Beyond Politics

The Executive Director of the New Hampshire Institute of Politics at Saint Anselm's, Neil Levesque, breaks down the results of their latest survey, which chock full of tantalizing insights on why President Biden's approval rating -- and the strength of congressional Democrats -- is falling.  Also, what does each party need to do to get their mojo back for the next election?

Three years ago, when a little-known primary challenger pulled off a surprise win over a congressional veteran in New York, it made national political news. That upstart -- Alexandria Ocasio Cortez -- eventually became well-known for her outspoken embrace of the label “Socialist,” her big Twitter following, and as the star of countless Republican political ads that painted her as the “scary” face of Democratic politics. But what about that veteran congressman? He’s the one that insiders have heard of…because he was, and still is, a huge player inside the Democratic Party…as influential and well-connected as any Democrat in the country, and with the ear of Congressional leadership. Now a Senior Policy Advisor at Squire Patton Boggs, Joe Crowley represented the people of New York's 14th congressional district, including his hometown of Woodside, Queens, in the US Congress for nearly 20 years. There is no one in America with better insights into politics, Congress, the Democratic party, Springsteen, and where to get the best pizza in New York City.

The covid pandemic has shown us all just how much we rely on science and scientists, just how important the advance of science research can be to our health and our way of life…and also, just how easily the public’s understanding of science can become confused…with real consequences. In recent years, federal support for science has flattened, major science topics have become politicized, and we’ve seen explosion of misinformation, conspiracy theory, and mistrust of scientific expertise, which is slowing down our recovery from the pandemic and making it harder to find solutions for our long-term challenges like global warming. Our guest today is one of our national leaders in trying to navigate us through all of these challenges. Dr. Sudip Parikh is the chief executive officer of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and executive publisher of the Science family of journals. 

Excerpts from Matt Robison's recent interviews with West Virginia broadcaster Howard Monroe on some of the most controversial topics in the news

In recent weeks, there’s been an abrupt and significant change in the way scientists, political leaders, and the media have talked about the origins of the Covid pandemic. There was once consensus that the virus had come from an animal, but new questions have emerged, and by May 26, even President Biden had called for a new, full, and transparent investigation into whether the virus actually emerged from a lab in Wuhan China. The sudden change has led to questions about the interaction of science and politics, how the media covers science, and how scientists communicate what they think they know. Throughout most of the pandemic, for millions of readers and podcast listeners in the US and around the world, Donald G. McNeil Jr. has been one of the most trusted, thoughtful, and clear explainers on the science of the coronavirus and public health measures to control it. He was the lead reporter on the Covid-19 pandemic for the New York Times and his May 17 article in Medium titled “How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love the Lab-Leak Theory” is widely credited with helping to catalyze this re-examination of where the virus came from.

Is there an explanation for the Navy UFO videos, as seen on 60 Minutes? We take a serious, respectful, rational approach in this discussion among former Congressman Paul Hodes, former congressional staffer Matt Robison, and top expert in UFO video analysis, Mick West -- featuring a careful breakdown of the videos and Hodes' own experience.   If you like this kind of lively discussion of current events, subscribe to the Beyond Politics podcast with Paul Hodes and Matt Robison on Spotify https://open.spotify.com/show/2foIjClIUWCFdJl9ogdMtA or wherever you get your podcasts.

A fascinating discussion with Cliff Schecter - one of President Biden's key campaign consultants and host of the UnPresidented Podcast - about his interviews with Paul Begala and James Carville and the fundamental question confronting the Democratic Party: given all of Donald Trump's insanity, why aren't Democrats winning more? And is there anything they can do about it?

In the days after the violent, seditious attack on Congress on January 6, the American people were briefly aghast and outraged. But barely a week later, Republican voter identification with Trump had “rebounded to pre-election levels." Nowadays, even the most searing national events get sucked down a partisan rabbit hole…and last week, Republican leadership came out against any commission on looking into January 6. Our guest is an expert in political behavior and psychology and how we form political opinions.  We talk about how much the age of hyper-partisanship has changed our understanding of events and reality itself. Alexander G. Theodoridis is an associate professor at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, he helps to direct the UMass poll, and his work has been featured by the New York Times, Washington Post, Scientific American, Time, CNN, The Hindu, The Economist and many other media outlets.

The big AT&T/Discovery deal is creating a behemoth (CNN, HBO, TLC, Food Network, TNT, TBS, etc.) streaming service. But will it work?  And why don't these combinations work more often?

There's a perception that Congress is totally gridlocked, and that the parties do nothing but bicker. But our expert guest says that maybe we're all being a little too negative, because actually, Congress gets more done while you're not looking than you'd think. And despite the historic problems we've seen recently (think insurrection), the system is kind of holding together. Frances Lee is a Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, and the Associate Chair of the Department of Politics at Princeton University.  Photo by Syed F Hashemi on Unsplash