Speaker 1: This is Gary and Shannon and you're listening to k
Speaker 1: if I am six forty the Gary and Shannon Show
Speaker 1: on demand on the iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 2: The wrap up to the Democratic National Convention, of course,
Speaker 2: from last night, Kamala Harris gave her a big speech
Speaker 2: and talked about, among other things, what she wants this
Speaker 2: vision for her plan to do. She did a little biography,
Speaker 2: kind of like Governor Tim Walls did the night before,
Speaker 2: explaining who he is, and she went through and explained
Speaker 2: who she was and talked a lot about growing up
Speaker 2: and her mom and I didn't realize. I didn't know
Speaker 2: she had a sister. But her sister spoke as well
Speaker 2: and had some and then her daughter, stepdaughter Ella m
Speaker 2: hoff On, one of Doug's daughters, got up and she
Speaker 2: spoke as well. They referred to her as a model,
Speaker 2: and I didn't know if that. I didn't know she
Speaker 2: was a model. I did not know any I didn't
Speaker 2: know if she was. But this was part of her
Speaker 2: speech from last week. She taught us give me the dick,
Speaker 2: got the computer right there.
Speaker 3: She taught us to never complain about in just but
Speaker 3: do something.
Speaker 4: About it, Do.
Speaker 5: Something about it. That was my mother and she taught us,
Speaker 5: and she always she also.
Speaker 3: Taught us, and she also taught us, and never do
Speaker 3: anything half asked, And that is a direct.
Speaker 2: Quote comless Mama had a bad mouth. So the reaction
Speaker 2: to her speech from last night generally positive. I mean,
Speaker 2: everybody in the convention hall, they seem to like it. Obviously,
Speaker 2: that's their person, that's their candidate. And in terms of
Speaker 2: what goes on now, we had seventy four days left
Speaker 2: before November fifth, and as I read from that piece
Speaker 2: in the New York Times, this is gonna be this
Speaker 2: is gonna be a tough battle. Last night, former President
Speaker 2: Trump was live tweeting, live truthing, I suppose the and
Speaker 2: I think it was forty forty five posts over the
Speaker 2: course of the forty minute speech, so about once a minute.
Speaker 2: And obviously it was all caps, and obviously he was
Speaker 2: getting into you know, there was no surprises. How's that
Speaker 2: wasn't deep in fact checking, but there was no surprises.
Speaker 2: Speaking of fact checking, I saw this headline in the
Speaker 2: Washington Post today that I thought was kind of funny.
Speaker 2: It was just an example of how people kind of
Speaker 2: move the furniture out of the way for the people
Speaker 2: that they like it says Kamala uh some things. Oh,
Speaker 2: it was five moments in the Harris speech that got
Speaker 2: our attention something like that. It was actually a whole
Speaker 2: fact check article about it, and they were five points
Speaker 2: that they said that she either exaggerated or completely mistated
Speaker 2: when it was coming to policies about Donald Trump or whatever.
Speaker 4: But it wasn't. It wasn't.
Speaker 2: We fact checked her speech and we found five lies.
Speaker 2: It was here's five things that gathered our attention a
Speaker 2: little bit.
Speaker 6: Once you get into the article, though, does it kind
Speaker 6: of hit her pretty hard? Oh?
Speaker 2: Yes, it explains. It explains that some of the things
Speaker 2: that she was saying were flat out wrong about what
Speaker 2: policies had been announced by the Trump campaign. And some
Speaker 2: of them it was like, we gave the Waltz Harris
Speaker 2: Waltz campaign three pinocchios about this already, but they keep
Speaker 2: repeating it. So things like that, we are standing by
Speaker 2: for this update out of Phoenix. We understand that Robert F.
Speaker 2: Kennedy Junior is expected to end his independent presidential campaign.
Speaker 2: They do have the podium all set up, They've got
Speaker 2: the American flags as backdrops. The room is filling up
Speaker 2: with reporters and stuff, so we'll keep an eye on that.
Speaker 2: Former President Trump, after the speech went on Fox, he
Speaker 2: called into Fox to last it to say he hated it.
Speaker 2: It wasn't good because he needed to get his moment
Speaker 2: after she had such a big moment. And it was
Speaker 2: a funny thing that Fox actually kinda they hurried him off. Uh,
Speaker 2: And I'll play for you this SoundBite where it sounds
Speaker 2: like he's about to launch into a whole new topic
Speaker 2: and Martha McCallum and Brett Bear on the set know
Speaker 2: that the clock is ticking, their window is closing, so
Speaker 2: they end up just saying, well, we gotta go.
Speaker 7: They made it that you have to get sixty seventy
Speaker 7: percent of the vote just to get in, and you
Speaker 7: know present in the end, the Democrats did the same
Speaker 7: thing to Joe Biden. They threw Joe Biden out of
Speaker 7: the party.
Speaker 8: Thanks much.
Speaker 4: We appreciate that feedback, say right.
Speaker 8: Their live edition of Gutfeld is coming up. Thank you
Speaker 8: so much for joining us from Chicago. It's been a
Speaker 8: great week now. They they got rid of them because
Speaker 8: their other show was starting. Guttfeld happens to be I
Speaker 8: think probably one of the higher rated shows on the network,
Speaker 8: So that's one of the reasons they wanted to start
Speaker 8: it on time. So then he turns around and dials
Speaker 8: up Newsmax, pretty conservative news outlet, and goes.
Speaker 7: On with that coming in from Asia, they're coming in
Speaker 7: from the Middle East places, so rough, rough places, and
Speaker 7: they're coming into our country and what they're doing is
Speaker 7: just and it's just like today, the fraud that they're
Speaker 7: committed eight hundred and eighteen thousand jobs. They defrauded the public.
Speaker 7: They thought it was going to hang out until after
Speaker 7: the election.
Speaker 2: One of the other questions that came up was specifically,
Speaker 2: and again this was a last night interview, so he
Speaker 2: refers to a former president, refers to today as tomorrow.
Speaker 2: But he was asked about RFK Junior and this potential
Speaker 2: for RFK Junior to endorse Trump after he drops out
Speaker 2: of the race.
Speaker 7: I know he's got a news conference. We happen to
Speaker 7: be in the same state, Arizona, will be in the
Speaker 7: same state, but in quite different parts of the state.
Speaker 7: But as possible, we will be meeting tomorrow and we'll
Speaker 7: be discussing it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so we'll see.
Speaker 2: One of the things that did happen was Kennedy withdrew
Speaker 2: from the ballot in Arizona late yesterday, the day before,
Speaker 2: he and Trump were set to appear a part of
Speaker 2: Miles Part in the Phoenix area. Kennedy is scheduled to speak.
Speaker 2: Like I said about eleven minutes ago, we're standing by.
Speaker 2: We'll take that live. They said, they're going to talk
Speaker 2: about the present historical moment and the path forward. According
Speaker 2: to his campaign and as Trump referred to there, he
Speaker 2: is planning a rally in Glendale, Arizona, not too far away.
Speaker 2: Yesterday he was campaigning in the southern part of Arizona,
Speaker 2: down along the border. It said that they're at that
Speaker 2: time said no plans had been made for Kennedy to
Speaker 2: appear with him, but said that they would be in
Speaker 2: the same state at the same time. So we'll continue
Speaker 2: to monitor this. Again, waiting for Kennedy to speak at
Speaker 2: this news conference. The podium is there, the room is
Speaker 2: full of reporters, and.
Speaker 4: We know what he's going to say.
Speaker 1: So we got a chance at the DNC to talk
Speaker 1: with CNN commentator David Urbin about the implications of RFK
Speaker 1: Junior dropping out.
Speaker 6: I'm welcome, but I think it's important, I followed RFK
Speaker 6: on Aaron Burnett show one night. So I sat there
Speaker 6: and listened to him for thirty five minutes before I
Speaker 6: had met him in the airport one time, I bumped
Speaker 6: into him and said hello. But I really got to
Speaker 6: listen to him talk. And look, I know he said
Speaker 6: a lot of crazy things.
Speaker 4: In the past.
Speaker 6: He's got to go and you can find quotes that
Speaker 6: are kind of out there about different things and so,
Speaker 6: but when I listened to him talk about a childhood
Speaker 6: obesity and how much money we spent in America battling
Speaker 6: diabetes and obese. We spend more money on diabetes than defense.
Speaker 6: You know, fifty six percent of Americans can't put their
Speaker 6: hands on a thousand bucks. So when that check engine
Speaker 6: light comes onto your car, for you and I may
Speaker 6: not be a big deal, but for fifty six percent
Speaker 6: of Americans, it's a crisis in your family. I mean,
Speaker 6: he said a lot of things that I listened to
Speaker 6: him and said, Wow, pretty insightful. Really really connects with
Speaker 6: a lot of people. So I am hopeful that we
Speaker 6: get at Bobby Kennedy on the team in the campaign,
Speaker 6: not the guy who's dubbing a dead baron in Central Park.
Speaker 6: But we get the other guy, right that is AT's like,
Speaker 6: I don't know, but you know, I don't know if
Speaker 6: we get many voters that way. But he's a thoughtful,
Speaker 6: intelligent person who's got a big following, and I'm hoping
Speaker 6: we can convince some of those folks to come to
Speaker 6: our side and vote for Donald Trump. And listen, in
Speaker 6: a state like Pennsylvania, it's going to be won by
Speaker 6: tens of thousands of voters, right, It's really important. It's
Speaker 6: really important that we get those folks and we we
Speaker 6: bring him in and we lock hands and we hopefully
Speaker 6: kind of move forward together.
Speaker 2: Uh do you have you been looking at any of
Speaker 2: the polls? I mean, is there is there a way
Speaker 2: to gauge what kind of an impact kennedy endorsement would
Speaker 2: have on Trump?
Speaker 4: I don't know. I would have to think.
Speaker 6: You know, the Democrats office is going to downplay it.
Speaker 6: They'd been spending millions, tens of millions of dollars to
Speaker 6: keep Bobby Kennedy off ballots and lots of places, so
Speaker 6: they obviously think that he's a concern in a lot
Speaker 6: of ways that if his name shows up on about
Speaker 6: that's bad for them. So if it's bad for them,
Speaker 6: you know, just by uh, by by logic you would.
Speaker 6: I think it's good for Republicans.
Speaker 4: So I don't know a number.
Speaker 1: Well, that bad for them because there would be voters
Speaker 1: that would normally vote for Harris that would vote for Kennedy.
Speaker 1: So it takes away from that absolutely. So I mean
Speaker 1: if if you remove if you remove that, then they're
Speaker 1: gonna go.
Speaker 6: I don't know, well, I mean hopefully they don't stay home, right.
Speaker 1: Right, I don't think hopefully don't make questions.
Speaker 6: I hopefully we can convince them to come vote for us,
Speaker 6: And so that's part of the challenge is convince them
Speaker 6: to join our team. And I'm hopeful, you know, we'll
Speaker 6: kind of listen to President Trump and uh and see
Speaker 6: some things that might be appealing to them, and hopefully
Speaker 6: they'll join up politically.
Speaker 2: Do you think Governor Tim Wallas did a good job
Speaker 2: last night in terms of introducing himself to people who
Speaker 2: wouldn't necessarily know him.
Speaker 6: Look, I think the moment with his son, if you're
Speaker 6: you know, you're, if you're a human being, you can't
Speaker 6: you can't help be touched by that, right, It's a
Speaker 6: sweet moment.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 6: I still think that he's I think he's like a
Speaker 6: mean spirited Jim Gaffigan love it right, like so hot pockets, right,
Speaker 6: but you can see.
Speaker 4: Him like that guy eats hot pockets.
Speaker 2: He's pocket right, but he's.
Speaker 4: You think he's like that.
Speaker 6: He's like this nice Jim Gaffigan esque figure. But then
Speaker 6: he seems like he's got this nasty he's like there's
Speaker 6: yelling and screaming and getting all angry.
Speaker 4: I don't like that, don't you know.
Speaker 6: So we'll see the whole like football team up there
Speaker 6: and their thing rah rah, Like I'm not buying it, right. So,
Speaker 6: and he's the white guy, he's the white guy in
Speaker 6: the ticket, he's supposed to speak to. You know, I
Speaker 6: view everything again through the lens of Pennsylvania. My it's
Speaker 6: my little my, my superpower and also my my drawback.
Speaker 4: But you know, Carba wants to describe.
Speaker 6: Pennsylvania is Alabama in between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Right, So
Speaker 6: again I see a lot and this convention, this building
Speaker 6: for the Philly folks, right, a lot of African American women,
Speaker 6: a lot about abortion. I don't see many for that
Speaker 6: Alabama part, right, not a lot of guys in bass
Speaker 6: pro hats and driving trucks and maybe that's the Tim
Speaker 6: Walls part that.
Speaker 4: He's supposed to fill in, and we'll see. I think
Speaker 4: I think he'll be helpful.
Speaker 6: He will be helpful in some of the Midwest states,
Speaker 6: perhaps maybe Michigan where you know, and in Wisconsin. I
Speaker 6: think he will be helpful there. Marginally, he's not gonna
Speaker 6: He's not going to sell in Pennsylvany, he's not. He's
Speaker 6: not that one thing that I know is kind of
Speaker 6: off that what kind of cells in the state.
Speaker 4: It's gonna have a hard time.
Speaker 1: We talked about the implications of RFK Junior dropping out
Speaker 1: with David Urban, and one of our great interviews this
Speaker 1: week has been.
Speaker 2: If I do say so much, if I don't think.
Speaker 1: So myself has been with Congressman Dean Phillips, one of
Speaker 1: the first people to talk about Joe Biden getting.
Speaker 4: Off the ticket, a lot of bit of concern.
Speaker 9: The nice thing is I've been invited back to the
Speaker 9: popular Kids table in the cafeteria. It's kind of a
Speaker 9: nice you know. I actually was not even planning to
Speaker 9: come to the convention. Last minute decided I would, and
Speaker 9: I'm so glad I did because it restored my faith
Speaker 9: in a lot of people that had been disappointing to me,
Speaker 9: High fives, hugs and handshakes, and just a reminder that
Speaker 9: when you walk through the rain, you might find the rainbow,
Speaker 9: and I seem to have done so, and a joyous
Speaker 9: couple of days here so far.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I was going to add that was going to
Speaker 2: be my first question, is in your opinion, is the
Speaker 2: party unified right now?
Speaker 4: It sure seems like it.
Speaker 9: You know, I'm much more accustomed as our listeners to
Speaker 9: a party that seems to be in disarray. More often,
Speaker 9: there seems to be a little bit of a pendulum
Speaker 9: shift where we are consolidating. I think the way that
Speaker 9: Kamala Harris consolidated democratic support so rapidly is a hallmark
Speaker 9: of leadership. I was surprised by it. I think some
Speaker 9: colleagues were as well. And yes, I'd argued for change
Speaker 9: for the better part of a year and a half
Speaker 9: and it was a lonely argument. We have a conventional
Speaker 9: wisdom that says you never take on an incumbent, and
Speaker 9: I said, even if the incumbent's going to lose a
Speaker 9: historically important election, and people are so reluctant to challenge
Speaker 9: that orthodoxy the fear of losing their political careers. I
Speaker 9: was one of the few that I think was in
Speaker 9: a position to do so I have, but that's fine,
Speaker 9: it was worth it.
Speaker 1: I was a big fan of yours because of that,
Speaker 1: because it seems like there is this colorination or there's
Speaker 1: this you know, this this pathway to the you know
Speaker 1: and just ask you know, Bernie Sanders about it, and
Speaker 1: it just seems like there have been candidates have been
Speaker 1: sandbagged by their own party and the own party rules,
Speaker 1: and I just hate that as a voter, I want
Speaker 1: to be able to have a say. I don't want
Speaker 1: the machine to pick the candidate. And so when you
Speaker 1: came out and said that, it was refreshing, and I
Speaker 1: think it started a lot of conversations. Have you gotten
Speaker 1: any I'm sorries you were rights.
Speaker 4: I have gotten a lot of them.
Speaker 6: Yeah.
Speaker 9: I didn't do this to attract sori's or apologies, but
Speaker 9: I have, and from people that actually surprised me proactively
Speaker 9: coming up to do so. I don't need to name names,
Speaker 9: but that wasn't the mission. I was trying to be
Speaker 9: Paul Revere more than a George Washington, if you will.
Speaker 9: But I got to reflect on what you just said.
Speaker 9: That's my frustration that we have two political parties private
Speaker 9: corporations that are much better at suppressing competition when it's
Speaker 9: helpful than they are promoting it. And that's because we
Speaker 9: still are affording a handful of Americans on the right
Speaker 9: and the left with I think a little bit too
Speaker 9: much power. And these conventions used to be where the
Speaker 9: candidate was selected. We didn't used to have primaries. This
Speaker 9: is where the work was done. That's why they called
Speaker 9: it in the smoke filled room. So my argument is,
Speaker 9: either we entrust voters to really make this decision, and
Speaker 9: if so, you got to get.
Speaker 4: Out and vote.
Speaker 9: When only you let when you let the far left
Speaker 9: and far right choose the candidates, why in the world
Speaker 9: would we think we have people of moderation and centrism
Speaker 9: and maybe and capacity in November. Too often we don't.
Speaker 9: So I'm glad you refer to that, because that is
Speaker 9: the ultimate mission. Joe Biden happened to be the man.
Speaker 9: This happened to be the season, but this is something bigger,
Speaker 9: and I intend to dedicate time in the future too
Speaker 9: inspiring more competition because absent it, you know, that's the
Speaker 9: vitamin of democracy.
Speaker 2: Right, Well, I tied Kamala Harris in terms of the
Speaker 2: number of delegates that received in the primaries. You at
Speaker 2: least got four delegates during the primaries. There that's I
Speaker 2: think that still should be part of the conversation, which
Speaker 2: is she did not get the approval of the Democratic
Speaker 2: voters to be in the position that she's in now.
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that she shouldn't or she doesn't deserve it,
Speaker 2: but it is a very different process that takes place
Speaker 2: than we've seen in the recent past.
Speaker 9: And you're right, and I feel the same way. But
Speaker 9: if you recall when I actually when this occurred, when
Speaker 9: the president announced he wouldn't be running again, I immediately
Speaker 9: called for a series of four town halls, even if
Speaker 9: only in three weeks. My point was, let each region
Speaker 9: of the country host Democratic delegates who had already been selected,
Speaker 9: but entertain some other candidates, including the vice president. That
Speaker 9: didn't happen, But I agree with you generally speaking, we
Speaker 9: should have competitions. It wasn't in the best interest of
Speaker 9: the party. I do think what has transpired is actually
Speaker 9: probably a good thing for Democrats. But in the future
Speaker 9: that's what we need to do. And I should also
Speaker 9: reflect on the fact that this compressed timeline one hundred
Speaker 9: days or so, it kind of feels right, these two
Speaker 9: year cycles of NonStop campaigning. Let me tell you, as
Speaker 9: someone who's kind of had to do it, it's not helping
Speaker 9: this country and most countries figure out how to do
Speaker 9: it in really short windows. And there's something kind of
Speaker 9: refreshing about that. So I think maybe things that have
Speaker 9: happened recently, if we employ them in the future, could
Speaker 9: be really beneficial.
Speaker 1: Do you think it is just a conservative slash Republican
Speaker 1: call for her to sit down for an interview or
Speaker 1: do you think that voters deserve to hear her in
Speaker 1: her own words, not on a teleprompter, off the cuff,
Speaker 1: about what she believes.
Speaker 9: There's no question voters are entitled to and she will
Speaker 9: have to answer to them in unscripted moments, and that
Speaker 9: will come. And I understand that if I were a Republican,
Speaker 9: I'd be calling for the same thing. And I understand
Speaker 9: with that said, I think, you know, this is the
Speaker 9: coming out party, and I think that this honeymoon phase,
Speaker 9: which has been quite remarkable, I'm sure for her and
Speaker 9: Tim Walls, you know, we'll probably dissipate, and then she
Speaker 9: will have to issue her platforms and our reconcile policy,
Speaker 9: and to your point, start subjecting herself to interviews. And
Speaker 9: you know, I know from experience there are times where
Speaker 9: it may not be politically advantageous to engage in debate
Speaker 9: or to consent to interviews, But that doesn't matter. You know,
Speaker 9: this is a democracy that begs for you two and
Speaker 9: so many others here who make their you know, their
Speaker 9: lives help in democracy, and every single candidate should consent
Speaker 9: to it. And I'm really troubled by the fact that
Speaker 9: even on the debate stage now it's being managed by
Speaker 9: the campaigns themselves. That should be independent and it should
Speaker 9: not be up to the candidates to decide how American
Speaker 9: voters assess them. It should be up to American voters
Speaker 9: to tell the candidates how we do.
Speaker 2: So, how does a voice like hears get heard in
Speaker 2: that mechanism that is a party. I mean, you talk
Speaker 2: about it and refer to it as a corporation. That
Speaker 2: is not what we think about when we think about parties.
Speaker 2: We think about those dark, you know, smoke filled rooms
Speaker 2: and things like that, where everybody's voice is heard. That's
Speaker 2: not the way it works industry.
Speaker 1: There was like a great Freakonomics podcast about this and
Speaker 1: about how we have no say and you're right, and.
Speaker 9: Think of me as I was a middle manager and
Speaker 9: a large corporation that challenged the CEO, and like private
Speaker 9: corporations do, they don't take kindly to that. And because
Speaker 9: theyre private, they can do whatever they want with that
Speaker 9: middle manager. But the middle manager can also you know, cry,
Speaker 9: you know, call bs and go to the press, and
Speaker 9: that there's a little bit of a tuggle war.
Speaker 4: But that is you still have provided to the company.
Speaker 9: Picnic, Well, look to your point, I think I came
Speaker 9: in second place here on the Deele Country. I would't
Speaker 9: know that, right, you know, it's not like I got
Speaker 9: an invitation to speak. But that's not you know, that
Speaker 9: wasn't the objective. And I'm not going to play by
Speaker 9: the rules as they exist because I think it's broken.
Speaker 9: I think we need to focus on how we change
Speaker 9: them to have more dissent, not less. You know, whether
Speaker 9: it's protesters, whether it's people in the party that have
Speaker 9: different perspectives. You know, we're not represent neither parties representing
Speaker 9: the majority of America.
Speaker 4: Right now, let's just get to the point.
Speaker 9: Yeah, that's why I think fifty one percent of Americans
Speaker 9: are now declared independence. As an entrepreneur, I've never seen
Speaker 9: a market opportunity like I see in front of us
Speaker 9: right now in the political industry, which is now dominated
Speaker 9: by a duopoly. So there's a there there. And to
Speaker 9: answer your question, no, it's not easy to get platform.
Speaker 9: MSNBC did not invite me on one time from October
Speaker 9: when I declared my candidacy to this very day. The
Speaker 9: only time I had an MSNBC interview was the day
Speaker 9: after the South Carolina primary, which was Joe Biden's massive victory.
Speaker 9: So you get a sense of how this environment works,
Speaker 9: how the relationships work, and most importantly, how perverse the
Speaker 9: incentives are, including the right and left media.
Speaker 1: Well, it's a real conversation about how the media protected
Speaker 1: a president who had no chance of serving another four
Speaker 1: and a half years. It's just you know, your eyes
Speaker 1: tell you. We all watch that debate. It's common sense.
Speaker 1: We know what we saw, the fact that they were
Speaker 1: spinning oh behind the scenes, he's you can't keep up
Speaker 1: with him. It's like, you know, don't lie to us,
Speaker 1: you know. And I think that there's such distrust with
Speaker 1: the media for having shielded opinions like yours, whether whether
Speaker 1: it's MSNBC or what have you. And it hasn't really
Speaker 1: been felt yet because we're in this whirlwind. But that's
Speaker 1: going to be a conversation.
Speaker 9: That's had and if I can speak to that as
Speaker 9: a member of Congress. You know, the game is played
Speaker 9: probably better than I do. You know, there are a
Speaker 9: lot of media outlets, especially in Washington, whose life blood
Speaker 9: is access to the White House. So if you if
Speaker 9: you get out of line or you bother them, they're
Speaker 9: not going to afford you the talent, the leaks the information.
Speaker 1: It's the same thing with the NFL exactly.
Speaker 9: That's an interesting embarrassing but you so you get the
Speaker 9: point that that's why. And by the way, yeah, the
Speaker 9: media dropped the ball. You know, the New York Times
Speaker 9: started getting a little bit more interested in that story
Speaker 9: and then they stonewalled them. You know, they kept me
Speaker 9: off the airwaves, that at least the left leaning airwaves.
Speaker 9: And that's how the game works. So independent, that's the
Speaker 9: perverse and sentence. The media has got to be independent.
Speaker 9: And the same thing with politics. Why are we punishing
Speaker 9: courage and rewarding cowardice. That's shameful in both my in
Speaker 9: my business and yours. And that's I think we got
Speaker 9: to bring some.
Speaker 1: Light on It's kind of when we first started talking
Speaker 1: about it, is when Dean Phillips came out and said,
Speaker 1: I don't know, I've got these big concerns about Joe
Speaker 1: Biden serving another four and a half years or what
Speaker 1: have you, or there's six years at the time. I
Speaker 1: don't remember exactly when it happened, but that's kind of
Speaker 1: when we started talking about it, and you know, and
Speaker 1: other people were saying, I don't think this guy can
Speaker 1: do another term, and and uh and and and we
Speaker 1: were lied to. We were lied to for at least
Speaker 1: a period of time about his cognitive abilities and where
Speaker 1: he was at.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was it.
Speaker 2: Was a confirmation of what our eyes were telling us,
Speaker 2: that there was somebody else in power, somebody closer than
Speaker 2: we are obviously that recognized that. So I almost I
Speaker 2: almost feel like I want to thank you, because there
Speaker 2: are a lot of people, I mean, even the members
Speaker 2: of the Democratic Party should thank you for raising this
Speaker 2: to the level of people's getting people's attention and that
Speaker 2: and that you I don't want to say you were
Speaker 2: a dog with a bone, but it was something that
Speaker 2: you didn't forget, you know, you didn't let.
Speaker 4: Go dog with a bone is a compliment in those cases.
Speaker 4: All right, well then I'll use that one.
Speaker 9: You know, and I think every what you just said
Speaker 9: about seeing with your own eyes, I mean I did too.
Speaker 9: I may have been the only person in democratic politics
Speaker 9: that woke up the morning after that debate and was
Speaker 9: wondering what was so unique about that I'd seen that?
Speaker 1: Yeah, what had you seen that?
Speaker 2: What led to you?
Speaker 4: I'll tell you?
Speaker 9: And I want to clarify this is really important to clarify.
Speaker 9: I've not seen legitimate cognitive decline. That's a little different.
Speaker 9: What I've seen is pretty incredible physical decline. That age
Speaker 9: is unstoppable.
Speaker 4: We know that.
Speaker 9: And his communication skills, which have always been challenged, you know,
Speaker 9: have really eroded his ability to seem strong and enunciate
Speaker 9: and think on his feet. You know, that's clearly been eroded.
Speaker 9: And Americans had decided that that didn't make them comfortable for.
Speaker 4: Another four years.
Speaker 9: And all I was trying to point out, I wasn't
Speaker 9: trying to demean him or attack him. I was trying
Speaker 9: to point out that voters, the ones that matter, had
Speaker 9: made the decision already, so why would we ignore them
Speaker 9: because of this orthodoxy that you always protect the incumbent.
Speaker 9: So what I had seen he was in my home
Speaker 9: in twenty eleven. I saw a very strong man. We'd
Speaker 9: just Osama bin Laden. He was the vice president, and
Speaker 9: of course you know this, this is you know, fourteen
Speaker 9: years ago. Then I saw him in twenty twenty and
Speaker 9: you know, he was an older man but still had
Speaker 9: the GUSCO. But in twenty twenty one he came to
Speaker 9: our caucus a couple of times to present to help
Speaker 9: make a case for some legislation. He was pushing and
Speaker 9: we all saw with our own eyes the decline and
Speaker 9: it had started, and it was real.
Speaker 4: I probably had I.
Speaker 9: Was probably a little more concerned and jarred than some others,
Speaker 9: but we were talking about it. But it wasn't until
Speaker 9: he declared his candidacy again to run again that really
Speaker 9: surprised a lot of us. He had kind of insinuated
Speaker 9: he wouldn't do it again. It was going to be
Speaker 9: a bridge, and that's when I felt compelled to say
Speaker 9: the quiet.
Speaker 4: Part out loud.
Speaker 9: I went to Vietnam, where my father was killed in
Speaker 9: the Vietnam War that spring of twenty twenty three to
Speaker 9: visit where he died, and I remember getting on the
Speaker 9: plane coming home and thinking, you know, my dad was
Speaker 9: one of a million Americans that literally gave his life
Speaker 9: serving the country. The least I could do for gos
Speaker 9: sakes was speak the truth that I knew it was real,
Speaker 9: and not condemning him, but ensuring that we inspire competition
Speaker 9: and that we don't hide the truth from Americans, especially
Speaker 9: after I saw my Republican colleagues. What I thought it
Speaker 9: was a disease unique to the right, which was saying
Speaker 9: one thing about Donald Trump privately and then excoriating him,
Speaker 9: and then getting in front of the cameras just and
Speaker 9: blessing him. And then when my side started doing the
Speaker 9: same thing, I thought this was contagious. It's not unique
Speaker 9: to one side or the other. It is this culture
Speaker 9: of silence, rewarding cowardice, and staying in line so that
Speaker 9: if you aspire a higher office, you've got to play
Speaker 9: by these rules that Americans are really sick and tired of.
Speaker 9: That was the mission, and to think that it may
Speaker 9: have been partially accomplished. I shed light on it maybe
Speaker 9: I'll take some credit for that, but now it's up
Speaker 9: to everybody else.
Speaker 1: What's your relationship with Tim Walls?
Speaker 7: Like?
Speaker 9: Tim and I are very close he I've known him
Speaker 9: for twenty years. I really liked him. What you see
Speaker 9: is what you get. Okay, he's down home. He knows
Speaker 9: how to fix a lawnmower. He knows how to plow
Speaker 9: his driveway. He can skim a deer and then go
Speaker 9: legislate and lead a state in the afternoon. You know, Teach,
Speaker 9: you're a National Guardsman represented a red district in southern Minnesota.
Speaker 9: He more than most Democratic politicians, really, I think understands
Speaker 9: where most Americans are at. You know, you can say
Speaker 9: he's too progressive, or you don't like this policy or that.
Speaker 9: But the man comes from I think, a part of
Speaker 9: the country and has lived in communities that need to
Speaker 9: be heard more certainly by my party.
Speaker 4: So I'm pleased by it.
Speaker 9: You know, he's likely if they win, he will be
Speaker 9: the third Democratic vice president from the state of Minnesota
Speaker 9: of the last six and, as Senator Clobshar says, regularly,
Speaker 9: in Minnesota, when a baby's born, parents put him on
Speaker 9: their laps and say, one day you two can grow
Speaker 9: up and be vice president.
Speaker 4: Of the United States.
Speaker 9: So we raise good vice president and you know, look
Speaker 9: at we are our state. I think there's a reason
Speaker 9: for that. You know, we are you know, we're thoughtful.
Speaker 9: You know, we're generally respectful. Minnesota nice, little passive, aggressive,
Speaker 9: but a state that has higher taxes, but clean water,
Speaker 9: beautiful parts, a great environment, great schools.
Speaker 4: Safe community.
Speaker 1: What are you going to do about the Vikings.
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's an issue now.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a whole other sect.
Speaker 4: I wish, I wish Congress.
Speaker 9: I wish Congress could legislate a Viking super Bowl Progesson
Speaker 9: before in my lifetime.
Speaker 2: Well, you've been through the ringer, whether it's the party
Speaker 2: that did it or media whatever, you've been through the
Speaker 2: ringer for the last year and a half. Do you
Speaker 2: are you confident that there was a place for a
Speaker 2: voice like yours in the Democratic Party.
Speaker 9: I think time will tell. I'm testing that right now.
Speaker 9: It was not well received, but I will let me
Speaker 9: I will. I'm glad you asked that question. Leader jeffreyes
Speaker 9: Hakeem Jeffries. There was not one moment from the time
Speaker 9: I started this endeavor to this very day where he
Speaker 9: was disrespectful where he threatened me with removing me from committees,
Speaker 9: where he didn't afford some space and place for the
Speaker 9: very dissent that I was trying to elevate, and I like,
Speaker 9: I believe that speaks to him specifically, not everybody. Uh,
Speaker 9: there is a place, and I think those handful of
Speaker 9: leaders in our party who recognize what real American principles
Speaker 9: are and what winning requires should be elevated that. But
Speaker 9: as you know this, we live in a culture now
Speaker 9: that doing so comes at risk to the very leaders
Speaker 9: that need to inspire it. So that's the perverse incentive.
Speaker 9: So time will tell, But I won't be quiet. I'm
Speaker 9: you know, I'm unbridled and uncommitted, if you will, and
Speaker 9: I just want to inspire more people to speak that truth.
Speaker 9: But you can do it in a way that is
Speaker 9: not antagonistic and mean spirited, because it works better. Yeah,
Speaker 9: and I think that's what I want to Maybe.
Speaker 1: We shouldn't have come here because now I like a politician,
Speaker 1: I like the media.
Speaker 4: How about that something's wrong.
Speaker 1: It's just nice to have a thoughtful conversation with somebody
Speaker 1: who doesn't seem phony and is smart.
Speaker 4: Yeah, So thank you for I appreciate it.
Speaker 2: Congress, this right here, Thank you for coming on, Thank
Speaker 2: you for making time for us to Thank you both
Speaker 2: most for it.
Speaker 4: Thanks for what you do. Absolutely we need more of it,
Speaker 4: not less.
Speaker 2: You've been listening to The Gary and Shannon Show, you
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Speaker 2: nine am to one pm every Monday through Friday, and
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