Podcast appearances and mentions of Bob Kerrey

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit smokeempodcast.substack.comAs we mark the fifth (yes, fifth!) anniversary of Covid, Nancy and Sarah look back at the mistakes, the time warp, the lessons. While some of these experiences are collective, some are quite specific, especially in blue states where enforced lockdowns and school closures stretched on longer. Was the misery of that time period a symptom of authoritarianism — or democracy?Big topic of the day: Ruby Franke, the Mormon mom with a YouTube channel currently serving time in prison for child abuse. A new docu-series on Hulu, Devil in the Family, connects the dots on how she got there. Nancy and Sarah talk toxic fundamentalism, mind control, sexual shaming, child abuse (and how it's culturally constructed), and the ethics of talking/blogging/profiting from your children. We also watched the Baldwins' new reality show, bless our hearts.Also discussed:* A crushing piece by a father on how COVID changed his young son* Hitchhiking!* The problems of safetyism* Sarah's secret petty side* “Sorry I didn't grow up in Appalachia…”* JD Vance memes are fun for everyone!* The ethics of writing/blogging about kids* How Sarah disappointed Katie Herzog* The vengeful figure of Jodi Hildebrant, therapist* Visions of Glory, the controversial Mormon book* We need to talk about Kevin* Nancy teaches Sarah the meaning of “May-December” romance* That time Alec Baldwin screamed at his daughter Ireland* Bad fathers can make good grandfathersPlus, a new theory on the Manson murders, Steve Kornacki's secret identity as a Lifetime movie scribe, Senator Bob Kerrey on grace, and more!

Happy Valentine's Day, America. Tulsi Gabbard is confirmed, Elon Musk is ransacking our government, the FBI is being purged, Trump and Hegseth are abandoning Ukraine. And Putin is coming to visit America.  What a great time for our enemies. The doors are wide open for them everywhere. Putin must be smiling from ear to ear.  We really need that upside down American flag emoji right about now. And we also need truly patriotic, candid, courageous and unafraid voices of reason. And we've got one of the best.  Bob Kerrey (@KerreyBob) is a Navy SEAL Vietnam Veteran, Medal of Honor Recipient, former Governor and Senator from Nebraska, member of The 9/11 Commission and constant voice of conscience for America. Lots of people talk tough. Bob Kerrey's lived tough. And he's not holding back on Elon Musk, Trump, Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard and what we're facing as a nation. He's got advice for Democrats on how to connect with real Americans and explains why he went against his own party to support Independent Navy Veteran Dan Osborn for Senate last year in Nebraska.  He also shares his heroic journey of overcoming adversity, having part of his leg amputated, why he chooses happiness every day and what it's like to have a Navy ship named after him. He's a brilliant, honest, funny and inspiring American hero. And this is an episode you're not gonna wanna miss.  Every episode of Independent Americans with Paul Rieckhoff breaks down the most important news stories–and offers light to contrast the heat of other politics and news shows. It's content for the 49% of Americans that proudly call themselves independent. Always with a unique focus on national security, foreign affairs and military and veterans issues. Independent content for independent Americans. In these trying times especially, Independent Americans is your trusted place for independent news, politics, inspiration and hope. The podcast that helps you stay ahead of the curve–and stay vigilant.  Be sure to check out the show now on our YouTube page here. -Watch the full conversation here. -Join the movement. Sign up to get our regular breakdowns of the independent news you need to know.  -Hook into our exclusive Patreon community of Independent Americans. Get extra content, connect with guests, meet other Independent Americans, attend events, get merch discounts, and support this show that speaks truth to power.  -Check the hashtag #LookForTheHelpers. And share yours.  -Find us on social media or www.IndependentAmericans.us. And get a cool, new IA hoodie sweatshirt just in time for the start of the cold season.  -Check out other Righteous podcasts like The Firefighters Podcast with Rob Serra, Uncle Montel - The OG of Weed and B Dorm.  Independent Americans is powered by veteran-owned and led Righteous Media. America's next great independent media company. Ways to listen: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0F1lzdRbTB0XYen8kyEqXe Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/independent-americans-with-paul-rieckhoff/id1457899667 Amazon Podcasts: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/49a684c3-68e1-4a85-8d93-d95027a8ec64/independent-americans-with-paul-rieckhoff TuneIn Radio: https://tunein.com/podcasts/News--Politics-Podcasts/Independent-Americans-p1214607/ Ways to watch: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@independentamericans Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/IndependentAmericansUS/ Social channels: X/Twitter: https://x.com/indy_americans BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/indyamericans.bsky.social Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/IndependentAmericansUS/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 2914 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature Medal of Honor recipient Navy LTJG Bob Kerrey. Information featured in this episode comes from Wikipedia. In the dense jungles of Vietnam in 1969, Navy Lieutenant Junior Grade Bob Kerrey … Continue reading →

On "Forbes Newsroom," former Sen. Bob Kerrey (D-NE) reacted to the failed push to change Nebraska's Electoral College voting system, the 2024 presidential race, the national debt, and the Nebraska Senate race between independent Dan Osborn and Sen. Deb Fischer. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

In Episode 378 of Hidden Forces, Demetri Kofinas speaks with Bob Kerrey, the former governor of Nebraska, a U.S. senator, and a member of the 9/11 Commission, about the latest revelations regarding support for the 9/11 hijackers by Saudi Arabia and troubling details about the CIA's actions in the lead-up to 9/11. Senator Bob Kerrey was first on the podcast in 2018, and in that conversation, he and Demetri discussed the then recently unredacted 28 pages from the congressional Joint Inquiry Report into the Intelligence Community's Activities before and after the Terrorist Attacks of September 11th, 2001. In those 28 pages, we learned that the government of Saudi Arabia and some members of the Royal Family had provided financial, logistical, and other forms of support to at least two of the 9/11 hijackers and their associates in the months and years leading up to those attacks. In the years since those pages were declassified, additional information has come out, mainly through lawsuits filed by 9/11 family members that provide not only further information about Saudi government involvement but also troubling details about the CIA's own actions in the lead-up to 9/11 and a potential cover-up of those activities by the agency and members of the Bush Whitehouse in the months and years afterward. As we near the twenty-third anniversary of those attacks, Senator Bob Kerrey has returned to discuss how these latest findings change our understanding of one of the most seminal events in American history, what they suggest about how our government works, where power resides in Washington, and what we, as citizens of this country, can do to restore accountability in the democratic halls of power. You can subscribe to our premium content and access our premium feed, episode transcripts, and Intelligence Reports at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you want to join in on the conversation and become a member of the Hidden Forces Genius community, which includes Q&A calls with guests, access to special research and analysis, in-person events, and dinners, you can also do that on our subscriber page at HiddenForces.io/subscribe. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode of Hidden Forces, you can help support the show by doing the following: Subscribe on Apple Podcasts | YouTube | Spotify | Stitcher | SoundCloud | CastBox | RSS Feed Write us a review on Apple Podcasts & Spotify Subscribe to our mailing list at https://hiddenforces.io/newsletter/ Producer & Host: Demetri Kofinas Editor & Engineer: Stylianos Nicolaou Subscribe and Support the Podcast at https://hiddenforces.io Join the conversation on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at @hiddenforcespod Follow Demetri on Twitter at @Kofinas Episode Recorded on 08/24/2024

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps' political career and the ongoing value of public service. The panel discussion features four people who have all worked as public servants: former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey; Lois Capps, former Congresswoman who served as a U.S. Representative from 1998-2017 representing Santa Barbara and the Central Coast, Laura Capps, the Second District Supervisor for Santa Barbara County; and Todd Capps, founding Executive Director of the Common Table Foundation. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39721]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps' political career and the ongoing value of public service. The panel discussion features four people who have all worked as public servants: former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey; Lois Capps, former Congresswoman who served as a U.S. Representative from 1998-2017 representing Santa Barbara and the Central Coast, Laura Capps, the Second District Supervisor for Santa Barbara County; and Todd Capps, founding Executive Director of the Common Table Foundation. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39721]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps' political career and the ongoing value of public service. The panel discussion features four people who have all worked as public servants: former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey; Lois Capps, former Congresswoman who served as a U.S. Representative from 1998-2017 representing Santa Barbara and the Central Coast, Laura Capps, the Second District Supervisor for Santa Barbara County; and Todd Capps, founding Executive Director of the Common Table Foundation. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39721]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps' political career and the ongoing value of public service. The panel discussion features four people who have all worked as public servants: former U.S. Senator and Nebraska Governor Bob Kerrey; Lois Capps, former Congresswoman who served as a U.S. Representative from 1998-2017 representing Santa Barbara and the Central Coast, Laura Capps, the Second District Supervisor for Santa Barbara County; and Todd Capps, founding Executive Director of the Common Table Foundation. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Public Affairs] [Humanities] [Show ID: 39721]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps' famous course on the Vietnam War and its impacts. The panel consists of former U.S. Senator and Governor Bob Kerrey, who is a veteran of the Vietnam War and co-instructor in Walter Capps' Vietnam War class. Shad Meshad is Founder and President of the National Veterans Foundation who served as a psych officer in Vietnam. Meshad met Walter Capps in 1977 and their conversation about the war led to the Vietnam War class, which Shad continued to help teach for the next 20 years. And Richard Hecht, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies at UCSB, who taught the Vietnam War course for nearly 25 years. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39718]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps' famous course on the Vietnam War and its impacts. The panel consists of former U.S. Senator and Governor Bob Kerrey, who is a veteran of the Vietnam War and co-instructor in Walter Capps' Vietnam War class. Shad Meshad is Founder and President of the National Veterans Foundation who served as a psych officer in Vietnam. Meshad met Walter Capps in 1977 and their conversation about the war led to the Vietnam War class, which Shad continued to help teach for the next 20 years. And Richard Hecht, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies at UCSB, who taught the Vietnam War course for nearly 25 years. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39718]

This program discusses humanist and scholar Walter Capps' famous course on the Vietnam War and its impacts. The panel consists of former U.S. Senator and Governor Bob Kerrey, who is a veteran of the Vietnam War and co-instructor in Walter Capps' Vietnam War class. Shad Meshad is Founder and President of the National Veterans Foundation who served as a psych officer in Vietnam. Meshad met Walter Capps in 1977 and their conversation about the war led to the Vietnam War class, which Shad continued to help teach for the next 20 years. And Richard Hecht, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Religious Studies at UCSB, who taught the Vietnam War course for nearly 25 years. Series: "Ethics, Religion and Public Life: Walter H. Capps Center Series" [Humanities] [Show ID: 39718]

Paul Johnson's resume reads like it should cover three careers...managing multiple presidentials, manager/general consultant on twelve Senate races, DSCC Executive Director over two cycles, and several years on Capitol Hill as a Senate Chief of Staff. In this conversation, we talk his roots in Minnesota politics, rising up the ranks through Mondale '84 to manage Tom Daschle's first Senate race in 1986 and then Bob Kerrey's first Senate race in 1988...then staying part of the Kerrey world for the next 20+ years. And eventually managing  presidential campaigns for both Senator Bob Graham and General Wes Clark - plus why Paul has been based out of Shreveport, LA for the past 20 years. This is a great discussion through a fascinating career with one of the most accomplished operatives in Democratic politics.IN THIS EPISODEPaul grows up in the Twin Cities, inspired by the political tradition of Minnesota Democrats...The one time Paul ran for office in his own right...Paul leads a Minnesota brigade to help Walter Mondale in the '84 Iowa Caucus...Paul manages Tom Daschle's first US Senate race in 1986...Paul talks the political impact of the "farm crisis" of the 1980s...Paul connects with Bob Kerrey in the 1988 cycle and stays part of his political world for 20+ years...Paul breaks down the missteps and missed opportunities from the Bob Kerry '92 presidential...Paul speaks to the legacy of political courage shown by Bob Kerrey...Paul's approach as a Senate Chief of Staff on the Hill...A little color on some of the famed friction between President Clinton and Senator Kerrey...Paul's memories of running the DSCCC during the 96 and 98 cycles...Paul goes deep on the boom and bust of the Wes Clark '04 Presidential campaign...An important lesson learned from his time managing Senator Bob Graham's '04 presidential...The Paul Johnson "3 Ms" of what makes an effective campaign manager...Why Paul has been based out of Shreveport, LA for 20+ years...AND...318 area codes, 441 AD, Jim Abdnor, agrarian movements, B+ trip notes, background noise, Scotty Baesler, Brent Blackaby, Jerry Brown, Jim Bunning, Larry Cohen, Susan Collins, Jim Crounse, Jim Crow, Howard Dean, Ron DeSantis, John Edwards, Russ Feingold, Don Foley, Jane Fonda, the Fritz Blitz, going batshit, Grandmother's Restaurant, Gary Hart, Hubert Humphrey, Larry Huynh, Dave Karnes, John Kerry, Carl Levin, Gene McCarthy, meat slicers, Carol Moseley Braun, Sheila Murphy, Ben Nelson, Parade magazine, party mergers, Rudy Perpich, press release routes, Ronald Reagan, Jody Severson, Bob Smith, soft money, Harold Stassen, Pete Stavrianos, Dick Swett, Bob Torricelli, Paul Tsongas, WCCO, Winnebagos, Debra Winger & more!

EPISODE 86: COUNTDOWN WITH KEITH OLBERMANN A-Block (1:44) SPECIAL COMMENT: Three weeks ago - so quietly it has barely been noticed - the government declassified the 31-page "memorandum for the record" of the 9/11 Commission's 2004 interview with President George W. Bush (2:20) In it, Bush's words are beyond damning - they are confessional. They confirm his dereliction of duty, his culpability, his malfeasance, in the months before 9/11. Bush lied (5:38) about the August 6 President's Daily Briefing (6:58) Bush lied about the only threats being "overseas" (7:53) Bush lied about Al-Qaeda cells in the U.S. (8:23) Bush lied about aircraft as missiles (8:57) Bush lied about being warned about domestic threats (9:30) Bush lied about George Tenet never warning him (10:00) Bush lied about never being told how Al-Qaeda would attack (14:28) Sadly the 9/11 Commissioners never asked Bush about the allegation that he rushed through the August 6 2001 PDB because he wanted to go fishing and told the briefer "All right, you've covered your ass now." That's unfortunate because ALL Bush did in his interview with the Commissioners was try to cover HIS ass. For more than 20 years he's succeeded, but after the declassification of this memorandum, history will conclude two things: Osama Bin Laden attacked America - no one else. And George W. Bush made sure that America was unprepared - no one else. B-Block (19:29) EVERY DOG HAS ITS DAY: Lucky in California (20:21) POSTSCRIPTS TO THE NEWS: McCarthy promises a committee to investigate the 1/6 Committee - IF he can get elected; and after promising no layoffs, CNN's Chris Licht lays off hundreds (22:26) IN SPORTS: How IS Pele? And Don Mattingly's new job and why whenever he sees me he says "That's Mel on the right!" (25:25) THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD: The man who ignored the warning 'never drink while playing Monopoly' and the gullible website Semafor compete with Elon "I Lied About Apple" Musk for the honors. C-Block (29:31) 37 years ago this month I was new in L.A. and on my way to a great interview with baseball immortal Mickey Mantle. That's when I ran into the most elegantly dressed couple I have ever seen in my life. They were fans of my new local sportscast, and they introduced themselves as Joseph and Patricia Carlton. But who WERE they and why he look SO familiar? An amazing explanation in "Things I Promised Not To Tell."See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Can Democrats Keep the Senate? Will Republicans Take Back the House? A CONVERSATION WITH U.S. SENATOR BOB KERREY Bob Kerrey served as a US Navy SEAL during the Vietnam War. For his service, he received the Congressional Medal of Honor. While in Vietnam, he was wounded, permanently disabled and received from this injury a great gift: sympathy for those who are suffering and an appreciation for the capacity of government to save your life. Before entering politics, Kerrey was a businessman who helped build a chain of restaurants and health clubs employing more than 1,000 people. He then served one term as Nebraska's Governor. Kerrey represented Nebraska in the Senate from 1989 to 2001. His public service since leaving the Senate includes: the 9/11 Commission, advisory board of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans Association, co-chair of the Concord Coalition and the Natural Resources Defense Council. From 2001 to 2011, Kerrey was president of The New School, a university founded on democratic ideals and daring educational practices. On his watch, The New School experienced unprecedented growth in enrollment, faculty, scholarships, capital projects, research and international engagement. Marília and I will discuss the upcoming General Election with Senator Kerrey. We look forward to hearing his insights on politics in America, the divide in public opinion and what he sees going forward. It is our great honor to interview this American hero and great legislator. Tune into this important pre-election conversation as we discuss where we go as Democrats and where we go as Americans.

Lis Smith is an operative's operative...with nearly 20 years of races under her belt of wins and losses and lessons learned along the way. Her new book ANY GIVEN TUESDAY is now out about her career in politics, while also finding herself in the headlines from time to time...including a deep dive into the unlikely ascent of Pete Buttigieg's 2020 Presidential Campaign. This is a really fun conversation with one of the most dynamic thinkers in today's politics. IN THIS EPISODEThe moment Lis fell in love with politics…The common threads of the candidates Lis wants to work with…What makes Claire McCaskill a talented communicator…Lis's take on how Democrats should navigate Fox News…Lis's early campaign stint seeing old-school politics in Kentucky…Lis defines “strategic cuss words”…Lis squares off against Chris Christie in his first race…Lis breaks down her role running Rapid Response for the 2012 Obama Re-election…The political importance of “parasocial relationships”?Why an operative has to be willing to disagree with their client…Why some personally charismatic candidates have trouble communicating publicly…Lis's very first impressions of Pete Buttigieg…Memorable responses when people heard Lis was working for the Buttigieg Presidential…The common thread between John McCain's 2000 presidential and Buttigieg 2020…The origin of what came to be known as the Pete Buttigieg "uniform"…Lis's favorite memory from the Pete 2020 experience…Lessons Lis learned in her stint working for Andrew Cuomo…Her approach to building and nurturing talented teams and operatives…Lis's advice on underappreciated Guns N' Roses songs…AND David Axelrod, bangers, the bee's knees, Paul Begala, Richard Ben Cramer, Chuck Berry, Blueberry Hill, Jerry Brown, George Bush, can-do mayors, Tucker Carlson, Hillary Clinton, Coal Miner's Daughter, Jon Corzine, Stephanie Cutter, Tom Daschle, defense contractors, Diet Dr. Pepper, John Edwards, Albert Einstein, evil twins, Greek tragedies, Sean Hannity, Kamala Harris, Eric Holder, ill-fitting suits, Laura Ingraham, it factors, Bob Kerrey, John Kerry, Ben LaBolt, Chris Maher, Terry McAuliffe, Mallory McMorrow, mill towns, Tim Miller, Martin O'Malley, John Mulaney, normal person language, Michelle Obama, Jen O'Malley Dillon, pantsuits, the Pete Diaspora, Prince Charming, the Prince of Darkness, Jen Psaki, rage juice, Red Bull, Kid Rock, Mitt Romney, Axl Rose, Bernie Sanders, Mike Schmuhl, sequin shirts, Nina Smith, Julianna Smoot, George Stephanopoulos, the Straight Talk Express, Ted Strickland, summer doldrums, Greg Stumbo, TJ Maxx, Donald Trump, Twitter, visual brands, the War Room, water coolers, Glen Youngkin…& more!

From serving in the Air Force, to his time in both the House and Senate, and rising to become Senate Majority Leader during the 9-11 attacks…few have led more impactful political lives than Tom Daschle. In this conversation, he talks the unusual confluence of events that led to his involvement in politics, his mentor George McGovern, being taken under the wing of Speaker Tip O'Neill, his meteoric rise to become Senate Democratic leader…with stories, lessons, and insight from a 50+ career of service that continues to this day.IN THIS EPISODEThe two candidates that inspired a young Tom Daschle's interest in politics (one you might guess and the other you won't)…The progressive political tradition of South Dakota…Senator Daschle talks about his “hero” and “mentor” George McGovern…Senator Daschle talks about his own service in the military and why it made him a better member of Congress…Memories of his time as a Senate staffer in the 70s during Watergate and the end of the Vietnam War…The factor that led Congressman Daschle to have a special relationship with Speaker Tip O'Neill…Winning three 50-50 races over the course of 8 years to win both a House and then a Senate seat…The story behind the unique name of the Daschle campaign committee…The story of how a first term Congressman Tom Daschle received a convention vote for Vice President in 1980…The decision to make the jump from the House to the Senate…The circuitous story behind Senator Daschle's 1-vote margin to become Senate Democratic minority leader after the 1994 election…The “up and down” relationship with President George W. Bush…Inside the decision of Jim Jeffords to switch parties and give the Democrats a brief Senate Majority in the early 00s…The legislative accomplishments of which Senator Daschle is most proud…Memories of the votes when emotions ran high on the Senate floor…How close did he get to running for President in 2004? (Very close)What made his longtime Chief of Staff Pete Rouse such an effective staffer…Senator Daschle talks his relationship with Barack Obama…A window into his current work with The Daschle Group…The Daschle pitch for us all to visit South Dakota…AND 50-50 Senates, 66 counties, Jim Abdnor, Aberdeen, Jim Abourezk, agent orange, Madeline Albright, anthrax, the anti-war movement, the Badlands, Howard Baker, biofuels, the Bipartisan Policy Center, the Black Hills, Robert Byrd, CHIPs, Bill Clinton, the Cold War, Kent Conrad, Nathan Daschle, Chris Dodd, Bob Dole, Byron Dorgan, dugout press conferences, the Dust Bowl, early out programs, Food for Peace, the fragility of democracy, Bill Frist, Fritz Hollings, John Kennedy, Ted Kennedy, Bob Kerrey, Trent Lott, George May, John McCain, Jim Messina, Bob Michel, the Missouri River, George Mitchell, the National Democratic Institute, Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Omaha, Claude Pepper, populist traditions, regional whips, Franklin Roosevelt, Jim Sasser, the Senate Democratic Policy Committee, the Sioux River, Mo Udall, the Vietnam War, war heroes, Watergate…& more!

As part of a Frameworks tradition, Throwback Thursdays represent our occasional forays into the past.  In this iteration of Throwback Thursdays, we're going back several years to a summer reading series--spent in the Psalms--in which various staff and faculty of Northwest Christian enjoyed Kingdom Culture Conversations with the pastors from their own churches--sharing and talking about their own respective favorite Psalms.This week, we enjoy a conversation, regarding their favorite Psalms, between Pastor Bob Kerrey of Moon Valley Bible Church and Northwest Christian's Sandy Fraser.For more information on Moon Valley Bible Church, please click here."Kingdom Culture Conversations" is a podcast created through Frameworks, a Biblical worldview initiative of Northwest Christian School.For more information on Frameworks, please visit:  https://frameworks.ncsaz.org/For more information on Northwest Christian School, visit:  https://www.ncsaz.org/To reach out to Geoff Brown, please email gbrown@ncsaz.org or you can reach him by cell phone:  (623)225-5573.

Meet Bob Kerrey:Bob Kerrey is a Managing Director at Allen & Company, Chairman of the Minerva Institute for Research and Scholarship, and Lead Director of Tenet Healthcare. He served as the 35th Governor of Nebraska and as a U.S. Senator from Nebraska. He was also the President of The New School and served as a U.S. Navy SEAL. Governor Kerrey received a degree in Pharmacy from the University of Nebraska.Meet Mitch E. Daniels Jr.:Mitch E. Daniels Jr. is the President of Purdue University and previously served as the 49th Governor of Indiana. He is a current Director and former Lead Director at Cerner Corporation. Previously, President Daniels was the Director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and worked as the President of North American Operations and then Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Policy for Eli Lily & Company. He received a Bachelor's from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs.Key Insights:In the spirit of bipartisanship, we invited two former politicians, one Democrat and one Republican, for a bold discussion on today's greatest challenges.Decision Making During COVID-19. Both explore how they addressed COVID-19 issues with limited information. President Daniels describes how Purdue designed protective guidelines from scratch, building in a way to evaluate their choices. Governor Kerrey reminds us to not assume we know everything, and to not apply solutions with a broad brush. (6:45) (9:44)Democracy is Hard. Governor Kerrey reflects on American history and the perceived partisan divide. He points out that we as a country have overcome a lot worse than what is happening today. Democracy takes work and we should not fear conflict or criticism. (39:02)What Drives You? President Daniels shares that the most fulfilling aspect of his work is leaving behind something better. He encourages young leaders to question why they are seeking leadership roles. The answer should not be about you, rather the impact you can have. (43:05)Relevant Links: Read Mitch Daniels contributions to the Washington PostRead “When I Was a Young Man: A Memoir” by Bob Kerrey

What can possibly explain Manchin's and Sinema's votes against voting rights this week? Why did they create a false narrative that the legislation had to be “bipartisan” when everyone -- themselves included -- knew bipartisanship was impossible? Why did they say they couldn't support changing the filibuster rules when only last month they voted for an exception to the filibuster that allowed debt ceiling legislation to pass with only Democratic votes? Why did they co-sponsor voting rights legislation and then vote to kill the very same legislation? Why did Manchin vote for the “talking filibuster” in 2011 yet vote against it now?I've suggested that the answer to all these questions could be found in the giant wads of corporate cash flowing into their campaign coffers. But as I've watched the two senators closely and spoken about them with members of Congress as well as Hill staff, I've come to the conclusion this isn't it – or at least not all of it.The corporate money explanation leaves out the single biggest factor affecting almost all national politicians I've dealt with: Big egos. Manchin's and Sinema's are now among the biggest. Before February of last year, almost no one outside West Virginia had ever heard of Joe Manchin, and almost no one outside of Arizona (and probably few within the state) had ever heard of Kyrsten Sinema. Now, they're notorious. They're Washington celebrities. Their photos grace every major news outlet in America.This sort of attention is addictive. Once it seeps into the bloodstream, it becomes an all-consuming force. I've known politicians who have become permanently and irrevocably intoxicated by it.I'm not talking simply about power, although that's certainly part of it. I'm talking about narcissism – the primal force driving so much of modern America, but whose essence is concentrated in certain places such as Wall Street, Hollywood, and the United States Senate. Once addicted, the pathologically narcissistic politician can become petty in the extreme, taking every slight as a deep personal insult. I'm told that Manchin asked Biden's staff not to blame him for the delay of “Build Back Better,” and was then infuriated when Biden suggested Manchin bore some of the responsibility. “You want to understand why Manchin stabbed Biden in the back on voting rights?” one House member told me this week. “It's because he's so pissed off at Ron Klain [Biden's chief of staff].” I'm also told that if Biden wants to restart negotiations with Manchin on “Build Back Better,” he's got to rename the package because Manchin is so angry he won't vote for anything going by that name. Paradoxically, a large enough slight played out on the national stage can also enthrall a pathologically narcissistic politician. Several people on the Hill who have watched Sinema at close range since she became a senator tell me she relished all the negative attention she got when she gave her very theatrical thumbs down to increasing the minimum wage, and since then has thrilled at her burgeoning role as a spoiler. The Senate is not the world's greatest deliberative body, but it is the world's greatest stew of egos battling for attention. Every senator believes he or she has what it takes to be president. Most believe they're far more competent than whoever occupies the Oval Office. Yet out of one hundred senators, only a handful are chosen for interviews on the Sunday talk shows, only one or two are lampooned on SNL, and very few get a realistic shot at the presidency. The result is intense competition for national attention. Again and again, I've watched worthy legislation sink because particular senators didn't feel they were getting enough credit, or enough personal attention from a president, or insufficient press attention, or unwanted press attention, or that another senator (sometimes from the same party) was getting too much attention.Barack Obama didn't enjoy glad-handing senators, even though he got to the presidency through that august body — which proved a huge handicap when it came to legislating. Bill Clinton would talk to senators (or, for that matter, to almost anyone else) all the time, but Clinton had too much confidence in his own charm to give individual senators the ego boosts they wanted — thereby rubbing the most narcissistic of them the wrong way (Nebraska senator Bob Kerrey voted against Clinton's healthcare plan because he wanted more attention; New York senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was lukewarm on it because he felt he wasn't adequately consulted). Some senators get so whacky in the national limelight that they can't function without it. Trump had that effect on Republicans. Before Trump, Lindsay Graham was almost a normal human being. Then Trump directed a huge amp of national attention Graham's way — transmogrifying Graham into a bizarro creature who'd say anything Trump wanted in order to keep the attention coming.Not all senators are egomaniacs, of course. I had the good fortune to work closely with the late Paul Wellstone, who was always eager to give others credit while being the first to take any blame. I know several now serving who have their egos firmly in check — including Mark Kelly, Raphael Warnock, Sherrod Brown, Bernie Sanders, and Elizabeth Warren. Most of the rest lie on an ego spectrum ranging from inflated to pathological. Manchin and Sinema are near the extreme. As I said, neither had much national attention prior to the last February. But once they got a taste of the national spotlight, they couldn't let go. They must have figured that the only way they could keep the spotlight focused on themselves was by threatening to do what they finally did this week — shafting American democracy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit robertreich.substack.com/subscribe

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer is pledging the Senate will 'consider the Build Back Better Act very early in the new year' after Sen. Joe Manchin quashed the current negotiations on the bill. Plus, the January 6th Select Committee is asking GOP Rep. Scott Perry to voluntarily sit for an interview. And Trump continues to face criticism for his remarks about Jewish Americans. Bob Kerrey, E.J. Dionne, Eugene Robinson, Rep. Eric Swalwell, David Rothkopf, and Molly Jong-Fast all join MSNBC's Lawrence O'Donnell.

This week we revisit our conversation from earlier in the year with the great Bob Kerrey.  Bob is a former Navy Seal, Vietnam Veteran and a recipient of The Medal of Honor. His wit and wisdom really shine through in every topic we discuss – he maintains a sort of detached insouciance, which can only come with facing mortality and understanding your particular place in the world.  We cover everything from his early life in Nebraska, his decision to join the Navy; leaving his post-service business career to run for Governor and US Senate – winning each time he ran; His campaign for President, and his experience as a member of the 9/11 Commission.  When I Was A Young Man: A Memoir  Follow our accounts to help us spread the word about the show: Podcast Instagram Podcast Twitter Dave Instagram Dave Twitter Chris Twitter Chris Instagram  Show email: nowmorethaneverpod@gmail.com

Dimitri and Khalid discuss 20 years of official lies and unofficial disinfo surrounding the September 11th Bourgeois Terror Spectacle, including: “The 9/11 Chronicles, Part 1: Truth Rising”, Luke Rudkowski's WeAreChange, Alex Jones and the 9/11 Truth Movement that flourished before vanishing/turning right wing after 2008, Sen. Bob Kerrey calling the attacks “a thirty year conspiracy”, Pynchon's “Bleeding Edge”, the “Marxism, Conspiracy, and 9/11” essay from 2010, Hunter S. Thompson questioning 9/11 and Matt Taibbi calling truthers insane, the hysterical boogeyman category of “TERRORIST” extending from 9/11 to the unvaccinated and "Y'all Qaeda", and CIA Alec Station Chief Dr. Michael Sheuer's curious reflections on That September Day. For access to full-length premium episodes and the SJ Grotto of Truth Discord, subscribe to the Al-Wara' Frequency at patreon.com/subliminaljihad.

Newt is joined by his friend and former colleague Senator Bob Kerrey to discuss the 20th anniversary of the September 11th attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. Senator Kerry served on the 9/11 Commission and has an insiders perspective on how 9/11 happened, what went wrong, how we needed to make changes to our national security and what ultimately followed. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

We all can be Nice Ninjas and do something nice for someone else without being caught. You can also just be kind and just ask the recipient to pay it forward. If you are looking for a few examples of how to do that, then this episode is going to be a good one to listen to! The quote in this episode is from Bob Kerrey, “Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.” You can learn more about the new network of podcasts we are part of by visiting That's Not Canon at https://thatsnotcanon.com/

Is our divided political culture energizing or suppressing democracy? Former Nebraska Governor and US Senator Bob Kerrey and renowned chef, restaurateur and food activist Tom Colicchio join Billy Shore to discuss the politics of hunger, public education and the role of the citizen in democracy. “The real problem in the food system is [it doesn't] permit the kind of innovation that will produce a different outcome. You've got to create a system whereby the innovators who want to deliver healthy food have an opportunity to get in the door and be successful,” explains Kerrey. Colicchio agrees and talks about the insights he gained from his wife's (Laurie Silverbush) groundbreaking film about hunger in America, A Place at the Table. “People aren't hungry in this country because of famine, war or drought. We have enough food to feed people. We don't have enough political will to feed people,” he notes.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tonight on the Last Word: Democrats unite around the $3.5 trillion infrastructure bill. Also, Texas Democrats meet with senators to pressure federal action on voting rights. Plus, Sheera Frenkel and Cecilia Kang talk to Lawrence about Facebook's failure to combat disinformation. And former Sen. Bob Kerrey discusses the Senate then and now. Sen. Debbie Stabenow, Texas State Rep. Shawn Thierry, Texas State Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Sen. Richard Blumenthal also join Lawrence O'Donnell.

Former Nebraska Governor and United States Senator Bob Kerrey  is our first interview with an elected official, and he does not disappoint!  Bob is a former Navy Seal, Vietnam Veteran and a recipient of The Medal of Honor. His wit and wisdom really shine through in every topic we discuss – he maintains a sort of detached insouciance, which can only come with facing mortality and understanding your particular place in the world.  We cover everything from his early life in Nebraska, his decision to join the Navy; leaving his post-service business career to run for Governor and US Senate – winning each time he ran; His campaign for President, and his experience as a member of the 9/11 Commission.  We even have friends in common, in that The Chairman's grandfather wrote the citation for the Medal of Honor for Paul W. “Bud” Bucha – though Bob does not have a picture of Bud on the wall of his living room.  And of course we discuss the clip (linked below) of Bob singing “The Band Played Waltzing Matilda” as his victory speech after winning the 1988 campaign for US Senate – which has apparently occupied more space in our heads than it ever did in Senator Kerrey's – and that's part of his particular charm.  We even touch on how rules and regulations around small business are “almost enough to make you a Libertarian,” but also how “Government is not broken, you just have to work at it” – such an interesting perspective from a 3 term statewide elected official and candidate for President of The United States.  Watch the most authentic and revealing video of a politician Dave's ever seen before you listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWaDkGXzs_M&t=140s  The song itself is a King Hell Monster of the futility of war, and how it grinds up young men, and leaves children asking “What are they marching for?” – and as Bob says, watch his kids' reactions behind him on stage.  Bob even named his book after the a line in the opening of the song, here's the Audible version of him reading it: When I Was A Young Man: A Memoir    Podcast Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/now_more_than_ever_pod/ Podcast Twitter:  https://twitter.com/NowMoreThanEve2 Dave Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thechairmanmow/ Dave Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheChairmanMow Chris Twitter: https://twitter.com/vescoisland Chris Instragram: https://www.instagram.com/chris_krauth/    

This weekend’s edition of the Ruminant is a little bit like Christopher Hitchens’ D.C. apartment: a little bit of one thing right next to a little bit of the complete opposite thing. There’s a lot of ground covered in this, a practically record-breaking long episode of the podcast in which Jonah discusses his dad’s work for the wonderfully-acronymed NANA (North American Newspaper Alliance), dynamic scoring (a system in which this episode gets an A+), the necessity of telling the truth at a time in which even committed conservatives have a legitimate temptation to abandon their principles, the request from a listener for Goldberg Story Time, and much, much more.   Show Notes: -      Tim Russert interviews Bob Kerrey -      John Edwards’ bizarre stem cell comments -      CDC director “speaking in her personal capacity” -      TX Gov. Abbott lifts mask mandate -      Thomas Kuhn: The Structure of Scientific Revolutions -      “Rationalia” -      Jay Nordlinger’s Q&A -      Memogate/Rathergate -      “Slackjawed troglodytes” -      Voir dire, or, as Advisory Opinions likes to say, “Vwahr Dahr” -      “I don’t like the… stumps” -      Mit-Voche Epistle -      The Remnant with Steve Hayward and Charles Murray -      Kathryn Jean Lopez’ page at National Review -      Matt Lewis speaks to Bill Kristol See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

KFOR's Dale Johnson talks with former Nebraska Democratic U.S. Senator, and Governor, Bob Kerrey, to reflect on the administration of President Trump

Greg Weiner joins The Great Battlefield podcast to talk about his career from working on Capitol Hill for Senator Bob Kerrey to being Provost and Professor of Political Science at Assumption University to his numerous books and articles focused on the intersection of political theory and The U.S. Constitution.

Senator Kerrey served as the Governor of Nebraska and as a United States Senator from Nebraska for more than a decade. Before embarking on his career in politics, Senator Kerrey was a Navy SEAL officer in the Vietnam War, where he was awarded the Medal of Honor for heroism in combat. Now, he sits on the board at Issue One, a nonprofit focused on campaign finance reform and getting big money out of politics. He was also president of The New School, a university in New York City. Today's episode is an excerpt from the conversation between Senator Kerrey and Sam Caucci from our first live virtual event, Compete 2020. With the election here, you're not going to want to miss this historic episode of the pod so… Let's bring it in!

In this podcast episode, host Joel Heitkamp visits with former US Senator of Nebraska Bob Kerrey about a number of different political issues going on across the nation.  Take a listen to Senator Kerrey's full interview with Heitkamp by clicking on the 'play' icon above.  See omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information.

Episode 386 Bob Kerrey is a First Class Father, Former Navy SEAL, Former US Senator of Nebraska and Medal of Honor Recipient. He was wounded in combat during the Vietnam War and awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his courageous actions under fire. He served as Governor for four years before being elected to the U.S. Senate, where he served from 1989 through 2001. In 2002 he published a memoir "When I Was A Young Man." In this episode, Bob Kerrey shares his Fatherhood journey which includes three children and four grandchildren. He discusses his transition from the business world to politics. He talks about how he and his family have managed during the pandemic. He describes his discipline style as a father as well as his approach once his kids began dating. He offers some great advice for new or about to be Dads and more! MANSCAPED - https://www.manscaped.com Promo Code - Father Save 20% + Free Shipping Subscribe to First Class Fatherhood on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCD6cjYptutjJWYlM0Kk6cQ More Ways To Listen - https://linktr.ee/alec_lace First Class Fatherhood Merch - https://shop.spreadshirt.com/first-class-fatherhood-/we+are+not+babysitters-A5d09ea872051763ad613ec8e?productType=812&sellable=3017x1aBoNI8jJe83pw5-812-7&appearance=1 Follow me on instagram - https://instagram.com/alec_lace?igshid=ebfecg0yvbap For information about becoming a Sponsor of First Class Fatherhood please hit me with an email: FirstClassFatherhood@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/alec-lace/support

“I've been searching for ways to heal myself, and I've found that kindness is the best way.” -Lady Gaga This last week I experienced small acts of BIG kindness on the Big Island of Hawaii. It is a game changer, and I am inspired to do more, and be more...kind. “What is quite clearly the most consistent and all-embracing act of faith is called Chesed, which means kindness and implies the giving of oneself to helping another without regard to compensation.” - Rabbi Maurice Lamm “Unexpected kindness is the most powerful, least costly, and most underrated agent of human change.” - Bob Kerrey @georgettevolcano

Former Senator Bob Kerrey joins the Center for New Liberalism and the Progressive Policy Institute's Paul Weinstein and Alec Stapp to discuss whether or not the US government should adopt return-free filing for individual taxes. The participants will discuss the costs and benefits of return-free filing relative to our current voluntary tax filing system, the main problems with our current tax system, and whether or not return-free filing would reduce tax evasion.

In this episode of Fireside Chat, we sit down with Bob Kerrey, Former Governor and Senator of Nebraska and President, The New School. In this conversation, we discussed lessons learned during his time as a Governor and U.S. State Senator, the responsibilities of a lead director during a time of crisis, and how the pandemic will change our lifestyles moving forward. Please note: The number of COVID-19 cases and the situation referenced in this episode were based on reported data at the time of the interview and are subject to change. Transcription Bob Kerrey 0:04 You’re going to see fairly significant changes coming out of it. I think education is going to be different coming out of it. I think healthcare is going to be different coming out of it. I think our food delivery system is going to be different. We’re going to make changes. Gary Bisbee 0:15 That was Governor Bob Perry, former governor and US senator from the state of Nebraska. Governor Kerry is confident that we’ll see substantial changes in response to the COVID pandemic across many sectors of our society, including healthcare. Governor Kerrey has a wide range of experiences, including being an officer in SEAL Team one and a recipient of the Medal of Honor. We covered lessons he has learned from his time as governor and US senator. He’s an experienced board member, and he provided an excellent perspective on the responsibilities of a lead director during a crisis and guidelines for relating to the CEO. Governor Kerry spoke about the coronavirus being with us for the foreseeable future, which will change our lifestyles. Let’s listen: Bob Kerrey 1:00 This virus is not going to disappear. We’re not going to eliminate it. There’s not going to be a signing ceremony, unconditional surrender, it’s going to be with us. So we got to figure out how to live with it. And I think one of the things is that we do is to make sure that the supply chain is reliable. Gary Bisbee 1:15 He believes that we must develop a reliable supply chain for PPE, similar to that developed by the Defense Department. I’m delighted to welcome Governor Bob Kerry to the microphone. Well, welcome to the podcast, Governor. Bob Kerrey 1:31 Thanks, Gary. Gary Bisbee 1:31 Well, I’m pleased to have you at this microphone for sure. Why don’t we get right into it. And the first topic that I’d love to explore with you is the role of a governor during a crisis. And we’ve seen many governors in the 60 to 70% approval rating as of now. So why do you think that the governors are so well thought of across the country, Bob? Bob Kerrey 1:54 Well, I mean, they’re first of all their home and they have a significant amount of authority when we have a crisis. And you see it all the time, it could be a crisis of caused by weather a flood or tornado or because they have authority over the guard. But people look to the governor, even when they don’t have authority, they look to the governor and typically grant that Governor moral authority to help them understand what’s going on. And the governor, again, may not have statutory authority over employers, but the employers will look to the governor as somebody not just with authority to talk, but they look to the governor and say, “Look, this is what we need. This is what our needs are.” So it’s a unique situation, by the way, and one thing, Gary, during this COVID-19 pandemic, oftentimes people say, Well, how come we’re not like South Korea or Singapore or something, right? Well, because in 1787, when our Constitution was written, the states retained a substantial amount of authority over decision making, from education to healthcare to a whole range of things, theyve got authority. There’s nothing comparable in Korea to the (power of the) States. And it is true there are times when it makes it difficult for decision making. But most of the time, what it does is gives you a variety of different decision making some good, some bad. And then typically the governors learn from each other. They associate and they’re back and forth talking about, okay, what are you doing to make something work? So I think it’s a it’s a genius, political arrangement, but it’s different than any other country. Gary Bisbee 3:25 Right. During the time that you were Nebraska governor, what did you feel your most important responsibility was? Bob Kerrey 3:31 Well, I think it’s trying to answer the question “What’s going on?” So, as an example, I came into office, in fact, I got elected as a result of an economic recession that began in the late 1970s with inflation. And when the chairman of the Federal Reserve broke inflation by tightening the money supply, we had a lot of farms that went broke because they borrowed money and put up their land as collateral and commodity prices were down because it was an economic recession. So explaining and trying to understand, that not by sitting on a mountaintop, but by listening to people talking to experts and trying to get a sense of what the problem was and trying to get a good sense of what the solution was, I’d say it’s the most important the governor has to do. Now, there are all kinds of state agencies, you have to fund and you have to appoint judges and you have to make difficult decisions on pardoned boards. But I think the key thing is trying to answer the question “what is going on right now? And what do we need to do in order to reach that point that we say we want to reach which is a better life for our children and our grandchildren?” Gary Bisbee 4:35 How tightly does the state emergency powers that the governor’s control of how tightly does that need to be coordinated with the US as a practical matter? Bob Kerrey 4:44 First of all, it’s almost automatically coordinated as a result of the guard, is partially controlled by the governor, the National Guard, and partially controlled by the department defense. So it’s the President nationalizes the guard all of a sudden the president of the United States as Commander in Chief has full authority. So it’s, in most disasters, you’ve got a significant amount of automatic coordination going on between the Department of Defense and the governor’s office to the guard. But there are other agencies become important. The Corps of Engineers becomes enormously important. The Bureau of Reclamation becomes important, FEMA is enormously important. So a substantial amount of coordination goes on. Even if… let’s take the Small Business Administration, I didn’t have any authority over the SBA. But if we had a national disaster, and we had a couple. If you have a national disaster, the SBA becomes very, very important. So we don’t coordinate but our economic development people have to understand – what are the rules that the SBA is using? Because oftentimes people will come to the state get questions answered, and the more questions we can answer, the better job to the feds are going to be able to do to help us. Gary Bisbee 5:53 Well, one of the key issues now- you’re referred to it in your terrific op-ed editorial and today’s Wall Street Journal, but that’s was the balance between the state economies and the health of the people? How would a governor parse through that? Bob Kerrey 6:08 First of all, be prepared to make mistakes. And be honest when you make a mistake and as much as possible to get all the other stakeholders to buy into a presumption that we are going to make mistakes. When we make a mistake, don’t blame each other, make adjustments, and move on. Because if you don’t do that, what happens is that the process shuts down. It’s everybody pointing the finger each other trying to lay the blame off on somebody else. As opposed to, we’ve got a flood, we’ve got a tornado, we’ve got a disaster. We got to get building. And the good news is I didn’t mention this as the most important part of this in a disaster, but people really pulled together. I always say this tornado in Omaha, Nebraska in 1975, and we were about 18 months into business and our business was blown away. I was in New York when 9/11 happened. I’ve only lived in the United States. So I’m not asserting that Americans in this regard are better than other countries. Because it’s made maybe human nature, not just the way Americans are. But Americans… if somebody is in trouble, we’d like to help them. And when the tornado hit in Omaha 75, and when Al Qaeda attacked us in 2001, the city of Omaha in the city of New York became a community. We helped each other. Governments can’t do it all without that impulse to help each other, help each other rebuild volunteer time, and contribute labor, and contribute money if necessary. The government can’t get it done. So before you ever get to what is the governor does, it’s really important to understand that all the governor can do is connected to the willingness of the people themselves to help their neighbor and help somebody that doesn’t even know get through the crisis, get through the challenge. And you’ve seen that now I think with COVID. The different from COVID is we all have to stay inside. It’s harder to help but you don’t have to look very far. You see it in the hospitals. You see it in the food banks, my goodness. You see heroic people helping be willing to run a considerable risk to help, and no crisis is solvable, no leader can ever get through a crisis without that will being there. Gary Bisbee 8:12 Right. Well, you mentioned the 9/11 crisis, of course, you were one to 10 members appointed to the 9/11 commission, and thinking about particularly recommendations out of that commission. Are there any learnings there for us, Bob, in terms of the current crisis? Bob Kerrey 8:27 I think so. First of all, it was a very partisan time after 9/11, maybe less partisan than it is today, I don’t know but it was partisan. The R’s and the D’s were at each other’s throats. And they put together a commission that was chaired by two wonderful people, one Democrat, Lee Hamilton, and one a Republican Tom Kaine. And we had no dissenting report, no dissenting opinions. It was a unified report. And we wanted to unify because we felt that the country needed to pull together as well. As a consequence of Tom and Lee’s leadership, and as a consequence of no minority reports, I think the impact was much, much greater. And remember, the 9/11 Commission was stood up after the House did their own examination and the families of the men and women who were killed on that day. They didn’t trust it. They didn’t trust the conclusion. So the 9/11 Commission was set up to be a nonpartisan response to, first of all, tell the story what happened, what was the nature of the conspiracy? How did we miss it? And then what do we need to do to reduce the chances – not to zero and never get to zero in life – of it happening again? So is the nature of Tom Kaine and Lee Hamilton’s leadership and the willingness of the commissioners to set aside what normally would have occurred, which is minority or dissenting opinions that I think enabled Congress to see this as something that they needed to act upon. Gary Bisbee 9:53 But do you believe that a similar process in this case that is a commission should take place? Bob Kerrey 9:59 Not now. I like Nancy Pelosi, but I think putting a commission together in the middle of this is not a good idea. I think we’re better off waiting until a year or so we get beyond this like, it’s like, one of the things I think it’s very important to understand with this virus is that you can’t declare war on it. This is not a war. It’s a virus. It’s it’s an RNA virus, this virus has been around a long time, and we’re not going to defeat it. We’re not going to eliminate it, you’re not going to get to a point like we did with polio, where we vaccinate everybody, and there’s no danger any longer we’re going to have to learn how to live with it, and how to adjust. And we’re going to go through a period where our adjustments are going to be more extreme today than then we’re going to have to be a year 18 months from now when everybody is tested. We know who’s been affected, who hasn’t been affected. We’ll get through this, but I think we’re going to be doing things differently than we were previously because nobody wants to die of an infection of this virus. It’s not going to go away. And we’re going to need to have much better collaboration between the state and the feds on public health issues. And I think you’re going to see fairly significant changes coming out of it. I think education is going to be different coming out of it. I think healthcare is going to be different coming out of it. I think our food delivery system is going to be different. We’re going to we’re gonna make changes. I mean, the big one that’s kind of startling is the, you know, the benchmark for oil went negative yesterday, they could they couldn’t give the darn oil away, why? We’re not driving. We’re not consuming as much gasoline as we were before. Now, I suspect we’re going to go back to driving. But we might do it differently. I don’t know. That’s a great thing about living in a country where you’re free to make your own decisions. They’re gonna change the way they buy things and the way they conduct your business. Certainly, if my assessment of it is correct, which is this virus can’t be defeated. We’re not going to have a celebration where no more smallpox victims occur in our country. This is a virus it’s going to be hanging out with its and it’ll probably mutate and come back and different forms again, we’re gonna have to figure out how to live with it. Gary Bisbee 12:02 Right. Do you think there’s any chance that we’ll form a new cabinet to oversee future health crisis as we did the Department of Homeland Security following 9/11? Bob Kerrey 12:12 I don’t think so. This is not a one size fits all. Problem. I mean, that’s what happened with banning elected surgery. The assumption that every hospital in America is going to get a rush of COVID-19 patients. Well, they didn’t. There’s some New York, Massachusetts, Detroit, they’re places where there was a rush, Washington State, but for the most part, it hasn’t happened. And even inside the differential between what’s going on in New York City in New York State, people need the freedom to respond differently, not by ignoring it by saying, Oh, it’s a hoax, it doesn’t exist. It exists! It’s a relatively lethal virus. And all it wants to do, I’m describing is have it has a mind but it doesn’t have a mind. Its whole motivation is to get inside to destroy ourselves and I particularly like epithelial cells inside of our respiratory system. So, ignoring it is a mistake, but trying to come up with a solution that everybody has to follow, I think is not going to work either. Gary Bisbee 13:10 In the Wall Street Journal article published today, one of the things you said I found it quite interesting was, quote, public officials live in fear of not doing enough. Can you dig into that a bit? Bob Kerrey 13:21 Wow. Well, that’s a personal experience. And maybe the hardest thing in politics to do is somebody gets up in a town hall meeting and said, here’s a problem. What are you gonna do about it? And maybe the most difficult answer is nothing. Because there are times when nothing is the right answer. If the questions focus on what’s the government going to do, because the government can make it worse and I think banning elective surgery is a good example of a very well-intended decision, not by bad people. Well-intended decision that was a costly one. The cost-benefit ratio is decidedly against benefit. Gary Bisbee 13:54 I think the regional variation in the surge was one thing that nobody was expecting. And you make the point that probably most of the health systems in the country; albeit having COVID patients there really could have continued to do elective surgery and perform urgent surgeries. That’s the crux of your article. Bob Kerrey 14:17 Yeah, although I want to emphasize that I think is an even worse mistake to describe this as a non-existent hoax. It’s a real virus, it’s a virus can be isolated. It’s a virus, it could be treated. It’s a virus that can kill you. I understand why the political leaders would say, look, quarantine works. And if you look at what happened in 1918, there’s a great book john berry wrote called Great influenza about 1918 and more people died in Philadelphia because they ignored his public health people and allowed large gatherings to occur and the virus celebrated because it was a lot easier for the virus to get inside of the lungs when everybody’s kind of hanging out together. So the worst thing would be to ignore it. To pretend that it doesn’t exist, because it’ll travel. I mean, it was devastating to that 1918 influenza was devastating, very, very remote Indian tribes in Alaska. So if you think “I’m living on a mountaintop, I don’t have to worry about it.” Don’t count on that. So ignoring it is even worse. But once you’ve identified it as a problem, you got to deal with it. I think, the more you allow people to experiment, and try to figure out what works, we’re definitely going to need to do that, as we move from mostly shut down to trying to, I wouldn’t say get back to normal life, but get to a point we feel comfortable that we can gather and we can engage in social activities without having to be afraid that I’m with Gary Bisbee, and he’s going to infect me with COVID-19 I’m going to die. Gary Bisbee 15:47 Is it frequently the case that states would be competing for those kinds of critical resources? Bob Kerrey 15:52 Well, I think it gets back to what you said at the beginning. I don’t think we’ve ever had anything like this. If I’m the governor of Nebraska and my hospitals tell me we don’t have enough personal protective equipment, or we don’t have enough testing, and we don’t have… I’m gonna do everything I can to get whatever I need in order to give my hospitals, my medical community what they need in order to test and protect themselves when they’re caring for people. So it’s not so much competition. I’ve heard it referred to as Darwinian, it’s not Darwinian, you’re just doing your job. And it’s why you asked the question, do we need a federal authority- you may need one. You may need to identify somebody that maybe already exists, some agency that already exists, and gives them the authority and give them the money to get the protective equipment to deal with this particular virus or another one that comes down the road. That’s why I say it’s really important to see this as a virus. It’s going to be with us. There’s no endpoint here where Oh, God, we’re gonna have a celebration. We kill every single Coronavirus 19 out there in the world. That’s not going to happen. So it’s likely that the governors of the federal agencies learn a lot coming out of this thing and it’s three years or four months from now you go to the National Governors Association to the Western Governors or Mid-Western Governors, you say, what have you learned from this? What do you recommend we do to decrease this problem we had in this particular situation where we’ve got, you know, we’re asking nurses and doctors and allied professionals to show up and do their job, but they don’t have the means to protect themselves. We don’t want to do that, again. My guess is the governors and the and the federal agencies- they’ll have a solution. They’ll say, Okay, here’s what we get that was wrong. Here’s what we need to do to make sure that that part of our response isn’t going to happen again. And I see the governors in the East in the Midwest and the West are banding together in each of those regions to develop a regional approach to this? That would seem to be… sound like a good idea to facilitate the learning that you’re talking about, right? Yes, in the West. For people that are involved with water management, they understand a thing called adaptive management. Take the Missouri River. You got eight or nine states that are in the Missouri River Basin. We agree we’re going to try to manage that river, not as if it’s a fountain or something like that. But, because it’s very unpredictable, we don’t know exactly…so we’re going to talk, we’re going to do a, b and c, to reduce the damage of flood to increase the chances that we’re gonna have enough water available to our communities, but not too much. We need adaptive management to deal with, I think, a long term response, public health response to this virus and others like it. By that I mean, we agree, we’re going to do X, Y, and Z, with the understanding that x might work, y might work, but z might not work. And if it doesn’t work, we’re not going to blame each other. We’re going to tell the people we represent you understand that we’re not perfect. We tried x, y, and z. X worked, Y worked and Z didn’t. And it’s probably as you suggested earlier, X and Y working in some parts of Ohio and y and z work in others. It’s not perfect. So I think what we have to have is coming out of this is not just the resources to keep our healthcare workers safe, and in an environment where they feel like they can do their work without putting their lives at risk. The political leadership has to agree and the public has insisted, that we’re not going to blame each other. I may vote I probably will vote against Donald Trump in November, but I’m not going to make the case that he was horrible, that he didn’t care about it and all these mistakes, whatever mistakes he made, we should learn from them. We should learn from whatever mistakes he made on the assumption that if we were in that position, we’d make mistakes too. It’s true our mistakes, we learn how to do things better the next time, Gary Bisbee 19:30 Right. Well, let’s turn to the economy. Bob, you ran for president in 1992 when President Clinton became the comeback kid, and it was a time of meaningful recession that I’m sure deeply informed the political debate of the day. What were the key points of discussion during the campaign, about the economy in the recession? Bob Kerrey 19:50 First of all, we were coming out of the recession shortly after the election. So if you’re looking for who to get give credit for that recovery, you probably give it to George Herbert Walker Bush. His willingness to stand before the Congress, which was democratic at the time and say, “I’ll accept the tax increase if you guys will accept spending reductions.” We passed a budget in 1990. We amended 93 amended in 97. I mean, George Herbert Walker, Bush could take credit for balancing the budget. By the time Bill Clinton left off as we were paying off the debt. And I think that contributed to the economic recovery. There are a number of other things we lowered the capital gains rate, but you know, the economy goes through cycles, I would say the hottest of the political issues then, and it’s only gotten hotter is trade. Trade was, as you recall, the giant sucking sound was the phrase that was used by a lot by third party candidates who did exceptionally well. I think trade was probably the most contentious issue at the time. But as always, when you’re going through economic difficulties like that, you’re looking for solutions, and I think we found them. I give Bill Clinton a lot of credit. But the guy who started the process of moving us from a significant deficit to a surplus was George Herbert Walker Bush and because he did it, he wasn’t re-elected. There’s no question that his support for a tax increase, angered an awful lot of Republicans to whom he promised he would never do that, “No new taxes. Read my lips.” But I think his Patriotism helped us get out of that recession. Gary Bisbee 21:19 How do you see the economy influencing the election this November, Bob? Bob Kerrey 21:25 it always does. If we had not been in a recession over George Herbert Walker Bush gets reelected. And unfortunately for him, the economy started to recover shortly after the election. So it’ll have a big impact, and it’s likely that we’re going to have significant unemployment. The question is, how much of that gets attributed to President Trump and right or wrong, it tends to get attributed to the person in power. So I think it’ll have an impact. I think it’ll have an impact on the election. Now, the other thing is going on is you can look at this whole pandemic crisis and all of a sudden you see this thing is global. This is not like 9/11, or even like the financial crisis, it became global. But this one began globally. The question that I think is, at least on my mind, which is how does the pandemic affect broad support for globalism? And I think that they’re the key question is, how do we get trade agreements? How do we do immigration? How do we continue to invest in technology in a way that continues to lift the middle class because it hasn’t worked for the middle class? And they’re asking for something entirely different. It seems to me, and I don’t at the moment, I don’t see… I think both parties are struggling to answer the question, how do we make globalism work besides just shutting it down? It’s like, you can’t shut globalism down like shutting down gravity. So I think that’s going to be a real challenge because all the multinational institutions we put together after the Second World War, I think they need to be significantly reformed for a different purpose and what they were put together to do in 1945-1948. Gary Bisbee 23:01 Well, one thing is for sure, if you talk to the CEOs of the health systems, they’re all asking the questions about the global supply chain, particularly for life-saving equipment that they have not been able to get ahold of. And there’s a lot of concern that we need to revisit the global supply chain for those critical items. Bob Kerrey 23:26 Yeah, and I hear the same thing. It is necessarily going to be a response coming out of this. Because you can’t deal with a pandemic, if you’ve got to get all your mask and all your peepee outside the United States. We’ve done that with defense. The defense we’re not in a situation where we’re reliant on a foreign power. We have specific laws, we can’t export technology, if it puts our capacity to defend ourselves at risk. So we’ll probably and we probably should make certain that supply chain is protected. I don’t think it leads to it has to be manufactured inside the United States. But you do have to have supply chain protection otherwise, particularly for those critical items, it might not be important for band-aids for water new some things where it won’t be important. But for PPE, it’ll be, ventilators, and those sorts of things, it’ll be important going forward. And I’ll repeat it, Gary, I mean, this fire is not going to disappear, we’re not going to eliminate it. It’s not gonna, there’s not going to be a signing ceremony, unconditional surrender, it’s going to be with us. And we got to figure out how to live with it. And I think one of the things that we do is to make sure that the supply chain is reliable. Gary Bisbee 24:32 Let’s turn back home to our veterans, you’re highly informed, I’d say an expert on the VA, what’s happening in the VA now as a result of the COVID crisis? Bob Kerrey 24:42 Well, I’m not 100% certain on that. I actually haven’t read up or followed exactly what Dr. Stone is doing for VA Health. I do think he’s a first-rate administrator. And my guess is the challenges that he’s having is comparable to other healthcare systems, except that he’s got a very he’s got about seven or eight million veterans that use the VA Health on a regular basis, they tend to be older and they tend to have higher fraction of what’s called comorbidities, people with type two diabetes, coronary artery diseases and other sorts of metabolic diseases, and they’re at greater risk. So my guess is they’re having to respond to that greater risk. And they probably had, like the rest of the country, certain parts of the country where those they haven’t had any problems at all, and certain parts of the country where they have. So it’s a fully contained system. The choice act allows veterans to move outside into either not for profit or for-profit health care systems, but it’s still a $50 billion healthcare system that’s largely self-contained to hire their own doctors and nurses and nurse practitioners and physicians assistants, etc. So I don’t know precisely what they’re dealing with. But my guess is their number one problem is lots of patients that have comorbidities. For sure, and those patients are more susceptible to illness And they are tragic stories about what’s going on in our long term care facilities. I mean, there are a number, I did see that there was a couple of facilities that were operated on behalf of veterans and veteran veterans homes of some kind. So again, I think what we’ll, we’ll, we’ll have to do is learn from that what happened, I’m sure they made, they did some heroic wonderful things, and they made some mistakes. So hopefully, we can identify the mistakes and improve our performance next time and be grateful for what we had in the beginning. Gary Bisbee 26:29 So Bob, you’ve made reference several times to learnings that will inform the next crisis or the next pandemic, at what point the governors actually turn and spend time and resources thinking about that and preparing for the next pandemic. Bob Kerrey 26:45 First of all, I think the public should take some comfort from knowing that the governors do learn from each other. There are two big Governor’s conferences every year, one in February in DC, where they meet with the President, and one in the summer, where they all gather and learn from each other. They have an agenda and I predict that COVID-19 and the pandemic will be top of the list of their discussion. There is the Western Governors Association, a Midwestern governance Association. And lots of activity going on between the states all the time anyway, when they’re trying to just trying to do a better job yet, do they compete for businesses? And they could, yes, they do compete. But there’s a lot of collaboration going on with the governors and not the dick. That’ll be at that Governor’s level where people are going to begin to understand what do we need to do to live with those fires and minimize the number of people who become casualties? Gary Bisbee 27:33 So turning to health system governance, you’re the lead director, at Tenant, one of our largest health systems in the country? What’s the role of the board and a major crisis like this with the large health system? Bob Kerrey 27:45 It’s a really good question. I mean, first of all, is the legal standard of duty of care. You got to you have to meet that legal standard by doing your work and bringing the read-ahead and asking the right questions to the CEO and make it a judgment about whether that CEO is doing a good job or not. I would say it’s probably true with other boards too, but particularly true with healthcare systems is that the priorities tend to shift. We’re still concerned about our shareowners and our stock performance. But you tend to shift your concern now over to your employees, your nurses, your doctors, that people are out there on that front line taking care of people that are coming in. And you tend to think as well sort of connected that about your community. What does my community need and Palm Beach what does my community need in Dallas, or wherever the hospital is, because all of our hospitals, our community hospitals. I would say that your concern is still about your shareowners. But I find myself spending more time in discussions with a CEO, what’s going on with our employees, what’s going on in our communities? What can we do to help establish a not for profit to help our own employees as well as our community? So I think the concern shifts more towards other stakeholders in the company, particularly employees and the community. Gary Bisbee 29:00 So as lead director, what key responsibilities do you have? Or how do you see your priorities as lead director as opposed to one of the other directors? Bob Kerrey 29:10 My view is a director needs to know not just what a director is supposed to do, but what a director is not supposed to do. I am not the CEO of Tenant. So if the CEO asked me a detailed question, I’ll attempt to answer the best of my ability, but he’s running the company. My job is to evaluate him and to work with him and help him not to manage the company itself. And if I reach the conclusion that the CEO is not doing a good enough job and should be replaced, I have a duty to be the one that informs the board that I’ve reached that conclusion. So it’s a fine balance between making sure you know what everything is going on and not stepping in and trying to act like you’re the CEO. Gary Bisbee 29:54 Speaking in general terms, not about a tenant or any other specific health system but one of the questions I’m being asked by trustees these days is what characteristics of a CEO should boards look for, that will suggest strong performance during a crisis? Bob Kerrey 30:10 The keyword in your question was suggest because you can never be certain. I mean, you can look at plenty of men and women who look on paper to be a great CEO, and they just can’t do the job. You’re forced all the time to be making critical decisions. And you’ve got to be able to acknowledge when you make a mistake because if you don’t what happens, you get paralyzed, you don’t make any decisions. It’s no small set of responsibilities that a CEO has. Secondly, they have to be able to lead. By that I mean, the employees have to feel inspired. They’re being respected. And it’s typically the little things, not the big things. It’s not necessarily well, how much is my comp going up this year? But does the CEO respect what I’m doing does he understands what I’m doing? Does he understand the challenges that I’m facing and so he or she’s got to obviously, in a crisis, they’ll respond. You never know, I could have a great CEO and she’s terrific and everything is going fine. And in this crisis… I’ll just pick something grim… her husband and three of her children die. Now, don’t expect that person to be able, maybe she can… She’s a human being too. And she’s gonna be struggling with this crisis, what’s going on in her life will matter. So all you can do is look at it and get outside references and talk to other people that know them and then push a little bit. How do they do when the bottom drops out? Every CEO is going to face it, you don’t have very many businesses that you look at the graph and it just goes upward to the right all the time. There’s never a moment when the when the graph drops down to the right. And now we’re going through a big crisis. We went through a big crisis in 2008/9 and we’ll get to this one. What I’m certain of is, there’ll be another one somewhere down the road, and they maybe they can handle it and maybe they can’t, it’s not the end of the world that they can handle it. You just have to have as a board member, you have to pony up and say if they’re not doing the job, I got to replace them. It’s not an easy thing to do. But it’s enormously important thing that a board member has to do. Gary Bisbee 32:07 Are there similar characteristics to a successful CEO and a successful governor? Bob Kerrey 32:12 Similar, except that you got a much different constituency group you’re worried about. You get elected as governor. He get selected as a CEO. I always tell people that a CEO can be a benevolent dictator because we have a democracy. A governor can’t be a benevolent dictator. But as a consequence of our democracy, it’s a different set of constituencies, and it’s important to understand them. So somebody says to me, well, I was CEO, I can be governor. No, it’s different. It’s not the same thing. You don’t tell people what to do when you’re governor, you have to persuade them that what you want to do is the right thing. And now you could find yourself saying, This is brilliant, this genius idea, and you propose it to your legislature, and 10% of your house and Senate members support it. And maybe the public doesn’t support what you want to do. And I’ve had many, many ideas that I thought were brilliant that you nobody else liked. Well, if your CEO it’s a lot easier to put them in place than it is if you’re if you’re governor. Gary Bisbee 33:07 Thinking about, again, politics in the fall, we covered that a bit earlier. But I’m thinking now about the whole mobile voting. And I know you’re been supportive of the mobile voting project. And that picture we saw in in newspapers recently of the huge lines in Wisconsin, do you think that we’ll see a move toward mobile voting and see it in time for the fall elections? Bob Kerrey 33:31 Oh, I hope so. But fall elections? I doubt it. People are Oh my god, the Russians are gonna hack in now somebody else is going to hack in and out. The Chinese are going to hack in, but we probably have, I don’t know, four or 5 million secure phone calls and communications through the internet by national security people every single year. So it’s a manageable problem. And I think eventually we’ll do it. I think we’ll come up with a way to do it in a secure way. I think you’ll get greater participation if you do it. But most people Importantly, we’ll have an efficient election. I don’t think we’re ready for it. Now, the test case is actually going to be Congress because Congress is sitting in a situation where 530, they’re average age is 60. And I know Leader McConnell doesn’t like the idea of letting them vote remotely. But I think they’re gonna have to do it. It’s one thing to put members of Congress at risk, but they can’t function without their staff. So they may have to figure out a way to do this. That seamless bill that they passed was $2.2 trillion, whatever it was, they passed it by unanimous consent. They didn’t vote. I don’t think either they are the public’s going to tolerate that kind of decision making without an accurate debate and amendments being offered and careful examination of the legislation occurring, which you get with them gathering 535 of them in the well the senate of the well of the house, their staffs are they’re running all over the place, and think of the public, the public doesn’t get access to them. If you want to get ahold of your senator, your house member you got to go knock on their door. You got to go visit them in the home. You got to call them on the phone. Well, that’s inadequate, I think. And I hope they don’t open it up just to say, well, we want to get back in business. If there’s an alternative, and there’s definitely an alternative, Congress could easily set up secure voting from a distance. And I hope they do. Because otherwise, you’re going to put both themselves and their staff and risk Gary Bisbee 35:19 Seems likely sometime over the next several years that that’ll happen, doesn’t it? Bob Kerrey 35:23 Well, I hope it happens over the next several weeks, it would not be that difficult to do if they could go over the National Security Agency and give them the assignment of doing it. They’d put a system together immediately. They do it all the time. I mean, it would not be that difficult to set it up. The alternative is nobody actually examining the legislation, nobody actually voting or worse, you push them back into those rooms in a premature way and put them at risk Gary Bisbee 35:47 On another topic, given the cost of the current crisis to the federal government. I’m thinking back to the Kerry Danforth Commission on entitlement reform. Any thoughts or learnings from that, that you’d want to suggest to the current Congress, Bob Kerrey 36:03 You know, the story of the Rip Van Winkle story? Gary Bisbee 36:06 Yeah, but feel free to share. Bob Kerrey 36:09 Washington Irving wrote this story in the early 1800s. And the whole story was to talk about how things have changed, dramatically, things change. And so Rip Van Winkle goes up to the mountain when he goes up to the mountain, King George is there’s pictures of King George all over the place, because we were a colony of the British. When it comes down to the mountain top is pictures of George Washington. So what happened? We’re dealing with that now. Senator Danforth and I co-chair the Concord Coalition. I don’t know what to say about a $3 trillion deficit. What I do know is that’s all borrowed money. And what I know about borrowed money is eventually you got to pay it back. And at a minimum, you got to pay the interest on those bonds. And my guess is coming out of this and me the first time interest rates go up a bit. Interest on the national debt can be the largest item in the budget. Gary Bisbee 36:59 Without question Bob Kerrey 37:01 And you don’t get anything for it, I’ll bet you two years of interest on the national debts, I don’t know $800 billion a year. And so what do I get for eight? I get that $800 billion with taxes on American taxpayers. What do I get for that? You don’t get anything other than what we got to get out of this crisis. So I know at some point we’re gonna have to deal with it but right now it’s like a while ago the like the Republican Party was gonna attack democrats for being socialists and after the stimulus bill, we’re all socialists. Gary Bisbee 37:37 Well, we’ll be back talking to you about learnings from the Carey Danforth commission. I’m sure that it’s just we can’t avoid that but onto your personal background. Most people I would say don’t realize that you were a pharmacy major university in Nebraska. Why pharmacy Bob? Bob Kerrey 37:55 I love pharmacy, particularly pharmacology it’s changed a lot but I like it. I like to science, pharmacology and so I’m a cognition. I like them both. Gary Bisbee 38:04 You didn’t want to pursue that as a career? Bob Kerrey 38:06 Well, no. My joke is the government decided that a higher and better use of my skills, does that make me a member of SEAL Team one. No, we had a little thing called the draft. And I pass my physical and they told me I was about ready to be drafted by the army. I just read human works the cane mutiny, and volunteered for the Navy. Went thought Officer Candidate School and underwater demolition look like a lot of fun. So I volunteer for that. Next thing I know I’m in Seal Team. My life is one moment of serendipity after another, and that happens to be maybe the most important one I had. Gary Bisbee 38:37 Well, thank you for your service. What gave you the inspiration to run for governor Nebraska? Bob Kerrey 38:42 Well, probably just generalized beliefs and values of service. I was raised in a Christian church and we were taught that it’s better to give than receive and I can give you lots of examples that demonstrate that case. I believe that you’re afraid of losing something and you’re constantly holding on things and only care about yourself. If you forget the golden rule, you’re going to have a difficult life no matter how much money you got. I believe in service and I had enough experience in the government because I’ve been in business for 10 years, and you got to get permission from the government, variety of different agencies. So I’d worked with political leaders. And in 82, when I ran, it was the number of people who were on the Democratic side thinking about running, they all came by to see me and tell me why they were going to run and then none of them ran, they kind of talked me into it. So there was a number of things that I wanted to do, and I thought I could be pretty good at it. And I thought I would enjoy it. And I wasn’t disappointed. Plenty of mistakes, many things I do differently. But all in all, I got more than I gave. Gary Bisbee 39:40 looking back on it. What was the most important accomplishment during your term? Bob Kerrey 39:44 Oh, in the event that somebody that’s thinking about becoming a candidate for office is listening. I would say the most important things are small. There’s a lot of power in the office of the governor a lot of power in the office of Senate. And if you recognize that power and make sure you never abuse it and never let anybody working for your abuser. You can use it power and change people’s lives just by helping them a little bit with a problem that they have with the government the problem that they’re having with their corporation or in my case because I’m a was, at that point relatively well-known entity I visited people who were suffering trauma and hospitals. And it wasn’t like I could do anything for him necessarily but I had the experience of having volunteers come to see me when I was in the hospital in Philadelphia, I knew how important it was to have somebody just lay your hand on you and say I care about you, I want you to get better. So the little stuff is what’s most important. I mean, men and women who were involved in my campaign became friends for the rest of their life. Some of them get down, they got married, had kids, they wouldn’t got married, had kids were not for the campaign. It’s a little stuff that I value the most in terms of the impact on the state. It’s probably the financial reforms that we put in place, how to budget how to set tax rates, how to protect the tension so they don’t get ripped off by people wanting to get access to that money, and then there was a number of financial reforms that we put in place that can go have that long-lasting positive impact on the state. But the one thing that again, in the event somebody listened to you, you got to be very careful not to really care if anybody remembers. I can take you to places in Nebraska, and say, you know, you know why this exists. You know why this road is here, this park is here, this thing, it’s here because somebody that I don’t know that you don’t know, cared about it and helped build it. So it’s not an exaggeration to say we stand on the shoulders of the people that came before and it was a lot harder to be governor in the first 20 or 30 years of the state is a lot harder together during the Depression. So there’s a lot of things that I benefited from the most important of which is we have a spectacular capital that was built with cash during the Depression with Bertram Good. He’s one of the world’s finest architect and designer but you think, How’s it possible they built this thing and they build it to last forever. They didn’t build it to survive a depreciation schedule. Gary Bisbee 42:00 So on to the Senate, how would you compare being a senator to being a governor? Bob Kerrey 42:06 It’s different. First of all, it’s healthier being governor, you’re home all the time. And while you’re away from home, it’s harder. You’re away from your kids, you make more mistakes when you’re not at home. But on the other hand, it’s again an event like the Navy, it’s the United States Senate. And it matters. US law matters. What a senator says matters both good and bad. You’re voting on War Powers Resolution, you’re voting on things that affect all 50 states, all 330 million Americans can be affected by a single vote, a single speech. So what you’re left with is a sense of the power of this country and the value of the republican form of government we have and it does put you in a position to be able to help people understand maybe a terrible system, but it’s better than anything else. It gives you an appreciation for the difficulty, but the genius of the idea that we can govern ourselves, Gary Bisbee 42:54 Governor, we very much appreciate your time. Let’s land here. Thank you again, we’ll enjoy. Listen to this podcast many times. Bob Kerrey 43:02 I look forward to seeing again Gary Bisbee 43:04 Thanks Bob. This episode of fireside chat is produced by Strafire. Please subscribe to fireside chat on Apple podcasts or wherever you’re listening right now. Be sure to rate and review fireside chat so we can continue to explore key issues with innovative and dynamic healthcare leaders. In addition to subscribing and rating, we have found that podcasts are known through word of mouth. We appreciate your spreading the word to friends or those who might be interested in fireside chat is brought to you from our nation’s capital in Washington DC, where we explore the intersection of healthcare politics, financing, and delivery. For additional perspectives on health policy and leadership. Read my weekly blog Bisby’s brief. For questions and suggestions about fireside chat contact me through our website, fireside chat podcast dot com or Gary at hm academy dot com. Thanks for listening. Transcribed by Otter

Sermon Text: John 18:1-14

If you had the opportunity to shape the country's agenda for addressing hunger, what solutions would you suggest and how would you drive this needed change? The Leading Voices in Food interviews Billy Shore, executive chairman of No Kid Hungry and its parent organization Share Our Strength. About Billy Shore Billy Shore and his sister Debbie founded Share Our Strength in 1984 and have led the organization in raising more than $600 million dollars to fight hunger and poverty. They have won the support, in this process, of national leaders in business, government health and education, sports and entertainment. Billy spent the early years of his career in national politics, serving on senatorial and presidential campaign staffs and serving as chief of staff to former US Senator Robert Kerrey. He returned to the national stage in 2014 when congress appointing him to the National Commission on Hunger, a bipartisan group given the task of understanding of the best ways to address hunger in the United States. Interview Summary When you and your sister founded Share Our Strength, and after you after you'd spent considerable time in politics, what led you to take on such an ambitious endeavor? Well, there are a couple of things, I guess, behind the creation of Share Our Strength. One was, you know, my experience in politics led me to believe that there were a tremendous number of talented people around the country who wanted to contribute to solutions in our community. Politics might not have been the vehicle for them and as politics has become more specialized and required people to write big checks and donate to political action committees, that's not for everybody. But as I traveled around the country working for Senator Bob Kerrey before that, Senator Gary Hart, I was just struck by how, you know, how many people had something to share, literally had a strength to share. And so the question became, could we create some vehicle, some platform for them to do that? And the issue of hunger had always been one of interest to me. It just seems so incongruous, in our country. I remember when I first started working on the Hill, there had been a physician's taskforce, a group of doctors who'd gone to Mississippi and some others who'd worked with Bobby Kennedy as he toured Mississippi Delta in Appalachia. And it just always seemed like this is not something that we should have to have in the United States. Can you describe the work of Share Our Strength? So Share Our Strength is really focused on childhood hunger in particular. We feel like that, of all the issues that we could be working on in hunger or poverty, that it is the most solvable. For many years we were probably better known for the entrepreneurial ways in which we generated funds. So we're a nonprofit organization that works with a lot of businesses and corporations to, the way we think about it, not just redistribute wealth but create wealth. But it's a different kind of wealth, what we call it community wealth because it goes back into the communities that we serve. So we do lots of cause related marketing campaigns, lots of food and wine events with the culinary community. We started early on organizing chefs and restaurant tours because they made their livelihoods from feeding people and we thought they would feel a connection to the issue of hunger. And so we make grants to about 400 other nonprofits who deal with hunger around the United States. And over the last eight to 10 years we've used our grants and whatever influence we have to try to steer those organizations towards focusing on some very specific milestones as they relate to childhood hunger. Particularly getting kids enrolled in programs like school breakfast, like summer meals, programs, even the afterschool and supper programs. It seems like one of the few issues that everybody can get behind almost no matter what their political persuasion. While certainly for childhood hunger, there's a lot of bipartisan support for it. And I think people recognize that children are the most vulnerable and the least responsible for the plight that they're suffering. The challenge, and so we work, you know, across the aisle. We are very bipartisan. We have colleagues in the anti-hunger community that, you know, if a member of Congress or a governor or others disagree with them, they tend to, you know, find a way to thump them. We don't do that. We were more bridge builders, I think than we are bomb throwers. But the challenge is that although everyone is in favor of feeding a hungry child, not everybody is in favor of supporting that child's parents. And the truth is that the best thing we could do for children is to make sure that their families are supported. That a mom and dad have jobs, have healthcare, have affordable housing, have the things they need so that they can feed their own kids. We're getting better at that. You know, there's a man named Arthur Brooks at the American Enterprise Institute and one of the things he said that really struck me is we've made poverty more bearable through programs like school lunch and school breakfast and many of the things we support but we haven't necessarily made it more escapable. And we need to find ways to do both. Share Our Strength has done a good job of making it more bearable. We made sure that kids at least have at a minimum the food they need to have a chance of doing well in school. So you're telling me about making it easier for parents to feed their children. But it sounds like much of your work is being done through the schools. So how do those two things square with one another? Yeah. Well, our focus really has been schools and so for the last eight or 10 years we've worked with governors, with mayors, with school superintendents to make sure that schools are doing everything they can to enroll every eligible child into programs like school breakfast and summer meals, even when the schools are closed. About half of eligible kids have been participating eight or nine years ago. Now it's closer to 60 percent. I'm pretty confident that we'll get it to 70 percent in the next couple years. In a triage sense that's been our first and most focused effort. But now that we've had as much success as we've had, we've added 3 million kids to school breakfast. We built tens of thousands of summer meal sites when the schools are closed. We're starting to think about how do we not only support the child, but you know, put the parents or the whoever the adult caregiver is in a place to be able to help these kids. And that's one of our next challenges. We need to think carefully about how to do that. You host a weekly podcast series yourself called Add Passion and Stir that brings together high profile chefs with change-makers to talk about the central role that food plays in social justice. Can you tell us a little bit more about the social justice part of this? Well, you know, hunger and food are really related to almost everything else that we care about. They're related to not only the health of somebody who's hungry and their nutritional levels, but they're also related to their ability to focus and do well at school. They're related to the environment in really profound ways. The way we grow and harvest our food has a tremendous impact on environmental issues. And you know, the group that almost always suffers when we're not attentive to the social justice side of this, and this is the reason I think it's such an important social justice issue, are those who are most vulnerable and most voiceless, those who don't have the ability to kind of fight for themselves. And so we see food and hunger as related to all of these issues and it's important to have a conversation. If enough people cared about hungry kids or hunger, we probably wouldn't have it as a problem in the United States. So we try to look for the issues that people do care about: education, the quality of our schools, healthcare, housing, the environment, and help underscore and illustrate the connections between those issues and hunger. You've been working on this now for a number of years, do you see improvement in the poverty and hunger crisis that existed in the United States now? You mentioned some statistics in your first podcast, but tell us more about your thoughts on how things are moving. Are we getting better at doing this? Yeah, I think we actually are getting a lot better, particularly on the issue of hunger more so than on the issue of poverty. But, I would say both have actually improved. You know, it's relative. Some of us remember pictures of Bobby Kennedy visiting the Mississippi Delta and kids running around in bare feet and the dirt and, you know, there's still a little bit of that, but not a lot. So, families who are poor today, tend to have some of the basic minimums that most of us need to navigate the world. I constantly get asked about like, is that family really poor? Because I saw that they have a cell phone. Well, you can't do anything without a cell phone in our world today, right? You can't make a doctor's appointment, you can't download your benefits if you're receiving any type of benefits. So, yeah, so in relative terms, things have improved in and hunger in particular. There are a lot fewer hungry kids than there were even just 10 years ago. I think we've cut almost in half the number of and reduced by 50 percent the number of kids in this country who are hungry on a chronic basis. I think what we haven't done a good job of is for those families and individuals who were, if you think of it as kind of like the bottom quintile economically, even during good economic times during the Clinton administration and during the current job growth that we're seeing with only three point nine percent unemployment in the US, there's still a lot of families that don't have the skills and the training and the education that they need to be part of that. And they're struggling. Do you attribute the improvement to the private donors and government putting more money into the effort to address food insecurity and hunger Are we better at using the existing money or why are things better now? I think people have coalesced around the idea that that children need to be invested in and supported. And I think one of the things that we're seeing politically is that both Democrats and Republicans are willing to do what they have to do to support kids. So one of the really interesting experiences I had was going to a governor in Colorado about eight or nine years ago to say, this was Governor Ritter, a democratic governor, a former peace corps volunteer who worked on nutrition issues in Zambia. So he really cared about this and at the time that I went to talk to Governor Ritter, Colorado was 47th lowest in the United States and the percentage of kids who were participating in these programs. And he said, well, what does that mean? And I said, well, here's all the negative effects it's having on your kids, but it also means that you're leaving about $125,000,000 in Washington that could only be used to buy bread from your bakers and milk from your dairy farmers to feed your kids. And, and he looked at his chief of staff, a woman named Roxanne White. And he said, Roxy says that, is that possibly true? And she did a little back of the envelope calculation and said, yes, Governor, I'm afraid it is. And then he looked at me and he said, well, why did we need the guy in the blue blazer from Washington to come tell us that? Right? How could we not know that? And I know to me, it's an example of how there's a set of logistical issues that are barriers to kids getting the resources they need. But there's also this political issue of them being voiceless, right? So a really good governor doesn't even know that this program exists because kids don't vote. They don't make campaign contributions. They don't have lobbyists. And unless some of us act as advocates on their behalf, and as there's been more and more of that over the last 10 years, democratic and Republican governors, I mean, we've been assiduously bipartisan at Share our Strength and with the No Kid Hungry Campaign, they've all had the same reaction of Governor Ritter, whether they're Democrat, Republican, older, young, male or female. What do I have to do to get these resources to my kids? And I think if politically, if people have some line of sight into where their resources are going--kids in their community, then I think they're going to support it. They're even willing to sacrifice for it. You've seen a lot of communities over the last 10 years. Pass referendums, ballot questions that raise their own taxes because they're not sending their money to Washington, which needs to be done as well, but they're investing in kids that they can see in the neighborhoods that they can drive through. So you're talking about the powerful impact Federal funding for these programs can have. Does the fate of such funding vary from administration to administration? These federal funds have had a lot of bipartisan support over the years. You know, going back to the generals and admirals that we've talked about coming after World War II and talking to Congress. The programs like school lunches and school breakfast have so much support and such a track record of making a difference that they're actually exempt from the automatic budget cuts of sequestration. They have very little impact on the budget in the scheme of things. To these families and kids, of course they're critical, but in relative terms, they're small dollars. So they've had a lot of bipartisan support and whether it's been a Republican president and a Republican administration that oversees the programs or Democrat. These programs have continued to work and most of them by the way, are executed by governors. That, that's where they really play out at the state level. And governors tend to be less ideological, more problem solving than members of Congress. So a major initiative of Share Our Strength is the No Kid Hungry effort. That's a pretty ambitious goal--to have no child hungry in the United States. Do you think that's attainable and what will take to accomplish that? Yeah, I really do. I think we're going to have kids in this country who are poor and whose families live in poverty and we're going to have kids who have families who struggle with food insecurity, but that doesn't mean kids need to be hungry. So we've adopted what we think of as just kind of a common sense definition of kids are getting three meals a day. They may have lots of other needs and lots of other problems, but if they're getting three meals a day of healthy meals, good quality food, nutritious food, we can't say that they're hungry. And we're getting close to the point in this country where through a combination of schools, family supports like the SNAP program of some private efforts like food banks and others, we're getting pretty close to the point where every kid is getting three meals a day. We're not all the way there yet, but we're close. You know, I imagine listeners are feeling as I do now, that you're an incredibly inspiring person in a great person to be leading this effort and the stakes are incredibly high. Given how many children and others are affected by food insecurity, what can people do in addition to cheering you on from the sidelines? Well, you know, I'm glad you asked. I love that question because I feel like this issue of hunger, childhood hunger in the United States is one that lends itself to everybody being involved. It's not like we're waiting for somebody to invent a new vaccine or to fly around the world and negotiate peace in the Middle East. There's a way for everybody to be involved. Obviously people can donate and go to the No Kid Hungry a website, but people can volunteer at a variety of anti-hunger organizations in their community. They can be advocates, making sure that their members of Congress and their governors and mayors know these programs exist. They can be a voice for kids in the school system to make sure that they have access to these programs. There's, there's literally a role for everybody on this issue. Produced by Deborah Hill, Duke World Food Policy Center

Episode #407 (Originally aired 10/14/16) - Bill's guests are Ann Coulter, Bernie Sanders, Bob Kerrey, Andrew Sullivan and Rebecca Traister.

Overtime Episode #407 (Originally aired 10/14/16) - Bill and his roundtable guests Ann Coulter, Bernie Sanders, Bob Kerrey, Andrew Sullivan and Rebecca Traister answer fan questions from the latest show.

Listen NowThe term "medical home" was first introduced in the 1960s by the pediatric profession.  Still to date this model of care emphasizes team-based comprehensive, continuous and coordinated care.   The care model is intended to improve primary care generally via improved patient communication, care quality, safety and outcomes.  In several ways the ACA encouraged the adoption of the, now termed, Primary Care Medical Home/PCMH for both the Medicaid and Medicare programs and among private health insurers.   (In some ways the PCMH is seen as a precursor for providers interested in becoming an Affordable Care Organization (ACO), i.e., taking on reimbursement risk.)  Over the past few years PCMHs have become widely adopted.  Over forty state Medicaid programs are experimenting with the model along with 90 commercial health plans and three federal initiatives. During this 23 minute discussion Dr. Nielsen discusses the PCPCC's purpose and goals, more specifically what is the PCMH model of care, the varying ways PCMH's are reimbursed, what does the research to date show regarding PCMH effectiveness and challenges in adopting this new model of care.Dr. Marci Nielsen currently serves as CEO of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative (PCPCC), an organization dedicated to advancing an effective and efficient health system built on a foundation of primary care.  Prior to the PCPCC, Dr. Nielsen served as Vice Chancellor for Public Affairs and Associate Professor at the University of Kansas School of Medicine's Department of Health Policy and Management.  Dr. Nielsen was appointed by then-Governor Kathleen Sebelius as first Executive Director and Board Chair of the Kansas Health Policy Authority (KHPA).  She worked as a Legislative Assistant to Senator Bob Kerrey and later served as the health lobbyist for the AFL-CIO.  Dr. Nielsen is a board member of the American Board of Family Medicine and also a committee member for the Institute of Medicine's Leading Health Indicators for Healthy People 2020 and Living Well with Chronic Illness: A Call for Public Health Action.  Early in her career she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand and served for six years in the US Army Reserves.  Dr. Nielsen earned her MPH at The George Washington University and her Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health.The PCPCC's 1/14 PCMH impact on cost and quality report can be found at: http://www.pcpcc.org/newsletter/annual-report-pcmhs-impact-cost-quality-2012-2013. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.thehealthcarepolicypodcast.com

We preview Super Tuesday and discuss the DPG situation with Catherine Smith. Also, we look at the new poll out of Virginia showing George Allen leading, Sen. Snowe's retirement, and Bob Kerrey announcing a run for Senate in Nebraska, and Tim Shiflett's GOP Outrage regarding Rush Limbaugh's distatseful comments this past week.