Live from Music Row Thursday morning on The Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy – broadcast on Nashville’s Talk Radio 98.3 and 1510 WLAC weekdays from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. – host Leahy welcomed Dr. Carol Swain to the studio.
At the top of the third hour, Swain responded to comments on her endorsement of Bill Hagerty and addressed his past affiliation as a finance manager for Mitt Romney in 2012.
Leahy: We are joined now in the studio by the brave and always ready to articulate.
Swain: I was born this way. I can’t help it. (Chuckles)
Leahy: I know. Carol Swain has a point of view and she’s going to express it. (Laughs)
Swain: I was thinking about when I came out of my mother’s womb. (Chuckles)
Leahy: There you go. The controversial and well-read and well-circulated commentary by Carol Swain endorsing Bill Hagerty for the United States Senate. We already got a lot of calls. I want to point out Carol that you are in demand these days at a national level. You were on the Laura Ingraham show a couple of weeks ago and Raymond Arroyo was the substitute host. Today at one o’clock you are on Fox Business News with Charles Payne. Tell us about that.
Swain: I will be on Making Money with Charles Payne. I don’t know the topic yet.
Leahy: But you are flexible.
Swain: I’m flexible. They sometimes change topics when I’m sitting in the chair.
Leahy: Well, that’s probably why they want to have you on because you are able to respond to whatever it is. I wanted to talk a little bit here about the responses so far to your top commentary. Both Bill Hagerty and Manny Sethi advertise with us at The Tennessee Star and The Tennessee Star Report. We like them both. They’ve been on the program. We’ve had Jeff Webb from Varsity Brands endorse Manny and we had him on and he had his reasons.
But if you are out there and you want to weigh in on this now would be a good time. We will have both candidates in between now and the election. Early voting starts tomorrow. If you want to talk with Carol call in now. Carol, as is often the case when you write a commentary for us at The Tennessee Star lots of traffic. Lots of shares. And lots of comments. We have about 45 or 60 comments and it’s growing rapidly.
Swain: Don’t read them all. I want to be able to respond to some of them.
Leahy: I’ll read them. Cindy says nope. RINO. That’s what Cindy says to your article. Andrew says, “Trump and Swain, those are two very strong endorsements. “
Ok. That’s what Andrew says. Danny says, “It seems we have a decent choice this time. Maybe the second-place finisher will be Bill Lee’s replacement at the end of his first term.” I like that comment.
Swain: That would be interesting.
Leahy: Yes. Here’s what Michael says which is something we hear often. He was Romney’s presidential campaign finance manager. I don’t trust him. What would you say to Michael?
Swain: Romney was the Republican nominee in 2012. He needed a finance manager. I supported Romney at the end. A lot of us did. And I think Romney became more and more bizarre over the years. Somewhere along the way, he realized he’d never be president and he’s just become increasingly bitter.
Leahy: Yes. He’s just an odd duck, isn’t he? Very narcissistic I think.
Swain: He is. He is.
Leahy: So BJ says the following, “I am so disappointed in your decision to support him. He is a RINO and involved with Muslims who have ill will for this country. He supported the soccer stadium and was friends with Megan Barry. He is friends with Lamar Alexander, Bob Corker, and Bill Haslam. He is not going to do Tennessean’s any favors just a lot of harm.”
Swain: Well my impression of Bill and watching him is that he is a nice person and he has a diverse set of friends. And he has been very kind to me. Most of the RINOs, the real RINOs don’t give me the time of day.
Leahy: Well, there you go.
Swain: They don’t even speak to me. (Chuckles)
Leahy: By the way, this endorsement you just sent that to me. I don’t think you talked to the Hagerty campaign, did you?
Swain: About what?
Leahy: About that you were going to endorse him?
Swain: They knew that I was going to endorse him. But they did not see it.
Leahy: They didn’t see it.
Swain: They did not script it or become involved in it.
Leahy: Marcos in Nashville wants to talk with you, Carol. Welcome, Marcos.
Caller Marcos: Hey good morning. I just have two comments. One is I’m kind of tired of all the vitriol and Hagerty just seems to get out there with an in your face hatred.
Leahy: Hold on. Let Carol respond to that.
Swain: That’s not true.
Leahy: Marcos, you said in your face hatred. Do you have an example of in your face hatred from Hagerty?
Marcos: Yes. In all his advertisements he says the crazy out of control liberals.
Swain: Well, they are crazy and out of control.
Leahy: That’s not an example of hatred. That’s just factually descriptive.
Marcos: Well, you may think so but as a Christian, I don’t understand where all the hate comes from.
Swain: You wouldn’t believe the hate that I’m getting for endorsing Hagerty.
Listen to the full third hour:
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Tune in weekdays from 5:00 – 8:00 a.m. to the Tennessee Star Report with Michael Patrick Leahy on Talk Radio 98.3 FM WLAC 1510.
