Dave Weigel on the Democrats' Bernienomics, Trump's DACA Switcheroo, and Hillary's Surprising Book

The Fifth Column interviews the ex-Reasoner about this week's political controversies

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Longtime commenters around these parts know David "Dave" Weigel as the ex-Reasoner they love to roast most. Most others recognize him as the shrewd coverer of national politics for the Washington Post, where lately he's been writing a lot about the increasingly successful attempts by Bernie Sanders to make universal health care a mainstream Democratic Party position.

It is on that topic (which you should also read Peter Suderman on) where we begin the conversation with Weigel on this week's episode of The Fifth Column, the podcast I co-host with Kmele Foster and Michael C. Moynihan. We also get to President Donald Trump's big DACA heel-turn, Hillary Clinton's controversial new memoir, and whether Pink Floyd should be considered progressive rock. You can listen to the whole here:

Also check out Nick Gillespie's Reason Podcast interview with Weigel in June about his new book, The Show That Never Ends: The Rise and Fall of Prog Rock.

Reminder: On Saturdays you can listen to an hour-long version of The Fifth Column on Sirius XM POTUS (channel 124) at 11 a.m. ET and then again at midnight (which is technically Sunday, but you get the drift). More also available at iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, wethefifth.com, @wethefifth, and Facebook.

Comments

[Shirley Knott]

Trying to boost the comment count on a weekend?

[FreeSpeechMatters]

David Weigel is the Journolist member who thinks libertarians are racist "Paul-tards." Get it? Ron Paul supporters are racist retards?

Part of the false meme that people who like small government are racists.

In some respects, Weigel's support for the Democratic Party was not out of place at Reason. Despite Reason's pretension to being a libertarian magazine, a plurality of its staff voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

As one commenter noted yesterday, all too many Reason blog entries now sound like Huffington Post entries.

[Unlabelable MJGreen]

lol

[Drave Robber]

As one commenter noted yesterday, all too many Reason blog entries now sound like Huffington Post entries.

Perhaps too many commenters read Huffington Post. (Yes, one is too many)

[creech]

Can we see the scorecard? And who the heck would have preferred John McCain?

[Hateful Reactionary]

Amen! I can't stand Dave Weigel on twitter, and could barely stand him here. Clearly a good portion of people who pass themselves as libertarians as convenient for their career at the time are actually just Democrats.

[GILMORE?]

a plurality of its staff voted for Barack Obama in 2008.

Nonsense. ALL of them voted for Obama. Get your facts straight.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

I've always enjoyed Dave Weigel's work, and I can't wait to read the book he finally finished.

[Lord_at_War]

I've been "blocked" by two people on twitter... Shaun (Talcum X) King when I mentioned his multiple charity scams, and Weigel when I recommended Pro-Active. :o)

[GILMORE?]

Progressive rock is very interesting music, and the mustache really makes his face look more masculine and less-'sad manbaby'-ish

[Stormy Dragon]

Man, Mr. Banks has been putting on a lot of weight since Marry Poppins left.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Present day Weigel is rocking more of a Dressed To Kill-era Dennis Franz look to me.

[Nwallins]

I'm getting more of a Tony Clifton vibe.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

Excellent.

[Aloysious]

TIL: There is a Twitter account called @weigelsmustache

*sighs heavily with disgust and contempt*

[Chipper Morning, Mean Girl]

Oh, the fun conspiracy theories Mikey will come up with about Weigel's molestache.

[Reality]

Holy shit he's not even here and you can't stop talking about him.

[Telcontar the (Obama) Birther]

Wait, I thought the Regina George lines were supposed to be Chipper Morning's.

[Crusty Juggler - Lawbertarian]

OT: Justine Damond death: police union boss questions prosecutor's objectivity

"Freeman's comments that 'I'm saddened by the death of this fine young woman' and that 'it didn't have to happen ? it shouldn't have happened' show he is focusing on the status of the person lost rather than the events leading to a tragic loss," Kroll, president of the Police Officers Federation of Minneapolis, who has previously declined to comment on the shooting, wrote.

"This comment breaks with the imperative that fairness cross all socio-economic boundaries. We want an assurance that Noor will not be charged simply on the basis of Damond's status as a fine young woman in a nice neighbourhood.

[Jerryskids]

If that guy said that with a straight face he deserves some kind of award. Or free treatments for his facial paralysis, at least some sort of recognition for his performance.

[Sevo]

OT, but hey, it's Weigel:
"Former staffers sue Google over unequal pay"
[...]
"When she requested a raise that would bring her salary in line with those of male peers with similar qualifications, she was denied, she said.
[...]
The lawsuit says that Google unfairly classified female workers at lower pay levels than men with the same work experience or less,..."
http://www.sfchronicle.com/bus.....198924.php

Note: "qualifications" and "work experience", not a word about "results"
Nope: 'Our papers look like the papers of that guy over there, so we should get paid the same!'
Lesson #1 in how to make Google look like the good guy.

[BestUsedCarSales]

Huh, he's real.

[Chipper Morning, Mean Girl]

Behold, the face of Tulpa.

[Chipper Morning, Mean Girl]

It's a face made for radio.

[Juice]

The prosecutor takes one side, so he's biased by default.

[fish]

Oh Shreeeky.....nice 70's porn stache!

[Paloma]

Did Hillary even write that book? Or any book?

[Telcontar the (Obama) Birther]

I gather Mr. Weigel did not weather Harvey and Irma well, judging by the Superfund site beneath his nostrils.