WGBH Radio; The Callie Crossley Show

I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Cali Crossley Show. In the last year the Tea Party movement has gained momentum as a political force serving as a backlash to President Obama's agenda. Tea Partiers are also equally unhappy with mainstream Republican leaders as a social movement helped take Ted Kennedy's Senate seat away from the Democrats. It also came close to derailing President Obama's chief domestic initiative health care reform. As a party that's hard to get a grip on. Taking on liberals and social conservatives. We're looking at how it could influence midterm elections here at home. From there it's our segment thinking outloud with Jimmy Tingle and we wind up the hour with Ed Walsh. A Marine turned actor who found that performing on stage helped his re-entry into the civilian world. We'll get his thoughts on what the military combat and the theater have in coming up next. From political power to the power of performance. First the news. From NPR News in Washington I'm Lakshmi saying police are on the hunt for whomever fired shots at the Pentagon building early this morning. Nobody was hurt.

Authorities say the bullets never got through the building's reinforced glass windows. But the incident did force authorities to temporarily block off roads including part of a nearby highway while they swept the area that was hit. Construction of new homes and apartments rose slightly last month. NPR's Dave Mattingly reports single family home construction accounts for most of the increase. New home construction rose three tenths of a percent in September. That's the sharpest increase since April compared to the same month a year ago. Housing starts were up more than 4 percent. The Commerce Department says single family home construction drove the increase starts on apartments and condominiums were down nearly 10 percent. Another sign of weakness for the industry. New building permits dropped nearly 6 percent in September. And let's say there is still a large number of unsold homes across the U.S. and foreclosures remain a problem. David Mattingly NPR News Washington.

Protesters outraged by France's pension reform plans clashed with police today in Paris. Demonstrators hurling rocks at forces and police in turn firing tear gas at the crowd. The French Union's six national mobilization in six weeks is still causing widespread disruptions across the country as Frank Browning reports. Sirens ambulances police vans fire trucks started early this morning and continue to rattle the walls. The police say the protest has drawn somewhat fewer demonstrators than a week ago. Sixty seven thousand demonstrators in Paris they say while the unions claimed more than five times that many burning roadblocks mostly of plastic garbage bins tied up movement in Paris Chornobyl And Leone where police used tear gas against protesters who torched cars and buses. Panic gas buying linked to blockades of fuel depots has drained about a third of the nation's filling stations. But the government is deploying police to reopen the depots and says it will use its emergency reserves to keep filling stations open by the weekend. Final Senate approval of the pension law is set for

Thursday delayed because of hundreds of opposition amendments. For NPR News I'm Frank Browning in Paris. A military court is hearing from more witnesses in the Article 32 hearing for the man accused in the deadly shooting at a U.S. military base. Today the room heard how two soldiers and a civilian nurse hid inside an office as they heard repeated gunfire at Fort Hood Texas. Recording of 9 1 1 call revealed muffle shooting and screams. The hearing will determine if the Fort Hood defendant Major Nidal Hasan should stand trial for killing 13 people and injuring 32 others. Here's what's happening on Wall Street Dow Jones Industrial Average down now more than 100 points at eleven thousand forty one. You're listening to NPR News. Shares of Massey Energy were up 10 percent this morning on a Wall Street Journal report. The company's directors are looking at possibly selling the company. Twenty nine miners died last April in a blast at Massey's Upper Big Branch Coal Mine in West

Virginia. NPR's Howard Berkes has been following the investigation and reports. Six Massey executives won't have to testify. The six top officials from Massey Energy are among the last of 260 witnesses in a joint state and federal investigation of the Upper Big Branch mine disaster in West Virginia. But a court document first obtained by The Charleston Gazette says the subpoenas issued by the state were flawed because they cited a statute that doesn't fit the case. That makes it difficult for the state to resist court challenges to the subpoenas. So in a settlement West Virginia officials say they won't call the Massey executives to testify after all and will allow them to assert their Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination by letter instead of in person. Other Massey executives have also been subpoenaed but it's not clear whether they will testify. A separate federal criminal probe is also underway. Howard Berkes NPR News. Goldman Sachs earnings surpassed analysts expectations in the third quarter but the bank's trading its most profitable business slowed considerably. Goldman's net

income fell 43 percent from the same time a year ago. Thanks incomes down 1.7 four billion or two and ninety eight a share. And we're seeing a steep drop in U.S. stocks last check the Dow is down one hundred two point said eleven thousand forty two Nasdaq falling 24. It's a twenty four fifty seven S A P 500 down ten eleven seventy five. I'm Lakshmi saying NPR News Washington. Support for NPR comes from IBM working to help midsize businesses become the engines of a Smarter Planet. Learn more at IBM dot com slash engines. Good afternoon I'm Kalee Crossley and this is the Calla Crossley Show. Today we continue our mass Decision 2010 election coverage with a look at the Tea Party and influence the movement will have and is having on the midterm elections will also sort through the results of the recent poll conducted by WGBH and mass Inc. Looking at the

10th Congressional District. Joining me to talk about the Tea Party as a political force is Professor William Mayer. He teaches political science at Northeastern University. William Ayers welcome. Well thank you for having me. Now you've been studying the Tea Party for a bit of time now. And I wonder at this point in time because it was you know over the last year there have been ups and downs as we look at how important it may be. Where is it in terms of influence right now. Well at least one thing we know is it is a major force within the Republican Party. Quite a number of candidates preeminently Christine O'Donnell Sharron Angle Joe Miller would not have gotten one of the nominations they won without Tea Party backing. The big question still to be answered but it will be answered in a little less than two weeks or a little I guess a little more than two weeks is what effect it

has in within the electorate as a whole. There are a lot of people who like the Tea Party and admire what it's doing there are clearly people who don't like it and fear what it is doing so or wants to do. So it's it's a bit of a mixed bag within the population as a whole and will it cut how well it will whether it will be seen as a net plus or an S net minus for the Republicans I think will depend a lot on what happens on Election Day. Obviously if these candidates win that's that's one huge statement. But it seems to me that the fact that you have very strong candidates who are proudly bearing this as a label for themselves and have made it this far to be considered quote unquote serious candidates. But that's that's I mean this this thing didn't exist year and a half ago two years. Well it is if if you can say nothing else about the Tea Party you have to say that it is an impressive demonstration of

political energy in a country where frankly it's kind of difficult most times to mobilize a lot of people around or around almost any issue. And and. Any group that can produce ordinary volunteers and campaign workers and small money contributors is going to be taken seriously in American politics and they will on the other hand as I said the I think there are some Republicans who are worried that it may be pushing them a little too far to the right and some Democrats who hope that's the case. Now when we talk about those candidates that you mentioned that oh we'll find out if they win you know a couple of weeks. Most of them are not from here. But when we look in Massachusetts for example there is Jeff Perry in the 10th District and he has aligned himself with the Tea Party. In fact his you could say his

mentor and his major supporter Scott Brown certainly did and that's what got him into the seat once held by Ted Kennedy. And so he sort of passed that along and Jeff Perry picked up that that mantle. It appears to have been a pretty good thing for him in Massachusetts which one would not have thought necessarily as this is known traditionally as a very blue state. Yeah I was looking over your polls and it's worth noting that the Tea Party split or the electorate within that congressional district splits about half in half between people who have a favorable and unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party. I think what Scott Brown managed to do very successfully was that the one was on one hand to to sort of embrace a lot of what the energy and the general direction of the Tea Party without necessarily committing himself to a lot of the details that at least some of the the Tea Partiers would want to or might want to

embrace and so I think you know if I were advising a Republican candidate I would say your trick is to is to get the positives without the negatives too. To get the support but not. Not be perceived as too extreme or unduly beholden to any particular group like that. Now the poll you refer to is the WGBH mass Inc poll which took a look at the 10th District and found that Perry and Keating were in a dead heat. And if we take those people who are feeling not so positively about the Tea Party which is the party that has aligned himself with Jeff here is aligned himself with the Mets. Doesn't work for him. But Keating maybe has an opportunity by saying hey I'm not the Tea Party guy or no. I mean if you just take what you said if you take the energy and the excitement that people have about politics somehow you've got to figure out I think

both parties about how to tap into that. Yes. I mean I think one reason that the it may not be as easy to mobilize against the Tea Party at the moment. Well it's a couple things One is that the concern is so much focused on the economy and the deficit. Running against some sort of group like that is going to be difficult the other thing is at the moment the Tea Party's negatives are all theoretical if you will. They haven't actually had the chance to govern and I think on less. You yourself have a lot of negatives like Christine O'Donnell for example. That that merely trying to link your opponent to the Tea Party probably isn't a a terribly effective strategy.

Now what has appeared to be a good strategy is however linking certain elements of the Tea Party that has presented themselves. You know there are some racist elements there are some what people would call friend elements to it. You know a lot of the people in this in this movement very much resent that and say that's that not the majority of who we are and we don't like those people either though I must say I don't see as much strong denouncing of that is that I'd like to see but be that as it may you know some people have in their minds that that is what the Tea Party is only those elements yes and it is a very difficult once that perception takes hold it's a very difficult one to to refute. And I. You know how do you how do you exist. Every mass movement has fringe elements in it. I think the media have been rather quick to seize on that as for when compared for example to the Iraq war movement which clearly had

some some fringe elements in it as well. But at least it was my I haven't done a detailed content study of it but it at least seemed to me they got less attention. Even you know you may remember that there was a when the health care bill was about to come up that Nancy Pelosi in a number of black members of Congress walked through a kind of gauntlet of Tea Party supporters. And there is still a controversy about whether any of them used a racial epithet. Number the least one of the congressman and claimed that there was and he was later supported on the other hand. There are all these tapes and audio recordings that don't seem to show anything and that's just you know you take that one episode and now multiply it by all kinds of. You know all the rallies and you know it's a difficult charge to pin down.

Yeah I think you know that that incident aside and the the ambiguity about it what a lot of people have turned to who don't have a dog in this fight are really the kinds of signs and comments made at rallies. Now as you've said people can anybody can attend a rally and be a part of a fringe element to try to disrupt the main mission of that rally but that has definitely been noted and documented at many times across the country. So yeah I mean they are clearly don't like Barack Obama I think the relevant question is how much of that is a racial animus and how much of it is. I don't know over the top. I mean there was an awful lot of animus towards George Bush on the part of the left during during a good part of his presidency. You know a lot of comparisons to Hitler or a lot of I. I think analogies with Hitler are grossly overused in American politics on both

sides but I never felt that. You know it was it was a prejudice against Wasps or I mean it was it was a you know on both sides there's there's a willingness to sort of read too much into your to get too excited about your opponent and to deny them any. And he posited to deny that they have positive motives or rational concerns. I take your point I just have to say as a person of color that when you go to raise as your reason for being opposed to somebody you know that leaves me in a different position about where you're coming from. But that but which leads me back to the WGBH mass 8 poll however which is as I looked at the numbers of people that they talked to the 400 likely voters and they asked the Tea Party questions in terms of race three hundred seventy eight of them were Caucasian only 22 were persons of color. So I find that interesting so now you're

asking what we're doing is taking their results from largely a majority white group about their opinion of the Tea Party. So we don't really know you know beyond I mean that's being taken as the universal response to the Tea Party in Massachusetts. And that might not be correct either way. Oh I know. Yeah I mean I I I I wouldn't claim that that. Result that was found in the 10th Congressional District applies to necessarily any of the other congressional districts. Clearly I think in general there is a division along racial lines and in perceptions of the Tea Party and if you were to if you were to ask some of these same questions in some districts that have more black and Hispanic voters I think you'd get higher negatives. Alternatively if you were to ask this in other states it seems to me you'd you know you'd get far higher positives for the Tea Party so I wouldn't be too quick to read

anything beyond the 10th District in this poll. The Globe did a story recently about the GOP being very excited and rallying to support candidates in Massachusetts because it feels right now like they are you not only have the mojo but there's a lot of interest in these Republican candidates. And your point at the beginning of this conversation is really is this left to the Republican Party mostly to try to embrace some of the either Tea Party candidates or some of the mission as a spouse by those candidates and if they don't it seems to be it's to their detriment. Are you saying the less resistance as it becomes clear that some of these candidates have caught the ear of a number of likely voters. Well I. You can. Clearly there is this large sentiment out there I mean you know you can we can talk about how much whether it's a majority or in the course that varies a little bit from district to district as well. But there is a large

sentiment out there that the government has grown too large. I think that sentiment actually predates Obama. I think there wore a lot of Republicans and conservatives I know who are very angry at George Bush for what he did on the domestic side in terms of adding a new entitlement than dramatically increasing the federal role in education. They they held their fire partly because they they. They tended to agree with him on foreign policy partly because he was Republican and they were Republicans. But now that they don't have those excuses they have unleashed that on on the current occupants of the White House and Congress and of course the fact that on top of all that you've added TARP and the stimulus bill and health care and at least you've passed cap and trade through through one house of Congress only adds to it and and clearly any Republican who wants to run for office this year

has to tap into that now. It that sentiment is probably larger than the Tea Party sentiment that is to say there are. There are probably lots of people who are turned off by their perception of what the Tea Party is or or who maybe don't even know very much about what the Tea Party is but who still feel that they are. As they say they are upset at the size of government and the size of the deficit. And even if you don't even if you resist being label I mean Charlie Baker is a good example of somebody who to the best of my knowledge has kept. I don't think he's ever appeared at a Tea Party event and he's really tried to keep his distance clearly because he doesn't want to be seen as too too far to the right on the other hand he taps into a lot of Tea Party concerns and I think tries to you know hopes to benefit

from the Tea Party energy without being labeled a Tea Party supporter. Well that brings me back to Scott Brown whom we just talked about having gotten that big enthusiasm push from those volunteers and energy. And if you recall the first big Tea Party rallies the one that Sarah Pailin was speaking at and a couple of others. He did not attend and he got a lot of a lot of pushback from supporters who felt angry really because they said hey we we put you there we were the people that put you there and you're not appreciating us in a very public way. I can't remember what language he used to get out of appearing there but he did. And I think that's interesting. I don't think that anybody has any if these candidates any one of them wins that. Others who have received that support whether it be specific tea party or just the energy as you have described will be able to do that anymore am I wrong you're the expert here. Well I think in part it depends on what happens in

in November. If a lot of those Tea Party candidates lose Christine O'Donnell looks like she's you know all but toast. Joe Miller is in a surprisingly tough race with Lisa Murkowski. That's in Alaska in Alaska. You know Don by the way is in Maryland sorry i fwy Delaware Delaware. That's right. Sorry. Rand Paul in Kentucky is three five points ahead of his opponent. If a lot of those candidates lose Sharron Angle is a tide maybe a little bit ahead if a lot of those candidates lose I think you're going to see a perception take root that says we at least in those cases we went a little too far to the right. And if Jeff Perry wins here in Massachusetts what does that say. Well I think he as I say if he if if.

I think Perry devises his strategy at least in part on on on national perceptions as well as local ones and so I think if I mean if the if the Tea Party is seen as having torpedoed a lot of candidates then they will then you'll see a lot of criticism of them and you'll see a lot of of the candidates trying to put their distance. It also depends on on exactly how many seats the Republicans win on the way over I was tuning in and out of various talk radio shows and I heard Rush Limbaugh at one point talking about how he doesn't want to compromise at all and and he's outraged at the thought that if they take one or both houses of Congress they might actually try to compromise. So you see walking that very fine line of trying to reward your supporters or make them feel it was

worthwhile to put out that energy without seeming too extreme is going to be a very tough thing for the Republicans to do assuming in particular that they win control of at least one house of Congress. And I I think. Not until November will we have we have a sense of how difficult it's going to be. One last question what does this mean for the Democrats as you know they're they're not out of this they have to pay attention to this as well whether or not they choose to tap into the actual numbers of people who are who are calling themselves Tea Partiers seems to be they got to pay attention to this. They they clearly do. And but how they respond to it is it is a tough question. At various times you have tried. I've seen people on the Democratic side essentially try to say well we stand for some of the same things you do we're

upset too but we're you know don't blame us for for a lot of these troubles. I don't think that message is selling very well and I think that the what they're going to have to hope. Unless they do better a good deal better than expected this time around is that the Tea Party will generate a kind of counter movement on their side which is roughly what happened in 1906 as compared to 1994 it it. One thing I can say based on this is of common social science fine political science finding is that midterm results tell you almost nothing about what's going to happen in the next presidential election. Oh great so. So you know you might think that if a party does really well in the midterm that means they're going to win the presidency. No not at all. It didn't happen in 96. Didn't happen in one thousand forty eight in nineteen

sixty six when the Republicans did very well they at best eked out a narrow victory in the present. So it's a complicated in a lot of a lot of road between here and 2012. A lot of road but only two weeks till the election. So we'll see what happens I'm Kelly Crossley and we've been speaking with William Ayers about the influence of the Tea Party and what influence it will have on the midterm elections. He's a professor of political science at Northeastern University William Mayer thank you so much for joining us. My pleasure. Up next is Jimmy Tingle in our regular feature thinking outloud. Stay with us. With.

Support for WGBH comes from you and from Skinner auctioneers hosting an auction of fine wines featuring wines from the WGBH wine cellar on Tuesday November 2nd at 4pm at Skinner 63 Park Plaza Boston. Bidding online at Skinner Inc. Dot com. And from Boston Private Bank and Trust Company. Committed to helping successful individuals and businesses accumulate. Preserve and grow their wealth. You can learn more at Boston. Private Bank dot com. When Toy Story 3 is director Lee Unkrich realized he had accidentally thrown away his wife's childhood toys he says. My blood instantly ran ice cold but it helped give him the idea for Toy Story 3. On the next FRESH AIR we talk with Uncle Rich and screenwriter Michael Arndt about making the film which is coming out on DVD. Join us. This afternoon at two on eighty nine point seven The View GBH.

Hi it's Diane Rheem. I hope you'll join me Deppy GBH studios November 5th for an evening of thoughtful and lively conversation forward answering your questions giving you an in-depth look at the Diane Rehm Show from in PR her and WGBH members can receive their tickets a discount. For details visit Debbie a GBH dot org slash box office if a street could cry. What would it sound like. I feel for the people. I'm Philip Martin. Come with me next Monday morning during MORNING EDITION for a drive along Blue Hill Avenue. If a street could speak on eighty nine point seven WGBH. Good afternoon I'm Cally Crossley and this is the Cali Crossley Show. It's time for our feature thinking outloud where we get an individuals take on our times.

My guest today is Jimmy Tingle. He's an actor writer social and political humorist and a recent grad from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Jimmy welcome back. Well thank you so much for having me Kelly and I just want to thank you. And I just want to introduce myself to the audience My name is Jimmy Tingle and I'm not a witch. OK. So then we know where you're coming from politically here. I'm not a witch I'm you. OK. That's got to be one of the finest and funniest commercials but I got to tell you some Keli you're not me. I believe in evolution. Christine O'Donnell's ad for her congressional bid in Delaware and the Saturday Night Live take off on it was pretty amusing. I got to say she said it was funny too. She was. She did say it was funny and it was funny. But you know one of the things that I thought was interesting about her. Her whole thing is when she's one of the things that she doesn't believe in evolution that you know and I was thinking she said because of the level evolution was true people would still be

evolving but they are evolving you know not always in the right direction. Look at the Republican Party. I mean. You know President Reagan devolved into President Bush. BUSH One devolved into bush to bush to devolve into Sarah Palin and Sarah Palin devolved into Christine O'Donnell. OK that's your take on it. That's just my humorous take on it. Not partisan take OK. You know I want to get you to I just want to go back to something that William may or my first guest was talking about and that is this poll that WGBH and Massey did looking at the 10th District and we were focusing particularly on the Tea Party. And it seems as though there's a split between the people they talk to the for the three hundred seventy eight people about how they felt about the Tea Party. Some liked it some didn't. But it's no question there's a lot of energy coming out of that party no doubt about it. First of all I think energy and politics is good. But it's going to be difficult too. Once you get elected OK to then govern. And I think

that's why people like Scott Brown you know keep their distance Charlie Baker they keep their distance because they realize I think that some of the some of the views of these people especially when it comes to cutting spending they want to cut spending on things that many people like many people like education the department of education you know some people actually want health care. People enjoy Medicare they enjoy Medicaid I mean so there's a lot of energy in it which is fine but once you actually get elected OK then what are you going to do. And if you're not going to compromise how is that going to move the ball up the field on the national level if and when you get elected. Well in fact you know the key thing that President Obama gets criticized for is compromising right now honestly. You know that seems to be a lot of people's anger with him are there because he did compromise. Well he tried he tried but you can't compromise with people who don't want to compromise. And that was one of the that's one of the things I think that's also. Driving the the Tea Party a couple of things first of all the Republicans it seems to me from what I can tell made this

strategic decision. When Obama got elected that the way to defeat hope and change is not to cooperate. So if you're not going to cooperate with somebody that you know I mean if no matter what he wanted to do their answer was basically no financial regulation. I mean after coming out of what we just came out of not to support financial regulation with the majority's people health care they wanted no part of. And so and the Tea Party got a lot of they got reinforced I think by those stances but they also got a lot of free publicity. They got a ton of free publicity on Fox they got a ton of free publicity on talk radio. And one of the problems with the Democrats I think is they don't they don't go on talk radio. They don't go on Fox and I think they need to because if you cede the territory if you cede the conversation to people that oppose do then you are basically you know what is the average person driving around supposed to think if all they hear of as health care is terrible health care is terrible health care is terrible financial regulations going to ruin the country when the country will come to what you're supposed to think. If you don't have somebody on the other

side with a counter-argument. So I think the Democrats have made a kind of a strategic decision wrongly in my opinion not to engage. The Republicans on Fox and talk radio. How could how could they have engaged that would have made you know an impact. I think President Obama was invited to go on Fox early on in the administration he didn't like was was coming out of Fox he didn't like that. So he didn't go on and he didn't engage. I don't think they put enough Democrats on those shows with them. I do a lot of talk radio. I love it. I love live right Nirvana listen to people because that's basically what's on the air is you know if you want to know about what people think about the health care bill listen to talk radio. But if you only hear one point of view primarily then you know it's going to see sea seep into the national consciousness and I think that has a lot to do with what's going on in terms of the Tea Party the anger people feel and sometimes the facts aren't correct. For example the rap against

Democrats is all they want to do is raise taxes that's all they want to do. The front page of The New York Times today there's an article that says about the tax cut that nobody heard of that created a tax cut for 95 percent of American families there by changing the withholding withholding rates lower the tax rates for 95 percent of American families. Most people have no idea what that is myself included until I read it in the front page of The Times. But that's an example of how people could be on television or on the radio talking about these issues. And if they don't talk about it they're just going to get killed in November. And that was a huge component for the Scott Brown victory. I whirled around I listened to talk radio and I again I am a big fan of it but I heard on every station. Scott called in you know every host he called and he was on. That's hundreds of thousands of dollars of free advertising. And the other kid Martha Coakley didn't and she didn't engage in the Democrats. Their strategy was not to engage in that was a huge mistake. Because I talk to the folks I talk

radio and it's not a slam against talk radio. It's a slam against the Democrats not stepping up to the plate and engaging them intellectually and politically. I talked to the host on the shows and they go we invite these people want they don't want to come on. You know they they don't they won't come on and I think that's admirable Scott Brown and Scott on talk radio. Yeah you know my first and if you like about him yeah if you listen now you'll hear Sean on the show. All John B. Johnny like Barney if you hear him on every every show he can get on. You'll hear you won't hear Barney Conan or Representative Barney to in my opinion from what I've heard these unscientific polls this is the Jimmy tengo driving out Washington told poll well so let me have the Jimmy Tingle pole on because speaking of Sean Bell and Barney Frank's partner spoke up he's talked I told Sean be like What do you think I think I heard about this morning drive around again listening to the radio I didn't hear what he said or how he said it but he showed up with a with a camera.

He was just he was interrupting him he was talking and it kept interrupting him and you know be like you know to his credit was pretty calm as a response though he said you know you can do are you kidding me. You know what do you think about that now he was speaking up there you go yeah you got to speak up in the appropriate place OK. You know you better. Say that I'm sorry I don't know if you speak up just in the lobby was it in the lobby when I came it was outside of it if it was you know doing an interview right and when I listened to the interview the other day one of the stations and I thought it was great because you see Barney Frank and he's incredibly knowledgeable about a host of a wide range of things. And Sean is also a very credible candidate. And but I think Bonnie goes on. You want on a show that's not necessarily of favorite Bonnie but you want to show it in did a great job we dominated the discussion because he's armed with the facts about the situation and I just think if Democrats don't there is an enthusiasm gap. There is not with me and I too much Come what do you

think that is. I think because well I think the people when you lose something and your whole motivation is we've got to get back in. You are more motivated to get back in there and I think a lot of it really is. You know it coming from the from the Republican Party. Why did they want to stonewall Obama. Well is it for the good of the country or is it to get back in power themselves. I think and this is just my own opinion. I think it's a way for them to get back in power. Well isn't that what politics yeah about it is about it's own power. But it also is when we have a financial crisis that almost bankrupt the country you do have some sort of an obligation to engage in legislation that's going to help prevent that crisis. And I'm not so sure that that's what they've done or that wasn't their strategy. They would say oh no this is too much regulation. You know this is this is going to you know stifle the entrepreneurial spirit. Nothing stifles the entrepreneurial spirit more than a depression. And we were you know a certain level we were almost on the verge of a depression.

We're speaking with Jimmy Tingle and this is our feature of thinking out loud and he's thinking out loud right there about took off. You know you don't need any more. Let's go back to this enthusiasm gap for the Democrats. President Obama was just here this past weekend. He came here in support of Governor Deval Patrick's campaign. Some people waited three hours to get in in the cold to get in to see him. Course you know he's playing to his base. Should we take the enthusiasm here I mean he's going to quote unquote Some people say safe states where he feels he can be approached in a in a friendly and a more manner as he did here. What is it what does it mean that people were still willing to stand out in the cold. I think a lot of people want to hear the Democrats articulate a point of view to the national audience and to their local audiences. And they're out and they don't they don't hear that and they need to hear it and that's one of the reasons Obama was here I think. And I went to the rally. I heard him. I thought I've never heard him better and I never heard Deval Patrick better. And it was a very inspiring rally. And one

of the things that Obama laid out he said listen you know these people have opposing me on things that they supported. And he was given examples of a car in the ditch you know of the cars in the ditch and you know these guys drove the car and I'm down there pushing a wall pushing trying to get the car the ditch and these guys are standing up there and they're you know having a slurpee and go and you got to push a little harder you got to porcelain. So it was it was funny but it was also I think it rang true with a lot of the people in the base and so I think that enthusiasm gap is lacking because you know I'll tell you what the equivalent I think of the Tea Party was on a certain level was the Obama election. They had the whole enthusiasm going in their direction. They got all the breaks they got all the breaks in the media they got the coverage of Obama and they were going against the quote establishment of the Democratic Party on a certain level. And at least initially with you know going against Hillary and they got you know a lot of a lot of that energy and they got people out in the streets and doing everything that the Tea Party is trying to do now.

But some of the some of the to do too big tent poles of his enthusiastic group at the time during 2008. Persons of color and young people he's fighting as hard as he ever had to try to get them to the polls for these midterm elections. What do you think that is what happened there. I just think that the midterms are off the radar to most people. You know there I mean I mean in general yeah in general they're oh I'm not saying they're not important I'm just saying in general I think the midterm elections are a little They're just less less obvious to people their significance is less obvious. I think most people don't pay attention to the balance of power in the Senate or in the Congress and really aware of those of those dynamics and I think that has a lot to do with what you think about the tactics that the administration is using and some of his surrogates to say hey people wake up this is what will happen if I think it's right in the majority. I think that's absolutely right you got to explain. You've got to give people a reason to come out. And if people don't that the Democrats are going to lose. I mean it's as simple as that.

They've got to be they've got to be engaging. They've got to be doing everything they did to get Obama re-elected and if they don't do that it's over because the other side that's what they're doing. So what would you do truly I think we're up to you what would you do. I would if I was Obama I would keep making the same points of these ben make it in these live rallies explain what he stands for and why why the importance of this election and to get people out there and you know to talk about the fact that they've had a productive Congress. It might not be what the conservatives want but it's been the most productive Congress and seven was it 60 years I saw this article today in the metro that saying you know this Congress under Nancy Pelosi who everybody you know is const can tenuously vilifying has been an extremely productive Congress. And as far as Congresses go even though it's a very bad approval rating I would tell him I would just say get out there keep talking about we. It's not it's not about him it's about we. It's about the Democratic Party. It's about if you're a liberal or you voted for me to get in are

you a Democrat. Get out there and vote and call your neighbors and get off you get off the couch and do something and draw the distinctions about what the other side is doing. I mean look the whole money in politics is going to ask you about that when you think about these. Adds that nobody knows who is funding. Well I mean it's a Supreme Court ruled that money is a form of free speech where if money is a form of free speech lack of money it's got to be considered a lack of speech. So I'm suggesting to my people next April 15th when the federal government wants our tax dollars we all write letters to Washington saying basically listen we'd love to pay you but to be perfectly honest We're speechless because we don't have any money. But this I mean that's a huge that's a huge thing and it's ratcheted up recently because President Obama seems to well I don't know he seems to suggest that some of the money going to these anonymous some some of the people included in the anonymous groups supporting these particularly negative ads and pointed ads in his direction maybe

supported by foreign money which a lot of conservatives have taken umbrage to their statement. Well I don't know because we don't know where it came from if it's undisclosed. But you know you can make anybody look bad with a negative ad you know all you need is that dark Leni footage the ominous for the silver he gives comfort to illegal aliens. He opposes a time of rising terror he opposes war at a time of rising crime he opposes the death penalty. He wants to use your hard earned tax dollars to quote feed the hungry house the homeless and heal the sick. Jesus Christ. Soft on crime and. Beating heart liberals. OK you made your point but I got to tell you negative ads get people's attention if they say they don't want to but they watch and they they they're very effective that I heard a very insightful statement this morning and one of the talk shows where you know the negative ads you wanted to be negative and hard hit enough that it hurt your opponent but

not so negative that it hurt you who put out the ad and I thought that was really good actually I heard that too that was Michael Graham I'm going to give him his credit I know take on other stations. Mike's a friend of mine radio we do everybody that we are all here for for the OK. OK. Jimmy Tingle we thank you so much for thinking out loud with us Jimi tingles an actor writer social and political humorist and a recent grad from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Check out his website Jimmy Tingle dot com and you will be right back with a Marine turned actor Ed Walsh. Stay with us. Eighty nine point seven thank you thank you. With.

That the. Support for WGBH comes from you. And from your New England Toyota dealer. Celebrating 10 years and three generations of the technologically advanced nature inspired Toyota Prius hybrid. You can learn more at by a Toyota dot com. And from Boston private banking Trust Company Boston private bank provides private and commercial banking and investment management and trust services to individuals and businesses. You can learn more by visiting Boston private bank dot com. Next time on the world a Jewish family flees Poland in 1901 and settles in Cuba. One of the sons decides to record the bands he

hears in Havana. The master tapes end up in a closet in Seattle. Now they're on CD a sonic souvenir of Cuba before the revolution. The story and the music next time on the world. Coming up at 3:00 here on eighty nine point seven WGBH. Hi Brian O'Donovan here from help exposure. And if you explore the roots and branches of Celtic music with me every Saturday then consider starting another tradition by discovering the pure joy of the eighth annual presentation of A Christmas Celtic sojourn. Join the WGBH Celtic club with a gift of one hundred fifty dollars and I'll send you two complimentary tickets to the show. Details on line at WGBH dot org slash Celtic. Emily Rooney on the Emily Rooney show we've got a whole bunch of stuff some serious some not so serious weekdays at noon here on eighty nine point seven. WGBH Boston NPR station for news and culture.

That afternoon I'm Kelly Crossley and this is the Kelly Crossley Show. My guest Ed Walsh is a former Marine First Lieutenant. He's gone from combat in Iraq to the American Repertory Theatre is cabaret. He joins us today to discuss how a Marine made him a better actor and how acting has taken the edge off the trauma of war. Ed Walsh welcome. Hello. First let's start with your background in being a Marine. When did you go into the Marine Corps and had that been a lifelong dream. A little bit yeah I went in the Marines June 3rd 2000 and won I went to officer candidate school in Quantico Virginia. I went back to when it was between my junior and senior year of college I went back to school finished up got my commission and then I went active duty. And you ended up in Iraq. Correct. Twice. What was that like. It was an interesting experience. It was.

For lack of better words it's kind of tough to describe a person has never been there. I've talked to a number of veterans and they say you know that it's actually best expressed through art.. You know because just or other people who've had the experience but others and it's a little tough to begin a conversation about. Yeah. So I understand that. Now let's talk about your other experience that has sort of come together and that's acting. So you were interested in this long before the Marine Corps. Yeah I started acting in around seventh grade and it was just something that was always with me and it's kind of a weird kid because I would play football and then at night I would go act. What were you what kind of plays were you and what kind of community theater type stuff initially did children's theater you know did the classics Greeks and some Shakespeare things like that and then moving on to college doing some more modern stuff. And you know somebody may have pointed out to you that one of the characters of Glee is a football player who

isn't really a singer. Well there you have it all right. I think we're everywhere you're everywhere. So OK so there you were with that interest. Seventh grade my goodness that was well before college but you took a left or right and ended up in the military. Why. It was that's another thing that's always been with me I've always been fascinated by the military the Marines specifically. I have my uncles three of them were Marines two were in Vietnam and one was a Marine during the 80s and for whatever reason it was nothing that was ever forced upon me it's just something that I just found very interesting and appealed to me and I started researching and found out that the Marines offered this program called platoon leadership class where it's 10 weeks the summer before your senior year they hammer you know the ground they kick your butt and then you're allowed to either once successfully completed you can either accept a commission and become an active duty Marine or you can just say no thank you. It really wasn't my thing I'm going to go do something else. All the other services once you complete O C S require you to go in.

So you had those opportunities and you made a choice and then you came back to kind of well maybe your first love seven Yeah that would be your first love. And here you are on the stage at the American Repertory Theater this is no small thing. Lots of famous folks have been there yeah. And you're playing an interesting part because Ed you're wearing heels. Oh my legs look great. I mean when you wear heels you're like great. Yeah but I mean it's just it's opposite the view that one has of the few the proud the Marines right. I mean a little bit a little bit. People ask me about that. You know how can you be in these two separate worlds and I always tell them it's actually quite similar. Both require a very specific mindset as far as physical and mental discipline and also that willingness to do things that normal people consider crazy. How does each inform the other How does acting inform you know might have informed what you did in the Marines and how did your experience in the Marines inform what you're doing now with acting acting and for the

Marines with media we saw when I got there with the high level of theatricality especially with your drill and especially with vocal support being able to address everyone and I've never met a I never met a general or a gunnery sergeant who didn't know how to get their point across to you in the shortest amount of time possible and you completely understand what they're saying. And so that's acting you know that that definitely definitely shares with the acting. And then with the Marines going into the acting I guess you say it provided just a larger base of experience from which I worked with as far as having been in the world live the life and. Knowing just how some things work and how some things just don't sort of the best way I can explain it I feel you always get that nervous when you go on stage but from the experience of the Marines I've learned how to control a lot of it I try to channel it into a better sort of use whatever fear there is and try to channel into a

constructive and constructive way. I would say that's a big thing you know Barbra Streisand has long suffered from stage fright so I mean these they're major actors and that's a big deal just trying to get that under control and you can do their craft. How did this acting help you in terms of re-entry into civilian life. It's helped me in the past couple of years specifically being at the second year Institute student. And it's helped me as far as giving me something to do every day. Really. Disciplined like that I'm going basically this I didn't realize when I got the Marines just exactly how regimented I had become and how much I needed something every day to do that's one of them for sure the pitfalls of being an actor in America or an actor in general is that you're going to have a lot of time on your hands you know and with this program though I get to you know work on my craft every day work on the physical aspect of being an actor as well as the voice and integrated into sort of one being for the stage. Now I know you said as far as the experience in Iraq it's hard to describe

but well how do you describe the emotional experience of being an actor. The emotional experience of being. In some ways it's kind of similar. There are those moments of you know complete boredom where you boredom that turns into being frightened because you hopefully are doing something correctly. Maybe the audience is pulling it along with you. Being on stage it's a wonderful feeling knowing that you know you're telling a story and the audience is with you you can sort of feel that energy there that they're you know they maybe not might be laughing with what's going on but at the same time you can sort of feel every all the eyes are on you and they're following you and kind of satisfied. Is there a role that you can think of that might channel those experiences or what you felt in Iraq you know on the stage. I looked and saw that there were a number of jarheads that were Marines that went on to becoming actors Glynne for Tyrone Power Steve McLean Drew Carey David Garrett and

Chuck Connors George C. Scott. I mean you're in good company. Yeah. Humbled by that company. But is there a role that you could see that takes advantage of what you know intuitively about being a Marine that you know you might play out some of them you know. At the time I had no being on the spot for whatever reason coming and I had reached the third. So you say oh OK seems like something that I wouldn't into if you know as far as being a military leader but then someone who you know unfortunately goes to the dark side and decides to take power from self. Oh OK. I don't know why they just came to my head. So in the program that you're at it you said your second year I don't I don't know how long it is in general it's about a two year program or so in two and a half years we were associated with the Moscow our theater in Russia and so we started last two summers ago the Russian professors came in and began working with us and sort of the Russian method as far as movement voice and sort of their acting style. And then we

work with the American professors and then from there we go to Russia and spend three months and wound while there we perform a show for the Russian for the Moscow audiences and what are you looking forward to after this experience and then on to your life as an actor. Looking forward to hopefully being able to pay my bills as an actor. OK. You know that's just trying to go from whatever sort of the next job is and hopefully it'll be something that I can be happy I'm proud of and ultimately find fulfilling something you can say to that kid who's thinking well I can't be a real guy. I like the Marines and an actor you can be both your Kerry prove that. That's exactly right and right Keith and Dean exactly the name of our Brother every week I tell you what you got Do you have the list. All right well we'll be looking forward to seeing you in heels at the A.R.T.. You very much. Ed Walsh is a second year student at the Institute for Advanced theatre

training at Harvard University. He is starring as Victor one of the cabaret dancers in Cabaret. He served as an officer in the Marines in Fallujah Iraq until December 2006. Thank you so much for joining I thank you for having me. To learn more about cabaret showtimes visit our website or log on to club Oberon dot com. You can keep on top of the Kelly Crossley Show at WGBH dot org slash Calla Crossley follow us on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook. Today's show was injured by James pick and produced by Chelsea Mertz and a white knuckle be an Abby Risiko. This is the Calla Crossley Show where production of WGBH radio Boston NPR station 4 news and culture.