Episode 215: "Bipartisanship" as High-Minded Rhetorical Cover for Pushing Rightwing Policies
Citations Needed15 Tammi 2025

Episode 215: "Bipartisanship" as High-Minded Rhetorical Cover for Pushing Rightwing Policies

"Clinton seeks common ground with Republicans," reported the Associated Press in 1994. "Obama hosts dinner, urges bipartisanship," announced the AP again, in 2009. "Resist Trump? On Immigration, Top Democrats See Room for Compromise," stated The New York Times in late 2024.

For decades, we've heard Democratic policymakers extol the virtues of working with Republicans. Through a series of stock terms, e.g. bipartisanship, finding common ground, reaching across the aisle, compromising, they tout their willingness to set aside their political differences with Republicans in order to stop quibbling, quit stalling, work pragmatically, and––the holiest of the holies––Get Things Done.

This all might sound well and good; surely an active government is better than an idle, incapacitated one. But which things, exactly, are getting done? Why is it that the act of making decisions or passing legislation is deemed more important to elected officials than the actual content of those decisions and legislation? And how does an incurious, largely compliant media contribute to the harms of a Democratic party that, in its embrace of Republican ideology under the seeming noble banner of "bipartisanship" continues to move further to the right on key issues?

On this episode, we dissect the popular appeal for bipartisanship, examine how folksy calls for "Washington" to "work together" more often than not serve to promote war, austerity, anti-LBGTQ policies and crackdown on vulnerable migrants, and show how this seemingly high minded formulation serves to push Republicans further right and launder the Democrats' increasingly conservative political agenda.

Our guest is journalist and author Malaika Jabali.

Jaksot(367)

Episode 224: Corporate Self-Regulation and the Fine Art of 'Preempting" Public Outrage

Episode 224: Corporate Self-Regulation and the Fine Art of 'Preempting" Public Outrage

In this episode, we detail the classic PR gambit of corporations anticipating regulation, offering to "self-police," implementing token or superficial reforms, waiting for the outrage to blow over, th...

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News Brief: ADL, Corporate Media, Dem Elites Manufature "Antisemitism" Scandal to Discipline Mamdani

News Brief: ADL, Corporate Media, Dem Elites Manufature "Antisemitism" Scandal to Discipline Mamdani

In this News Brief, we break down recent bad faith attacks on Zohran Mamdani, the ADL's DO YOU CONDEMN extortion racket, and the broader "antisemitism scandal" playbook to derail moderate social democ...

1 Heinä 202538min

News Brief: Natural Disaster-izing the Deliberate US-Israeli Starvation Campaign in Gaza

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In this News Brief, we are joined by Ashley Bohrer and Ben Teller of Jewish Voice for Peace Chicago to discuss media indifference to the US and Israel-imposed starvation of Palestinians, how sectarian...

19 Kesä 202529min

News Brief: Pundits Speed-Run 15 Months of Iraq War Propaganda for Iran in Five Days

News Brief: Pundits Speed-Run 15 Months of Iraq War Propaganda for Iran in Five Days

In this News Brief, we break down the insta-talking points to sell war with Iran––from Ticking Time Bomb '24' plots to cherry-picked, dubious anecdotes of Iranians supposedly begging for Israeli bombs...

17 Kesä 202532min

News Brief: US Media, Top Dems Assist Trump and Israel's Unprovoked Attack on Iran

News Brief: US Media, Top Dems Assist Trump and Israel's Unprovoked Attack on Iran

In this public News Brief, we detail how the NYT, Washington Post, and CNN reinforce every faulty premise of Israel's attack and how top Democrats in Congress and former Harris aides either ignore Tru...

13 Kesä 202530min

Ep. 223: The Empire Strikes First, Part II — 'Abundance' Pablum as Counter to Left Populism

Ep. 223: The Empire Strikes First, Part II — 'Abundance' Pablum as Counter to Left Populism

"Can Democrats Learn to Dream Big Again?," wonders Samuel Moyn in the New York Times. "The Democrats Are Finally Landing on a New Buzzword. It's Actually Compelling," argues Slate staff writer Henry G...

11 Kesä 20251h 25min

Ep 222 - The Empire Strikes First Part I: Party Elites Who Lost to Trump (Twice) Blame Everyone But Themselves

Ep 222 - The Empire Strikes First Part I: Party Elites Who Lost to Trump (Twice) Blame Everyone But Themselves

In Ep. 222, "The Empire Strikes First Part I: Party Elites Who Lost to Trump (Twice) Blame Everyone But Themselves," we detail how our media allows the same party flacks who got the Dems into this mes...

4 Kesä 20251h 21min

Episode 221: Anti-Science Mugging on the Right and the Ascent of American Anti-Intellectualism

Episode 221: Anti-Science Mugging on the Right and the Ascent of American Anti-Intellectualism

In this episode we detail demagogues' favorite faux populist schtick of taking scientific studies out of context and mocking them, often with help from mainstream media. with guest Brenda Ekwurzel, di...

28 Touko 20251h 8min

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