A Time and a Place for Pettiness

Mr. Williamson joined the room.

By , and
22

In a compressed panel of election punditry, Sarah is joined by Kevin and Andrew to discuss Democrats’ preemptive blame game. They also try to wrestle with what it might mean for the country if abortion doesn’t play the big role in the midterms Democrats had hoped it would. Also: 2024… should we start talking about it?

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Comments (22)
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  1. Ryansandersking

    Hey Dispatch Team! I asked this question last week but didn’t hear anything back. One of the many reasons I’ve subscribed to the dispatch is to get ad free podcasts. Loved that aspect of Substack. Will the ad free podcasts be coming back with the new website? Frustrating to continually get served ads.

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    1. Aarndt

      Agreed. Primary reason I subscribed. Please fix.

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    2. Kevin Williamson

      I will inquire.

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  2. Keith Jagger

    Was Sarah’s Shopify spot purposefully broadcast at Minnie Mouse-voiced speed?

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      Ben Connelly

      Haha I noticed that too! It was definitely a mistake.

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    Robert Knudson

    I am afraid California's open primary makes Republicans backing a Democrat much like herding cats. Hopefully it is still a moderating influence.

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    CarsonJ

    Was kinda funny hearing Kevin decry the "McMuffin" name for Evan McMullin, as if both Jonah Goldberg and Donald Trump hadn't both used it in the past month.

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  5. Deanjens

    I have heard "McMuffin" used to refer to the 2016 McMullin/Finn ticket, but not to McMullin specifically. "Clever" is too strong a word, but in that context it has a level of wit that is familiar from the sort of ersatz humor associated with workplace presentations.

    Okay, technically I have seen Trump call him that. I exclude Trump here in large part because he has a regular pattern not just of using nicknames that are redolent of middle school, but of missing any wit that they contain when he repeats them, e.g. when he picked up on "Fauxcahontas" to taunt Warren's claim to be American Indian, but, apparently finding that too witty, took to calling her "Pocahontas" instead. That he missed the point of the portmanteau -- or the latter half of it, anyway -- has to do with him, not the nickname.

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  6. Mmorrissey001

    I must be a horrible person. As soon as I saw the title, I was hoping the subtitle would be, "...and this is it."

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      CynthiaW

      Like.

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    Mudskipper

    I haven't listened to this podcast, but I do have to say that after reading KDW's post "It's Never Just a Joke", I find the title and subtitle of this podcast deliciously ironic:

    A Time and a Place for Pettiness

    Mr. Williamson joined the room.

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    NashLives

    As a native Rhode Islander, I have to say I think Seth Magaziner(D)'s characterization of Allan Fung(R) -- that he has high name ID -- is likely correct. I don't have any "real" evidence to back this up, but Fung in my anecdotal experience does have extremely high name ID in the state, he ran two prior statewide campaigns and was a mainstay in RI politics for ~20 years. Magaziner has been around the block too, but I'd guess there's a distinguishable margin between the two in terms of statewide recognition. During his term as state treasurer, then Gov. Raimondo tended to suck up most of the media oxygen in the state, and prior to his ascension to trez, she had already led a coalition to clean up the state's pension funds (making his role a largely procedural/accounting position).

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  9. Dispatch

    Appreciate the pod and everyone’s takes. Just wanted to comment that I find the lack of an ad free podcast feed for the new site really disappointing. This was a big part of the subscription value proposition for me. Hope that comes back soon.

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      TheMatMan

      I agree with everything you said. My subscription is up on the 25th, and I'm honestly waffling because I pretty much refuse to pay someone to get served ads. At least this time it was just 30 services at the beginning for me. A few podcasts I had a minute at the start and several interruptions during the hour.

      Glad Sarah put the question mark there on not worth your time. I'll take credit as I suggested it a few months back.

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    KP

    Disappointing to hear The Dispatch crew continue to mischaracterize the Kansas referendum. Kansas already has a 22-week ban in their constitution. The question in August would have removed the constitutional nature of abortion rights and made it a legislative issue (which, admittedly, in today’s climate would have resulted in tighter bans that would then be vetoed by the Democratic governor. Kansas isn’t the pro-choice bellwether that people on both sides of the issue have made it out to be, especially when looking at the 2022 general election, but rather an example of…moderation.

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    1. Richard Kennedy

      Fascinating if true. I don’t doubt your word, but this is obviously the first I’ve heard of it.
      I remember what Sarah wrote in a Sweep last week. To the effect of, headlines say 50% of electorate say abortion a big voting issue could have also said abortion 10th on the list of issues important to voters.

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        KP

        I was incorrect. It is a 20 week ban, with exceptions for health/life of mother. The text of the amendment proposition: http://www.kslegislature.org/li/b2021_22/measures/documents/hcr5003_00_0000.pdf

        Summary of abortion in Kansas: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abortion_in_Kansas

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