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 all-star panelist Roger Simon in studio to discuss his recent article at The Epoch Times where he suggests Elon Musk for Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Leahy: We are delighted to welcome back to our microphones my very good friend, all-star panelist, my former boss at PJTV, Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, and now the most popular columnist at The Epoch Times, Mr. Roger Simon. Roger, welcome back.
Simon: It’s great to be here. It’s really sort of fun to be sitting in front of a microphone again. What is this thing? Do I need a filter here?
Leahy: We have a special musical welcome for you. (I’m Back in the Saddle Again plays)
Simon: That sounds very good. I like that one. It’s almost as good as the ironic music.
Leahy:Â There you go, our friend. You’re back in the saddle again, back with us.
Simon: To argue with you again.
Leahy: To have a discussion.
Simon:Â What’s interesting in this whole brew ha ha ha that’s going on with the speaker business, which probably everybody listening has been transfixed with for the last few days.
Leahy: Six ballots and no speaker. Twenty rebels opposing McCarthy.
Simon: The word from the instance that this started happening that was said everywhere in the world was chaos. Now you want real chaos, go to the border of Ukraine and Russia. That’s chaos.
Leahy: Or the American border with Mexico.
Simon: That is also chaos. And then there’s chaos theory, which I don’t really understand, so I’m not going to try to explain it. But this is just a bunch of politicians arguing with each other about policy and other things. And we’re not used to it because it usually goes on behind closed doors.
In fact, what I heard earlier was that not one of my favorite ex-senators Rick Santorum was saying, this is terrible because it should have gone on all behind closed doors. No, let’s have things out in the open for a change in this country. I was looking at the whole thing.
It was 100 years ago before they ever did this. But then before that, a lot of times they would argue about who is the speaker. And I think that’s a good thing. It’s only gone down for a few days here. It hasn’t gone on for a century and a half.
Leahy: That is quite true. Interestingly enough, you have a column at The Epoch Times with an interesting suggestion. Tell our listeners about that suggestion.
Simon: Look, here’s the mea culpa. Like most people who write columns, I want raters. So I’m thinking what should I do to wake up the world on this one? One of the things about the Speaker’s job is you don’t have to be a member of Congress.
Leahy: Are you available? Would you take it?
Simon: I could. But I won’t serve. (Leahy laughs) But I recommended the man in the hour that many of us and I tremendously admire because he’s gotten the truth out on a lot of things more than any politician, Elon Musk.
Leahy: (Chuckles) He already has three or four other jobs. Running Tesla, running Twitter.
Simon: He’s smarter than anybody in Congress for sure.
Leahy: That’s a low bar. (Chuckles)
Simon: Yes, I agree. But I was having fun, obviously. Naturally several of them thought I was being serious, but in a way, I was being serious. So they’re right.
Because maybe it would be interesting to look for somebody who’s got real insight. The problem with our politics today is it doesn’t attract the best people and for good reason. I wouldn’t want to go into it, would you?
Leahy: It’s interesting you say that because there was a time in my life, of course, remember now, Michael Patrick Leahy, Irish Catholic kid growing up, and the first television memory I have was the debate between Irish Catholic John Fitzgerald Kennedy in 1960 and Richard Nixon.
And of course, I wanted to be like that guy. There was a period of time when my sole purpose in life was to become President of the United States. I grew up, however. (Laughs)
Simon: You and probably a lot of people.
Leahy: Bill Clinton. There was a whole group of folks who were teenagers or young kids who saw John Kennedy and said, I want to be like that guy.
Simon: Yes.
Leahy: But the answer is no, I don’t think I would.
Simon: In the hurley burley, now that you are an adult. I understand that kid. Sure. I probably did myself, but I don’t remember. (Laughter) Nowadays, it’s different.
Listen to today’s show highlights, including this interview:
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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 “Elon Musk” by Debbie Rowe. CC BY-SA 3.0.
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