To help understand the wildest election cycle in modern memory, Paul and Skip call on the legendary political commentator to make sense of it all. The Ragin' Cajun does not disappoint, dispensing straight-spoken wisdom and hard truths in his own inimitable (and often hilarious) way. Listen to find out where he stands on Kamala Harris' ascent, the financial health of the country, the Trump assassination attempt and more.
Our Way with yours truly Paul Anka and my buddy Skip Bronson, is a production of iHeartRadio. Hi, folks, this is Paul.
Anka and my name is Skip Bronson. We've been friends for decades and we've decided to let you in on our late night phone calls by starting a new podcast and.
Welcome to Our Way. We'd like you to meet some real good friends of ours.
They're leaders in entertainment and sports.
Innovators in business and technology, and even as sitting president or two.
Join us as we ask the questions they've not been asked before. Tell it like it is, and even sing a song or two.
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If you say Chief's unqualified, there's only two explanations for that segment. You're stupid or you're racious, because honestly, she'd want to in terms of just qualification DA attorney General, senator, vice president, she might be one of the most qualified non incumbents to ever run for president.
Ay Skip, Hello, Hey, they ring their phone ring is better than that spend in the past. What's going on?
I had it fixed?
Did you get your nose fixed from their cold gead? Or were you sick.
Yeah, well, you know, I had a little VIRUSO nose just spier the menu of light who hears.
I love that you sleep it off. That's my favorite gstip. When you get sick, I go right to the medicine cabinet and you go right to the billow leaf let.
That body redo its thing, you know. But it's cool, everything's fine. I don't I don't want it about that.
You know.
I'm so excited, man, because one of my favorite dudes, your buddy, is coming on and it's gonna give me some relief from listening a lot of this jokes I've been watching with this Olympics. Have you with governess? My god? It's kind of love blogs and.
You gotta watch the highlights at the end. I don't watch it live.
I was so disappointed in a lot of that stuff. It's just terrible.
How about the opening and going down this going down the sand in the rain?
That was first of all, I miss everybody coming into the state. What's what the folks? It looks like a bad carnival day and reel up its floats are going down the river. And I love Paris, and I think it was a little mischew right from the flag upside down and calling the South Koreans door. You know, I mean it was judged that, but it's a great city and there's some Listen, it's all about those athletes. Got to take your hat off to those kids. They're unbelievable. God bleives them.
Man, second best thing that been embarrassed this year was first when you got that special honor.
Oh yeah, well that's a dubious distinction next to those kids. I admire them so much. Their dedication is just unbelievable. So how excited are we a bus getting your guy on there?
Huh?
James Jamess. James is so great and he has no filter whatsoever, and he will cross any barrier, any line. You know, he just says what he feels. He's Look, he's been right more than he's been wrong, let's put it that way. And you know he's been known for, you know, being a brilliant strategist. You know what he did with Clinton saying it's about the economy stupid. You know, he's a guy that's just he's a savant. He truly is a political savant and he's a lot of fun. But when we get him on I want you to ask him. He'll be good if you ask him about you know, where he thinks his election is going. Obviously, you know, he'll he'll tell you his thoughts on that. And so that's his thing, right, Well, believe that people who said that, you know, the Democrats don't have anybody. His argument is there's actually a very deep bench on the Democrat Party and he'll, you know, I'm sure he'll get.
Into that interesting times we're in and he'll certainly get us close to the window to see what the hell's really going on?
Right, Yeah, what do you want to ask him anything in particular that you want to cover?
You know, I'm a touting artificial intelligence with you viearers, and I think that's going to be the real change in terms of the dynamics of government. And I'd like to get his take on it, because I truly believe that that's going to change the landscape artificial intelligence terms of Washington government, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. He wants to get his take on that.
Yeah, and also ask him, you know, the biggest challenge is facing the country at a time like this. You know, what does he see there? But I think he's going to tell you that we need optimism, so it'll be interesting to hit him on that. But he's he's a political genius, there's no question about it. I mean, there's only one Jeans Cargo.
Well, it'll be fun and it'll be very educating, which is nice to like the lyrics around smarting feet all the time. That's why I'm with you. Sure you go, So that's it. But you're going to go back and watch the Olympics. Yeah, and watch that watch that really started you are. I'm gonna watch a little of the the Olympics and then I'm gonna call you and say good night.
Sounds sounds like a plan. Love love, I love you.
It is the man. What's happening, brother?
I'm glad you're brown.
Well, yeah, I've got my partner and my betting partner and my brother Paul Anka up on the top there.
James, Hey man, hey man, it's a pleasure meeting you know.
I went to hoste. We're a brown named Diana. Yeah, and that's how we are about. I'll break a.
Bark or out of br that I did.
All I got was music.
It was nice to meet you, James.
Look forward to me, I'm to be on the shower and my dear friends skill.
I was just telling Paul earlier. I was trying to remember exactly when we met. It was in the mid nineties when Steve Wynn bought his first boat and he invited a couple of couples outto the boat with him, and we were with you, you and Mary, with Edie and myself, and that started this long odyssey that we've been friends all this time.
All the bats and all the losses.
I was just going to say, right up to today, while we still bet legally bet the other butt. Paul's on the other end of that with me too. By the way, he's my betting partner, so that's fun. And I was going to also tell you, James that seven weeks ago you made me a hero here in La because you went with me to my friend's house a dinner party with a lot of couples, important people, and you made it a bunch of predictions about what was going to happen. This was before the Biden departure from the campaign. Was at you the ninth of June, so it was just a little over seven weeks ago. And I was telling Paul literally everything that you predicted happened, starting with you know, he really should move on. He's been a really effective president, but it's time for another generation. And if he doesn't agree to move on, they're going to move him on, whether it lates it or not. But just everything you said was going to happen happened. It was really pretty interesting.
You know what you get. I mean, you get a five and zero weekend, you know what's going to happen on next weekend? You got a one in four weekend coming, but just still one up.
And so you so Paul asked me a question. I didn't know the answer, and that was what motivated you to get involved in political consulting at the beginning?
What was the reason? Well, but you know grew up My grandfather was on what they call leg had a police jury, which you would think of as to how they commissioners. I guess it was the most common name form. And I went to sixth seventh grade in bat Rouge. The parents sumited a Catholic through who was right by state capital and or down in That's when they had all these colorful figures. And you know, if you grew up in LA you were entertained by entertainers, where all of our entertainers are politicians, and I just always wanted to be and I'm part of the game. I mean it's a it's a lifetime passion mine and that hadn't gone away.
I mean, obviously it's been more than you can count, but would have been like the really significant changes that you've seen where where things are today versus.
Then you know skip. Honestly, in terms of communications, it really doesn't check changed much. It was, you know, a foreign affair. It's the kind of gray thing you see at the Air Force to people by and a guy duck they're reading but never read it. Asked me to do a memo that Cicero's brother wrote, en Row, and I read it. I concluded we had really thought of anything different. I mean, you know, attack early, you know, five fake assters do. I mean, it was just like anything. Now. What's happened pretty dramatically is gemographic sorting. So in nineteen there are thirty one hundred roughly exactly, but it's close enough. County accounting clothes the United States in nineteen ninety two. Ninety six of them were super majority counties where one party won by more than fifty percent, so you had to win by at least seventy five twenty five, like Los Angeles County or some county in Idaho, in Utah or something like that. North Alabama today fourteen hundred. So we've kind of lost contact with each other as a country. There are millions of Democrats and millions of Republicans that have never met anybody from the other party. My sister used to say, how can you be a Democrat when everybody you grew up with as a Republican. I'm desperately wanted to say that everybody I grew up with it is stupid, but I didn't. But that's so common these days. The country is just geographically separated into real different tribes and that can't be a good thing over a period of time. So, James, he just brought up a word that I've been telling a skiff a book for a while. It kind of concerns me that it's become so tribal. Yeah, that part of the problem makes really tribal, and that's upsetting. It is. You know, some chribalism is good. You know, you have Saint Patrick's Day Parade or Saint Joe's altar or you got you know Juneteenth or you know Honik or whatever, and some some of that is fine. But when that starts becoming your principal identity and it erodes at who we are as Americans, I think, and you know, neither Trump or answer is white moth of my immigrants. I don't give to ship the Americans looking at where you're from. You know what your status is of the year year.
Well, we're not a how mogenous society. Obviously, that's the part of our problem. Historically, we're just not homogenous.
Never happened. Yeah, you know, Paul, what we were coming up, it was nobody dobody. It was white, black, particularly with Losana. And I think we've become we got bored of what I like, just safe slaveries in this gumbo. And I'm fine with that, but when you start thinking that you are to hold gumbo, and that's where you get into trouble.
The problem that I see with it, James, is that everybody's posture today and you know, I get out there and kock it up and talk it up. We're all in the kind of mode of love our country, but don't trust those who run it.
That's kind of sad. Well, we've had a oh, I mean I al would say since thirly nine. It is the problem. But you know, we have had an accelerated view that you can't trust anything, that there's this giant cbowls I don't know are here to ship elites, you know, Okay, and then you have people say it's a giant cbowl of this. You know, internationalists that are running the world and there you know, everybody has agreement. There's not a person in the world that doesn't have a grievance at some level. But you know, sometimes you have to subjugate your grievances or you live with your grievances. You know, because you had a legitimate grievance. That doesn't give you the right to pull off and swum somebody in the face. And you see this play out all around the country in the world, and we always talk about the grievances. It will never be a grievance free work. Everybody's got The Jews have their grievance, the Ours have their grievance, the Asians have dead everybody's got a Greek. The women have their grievance. Okay, certainly the Blacks had huge grievances, but you don't. You don't solve them through virus exactly.
But you mentioned the nineties, which was interesting because back then we were we were more of an ailing nation. You know, we had problems industry, racism, it was urban unrest, conspiracy, theorists, despair was everywhere. But that sounds a lot like today. Even back then, during Bush, we were boring money. It was a big misfortune for him. But you know, our bills came due saving loans, collapse, scandal, nothing's changed, right.
And I always tell people thought, and I said, well, what did you disike about putting the piece of the prosperity? Something must have really pissed you off if you wagging money or you weren't getting shot at. But also at this time of historic prosperity, and I mean historic prosperity, you had the rise of the Russian involves in the world. You had the Wall Street Journal editorial page wrote seventy two editorials who killed Vince Foster? We actually know who killed Vince Foster was a suicide, but we I think a lot of that. It was always ample war, but I think it just accelerated and you had to rise a new gannglish. And I don't think both sides are equally to blame here. I don't at all. It's always the convenient thing to say, well, they're both you know, it's not the same.
Well you mentioned earlier Bill Clinton, I mean he was. You look at Hollywood's involvement with politics. I mean, all of a sudden, now they're behind Harris and selling her like it's the Second Coming, and she had baggage twenty twenty there was no shot. I mean even Clinton was sold by Hollywood, your guy. But sure, no, I'm saying it's okay. It's just a question of there's an old guard that are denying the way it is today. Politics has become show business, hasn't it.
I think it's always been. You mean you think Ray could running show business? Yeah, of course. I mean there's always been an element. It's always you know, it's storytelling, which is huge. You know, I'm always sanging rope, it's all about this, that's our story. But I don't buy that. Nothing is over one hundred percent. But I don't you know, when people say, well, we got our craziest but James, you gotta admit you aa'll have your crazy Okay, I don't like the squad God. I think they're kind of naive, but they're not horrible people. The people that storm the captain, they're criminals, Paul, they're criminals that there's not the same thing, and it's easy to collapse into, uh, well what I call both sides or is it everybody's easy default position is well, they both have the extremes. You're right, the Democrats have the extremes, and they're mostly kind of the people that want to have Medicare for all, which is impractical. We didn't make you an inherently bad person, all right, It doesn't make you an awful human being. Hanging Mike Pince makes you an awful human being.
And I think the messaging too is important. You know, you look at at these campaigns. Yeah, we're dealing with the Olympics going on right now over in Paris. And maybe the greatest call in the history of the Olympics was Al Michaels when he counted down and he said, do you believe in miracles? And of course became famous. But when you said, you know, during the Clinton administration or Clinton campaign, it's about the economy, stupid In both cases, I don't think you or al thought, wow, that's just a line that's going to last forever, you know, because it was something you came up with at the spur of the moment. It wasn't something that you would plan to insert, and yet they became iconic. And in terms of messaging right now, the messaging is so angry to your point about people with grievances, it just seems like there's an anger out there. You know, you and I always thought about the fact you've always said you can disagree without being disagreeable, right right, But boy, it's tough today, you know. I mean, it's neighbor against neighbor. It's you know, it's almost as bad. As I tell people, the only time I remember being this bad was during the Vietnam War when and that pitted family menumbers against others. But this is pretty tough right now.
And my reply, what are you so bad about? I mean, I mean, honestly, yeah, some people are having a hard time interust rates to hire. I mean, there's always something there. Actually, in terms of where we are at this moment, we are having a massive decline in the crime rate. I'm sorry, we are all right, We're having record growth in markets, the dollar could not be. In fact, they're starting to cretigue now that the dollar is too strong. But that's nothing but a manifestation of other people. We have the best economic recovery in the world. I understand you got problems. Why you're so angry right now? Well, what is it about now that I as opposed to nineteen thirty five or nineteen seventeen or eighteen in the middle of a What is it that you know? I understand people have different opinions. Why are you fucking mad? All right?
Well, A lot of it, A lot of it is the haves versus the have nuns, Right, it's people who feel like.
Let to have. The haves have never had it better. The have nots are not doing terrible right now. They might be doing not so good in comparison, But I was looking at there was a thing I was reading today about all the resentment in the job market income, how good whites are doing? They just are. It was in Business Week, And people think that crime is going up when it's decidedly going down. It just is.
So what do you think is the biggest challenge based in the country right now? Use the word challenges that are problem.
I think the country has to learn to hope again. Wow. Yeah, without OPI nothing without hope, there's nothing okay. And if we right now, for whatever reason, I think we forgot how to hope. And we also I think and as I'm just saying, of the politics of the day. But in order to know what's wrong is Bill Clinton things? He said there's nothing wrong with America that what's right with America can't fix. You know, I'm believing the Clinton message. I believe in the Clinton outreach, you know, I just do. And I think it's proven invaluable over a period of time. But you know, we obviously have a probably you know, I don't know Whens, but the desk that could really get to us, we got, you know, problems. You know, by the way Trump says it's okay if China invades Tiwan, I'm not telling this, we lose all his computer chips. It's not gonna be a good idea.
You know.
He wants to get rid of the dayto which has worked pretty good frostphall a long time. So I think we got to learn how to hope again. And you know, we just don't live in the worst attire Jelbum. We just don't now we're the greatest country. People forget that we are the country with the greatest assets. Have to liveit to overcome. But let me ask you one question, James, because we've obviously seen the evolution as we go on, how is artificial intelligence going to change government? People getting rid of people. I said that there'll be a real strength and artificial intelligence on how we're governed. Is that possible with a little bit on there? And I had a talk people who apparently Palente our work for but I don't understand what they do. It's really on the cutting edge. It is, and I think it's one of those things you can't stop. You're not going to stop it. It's like when people say all these trade agreement screwed us. Well, if if you're not going to stop the world from trading with each other, it just not. It doesn't work. It might be some things you can do on the margins that make it better, but the whole world is under the thing. If I make something, you know, a better mousetrap and sell it at a better price, I'm going to do better. But one of the things that somebody pointed out to me about AI, it's a demand on the energy grid? Is something off the charge.
Huge twenty times, thirty times? Yeah, And I do know it's getting hot out there, and I think I'm pretty sure why it's getting hot out there. So maybe that, but artificial intelligence needs to come up with as a solution. Is how we can advance of all this is intelligence to what I'm burning through, you know, every piece of energy grid to get.
But I don't think that, Paul. I think it's one of these things that obviously don't have a lot of ex variance in But from everything I've seen, you're not going to stop it. There's no way, we know, no way.
No question on the business, do you think Harris is going to be good for business? If she selected stop Mark? Because Biden was very aggressive for corporate America, do you think she's.
Going to be good for I don't know how Call from America be doing any betterness doing right now. So do you think she'll be good for business? Well? I don't know. I knowwadays all these business leaders coming out of reading the Financial Times, well you're all saying that Trump's tariff land would be an out of disaster that didn't towish She ever work. And you know, I don't really care if somebody is good for the country, that's the most important thing. Absolutely, Like Jamie Diamond, who knows a thing and too, he said, no one's ever done broke betting on America. But I don't know how business. If you look at corporate profits, if you look at their gross you know, some companies will do as well others. But I can't imagine business doing any better than they're doing right now.
So here's a question. Let's take an issue that there is within this country complete agreement, and that is there's a problem at the border. People have a different perspective of it. But in terms of the so called problem or the perception of the problem, who is really at fault there?
But let's start. We had a problem on the border. Border crossings today were the less and when Biden took off, So we had a problem. And the problem is because Biden listened to the idiot Progressings who've never been right about anything. So they had a deal. You know, this is true that they worked out right. Butt and Chris Murphy and Trump killed it. So when you're saying you had a problem on the border, the problem is actually you know, what when you have a country that people are trying to get into, you don't have as big a problem. If you have a country that people are trying to get out of, that's for sure. If it's just become the dinner party clap track, Oh well, we're on charital problem with over border. Actually we don't. We did. But if you look at the number of crossings and most by the way, wouldn't economists go back and look at this. Why are we going at two point eight percent in the United Kingdom going a zero point two percent. A lot of people think it's immigration that's driving our growth, but we don't have we had a border problem.
But again, when you talk about perception, you're in the South, Paul and I are in southern California. If you're in southern California, you would believe that we're being inundated with immigrants coming across the border illegally. I'm just saying in terms of you talk about perception.
Right, there's forty percent of the people in the country. I think, or if it's flat, that doesn't make the earth fucking flat? Okay, he If you have a perception in the perception is not Look, I go to La and you're right. And when you live in a warm weather climate, which is why people live there, guess what. Allless people rather be in Los Angeles than be in Minneapolis. Gee, I wonder why, and but yes you do. But everybody has a perception. But the perception should be at least grounded. And every time I go, I hear about how everybody's leaving California and I'm stuck in fucking traffic. Okay, in the housing prices get going, somebody's left. I don't know where they are, but they're left there, So you know, I'm not. Of course, we had a problem.
But doesn't social media play a big part in this?
I'm sure it does. We've always had bad information and that there's nothing we can do with it, but we do. We do have objective metrics we can look at and you could look at the border metrics and it will clearly tell you we had a terrible thing. Because Biden listened to a bunch of idiotic people finally figured out that these people are really stupid and kind of self corrected. They had a piece of legislation that everybody's for. On border patrol, people will ford our law enforcement sign the front and Trump makes one phone call and then I got people telling me that Biden's got a border problem. What in Trump will This is the diet that killed the legislation. But to be polite, I'm supposed to sit there and nod and agree with everybody. It's just not factual, James.
You can say about everybody not agree. You know, you look at us humans, and like other primates, we're a gregarious luck. We enjoy each other's company. But this politics of separated us when you know, I'd go to Washington a lot for years, you know, and lunch would break and both sides would meet. Today, it's frightening. You socially have to shut up your alienator of people that know what's side you're on it.
It's kind of troubling. How does that all come back together? The world? We can talk well again the geograph. So most people in Congress represent overwhelming the safe districts. In other words, they represent San Francisco or something like that, or they represent you know, East Tennessee. So one of the things that you could A couple of things you could do is you could really not have gerimandering, of which the Supreme Court is given the green light to where the state legislatures and be fair, you could say they have California did the same thing. Draws legislative districts are just protecting combats. Another thing that could help on the margins, and I'm just say it's eight is this kind of right voting. Another thing that that could help is that when by the way bipartition things have happened that the infrastructure bill is, is it staggering accomplishment both political accomplishment and then great for the United States. We're actually building things right now. But what causes it is that we don't have enough people running where you have to appeal to a broad and based constituency, and that causes siloing, and siloing leads to not very good results.
So if you look at the two sides, some would argue that if Kamalie Harris loses this election, she's done. That's her, the end of her political career. But if Trump loses, Trump is yeah, right, I'm just curious, how do you feel about that?
That's that's true. I agree with it. I think she got off track with a twenty twenty campaign, But other than that, I think for the most part, she's a rather mainstream. There's nothing mainstream about magnism. It is a hateful, disgusting philosophy. And yes, it will live because we'll never get rid of that. And I think it's you know, there's the most interesting thing. There was Kathy Barnette. You may never heard of. She ran for this in the Senate privatey twenty four and two in Pennsylvania. She's very, very, very very magaet. She's actually a happen to be a black woman who cares and said, you got to understand, Maga was here before Trump, and maga will be here after Trump. Trump did not invent this. It was there and it's not going to go away with him. And you know, that's the country we always lived in. And the only thing that's going to kill that's killed or wounded severely to actually irritate it. How many people come to me and say, man, my kids are just entirely Dinmer, right, they were here, our grandchildren of is. They don't buy into the starbage, they really don't.
But it sure has a massive following.
But they had not gotten Okay, let's back up. Then number broke forty seven in the national election.
Yeah, but to your point is roughly half the country is on one side and half the countries on either.
I think we deal in with the world more than half, by the way. So what I see all the time I read this, said Tyler Cowen and Brett Stevens. What's how to fix the Democratic Party? Well, we hadn't lost an election in two years. We're only dysfunctional if you don't count votes. If you count votes, where do we lose. I mean, there's something going on in the country, and I don't think it's a fifty to fifty thing, but you know, I mean, we elect you. They've started with Biden in there. People weren't against Biden because of his policies. We all against it because it was too.
Old James with the Democrats relieved with replacing Biden's stream, is it truly excitely for Harris or simply anyone.
But Chill his second, anyone but Jill. Harris was a beneficiary of being there. Okay, there was no giant Harris and grounds for it. But everybody's like, oh God, we got something different, thank God. And you could feel it. You can just feel it. You don't have to be a political expert or anything. You just live in the world and you could just feel a giant pim relief coming out of the country. And by the way, Trump has a real problem with JD. Banns. This is a real, real water Cooper issue. I mean, you start talking about women's you know, reproductive that they don't like that at all. It doesn't go but big yeah.
Yeah, So James, with Harris taking Biden's place, is this an opportunity for her to tone down the rhetoric. I don't think her rhetoric has been overwhelm the extreme, but I don't think she needs to. Yeah, I think they have to be careful because I think they can. You don't need to go that far. You got to make the contrast between this teaching to pay us hopeing non hope, and the danger that she runs is to get too cool for school to get to go to the convention and it becomes a Hollywood and all the hip people are there, and you know, people sometimes resent that. You gotta you gotta be careful. I've been very critical of what I call metropolitan triumphalism or coastal condensation, and you gotta that's a tendency that exists within certain elements of a democratic party that that they need to take a back seat in my bid.
So tell me go back to the JD vance point just for a minute. So I know that you had said to me in the past, who said skip. You know we got a deep bench in Democrat Party who started rattling off a bunch of names. I know you're big on Governor Basher among others. But with the down to let's say, roughly for people, is there one that stands out to you in terms of somebody that would make the most sense for from a politic, from a rape win the race point of view.
So I did a substat video very much. And when you tick a vice president, there's only one thing you give a shit about, and that's winning the election. So let's go back and look at some famous successful prices. Do you think Abraham Lincoln liked Andrew Johnson? He told him to shut his goddamn mouth the day after it was inaugurate. Do you think that Frank and rose out like john Nam's gardener? Shit, give me a break. You think Kennedy liked Lyndon Johnson? You think Reagan liked George HW. Bush. So cut this bullshit where you got to get a governing partner and it's got to be somebody your confu it. No, you got to win the election. That's the first thing you got to do. Again, Trump to show you so brita story today. I think it was in the Wall Street Journal and so truck to having Donnis that Don Junior says in Tucker said you should pick jd Vance and Trump literally said, quote, I think I saw him on television one time and he was pretty good unquote. That's what it was based on. I mean, you're really gonna give that much thought. And of course the guy is profoundly weird, and they're gonna keep digging stuff up. He's not gonna stop. And the Democrats are just going to just pound just They're gonna pumble it.
So who would who are you a good choice for the Democrats?
I think anybody target. I think more can be great. To Wals be great, Josh a good friend of mine, God offensive Bay, you be great. I don't think there's like.
I think it's Gretchen James.
Well, she was pretty definitive that she hadn't moren it. I would be fine with her. I love her, so fix the damn robes. But but I'm afraid that they're going to let these policy people govern them and'd worry about who's a governing part of it. But I don't see that Indian d there's just so many, so much talent Democratic for her dates, I could give you eight other people that would be just as good. The guy I really like is Skips Connecticut guy Chris Murphy. I think he's one of the best round. But he knows who he is.
Yeah, and Connecticut doesn't do They don't need they're gonna win Connecticut, they don't do it.
It doesn't matter that. See, that's the mistake. That's what people have said. You picked Gore why is a guy from Arkansas for their god from Tennessee? Because you want two plus two to equal four point one? All right, that's the trick of picking somebody. You want to create some chemistry where the public sees something that. Honestly, I wish she would pick Bashir Why because he's just the youngest one in screams generational change. He gives the votes in states where Democrats don't get bopes. He's been a successful But I don't think she will. But he asked me my first choice would be miss Landrew because the best communicator in the party. What you want when you run it is you want somebody that can's got you back and got your flank. Then I can do that, but I'll approach it is a sly political decision, and I'm afraid they're going to approach it as a governing decision, which I think is stupid. James.
Theoretically, don't we need someone who can fight? I mean we needed to attack dog someone with no track record. I mean one of the main reasons Obama got elected he had no history. And it's a game about winning, plain and simple, right.
I mean, he's got to have some history. But you want to get the best communicated. You want to get the person that can best take us take a shot and then fired back. But yes, you want and that's essential. But the pontificating classes, you know, the chin scratches, the her offers, say all this governing partner nonsense. And I've just been around this too long and when I see that, it causes me to throw condiments at the wall.
Back in the day, if you had a woman of color running at the top of the ticket, you wouldn't have a Jewish vice president. Taught in terms of you know, Jos Shapiro, you think that's still a factor or you think not after Obama won, I.
Don't think Joe Lee would cost our goal forty pound books and Josh, the only thing that they might be saying is he's been pretty far out there in Middle East. Okay, they may think, well if we do that, well, I think that this is so disipict I don't it. Maybe it's just me. I don't think it's a fact. I don't think it hurt Lieberman at all. Jos shapirol one like fifty eight percent of the fucking vote in Pennsylvania, and I yeah, in those days were like that, but I think the new days are better. Like I said, I would care if she picked the other woman. I can't think of a Jewish woman she could dig with, but if there was, it would bother me. Not in the East, and I don't think it would be. You know, most of the people that care about that, they're not a rote Democratic. You're not going to get them. That's just not available to you, because if you felt that was important, you wouldn't be a Democrat. If you thought identity and race and a person's religion was important, then the Republican party is your natural vote. If you don't give a shit, you're a Democrat.
James, speaking of Israel, how volatile a test was that for Harris and her presidency.
Campaign, Well, Paul, it's something that's always been with us, our works who'd whatever. Of course, Ahood and Bill Clinton had the road back for the way to do it, and you know our fat stupidly killed it. BB was against it. And it's really have to take some responsibility. October seventh was the greatest act of negligence in the last seventy five years. It just was not justified with Tamas did at all. But that didn't you know it is no needs leadership, not the leadership they got. They need some new and they don't do it. They need something new and they need like a fresh approach because it's you know, I believe this should be a Jewish state in the Eastern Mediterranean and perpetuity. How we accomplished that is sceptly what we came up with in nineteen ninety nine. You have two distinct states. You have you know, you reconfigure some borders. You have a d. Mills or his own the Ghost States and the United States help rebuild gossip and where it is, and you're gonna have struggles and you're gonna have everything, but you're gonna have a past to piece. And if you don't have that, you're not gonna have a pastor piece. And you're gonna have more and more events like this. And I think it's as difficult than it is. This solution has always been the tough one, and it's it's a two party state. That's the solution. There's no other one.
There are a lot of issues in the world that are less complicated than this one.
A long time skip for a long time baby.
If you had your say, would you still have an electoral college?
Well, I don't hear I say, and it's I wouldn't. But it doesn't matter because we're going to have one because I don't think it's never going to go along with losing this influence. And you know what it does, I think is it doesn't know.
No.
You know, people in California or people in Tennessee, Texas, they never get to see a presidential candidate, they never get to see a campaign unfold in front of them. And there's some chance I have a revote, there's some chance it might inspire somebody and maybe somebody will get in politics themselves. But you know, when you again, what I don't like about it is contributes to sortie and I don't like sorting. But it's not going to change, no more than the fact that eighteen percent of the United States elects fifty two senators. That's a fact. And you guess what it's not gonna change. It's highly undemocratic, it's highly unsafe, it highly By the way, there was a great story in the Wall Street Journal to day about how rural America is just falling apart. They can't even find people to be librarians anymore. And you know, we all profess that, you know, rural America is part of our heritage. We're letting it just rot, just fall off. And it's no wonder. I can't tell you how many rural hospitals have closed in Mississippi. And I think that there is a real crisis all across rural America, and I think we're paying insfficient petition to it. But this story in the Journal today, I think it was today about the small town in Maine there is for the focal point. By the way, Maine is one of the most rural states in the United States, I think Maine North Carolina probably won two. And you know, my part of the world where I keep hearing people refer to blacks is to urban market. I don't know how to break the news. There's a lot of blacks of living in rural America. You an't trying to do Mississippi Delta just to take a drive through it and see. So I think rural America gets more far to little attention here.
So to that end, no matter what party is in control, what policy here is, do you think the next administration should prioritize.
I think there's a crisis in rural America. Whether you can get people to prioritize that politically, I'm not sure. I think that Paul is right that I'm not. We can't stop AI, but you can shape things. And I think it's something that they're going to have to really really think about. And I think we're going to have to decide do we still want to be part of maintaining global order. Do we want to be active in keeping the South China Sea open, the Singapore Straits or the Suez Canal, all of these choke points in the world economy. So did that I think is like a huge yess. I mean, not to be predictable, but how do we adjust our education system to give our young people the kind of tools they need because the tools they need are not the same tools that the people we grew up with needed. Entirely different, entirely different.
True.
Well, I think that I agree with you, James.
I think that we get back to the basic with these young people and reading, writing and arithmetics.
Learn how to write code, sua, and.
They got to look at the history. I think that that becomes very predominant today.
You know that somebody said that future economy is going to have a machine, a man, and a dog, and the doll demands job is to feed the doll, and the dogs job is to make sure the man doesn't touch the machine.
So so we have enough time, right, Everybody say we don't have enough time, and sure, she's obviously it, but we have enough time, right. I mean, you look at France, they Fratz turned on a dime. Britain held an election in a short period of time, so.
It's you can't, you can't in Britain, you can't. It's six weeks direct, you can't talk about powellticar Si to hate and forgot what he was years between nine early in November.
It's just the old folgist who want to play by the old rules, right.
They don't like change, well, they don't generally people that do pretty well.
Yeah.
The other big problem we have is when people look at the economy. We got one accountms for people like us. It's pretty goddamn good. You just be about to people. You throw spaghetti at the stog walk that you get more spaghetti. And you know, high interest rates help people who are net sabers. Young people don't see themselves with interest rates. Insurance it's a huge issue. Insurance issues, the cost of education. What does it cost You want to go to Southern cattle grew up and watch them in a roadbow. You can afford seventy five thousand dollars a year ago to Southern cap So there is a a a generally, I think there's we have to address issues that really pertain young people and address a lot of issues that really pertain to rural America. I think both of them are well. Other parts are getting ahead. They're not. They're falling behind a little bit.
Meanwhile, Silicon Valley's really made the world in the intro.
Right, Yeah, then, and they will continue to remake it. And you know that was your first question, AI, and that's going to be what we're gonna have to deal with.
So getting away from politics, you know, being from being football, we're gonna pivot over there. But before we do, being from Louisiana, which is a state that's obviously known for a rich culinary history, I always forget to ask, as well as I know you, I don't even know the answer to this, but do you cook? What's your go to dish? Well?
What I kind of cook. It's it's more mean, yeah, you know, I mean I'm making breakfast for the kids and that kind of stuff. But you know, cooking to us is it's four or five people in the family. I mean somebody's slicing, someone's dicing, someone's saute in, someone's making stock, someone's making roo. I see, food is a communal in a family event, and obviously we are the food that we that I cooked, it's pretty steeped. And you know, louis out our traditions because I like the food down here, but but yeah, I do. I'm I always kind of found us out to like have a cooking show but I'll never do that. But yeah, I enjoy I draw food. I enjoy preparing it, smelling it, eating it. I don't like cleaning it up too much. I don't have to.
What about music? What about music? It's just is country your only genre? Do you like all kids?
I like? I like old R and D stuff. I actually like a lot of the old patriotic songs a lot. But you know, I'm a taste of way and I equated. I don't even I don't know much about it anymore, None of us do, James, I'm in the business. I don't know anymore. I'll tell you what. The most amazing thing I've ever seen is Taylor Swift. She just then I don't think came here. I can't tell you one song. She's something, But the cultural impact of that can't figure.
There's a great, a great R and V. Duff that skip turned me onto on Stax record You remember Stacks, Yeah, Salmon Dade, Isaac Gays.
Based in Memphis, based out of Memphis.
Check it out.
It's a great documentaries on Stax Records because I grew up in that era also. But it really is very informative and it's a great story it's really a good doc. I'm glad you turned me onto that.
Skip. Now, I think that you know, the history is like it was started in a lot of that in Memphis and the Missippi Delta. Yeah, I think I think the New Orleans contribution was pretty powerful in really early days. I mean, that's is bigger than Elbush in like nineteen get to say that's Domino was my guy. Yeah, that's he just never wanted to move.
He couldn't do it with three hundred pounds. Yeah, but listen, I do very well.
He's a nice guy.
Oh, he was a sweetheart, James. He came to Canada where I lived, and I broke into this stadium when he was performing with Take Little Richard Chuck Berry, and he was so nice to me. You know.
I sang Diana.
Too, which was probably the worst song I ever wrote, and he was so inspiring.
Always liked it be honest with you.
Well, I like.
Honesty and clarity, but Fats looked to be He's Tony, you know, don't worry.
You just keep believing. You just keep believing.
So the following year it became such a hit and Skip you'll love this and James and I'm on the bill with Fats Domino, and he was like a mentor. And what I remember was along with him being so gracious with me before.
He go on.
You know, he had that knees on that fan like Yeah, the two guys would come in and turn them upside down on his head and they'd take this Niels and effort opened up the stand him up, partaking shot of whiskey and to go on stage. But he was the greatest guy. You're right, A lot of great stuff come out of New Orleans.
Yeah, news right, me not well, but you know, he just never he never wanted to lead the nith War. I mean, he just he just wiped. He was compling. I wrote, got fogged down? Was his agent. This is some years ago. He said, James, I could have got Fat to moved with wassh Ams. I could have made five covers. Is much money. And they said, you ain't gonna get I told by in a little bit Fat to Los Angeles. It's the way.
Well, my partner, he lives on the hamster wheel. He's traveling. This guy that's on this podcast with us is the only man that's better. A record in the Billboard Top one hundred and seven decades, seven kids out.
Yeah, oh god, you're making me steal. Oh now I had to do it. No, but I love that. I was raised on rhythm of blues.
I studied as a kid. You know, I emulated it when I started writing. And you know, back then when I grew up, we wadified that music. We were a clergyman's answer to what was going on because they had their stations. We had our station. But what an influence when you look at every decade that whole black experience, even to brives it. And I think a lot of it came out at early R and B stra Yeah, for sure. By the way, that one of the things want to asking somebody she found this interesting, Paul, that they did a study of New Orleans musicians and the greatest predictor of how good a musician was was how integrated the neighborhood was. The people don't realize that whites were very influential in early jazz. The word is influential as about let me stipulate that blots.
Were much more influential. Yeah, you go work at these early jazz bands. They used to have a photo display it and New Orleans, I am it would struck you as like a quarter on the white. And what they did, which destroyed, is destroyed. It set this whole thing back was there was a place in the yard. It's called story build and it was a legal wholehouse history, to put it bluntly, And they all came up and there's an expression you can like a piano player in a whorehouse. Because all of the musicians, most of them were black. In the Navy in nineteen seventeen decided they wanted to close it because the sailors getting the clack. And when they closed it, that's how jazz went to Saint Louis and Chicago and spread out. It all started with whorehouse. Louis Avstrom, of course, but he was a little bit he was was born think the nineteen oh three, but he was he was totally formed by that entire coach. And by the way, Skipp, did you know Louis Armstrong was brought up by Jewish Jewish Jewish family. That's right, Jewish, that's correct, really Jewish family. I mean, just a classic example of multiculturalism like you've never seen before. Very true.
So speaking of family, your wife Mary Mattline, one of the greats just crazy about her. So what's your secret strategy to winning an argument with Mary?
Don't ever listen? Just listen. You never lost the war. You didn't fight him. You listen.
You want to talk to listen.
That's an answer for the greats, one of the great strategists, Paul that we have.
Yeah, yeah, you don't avoid him, just say yes.
So James, you know, Skip would call me now every weekend with football and you say you won't believe it. Could guess who I'm getting my games from. So he laid on me right, And I have my guys, my connection in Vegas, and I compare the too.
You did pretty good last year great I had. It might have been a little twenty twenty two, but you know, you know these things, I'll revert to the to the norm. So maybe this year will be so good. We'll see. We've got some good games, are I'll tell you that college season I'll get pretty excited about with all these conference changes. I love college I love and you know we play both. We play Southern col We opened with them in Las Vegas. We play UCLA and bad.
Rouge didn't know that.
And I think that I think college football needs those kind LSU seven Cow games. I think it's good for it.
How about Las Vegas didn't have one professional sports team, and now.
What's capital of the plexit? Of course it's it's amazing that the Washington both would not put college lines in the paper. Now that I will run betting shits exactly.
You know, James, I lived in Vegas from the late sixties, the dot to do the you know that. And I worked for the boys, you know, so I sut all the good information. But there was one guy that I mentioned. There was Roxy Rocksbury. I believe he lived in a little apartment.
Steve used to talk about him.
Yeah, and he would set the line for the whole country. And I was sitting down with a guy named Irwi Abrals. We called him Lucky Abrams out of Chicago.
He was the guy with the best record. He used to say to me, be careful of the hook. Be careful of the hook. Skiff the game was three.
The boys would lay on the hook because they knew they could beat you with it. Sometimes I'm I buy the hook, exactly, I buy the hook. You know.
They will say over a period of time, it's not smart, but I've been killed by the hook. I agree, Well, I.
Lucky said by the hook.
But two years ago, because I always called James on Friday, kept my picks from him on Friday. Two years ago, you were killing it. I mean, but so far since I've been following you, you've had a winning record, so that that's hard to accomplish.
Yeah, I think I was documented in twenty twenty two to break sixty two percent against your spread. That's almost impossible, pauls.
Vegas guys have been good too, the ones I've given you from them, we'll give me.
Let's let's prepare. I don't mind all the information I can get.
You play the totals, James, do you like the totals.
If the guy? Yeah, I generally like straight bets better, but that's just because there's what I grew up. But yeah, I'll do that too.
Sure, I'll tease a total. I mean, it's a it suckers bet. But if you have to really sub a teaser, just a two teamer, you're total in a game.
You could get. You can get some of the lesser particularly college games like under the big ten SEC kind of level. You can get just good total opportunities too. Just don't realize how banned the defense is you know you're not. I don't think the it totals like in the NFL, but they pretty much got that down.
I love college. They play it right to the end, wait to the last second. The other guys, well, I don't.
Know, give us your last pick. If you had a bet who wins the election?
You know, work something I was told early in my career by letting their guys James, your role is not to predict elections, just to affect elections. But I think if ours doesn't fall into the kind of celebrity culture trap and positions it at the race about hope in the future, and I think she can run. But she's got to do she's got to execute those things and never ever ever let jd Vans up. You just have to keep kicking them and kicking in I mean vertly excuse me, because he's just a gift that's just going to give forever, Just give forever. But that. But if they do all of those things, then I think they can win.
I think she's cozy and warm enough like Clifton, which is important, not cold.
No, because not Bill Clinton. Who else is Bill Clinton?
No?
One, well exactly, but a lot of those guys had some prisone and wharf. You know, she came off very cool.
Well, I think she's I think she's showing that she's gotten better. I mean, she don't have to get better. I don't know, but what I hear people, if you say she's unqualified, there's only two explanations for that statement. You're stupid or you're racious, because honestly, she's one of in terms of just qualification DA attorney General, senator, vice president, she might be one of the most qualified non incumbents that will run for president. Now you can say I don't wak a position. That's fine, that doesn't speak to anything. But the one thing we can say she's qualified.
Rank all right, man, we're gonna let you go. We really appreciate your time.
Dame's real pleasure, real pleasure.
Yeah, y darn.
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