Chris Riback's Conversations

Peter Enns: Where Polls Live Forever

If you’ve ever wondered: Where do public polls go to die, today we bring you the answer: They don’t. They live on forever at the Roper Center.

One of the things I love most about doing this podcast is the opportunity to talk with incredibly smart people in fields where, under normal circumstances, our paths might not cross.

I just finished talking with one of them.

Peter Enns is Executive Director of The Roper Center at Cornell University, where he is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Government. The amount of data housed at the Roper Center will blow your mind: It’s the largest public opinion archive in the world with some 25,000 public opinion polls and nearly every survey question ever asked in the U.S. – more than 700,000 of them.

And as you’ll hear from Peter, this matters for all kinds of reasons, perhaps most importantly to give us a clearest possible sense of how American views have evolved – in big ways and really nuanced ways – over time on our biggest issues: Immigration, criminal justice, religion, politics, and more. We discussed all of these.

More background on Peter. His personal specialty is criminal justice. He’s author of “Incarceration Nation: How the United States Became the Most Punitive Democracy in the World.” He also received a 2017 Emerging Scholar Award from the American Political Science Association, which is presented to the top scholar in the field within ten years of her or his doctorate. 

David Cay Johnston: Political Termites

Investigative Reporter David Cay Johnston documents President Trump’s first year in office and explains why “It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America.”

McKay Coppins: What Is God's Plan for Mike Pence?

McKay Coppins, Staff Writer at The Atlantic, joins Chris to discuss religion and politics, and his recent piece: "God’s Plan for Mike Pence."

If we want to understand just how divided the country is – and if we want to consider whether it will ever be repaired – we better dig deeper into the role of religion and politics.

One question: How do evangelicals today reconcile their true beliefs and politics?

Chris Matthews: Looking at Today's Politics Through the Perspective of RFK

First, where to begin? Roy Moore? Al Franken? Tax bill? Jerusalem? Government shutdown? Russia? The pace of politics is relentless – fatiguing, really – so you need someone of relentless energy to talk about politics with. And few have more relentless energy than Chris Matthews.

But these times also call out for perspective and context. What in the world is going on? To many of us, it feels like there’s an all-out war – on decency, good behavior, justice – even democracy. What does history have to say? And how many people can bring a better historical context to politics than Chris Matthews?

Finally, the more out of control 2017 becomes, the more fascinated I’ve become with revisiting 1968. I keep wanting to consider how the conflict and anger and uncertainty of that year not only compares to what we’re experiencing today – but also, what can we learn from it? Chris Matthews helps here, too.

So let’s talk bio: If you only know him from cable television, you might not realize Chris’ full background: Matthews began his time on Capitol Hill as a cop, briefly working for the  United States Capitol Police. He worked for four Democratic members of Congress, including 6 years as chief of staff to one of the giants – House Speaker Tip O’Neill.  Matthews also served as a speech writer under President Jimmy Carter, though that’s far from his only writing: 8 books, 13 years as Washington Bureau Chief for the San Francisco Examiner, and then columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle.

Even if you know none of that, you surely know that he’s host of MSNBC’s Hardball with Chris Matthews.

And now, most recently, he’s an author again, this time of “Bobby Kennedy: A Raging Spirit.” It’s not his first book about the Kennedy’s – he’s written two on JFK – but this one is different: “The endurance of the idea of “Bobby” is,” writes Matthews, “because he stood for the desire to right wrongs that greatly mattered then and which continue to matter every bit as much in the 21st century. Let me state that more starkly – now more than ever.”

Indeed.

Charlie Cook: Is There a Democratic Wave Coming In 2018?

It’s only a slight exaggeration that there is nothing in the political world that Charlie Cook can’t analyze, clarify or explain.

Which is good news, because we had plenty to cover, starting with the Cook Political Report’s Midterm analysis. The report -- Political Environment and Congressional Breakdown Charts – is available only to Charlie’s subscribers. But he went into the details with me.  

I also asked Charlie about a recent piece he wrote – one with a headline sure to excite Democrats and frustrate Republicans: A Democratic Wave is Forming Off the Political Coast.

What does the wave look like? And how will we know whether it’s real or just wishful thinking for Americans who need some political good news?

Then near the end of the conversation, I asked Charlie about what I think is the issue our time – our great political divide. Charlie has a deep historical perspective. As you’ll hear, he’s been doing this for a while. And when he talks about what he sees going on in the country, multiple axis of divide, you can hear the anguish in his voice. It was pretty powerful.

Preet Bharara: How to Flip a Witness

I just finished talking with former U.S. Attorney and current podcast/analysis/and media star Preet Bharara. He claims to be a rookie at this whole media thing, but if you’ve listened to his top rated podcast “Stay Tuned with Preet,” you know that’s what someone in the law enforcement business might graciously call “pretext.” The guy’s a pro.

Our conversation covered the topics you would expect – Russia, President Trump, flipping witnesses – and some you might not – like what was that Senate staffer (the one who looks an awful lot like Preet Bharara) thinking 10 years ago, when a recently-fired US attorney described the political pressure on the U.S. justice system – and the discomfort of receiving phone calls at home from top elected U.S. officials? And how might that experience have prepared Preet when he got his own phone calls 10 years later?

You surely know Preet’s bio: Chief counsel to Senator Schumer, Assistant and then U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of NY. And now host of Stay Tuned with Preet, Executive Vice President of Some Spider Studios, Distinguished Scholar in Residence at NYU Law School.

But before we begin, I want to tell you about our show’s sponsor, The Cook Political Report.

What can we learn from the recent elections? What effect is President Trump having inside both parties? And what’s in store for next year’s Congressional campaigns?

 

People who want to stay ahead of the curve turn to The Cook Political Report. With good reason. For 30 years, the Report has nailed the nation’s most important election outcomes and political trends. CBS News’ Bob Schieffer called it, “the Bible of American politics.”  Nate Silver noted, “Few political analysts have a longer track record of success than the tight-knit team that runs the Cook Political Report.” Little wonder the New York Times called it "a newsletter that both parties regard as authoritative."

People who make it their business to know politics, make it their business to subscribe to The Cook Political Report. 

Just go to cookpolitical.com to sign up.

And one other item before my conversation with Preet. I want to repeat an ask that I’ve been making on these podcasts: I hope you like these conversations. If so, I’d appreciate if you’d take a moment, go to iTunes, and, if you’re so moved, leave a 5-star review. The ratings really matter. As always though, if you don’t like the conversations, please forget I ever mentioned it.

That’s it. Here’s my conversation with Preet Bharara.

Rep. Jim Jordan: "Just Ask Me"

So a couple of weeks ago, I saw Rep. Jim Jordan – Republican from Ohio’s 4th congressional district – say something on TV that I feel I see our politicians say all the time and I never believe: Call me.

Rep. Jordan was reacting to something that had been written about him, something he said was flat out wrong. If you want to know what I think, he said, just ask me.

So I did. And Rep. Jordan kept his word… this podcast is the result.  

Specifically, I wanted to ask the Freedom Caucus Congressman about two main issues – the budget and tax reform plans. I wanted to ask him about Republican leadership and any tensions within the Republican Party. And given the Las Vegas tragedy, I wanted to ask him about that, too – not to have a gun control debate… that’s for another podcast – but to ask him the straightforward question that’s on my mind and, I know, on the minds of many others: Is there any role government can play in helping prevent the proliferation of these mass murders?

Rep. Jordan took on all of my questions, which I guess is what one should expect from a two-time NCAA wrestling champion – a fellow who won one of his titles by defeating a future two-time U.S. Olympic gold medalist and four-time world champion.

Before we begin though, I want to repeat an ask that I’ve been making on these podcasts: I hope you like these conversations. If so, I’d appreciate if you’d take a moment, go to iTunes, and, if you’re so moved, leave a 5-star review. The ratings really matter. As always though, if you don’t like the conversations, please forget I ever mentioned it.

That’s it. Here’s my conversation with Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio…

Jason Altmire: A Former Congressman Explains Our Divided Country

So this is tough one. I just finished speaking with former Congressman Jason Altmire. He has written a new book that I really hope you read. It captures exactly what most of us hope for, but also seems like a ridiculous long shot at the moment: That somehow our divided country will come together around policy and politics.

Congressman Altmire’s new book is "Dead Center: How Political Polarization Divided America, and What We Can Do About It."

Some background: From 2007-13, Altmire represented PA’s 4^th district – that’s in the south-central part of the state. However, he lost his seat when it got redistricted for the 2012 vote. While in Congress, Altmire practiced what he preached – at one point the National Journal calculated his voting record to be at the exact midpoint of the House -- the Dead Center -- giving him the most centrist voting record in Congress. 

Altmire argues that’s part of what did him in – but it’s also our way out of this mess.

As I said, it’s a tough one. In a world of repeal & replace and delayed Puerto Rico hurricane relief and NFL national anthem divide and travel bans and tax cut debate and false “both sides” parallelism and rampant “Whataboutism” and Presidential popular votes don’t align with electoral vote results – I could keep going – there doesn’t seem to be an immediate path for the center to rise.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t discuss it. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be really clear about what got us into this mess and what it might take to get us out.

That’s what former Congressman Altmire has done with his book, and as you’ll hear, that’s what he does in his conversation with me.

Before we begin though, I want to repeat an ask that I’ve been making on these podcasts – from me to you: I hope you like these conversations. If so, I’d appreciate if you’d take a moment, go to iTunes, and, if you’re so moved, leave a 5-star review. The ratings really matter. As always though, if you don’t like the conversations, please forget I ever mentioned it.

That’s it. Here’s my conversation with former Congressman Jason Altmire.

David Litt: My Hopey, Changey White House Years

It turns out the key to a great conversation: Book a comedy-writing presidential speechwriter as your guest. That’s what we have for you today.

David Litt worked in the Barack Obama White House as Special Assistant to the President and senior presidential speechwriter. Those are awfully formal titles, and David seems like he’s anything but awfully formal. What he is is awfully funny. And smart.

He wrote many of President Obama’s funniest bits – from Correspondent Dinner speeches to his Happy 90^th Birthday shout out to actress Betty White. David also knows policy, and wrote serious speeches on issues like immigration and race. To mangle a line from David’s book where he’s describing someone else: He’s the speechwriting equivalent of a two-way player.

David is now Head Writer and Producer for Funny or Die’s Washington DC office. But more immediately and relevant to David’s personal interests, he is author of the new book: Thanks, Obama: My Hopey, Changey White House Years, A Speechwriter’s Memoir.

It’s a great read, and you will really like the book. Here’s why: First, it’s funny. But, the guy’s a comedy writer. I’m not gonna lie – I expected it to be funny. A book by a comedy writer better be funny.

But more than funny, the book reveals David’s stories – his sharp eye – about the White House and President Obama. Not look-at-me-saving-democracy-and-the-future-of-the-world stories. Human stories. I came away from the book feeling like I understood working in the White House and President Obama better.

Finally, and I asked David about this, his book and David himself are not cynical in the least about the positive role government can play and the high honor that comes from working in public service. At a time when cynicism seems to know no bounds – especially about government and politics – it was really nice to read a book by someone who knows government isn’t perfect, but it’s a cause worth joining.

Before I begin with David, I want to repeat an ask that I’ve been making on these podcasts – from me to you: I hope you like these conversations. If so, I’d appreciate if you’d take a moment, go to iTunes, and, if you’re so moved, leave a 5-star review. The ratings really matter. As always though, if you don’t like the conversations, please forget I ever mentioned it.

That’s it. Here’s my conversation with David Litt.

Joshua Green: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency

If you’re going to read one book on politics this summer vacation, the word is out: Devil’s Bargain – Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency is the one.

The book is by Josh Green, Senior National Correspondent for Bloomberg Businessweek, and if you believe what Politico reports, the book has President Trump livid.

To be clear, as you’ll hear, Josh is just fine with that.

You’ll love this conversation. Josh is a great storyteller and a funny guy – Back stories on Steve Bannon, the Trump campaign, Jeff Sessions, Rebekah Mercer. We talked about all of them.

Before we begin with Josh, a quick ask from me to you: I hope you like these conversations. If so, I’d appreciate if you’d take a moment, go to iTunes, and, if you’re so moved, leave a 5-star review. The ratings really matter. As always though, if you don’t like the conversations, please forget I ever mentioned it.

And one last word about the conversation – when I caught Josh, he was on a cell phone in a Washington D.C. area garage, so the audio is mostly good, but the content is excellent. I forgot to ask Josh if he was in the garage meeting a new Deep Throat.