Smoke Gets in Your Eyes

In a brief respite from the horrors of book writing, Chris Stirewalt returns to The ...

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In a brief respite from the horrors of book writing, Chris Stirewalt returns to The Remnant for another round of overpoweringly rank punditry. Mixing shameless self-promotion with nicotine-fueled insight, he and Jonah explore some pertinent political questions. Why do Americans frequently change their party alignment? Are hardcore progressives crazier than members of the House Freedom Caucus? And what is Joe Biden’s biggest weakness? There’s also a lengthy aside about what life in America was like when Jonah and Chris were young and horse drawn carriages had yet to be replaced by cars, but you’ll need to stick around until the end.

Show Notes:

– Chris’ page at The Dispatch

– Chris’ newsletter, Stirewaltisms

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  1. Jason Runyan

    One of the things I love the most about when Chris is on, the nostalgia. I used to hate all the smoking stuff. When you go into Denny's at night, and they'd as "Smoking or Non?" but it didn't matter because it was like a bar anywhere you sat, that was annoying. But now, I hardly ever smell cigarettes. To the point to where when I do, I sort of miss it. There is a certain cigarette smell that takes me right to Raging Waters when I was a kid. And another that takes me to Fashion Place Mall in Murray Ut can. 1986. So nostalgic!

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  2. DRHanson

    I definitely agree with the comments about the impact of changing cultural attitudes toward smoking. I'm in my mid-60’s, and I can remember lower elementary school art classes in which we made ceramic ashtrays as gifts for our parents. It was just assumed that everyone needed ashtrays for their homes, even the nonsmokers like my parents (who of course displayed my ashtray prominently in our living room). Fast forward to last night, when the show I watched on Amazon was rated “16+” because it included “Smoking, violence, sexual content, foul language.” This is a show in which the camera lingers over the full frontal view of a naked man who had been nailed to a wall, castrated, and tortured to death. In another scene the main characters are shown naked and having sex in a shower. Yet it is considered necessary to protect kids under 16 from seeing one scene in which a man takes two puffs on a cigarette—and the smoking warning is even given top billing over the warnings of violence and sexual content. I’d say that illustrates a dramatic shift in attitudes toward smoking.

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    Belt

    How about Schmuck->Dips#!t

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    CynthiaW

    Drat. I literally just finished listening to this when Son E spilled milk on the stove. Now what?

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    Bill Nelson

    The part on smoking was a great blast from the past. I have spent some time in the Czech Republic, in Brno. The non-smoking sections in restaurants were in the back.

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    Anne W (Raw5254)

    It’s such a treat when Jonah and Chris are together. I feel like I’m hanging out with the smart people, who also make me laugh and happy I’m part of the group! And Jonah, Chris is right about your podcast—you’ve really been knocking it out of the park lately. Great guests!!

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    Peter A

    Maybe you've answered this in the past, but where did you get your intro music and what are the sources of the clips playing alongside the music?

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  8. Michael Bruce

    I loved this episode! The smoking discussion was great content.

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    Jeff Walden

    That was an amazing digression on smoking etc. at the end there. Podcast at its finest.

    Much thanks in particular for giving the meaning of "chain smoking", which I had never realized involved precisely that mechanism -- I thought it was just running through a whole bunch in succession, with no sense of linking one to the next in the manner noted.

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    Eden_lee62

    Who can forget what it was like flying in the back of a plane when smoking was allowed. I also don’t miss having to hang my clothes up on the balcony after being out at night in a bar.

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      Anne W (Raw5254)

      No kidding. And I remember how awful my hair smelled, too!

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