Live from Music Row Monday 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 former Trump administration Department of State Spokesperson Morgan Ortagus in studio to answer questions about Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District.
Leahy: It’s that time of day again, not for “News Potpourri.” We have a candidate for the 5th Congressional District in our studio, and we’re going to play a different game called “Taking the Fifth.”
All right. You’re a good sport here to play the game. Morgan Ortagus is here. We have candidates come in and we ask them their knowledge of the 5th Congressional District. Are you ready?
Ortagus: Yes.
Leahy: Here we go. What three interstate highways are located in the 5th Congressional District?
Ortagus: I’m a terrible driver. (Laughs) I don’t know that. I don’t drive anywhere that I go.
Leahy: Okay. It’s I-65, I-40, and I-24.
A country music superstar, a famous, multi-Grammy-Award-winning performer, has a popular winery in the center of the 5th district in Arrington, Tennessee.
Ortagus: I have been to that winery. It’s great – I love that winery. I bought some wine.
Leahy: Who owns it?
Ortagus: I don’t know who owns it, but I love it. We went there for the summer and had a picnic outside. It was beautiful.
Leahy: Kix Brooks. He’s a Tennessean.
Here’s one: Who was Brigadier General Robert Reese Neyland?
Ortagus: Fifth.
Leahy: Legendary Tennessee football coach. Neyland Stadium was named after him.
There are four previous Republican governors who are still living, and live in Tennessee. Can you name them?
Ortagus: Well, let’s see. All four of them. No. I know Lee and Haslam. I met with Haslam right after I moved here. What a nice guy. And then, of course, I’ve met Governor Lee.
Leahy: Dunn, Alexander, Sundquist.
One of the most famous NASCAR drivers living today lives in the 5th District and has a large auto dealership in Franklin. Who is that?
Ortagus: My husband is the car guy. He used to race. He knows all of the racing stuff.
Leahy: Darrell Waltrip.
This is a Tennessee one, okay?
Ortagus: I think they all are Tennessee ones.
Leahy: Crom, this might be interesting for you. Who was the only Tennessee governor who ever served time in prison for crimes committed while in office?
Ortagus: Ooh.
Carmichael: I know that one. (Leahy laughs)
Leahy: (Chuckles) Well, we’ll give you a hint. He’s a Democrat.
Ortagus: Yes, I was just going to say…
Leahy: You know the party, Ray Blanton.
A rather well-known Confederate general – one whose name and history have been a source of enormous controversy in Tennessee the last few years – was born and raised in the community of Chapel Hill, in the 5th district. Who was he?
Ortagus: I don’t know.
Leahy: Nathan Bedford Forrest.
What county is Chapel Hill in?
Ortagus: I don’t know.
Leahy: Marshall County. It’s in your district.
Listen to the segment:
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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. Listen online at iHeart Radio.
Photo “Morgan Ortagus” by Morgan Ortagus.
[…] District, the fact that she registered to vote in Tennessee just three months ago, her limited knowledge of the district that included not knowing which highways go through and around the district, her […]
Sadly, she is just dumb and ignorant to win.
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[…] the interview with Michael Patrick Leahy, Ortagus displayed extremely limited knowledge of the district that she […]
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Sounds like she wants to be like a British Member of Parliament- have a district assigned to her by the party, establish residence until the election, pull up stakes, move back to DC, rinse, repeat.
How exactly does mispronouncing a name disqualify her from making decisions about legislative matters? Is someone’s analytical capacity for law diminished if they have been educated to understand that the correct pronunciation of the sequence of letters in the name Maury is different than what the local population speaks? If knowledge of trivia is how you determine the validity of a candidate’s qualifications then maybe you should reassess your criteria. Nothing in this interview disqualifies her. Better to ask what she believes about abortion, religious freedom, gun ownership, taxes, property rights and subjects that actually matter.
Will, you’ll have to wait for Ward Baker’s pollsters to tell him how a majority of those who are likely to vote in the Republican Primary feel “. . .about abortion, religious freedom, gun ownership, property taxes and subjects that actually matter” then have Ward Baker’s media people tell Madam No the best way to answer each question. For “Big Buck” Baxter Lee it will be Chip Saltsman and his staff doing the polling and telling, Chris Devaney for Kurt Winstead, and so on for each No Record Candidate who recently woke up one morning and decided that it would be fun to be a U.S. congressman.
I agree Will, “. . .determin[ing] the validity of a candidate’s qualifications. . . .” on the basis of “knowledge of trivia” is foolish, but so is doing so on the basis of campaign rhetoric passed to the candidate from his/her campaign professionals. Better look at their political record compiled during adulthood and in the case of No Record Candidates there isn’t much of one, if any.
Vote Harwell unless Ogles runs and if he does please vote for him.
[…] 5th Congressional District–an area she doesn’t actually seem to know much about, if her painful radio interview with the Tennessee Star Report on Monday is anything to go […]
[…] 5th Congressional District–an area she doesn’t actually seem to know much about, if her painful radio interview with the Tennessee Star Report on Monday is anything to go […]
[…] given by an American political figure today. If you want to cringe — hard — read this short but brutal exchange between the Tennessee Star and Trump-backed carpetbagger Morgan Ortagus, who was raised in Florida […]
[…] interview given by an American political figure today. If you want to cringe — hard — read this short but brutal exchange between the Tennessee Star and Trump-backed carpetbagger Morgan Ortagus, who was raised in Florida […]
[…] You can hear Morgan Ortagus’s disastrous radio interview here. […]
[…] former Trump State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus (R) appeared on a Nashville radio show to participate in a quiz for congressional candidates to show their knowledge of Tennessee’s 5th […]
[…] interview given by an American political figure today. If you want to cringe — hard — read this short but brutal exchange between the Tennessee Star and Trump-backed carpetbagger Morgan Ortagus, who was raised in Florida […]
[…] interview given by an American political figure today. If you want to cringe — hard — read this short but brutal exchange between the Tennessee Star and Trump-backed carpetbagger Morgan Ortagus, who was raised in Florida […]
[…] interview given by an American political figure today. If you want to cringe — hard — read this short but brutal exchange between the Tennessee Star and Trump-backed carpetbagger Morgan Ortagus, who was raised in Florida […]