S15.E28: Barney Frank, Catherine Rampell, Martin Short, Rick Wilson, Bob Costas

[GHScorpiosRule]

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Former Mass. Rep. Barney Frank, Columnist Catherine Rampell, Actor Martin Short, Political Strategist Rick Wilson, Sportscaster Bob Costas

[navelgazer]

Great show all around -- good interview, good panelists, excellent New Rules.  Bill seems to be getting his show legs back under him.  I'm particularly enjoying that when he has a conservative on like Rick Wilson, for example, the conservative speaks in clear, crisp sentences that don't contain any bullshit RWNJ talking points. 

Edited September 23, 2017 by navelgazer

[candall]

I admire Barney Frank enormously, but I had a difficult time understanding him.   Closed captioning was too choppy to help much because Bill kept interrupting with "brief humorous remarks." 

My jaw dropped when Bill said, "Relatively speaking, with Donald Trump, it was sort of a slow news week."  (Fact:  I had a cardiology appointment scheduled the same day UNGA convened and had to explain to the doc about the opening address.)

Agree that Rick Wilson was a model rep.  Old smoothie Bob Costas was interesting and relevant.  I was shocked when Martin Short was delightful instead of annoying--he and Bill seemed to have an old friend rapport that was inclusive to the audience instead of exclusive, e.g. reminiscing about getting stoned.  I thought Catherine Rampell was nervous about her first appearance, too determined to contribute and be heard, but she was afforded a lot of courtesy by the others.

Not usually a fan of New Rules, but City Mouse/Country Mouse was equally hilarious and perceptive.

Edited September 23, 2017 by candall

[wknt3]

Really liked this week's show. Just like last week you had smart funny people with different POVs talking about current events. No compulsion for "balance" or finding someone to defend the indefensible and no intellectual pro wrestling. And they were talking about what Bill found interesting instead of feeling compelled to run through all the stupidity in the headlines at the moment. But at the same time they weren't just beating his hobby horses to death athough I did het a little scared when he started talking about free speech... And Bill showed that he really is a great host when he wants to be keeping things moving and dealing well with a new guest who was a bit nervous and setting up Martin Short while also keeping him from going overboard. Combine that with solid scripted material and I wasn't tempted to use the FF button even once. Or the FFS button (for those of you without the newer remotes you press it and it yells "Oh for f- sake!" at the screen." - very useful for watching cable news, sports, and RT many weeks.) And OT was a hoot. Barney Frank, Bill Maher, and Martin Short talking about Shemp and Stubby Kaye??? How can that not be gold?

Edited September 23, 2017 by wknt3

[BetyBee]

This week's episode was so not horrible.  In fact, it was quite good.  I found it entertaining and I enjoyed the respectful conversation.  Very refreshing!  I do think that Barney Frank is wrong that righties will remember Drumpf temporarily getting along with Nancy & Chuck.  That will be very old news by election time.  These people can't remember anything that doesn't fit the current narrative being poured into their skulls.  

[Caseysgirl]

Bill's "City Mouse/Country Mouse" said exactly what I've been thinking about Trump. It's inconceivable to me that any of the people who have been supporting and propping him up would ever be people he would  socialize with in the non political world. They just aren't cool enough. Look at the people he invited to his many weddings?  Hillary and Bill were at the top of his list! 

[ganesh]

I liked the show, but sorry Bill, take a civics lesson. I can absolutely shout down some ignoramus who is peddling hate. There's this false narrative about one sided speech. You have the right to speak without government reprisal. Free speech does not mean I'm required to listen to you. Granted, there's reasonable boundaries. I'm not going to scream at someone who wants to talk about tax policy. You're going to come to my place and tell me you think people who look different from you should be treated as second class citizens? Then you're going to get an earful. Don't like it? Too bad. I get to speak too. 

Bill falls to see context. That's the key to free speech. That's why there's hate speech laws. Yes Bill you can do your stand up and say off color things. People know what they're getting into when they *pay a ticket to go see you*. 

People were ticked you were going to do that at their graduation. Context. And then you backed right off and assured them that wouldn't be the case. That was the right thing to do. Because of the context. 

[sistermagpie]

6 minutes ago, ganesh said:

I liked the show, but sorry Bill, take a civics lesson. I can absolutely shout down some ignoramus who is peddling hate. There's this false narrative about one sided speech. You have the right to speak without government reprisal. Free speech does not mean I'm required to listen to you. Granted, there's reasonable boundaries. I'm not going to scream at someone who wants to talk about tax policy. You're going to come to my place and tell me you think people who look different from you should be treated as second class citizens? Then you're going to get an earful. Don't like it? Too bad. I get to speak too. 

Kind of ironic that Bill would even make this argument given how much of his show is about right wing people coming on and shouting down people who don't agree with them. Sure they're not getting in their face and yelling necessarily, but interrupting everyone to loudly talk non-stop is absolutely doing what Bill claims is so bad. And he's fine with it. He thinks it's "brave."

[ganesh]

I have to push back on Costas a little. Why isn't there tons of CTE in rugby? Maybe suiting up players in figurative armor is part of the problem. 

I have to disagree with Costas about the anthem. It's played so much at everything now that it's lost nearly all of its meaning. It's taking nationalism to a dangerous edge at this point. And I'd question whether people would really care that much. Sure, there would be outrage for a couple of weeks, but people are gambling in the billions collectively. They'd get over it quick enough.

Edited September 23, 2017 by ganesh

[iMonrey]

I really enjoy hearing what Barney Frank has to say but I regret that I sometimes have difficulty understanding him. He explained beautifully, if not articulately, what's wrong with letting states decide what they want to do about health insurance. It would be a race to the bottom to see who could do the least in order to attract the most businesses to their state. That's why there has to be a federal mandate about basic coverage across the board.

When I saw who the panel was I expected a train wreck. But Trump really does seem to be bringing the left and the right together. The only thing I objected to was Rick Wilson's bullshit remark about climate science equalling "letting people freeze to death in the dark." It's the same sort of scare tactic as telling people the government is going to take away your guns or set up death panels. It's fundamentally nonsense and I have zero respect for anyone who trades in that sort of manipulation.

I had to crack up at Bill acknowledging the fact that Martin Short gets fidgety if the camera is off of him for more than 2 minutes. For what it was worth, Short was better behaved this time than usual. 

New rules was excellent. Especially loved Bill pointing out to Trump voters that the only reason Trump likes them is because he ran out of suckers in the city.

[ganesh]

Don't agree with Costas on Hill at all. "Choose a better way" is akin to telling Kap that he can protest but "he's doing it the wrong way." It's touching on a problematic area when the old white dude is telling the young african american woman how she should express herself. I wouldn't for a second accuse Costas as racist, but there's a systemic problem there. 

[UYI]

38 minutes ago, ganesh said:

Don't agree with Costas on Hill at all. "Choose a better way" is akin to telling Kap that he can protest but "he's doing it the wrong way." It's touching on a problematic area when the old white dude is telling the young african american woman how she should express herself. I wouldn't for a second accuse Costas as racist, but there's a systemic problem there. 

I agree. That made me uncomfortable as well. 

[candall]

1 hour ago, iMonrey said:

had to crack up at Bill acknowledging the fact that Martin Short gets fidgety if the camera is off of him for more than 2 minutes.

I thought one of the funniest moments of the episode was the camera cutting to Martin Short when Bill said that, and Short was sitting there totally absorbed in the discussion.  Hee.

 

(Thumbs up on your lucid summary of Frank's hypothetical regarding fed vs. state.  A provocative question from Bill with an excellent response from Franks--I just had a hard time hearing/reading it.)

[ganesh]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

It would be a race to the bottom to see who could do the least in order to attract the most businesses to their state.

I think Frank also touched on the massive inequality in care from state to state when he was saying that there needs to be standards on the federal level. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

 There's this false narrative about one sided speech. You have the right to speak without government reprisal. Free speech does not mean I'm required to listen to you. Granted, there's reasonable boundaries. I'm not going to scream at someone who wants to talk about tax policy. You're going to come to my place and tell me you think people who look different from you should be treated as second class citizens? Then you're going to get an earful. Don't like it? Too bad. I get to speak too. 

Ganesh you made an excellent point over on the Sam Bee forum about Nazis. This false equivalency about "hearing opposing viewpoints" doesn't mean you have to sit still and listen to what the Nazis have to say. That's patently absurd, and I'm reasonably certain Bill knows this. Now, maybe the likes of Ann  Coulter or Milo what's-his-name aren't exactly Nazis, but we're not talking about some educated policy wonks here. We're talking about folks whose brands we know all too well. People have a right to protest something they already know about. I'm pretty sure I already understand the Nazi viewpoint. I'm not required to listen to it or host it or make way for it just for the sake of free speech. That's ridiculous.

[ganesh]

An opposing viewpoint was the guy on the show on the left talking about how to deal with climate change. He said on the show that the free market will stimulate innovation and we'll invent technologies that will help. My response to him is that the government needs a real energy policy and then develop funding mechanisms through places like ARPA-E to that end. No need to shout anyone down on that. Now, if he interrupted the lady in the middle and said that she doesn't understand the complexities of climate change because she's female, Bill and Martin would have shouted him down, as we all would have. That's context. 

I get that Bill's deal is saying things that aren't "PC" which I think is a canard anyway, but whatever, but he's kind of folding himself into the narrative like he's some free speech champion. Even after he said the n-word on the show, it wasn't cancelled. He got yelled at the next week by the guests. 

I think this was the problem with the discussion at the beginning of the show about "opposing viewpoints" and then Costas coming on as the midshow guest saying Hill should "choose a better way" kind of comes from a place of privilege and it's squicky that they aren't recognizing that.

They talked about Kap briefly on the show as well. Kap knew that taking the knee was going to be a risk, and now he's paying for it, as Costas correctly pointed out on the show that he's good enough to probably start on some teams and definitely be a backup on all teams. Bill doesn't really face those risks, so it's easy for him to make these unqualified platitudes. 

[amsel]

Much better than last week. 

 

I enjoyed everyone, even Martin Short and Barney Frank. I just wish Rampell said more than three sentences. 

[NYCNJbear06]

When I saw Martin Short was a guest I switched the channel.  Reading the comments it looks like he wasn't obnoxious this time around. Gotta check it out on demand.  

[GHScorpiosRule]

Late start but finally saw this (will have to see Overtime later) today, or rather, yesterday and second week in a row where Bill had me ?????-this time, over his bucket list. I especially loved his "I want to get high with Obama." But the hardest and uncontrollable laughter was his wanting to be sued again for saying Drumph's father was an Orangutan, except this time BY the Orangutan!???????

Agree with most-another solid episode.

Despite Bill interrupting Franks, I actually understood Franks this time around than the last time he was here and got into it with...was it Cornell West?

Like Bill, I wish Barney Franks was still in Congress.

Also loved New Rules too. I found myself scared, or disheartened, when Bill read off those poll numbers.