| Speaker | Time | Text |
|---|---|---|
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The Spin Room Chronicles
00:02:21
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| I want to do something different for our third show. | ||
| We're going to get away from atheism and religion today, believe it or not, and we're going to focus on another passion of mine, politics. | ||
| Real quick, though, I should thank all of you that listened to last week's Direct Message and actually took it into action. | ||
| You guys are calling out the bullshit artists on every social media platform like I've never seen before. | ||
| As I said last week, when you guys are engaged, we can focus on other things and not just have the same conversation over and over. | ||
| I've really only been intimately involved in this conversation for a couple weeks. | ||
| Fighting the lies is not only exhausting, but it has also affected a couple of my friendships. | ||
| I really do think that part of the plan by these people is to tire out the good guys into giving up. | ||
| Your part in this debate is beyond crucial. | ||
| But enough of that, let's talk politics. | ||
| I was at the GOP debate at the Reagan Library last week. | ||
| I've never been to one of these things before, and I really had no idea what to expect behind the scenes. | ||
| We had a booth in the spin room right alongside CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News. | ||
| The fact that they call it the spin room really tells you all you need to know about this thing. | ||
| This is where campaign people and candidates go to spin their message. | ||
| I went to the truth room next door, but nobody was there. | ||
| Weird, huh? | ||
| We were able to snag surrogates from pretty much every candidate except for Carly Fiorina and Donald Trump because neither of them sent any reps to the floor. | ||
| I even got to ask John Kasich a question about gay marriage and Scott Walker a question about money in politics. | ||
| Come to think of it, maybe that's what caused him to drop out of the race earlier this week. | ||
| What I realized by being on the inside of all this is that there are some unspoken rules to how the game is played. | ||
| I talked to Mike Huckabee's campaign manager about gay marriage, and she basically just danced around it. | ||
| Had I pushed her to the breaking point, I probably would have never gotten access to her again, and then word would have traveled fast that I'm someone that they shouldn't talk to. | ||
| So with that in mind, I tried my best to navigate all the interviews with some basic questions, and then some deeper probing. | ||
| I asked pretty much everyone about campaign finance, and I really pushed on social issues. | ||
| It was a big learning experience, and we'll figure out how to engage with the candidates and the representatives in an even more incisive way beyond the spin and the soundbites. | ||
| Hopefully, as the show gets bigger, we'll get to more of the debates. | ||
| Candidates will eventually realize that I'm going to be tough but honest, whether we agree or not. | ||
|
Comedians and Controversy
00:00:36
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| We're plotting out our plan to go to the first Democratic debate in October right now, so stay tuned for that. | ||
| So for today's show, we're going to jump back into the political waters. | ||
| I've got two comics I like and respect, Jimmy Dore and Felicia Michaels. | ||
| I agree with them on some issues and disagree with them on some others. | ||
| What I know more than anything else, though, is that comedians have a way of holding themselves to a high standard of truth. | ||
| Sure, we'll get things wrong, but the good ones have a fearless desire to say controversial things and let the chips fall where they may. | ||
| As Billy Wilder said, if you're going to tell people the truth, be funny or they will kill you. | ||
| I guess you could say that comedians are guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, just like the Jedi. | ||