Lives Well Wasted

After a Thanksgiving hiatus, Jonah is back and ready to break open the strategic rank ...

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After a Thanksgiving hiatus, Jonah is back and ready to break open the strategic rank punditry reserve. His guest today is Chris Stirewalt, who’s concerned with only the most important questions of the political moment: Why are Americans terrified of clowns? Is there a better parent than television? And was Pete Buttigieg raised in a refrigerator box? Serious discussion is also mixed in on what we can expect in 2024 and why Build Back Better is the “kitchen junk drawer” of policy proposals. Recent events surrounding a certain cable news network might even be mentioned.

Show Notes:

–Profit, the most important show you’ve never seen

–Build Back Better’s hypocritical tax cut

–Malapropisms

–Schoolhouse blues

–Chris on subsidizing local news

–Blind and toothless

–Woke Racism, by John McWhorter

–The Remnant with Josh Kraushaar

–The most interesting man in politics

–Why Jonah left Fox News

–Chris on digital depredations

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Comments (62)
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  1. Avatar photo
    Richard Grebenc

    Thank goodness for Chris Stirewalt. Immediately upon Jonah bringing up the possibility of Joe Biden running again, he shot down that idea completely. I understand why politicians won't go there, but pundits should have no compunction about doing so. I said, as soon as the current president was elected, that I would be very surprised if he makes it through one term, stunned if he does so and runs again, and would be looking at "cats and dogs living together -- mass hysteria!" if he won. Even if you disregard the president's clearly diminished state, his actions and policies are enough to make it clear that no one wants to see him run again (except maybe Republicans).

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    Stephen Plautz

    Fayetteville, WV has a dear place in my heart (home of my late great-grandmother). And yes, it has been overrun by hippies. Such is life.

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  3. Shbier

    Great podcast - the discussion about Alaska hippies brought to mind an excellent book Drop City by T.C. Boyle about that very topic. Apologies if it was mentioned.

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    AC Kansas

    Chris is a great addition to the Dispatch!

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    Joe B

    While there are lots of top contenders, Chris Stirewalt is probably my favorite guest. I could listen to these guys rattle on for days. Wish there were more Stirewalt podcasts, the Hangover series was too short!

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    Ben Connelly

    Bring back the Gorka voice! Heard Gorka on the radio having never heard or seen him before. Stirewalt’s impersonation alone was enough to immediately know who he was! What a creep (Gorka that is not Chris).

    And Chris was totally correct to call you out on the trick-knee thing, Jonah. Thousands of people tune in each week to hear you rant stream of consciousness on the solo Ruminant (including I believe sitting Congressmen). And I’m always pleasantly amazed by the G Files that start with some version of “I’m in an airport/rest area/Wal Mart parking lot,” and then you proceed to lay down a coherent and well-argued case linking Japan and Yuval and nationalism and CS Lewis (or anything really), which I have to imagine was tapped out as fast as you could before jumping back on the road. And it’s well-written. So we’re on to your truck knee, Jonah. Somehow I think you secretly thrive in that mad-dash-before-they-start-boarding mode of writing.

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    BWG

    You guys are so right - lives well wasted. I remember watching the three network channels (WMAL, WTOP, WTTG) on our little B&W TV (probably 18" or 21" screen), plus the one local UHF station (WETA, analog tuning!) there in the MD suburbs. I was so psyched when my parents would have a dinner party and they let me take the TV up to my room and I'd watch really cheesy shows and movies with all the lights out until midnight or 1 AM, when everyone went home and I got chased to bed. (It was clear when people were leaving, talking at the door on the way out, and I was thinking "please just let them talk for another 10 minutes so I can see the end of this show!") Kojak, Streets of San Francisco, Cagney and Lacey, Dirty Harry movies, B-grade horror: The Blob - Steve McQueen's first leading role! Creature from the Black Lagoon, Bride of Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello, Godzilla/Mothra/Gamera flicks, etc.
    Jonah, please don't talk up the PNW too much, it's already crowded enough. I'm a sometime fan of Emmett Watson and Lesser Seattle, sadly now both long gone.
    Big shout out to Chris for freshening up the end-gag! I've been thinking it needs some variety, I certainly would inject some if asked to weigh in, like for example on the Ruminant (hint, hint).
    Thanks for the Profit pilot link, loved it! That boy is one sick dawg.
    What to do with Kamala Harris? You know what they say, Democrats eat their young, I think the endgame won't be pretty. Maybe back to being a senator? She could hope that Feinstein retires (or dies) and resign ahead of the 2024 elections. Or move to another state as a challenger in the 2026 election. Or maybe she'll go the way of Dan Quayle and just fade away after a few more false starts. That would be ironic - prickly youngish black woman follows old white nice-guy formula.

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    Joe Delanis

    I don't know what the hell this podcast was - a freewheeling trip down Gen X memory lane or an impromptu therapy session or an unmedicated expression of severe ADHD - but it was AWESOME.

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  9. Deanjens

    Profit was an excellent, excellent show. Great dark comedy.

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    Paul Hoover

    Awesome episode! I really enjoy listening to these two. A Jonah/Chris conversation should be a regular monthly feature.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Toog

      Stirewalt joining Jonah without a narrow theme provides the fullest realization of what the drive-time format seems to attempt. Great rhythm and chemistry. Good mix of punditry and weirdness. Should be a regular feature somehow.

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