The State of Our Union Is…Drunk?

The Reason Roundtable podcast grapples with a news week so packed it makes Manhattan look like Kansas

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The State of Our Union Is…Drunk?

Let's see, Super Bowl, then the Iowa caucuses, various Democratic presidential debates, impeachment endgame, and…the State of the Union address? Is Dry January destined to be replaced by Binge-Drunk February, at least among people who can't pry themselves away from C-SPAN?

Such are the questions on today's episode of the Reason Roundtable podcast, in which Peter Suderman, Katherine Mangu-Ward, Nick Gillespie, and Matt Welch share coping strategies, deliver their own private State of the Union addresses, and confess to rooting interests (or lack thereof) in tonight's big Democratic vote. Also discussed: Shakira's hips, Joe Biden's sins, and Katherine's retracted endorsements.

Audio production by Ian Keyser and Regan Taylor.

Music: 'Tango de la Noche' by Wayne Jones

Relevant links from the show:

"Will the Justices skip the 2020 State of the Union?" by Josh Blackman

"The Eternal State of the Union, 2015 Update Edition," by Matt Welch

"The Ultimate Impact of Trump's Impeachment Remains to be Seen," by Ilya Somin

"Lamar Alexander, a Key GOP Senator, Says Trump's Delay of Ukraine Funds Was 'Inappropriate'—but Not Impeachable," by Peter Suderman

"Republican Senators Say the Truth Is Irrelevant in Evaluating the Gravity of Trump's Misconduct," by Jacob Sullum

"The Real Problem With Alan Dershowitz's Position on Quid Pro Quos and Impeachment," by Jacob Sullum

"Let Us Bury Prof. Dershowitz' Inane Impeachment Theory," by David Post

"Team Trump's Final Defense: He Didn't Do It, but Even If He Did, It's Not Impeachable," by Billy Binion

"Mike Bloomberg Just Lost My Vote With His Super Bowl Ad," by Nick Gillespie

"Trump Has Fully Embraced the Idea That Deficits Don't Matter," by Steven Greenhut

"Republican Deficit Hypocrisy Will Make America's Debt Problems Much Harder To Solve," by Peter Suderman

What are we consuming this week?

Matt Welch

• World War II in Colour

Katherine Mangu-Ward

• The Good Place
• Superbowl halftime show

Peter Suderman

• Wine Simple: A Totally Approachable Guide from a World-Class Sommelier by Aldo Sohm

Nick Gillespie

• The Great Pretender: The Undercover Mission That Changed Our Understanding of Madness by Susannah Cahalan

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Comments

[H. Farnham]

"makes Manhattan look like Kansas"... Manhattan look Kansas... Manhattan, KS.

Go Cats! Beat Baylor!

[Dillinger]

i love when i'm not the only optimist.

[H. Farnham]

Every year Weber hasn't won the Big 12, K-State has managed to upset a conference foe ranked in the top 5. Pretty clear that we're not even going to sniff the top of the conference this year, so we're due our token marquee upset win (although I'd rather pull the upset when squawk visits Bramlage).

[Dillinger]

been telling my Baylor friends they're going down like a Pi Phi tonite but they're all so churchy they don't get the joke

[H. Farnham]

Haha. I'm pretty sure every Baylor fan knows all about inappropriate sexual innuendo after Art Briles' football team fiascos a few years ago.

[Dillinger]

Briles got hired by a high school down here last summer and didn't make it the season w/o trouble lol

[crufus]

Baylor will crush the kittens from Manhattan like a stool swinging Silvio DeSousa.

[H. Farnham]

Lookin like a Baylor win on paper anyway.

Don't gotta worry about DeSousa right now; he's still serving his paid suspension.

[Juice]

I heard that Kansas won the super bowl! Good for them.

[H. Farnham]

Hey, KCK will share their MLS team and NASCAR track, KCMO can share their MLB and NFL teams.

[Eddy]

Hey, I just realized that Donald John Trump's name can be abbreviated to D. J. Trump.

Let me do a search to find out whether anyone has made this astonishing discovery before I did...

Oh, well, it seems that a few people may have come up with the idea independently.

[Rich]

Hey, what is "D. John Trump", mustard?

[TrickyVic (old school)]

Something to poupon?

[CLM1227]

+5 for both of you...

[Diane Reynolds (Paul.)]

Have they convicted yet? I've only been following British and #brexit as of late.

[Rich]

Nope. Tune in at 4 PME Wednesday.

[Fats of Fury]

Hey, it's Black History month too, racists.

[Dillinger]

>>makes Manhattan look like Kansas

born in Manhattan, Kansas. Go Cats.

[UCrawford]

I'm sure that they wrote that with no idea whatsoever that Manhattan, KS even existed. Reason's worldview these days seems limited strictly to the "mainstream" opinions of the coasts and the Beltway.

[UCrawford]

And that's a pity, because Finn's Pub is an excellent townie bar...and there's a great NY-style pizzeria just down the street on Poyntz.

[H. Farnham]

Finn's used to serve a pretty good Bloody Mary. Poyntz, in general, is very underrated. Aggieville gets all the buzz, but if you're older than your mid-20's, then those places are more of a hassle than they're worth. Had some great times there as a kid though.

[Dillinger]

Poyntz is the place to be for sure we ate at Bourbon & Baker last time I was up for a game.

Auntie Mae's *was* the holy grail when I wasn't old enough to get in...

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[HouseHubby]

I feel the same way about Bernie and his socialistic policies as I do my home state, California's more and more extreme progressive policies. To me, bring it on. Seems to me we're going down a very slow and painful path of destruction. I personally would rather test the policies of Sanders and California...and let the chips fall as they may and speed up this process. If we truly believe that their policies are destructive and would fail, let's put it to the test. Then after that, we can attempt to rebuild.