Reporting for Duty (w/ Dave Weigel)
Added 2021-10-29 15:15:26 +0000 UTCMatt and Sam talk to the Washington Post's David Weigel about his approach to reporting on American politics, left and right, and what he's learned during his travels across the country.
Read all of Dave's latest reporting here (and for prog rock fans, check out his book, The Show That Never Ends)
Comments
"cannibalizing" fits. every lost national dem election seems to have two themes re: the left: (1) you have to vote for us and (2) you're the reason we lost. even though the national party runs screaming away from left wing ideas, and the most conservative members basically get to determine what the party is able to do, the *mere existence* of ppl with left beliefs is somehow responsible for any time a dem loses. it's infuriating.
Bradley Scott Hunsinger
2021-11-10 06:30:33 +0000 UTCSam may have a point about "nihilism" getting more likes on Twitter; there are always a certain amount of grifters in any political scene. But to hear weigel dismiss out of hand anyone who would withhold their votes from democrats as "nihilists" without offering much of an alternative is pretty annoying. I wish as much as anyone that we could just vote in better Dems but that feels super naive to me.
Tim Combes
2021-11-06 16:20:05 +0000 UTCManchin is well to the right of Byrd and Rockefeller on many issues. Manchin is more pro-business. He is to the right of Byrd on health care. Obviously he is to the left of Byrd on race. As far as general government regulation, he is to the right of both of them. On taxes, Manchin is pretty conservative, much more conservative than Byrd or Rockefeller. You would never have got Byrd or Rockefeller opposing a raise in the corporate tax on principle. I am from WV as well. I am also too young to have voted for either Byrd or Rockefeller. I think it is safe to say that Byrd and Rockefeller were both to the left of Manchin. What people don't realize is that 'pork' is just congressmen getting the government to spend money on their district. Manchin opposes that on principle.
Anthony Ruggier
2021-11-04 23:14:09 +0000 UTCAs as a native west virginian, my impression is very much that Manchin is to the right of Byrd and Rockefeller. That said, I’m too young to have voted for either and never voted in WV when manchin was on ticket so yanno, grain of salt.
Samuel Kessler
2021-11-03 18:52:55 +0000 UTCI kind of question the idea that the Dems have finally gained ideological coherence. There's no question the left has gained some influence on the margins, but at the level of party leadership and control it's basically the same party that it was during the Clinton administration on foreign policy and economic issues (maybe even a bit further right as labor's influence has continued to diminish). Politically too, I think it's arguably that a guy like Manchin actually is to the right of Robert Byrd and Jay Rockefeller on some economic issues (Rockefeller having once voted for Cap and Trade legislation). On social policy the party has more ideological coherence and has effectively ditched the third way, which is clearly for the best. However, I don't think that's the case in other areas. The party leadership continues to cannibalize and take key segments of the electoral base (young voters, immigrant rights groups, environmental interests), and prioritize "moderate", wealthier, credentialed suburban swing voters as the primary focus of electoral strategies.
J P 3
2021-11-03 05:52:45 +0000 UTCYes this was a blind spot but then again Dave describes his M.O. and sticks to it, so that’s what he produces. I’d love to see an episode just on the ethics of covering right wing propaganda. I’ve seen ideas floated such as Jay Rosen’s idea of a “news emergency setting” but this is a major unsolved problem.
Mark K
2021-11-02 04:49:53 +0000 UTCVery disappointed to hear Matt & Sam uh huh along with some of precisely the reporting strategy that has allowed unequivocally anti-democratic rhetoric to be utterly “both-sides’d”
Dónal Gill
2021-11-01 16:01:51 +0000 UTCI’m really curious about these Claremont podcasts. Which are the most interesting ones?
Ryan C Pollock
2021-10-31 22:43:32 +0000 UTCAnother excellent episode and guest!
Chad Bailey
2021-10-30 15:24:24 +0000 UTCBelieve in Q or Stop the Steal? Then be treated seriously by serious media. But believe that the more liberal of the two capitalist political parties shouldn’t be trusted to solve the climate crisis or deliver a universal healthcare system, and that we should be politically active independently of it, then be dismissed as a nihilist. An episode where this Left podcast discusses mostly the Right, but reserves their most scathing critique of the Left at the end. A truly Washington Post special!
Adam Burch
2021-10-30 06:18:45 +0000 UTC
