty years,
and I watched a guy, Barack Obama, who was kind

(01:03:27):
of similar in some ways to Bootage, but actually took
more stances when he was running for president much further
to the left, and still ran right to the center,
even the center right when he actually got into office.
And so I'm looking at Boota Jage and I'm going
Number one, the fact that Barack Obama ran to the
center allowed the Republicans to push this country even further

(01:03:47):
to the right by two thousand and sixteen. And number two, uh,
if Boota Jage won't even go as far as Obama
did in two thousand and eight to the left, like,
we're just gonna get pushed by the time if you
winsour will be even further right. Likely we can't survive that.
It's hard, because I I do understand it's hard to

(01:04:10):
get your liberal ship done when we've got so many
conservatives in in the Senate and Congress. I understand that.
But if there's something that we need to have learned
from the past twenty years is that you have to
be bolder and more aggressive that you can't just be
like Ameli wishy washy democrats. You have to get hold

(01:04:33):
and you have to fight really hard. And I don't
obviously see that in p right, And I think that
there's a another lesson from sixteen aside from that is
uh that um above all else, even though he lives
in a literal golden tower. Um, there's a very large
anti establishment sentiment that is driving politics these days and
everything Pete says and his entire career UM is that

(01:04:57):
his time at McKenzie and Company has taught him how
to be that and talk like that and talk like
somebody that you can't really trust. Yeah, he sounds like
a part of the establishment. There's a deep hunger for
authenticity and hunger for a politician who's going to like
take a stance like Pete. Pete knows this because he
quotes JFK constantly. JFK didn't get up there and say

(01:05:20):
we choose to go to the moon or wherever, like like,
there was a there was a bold and risky and
and uh daring stance, which is why we remember JFK.
Aside from the getting shot thing, like he was a
guy who would take a fucking who would call a shot,
and it was a fire shot. And Pete is a bunter, yes,

(01:05:43):
but also Pete called this shot a year ago and
was very clear about about that, and then he over
time is like alms, bunt a little bit um And
now we get things like I think it could very
well be the long run destination and having a glide
path to this thing that we actually want. Yeah, the
Republicans didn't glide into putting people in camps. They just

(01:06:06):
went for it. And now there's people shoot it in. Yeah. Yeah,
they dropped in there like well now they're in camps.
Well I guess we've been putting people camps for a while. Yes, yes, yes, yes,
but they sure parachuted it into ramping that up. All right,
Well it's time for us to wrap this up. Thanks
again Cody for doing all that. Um, if you guys

(01:06:28):
would like, and I'd like you to like to do this,
check us out online social media at worst your pod,
you know, on the Twitter, in the Instagram. Um, I'm
Katie Stole online and in life I'm Cody Johnston and wait,
Robert Evans, you can find me I right, Okay, and
you can find my friend Cody Johnston and Dr Mr Cody. Okay, well,

(01:06:51):
you guys took care of that very well. It's really
weird when you call somebody to dweeve and then you
guys do that. Unbelievable. I mean, it's more in sing
if we did that bit, because I'm very clearly not
a man. But there's so many pictures of us holding
rifles wrong in the desert too. It's we're We're all.

(01:07:11):
We're all Mayor Pete, and Mayor Pete is America and
that's the message of this episode. Thanks for listening. I'm
Mayor Pete and I this episode in Bernie Sanders everything
everything so again. I tried Worst Your Ever is a

(01:07:36):
production of I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my
heart Radio, visit the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.