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California Implements $20 Minimum Wage, 1000s Now Being Fired! · The Ben Ferguson Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: You remember that whole living wage obsession fight for fifteen
0:05
Speaker 1: where minimum wage workers are.
0:07
Speaker 2: Demanding and wanting to unionize.
0:09
Speaker 1: Do you remember that they're like, you know, we must
0:11
Speaker 1: unionize it. We have to be unionize everyway. There's no
0:15
Speaker 1: other way that this is gonna work. But if we
0:20
Speaker 1: unionize and they kept fighting, fighting for fifteen dollars an hour,
0:25
Speaker 1: then the number, as inflation has gone up and Bidenomics
0:29
Speaker 1: has done what Bidenomics is doing, the number's gone up
0:33
Speaker 1: and it's gotten even worse now it's eighteen or twenty
0:38
Speaker 1: or twenty two or twenty five dollars an hour, depending
0:41
Speaker 1: on where you are in the country. And this is
0:43
Speaker 1: a push by the left in a big way to
0:46
Speaker 1: make sure that every single person has what they describe
0:50
Speaker 1: as a living wage. Now, there's some jobs that don't
0:53
Speaker 1: deserve to pay a quote living wage. And you may
0:57
Speaker 1: hear me say that, and you're gonna say, I can't
0:59
Speaker 1: believe you just said that. Let me explain it so
1:01
Speaker 1: that you understand what I mean. There are certain jobs
1:05
Speaker 1: that are jobs that are entry level jobs. They're in
1:08
Speaker 1: between jobs, they're part time jobs, they are jobs that
1:12
Speaker 1: are short term to get a little experience Okay, those
1:15
Speaker 1: are what we're talking about here. Those are the jobs
1:17
Speaker 1: that we're describing, and those jobs are jobs that are
1:24
Speaker 1: have never had the intent to take care of you.
1:28
Speaker 1: Those jobs are never those jobs are never designed to
1:32
Speaker 1: be jobs that would support you and your family forever.
1:38
Speaker 1: A living wage means they believe you should be able
1:41
Speaker 1: to take a job at McDonald's at fast food, and
1:44
Speaker 1: that job should be able to provide for you and
1:47
Speaker 1: your entire family. Now, if you do the average, let's
1:51
Speaker 1: let's let's let's downgrade it actually from four to three.
1:54
Speaker 1: How about that, we'll say, hey, only only three pre
1:57
Speaker 1: people that this job is going to take care of
1:59
Speaker 1: so one child to adults. The idea that the Left
2:03
Speaker 1: is sold people that a job at McDonald's or Taco
2:06
Speaker 1: Bell or Wendy's or fast food in general that's outside
2:09
Speaker 1: of management should be able to provide for your family
2:13
Speaker 1: forever as a career is insane.
2:18
Speaker 2: That's not reality.
2:21
Speaker 1: The majority of jobs, in fact, that I've had in
2:23
Speaker 1: my life were jobs that were never intended to take
2:26
Speaker 1: care of a family. I'll give you example, the number
2:31
Speaker 1: of tennis rackets in my life that I have strung.
2:34
Speaker 1: I can't even imagine what that total number is. That
2:39
Speaker 1: number is astronomical in the thousands and thousands and thousands. Now,
2:45
Speaker 1: could I make good money string tennis rackets?
2:47
Speaker 2: Yes?
2:48
Speaker 1: Did I make great money when I was thirteen and
2:51
Speaker 1: fourteen and fifteen and sixteen and seventeen stringing tennis rackets?
2:56
Speaker 1: I actually did. For that age, I was killing it.
3:00
Speaker 1: I was making a ton of money for that age.
3:03
Speaker 1: Should I have thought, though, when I was stringing tennis
3:06
Speaker 1: racket that this should be a living wage, that this
3:09
Speaker 1: is a wage, should be able to take care of me,
3:11
Speaker 1: and then when I get married a wife, and then
3:13
Speaker 1: when we have kids kids.
3:15
Speaker 2: No. Now, that job, by the way.
3:18
Speaker 1: Always paid me more than I think twelve fifteen bucks
3:22
Speaker 1: an hour. I don't think at any point was I
3:24
Speaker 1: ever string tenas ary. So it was under that. In
3:25
Speaker 1: other words, it was a really good job. But it
3:27
Speaker 1: was not a job that was designed to provide for
3:30
Speaker 1: a family.
3:32
Speaker 2: It just wasn't. In fact, many of.
3:34
Speaker 1: The radio jobs that I had when I was growing up,
3:37
Speaker 1: I used to do radio back when I was a kid.
3:40
Speaker 1: I'm talking about thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, Uh at six forty
3:45
Speaker 1: bought radio network that once a week job mid South
3:49
Speaker 1: viewpoint was the name of the show that I would
3:51
Speaker 1: host on Tuesdays, then it turned into Tuesdays and Thursdays.
3:56
Speaker 1: Would that job Was that job designed to pay for
4:01
Speaker 1: a living wage for me to take care of my
4:04
Speaker 1: family and forever.
4:05
Speaker 2: The answer is no. And that was in radio, right,
4:08
Speaker 2: So like you would.
4:09
Speaker 1: Argue, that would be above like a job at Taco
4:12
Speaker 1: Bell or Wendy's. And I also want to be clear,
4:14
Speaker 1: I'm not demeaning anyone that works there, Okay. I think
4:18
Speaker 1: entry level jobs are important. I think they teach you
4:21
Speaker 1: something like you know, showing up. They teach you about responsibility.
4:26
Speaker 1: They teach you about the value of the dollar and
4:28
Speaker 1: how hard it is and how hard it can be
4:29
Speaker 1: to make a dollar. Teaches you about budgeting, teach you
4:32
Speaker 1: about taxes. I mean, the list goes on and on
4:35
Speaker 1: of the things that it teaches you. Okay, I want
4:37
Speaker 1: to be clear about that. But when I was doing
4:40
Speaker 1: that job, I'm pretty sure my pay was like four
4:44
Speaker 1: seventy five an hour, and I'm not joking. And then
4:46
Speaker 1: they're like, look, you come into the show at too,
4:48
Speaker 1: you get here a couple hours early. We'll even pay
4:50
Speaker 1: for lunch every week. That was my job. That was
4:53
Speaker 1: what the offer was. We'll give you a free lunch
4:57
Speaker 1: and we'll pay you minimum wage. At some point, you
5:00
Speaker 1: get good at that job, and then you move up
5:04
Speaker 1: and start making real money, right, which is great. I'm
5:07
Speaker 1: glad that there's real money to be made at some
5:10
Speaker 1: point in this career. I mean that sincerely. I'm genuinely
5:14
Speaker 1: glad that there is money to be made down the road.
5:19
Speaker 1: And that's great news, Like that's important. But to mandate
5:24
Speaker 1: it the way that they're trying to mandate it is
5:28
Speaker 1: also just completely insane. To mandate the way that they're
5:36
Speaker 1: saying you must mandate it is not going to work
5:38
Speaker 1: out because the math just doesn't work.
5:41
Speaker 2: Like, the math doesn't work.
5:44
Speaker 1: Now, how do we know that California food chains are
5:49
Speaker 1: laying off workers ahead at a massive rate of a
5:55
Speaker 1: new minimum wage law? Now, what's the new minimum wage
5:58
Speaker 1: out in California? The new minimum wage is twenty dollars minimum.
6:05
Speaker 1: So you walk in, you're sixteen years old, you're fifteen
6:07
Speaker 1: years old, and you say, I want to work at
6:10
Speaker 1: McDonald's or Wendy's or whatever it is, Taco Bell, Smoothie King, right, whatever,
6:15
Speaker 1: I don't care a pick a brand. The law says
6:19
Speaker 1: they have to pay you twenty dollars an hour. Now,
6:24
Speaker 1: the problem with this is all it's going to do
6:26
Speaker 1: is make the price of food go through the roof. Okay,
6:29
Speaker 1: that's just what's gonna happen. It's gonna make the cost
6:32
Speaker 1: of food go through the roof, and it's gonna make
6:35
Speaker 1: it unaffordable now for people to eat fast food. Yesterday,
6:40
Speaker 1: I was flying back from New York and I landed
6:43
Speaker 1: and the fight came in kind of late, and there
6:46
Speaker 1: I was hungry. It was dinner time, and I got
6:49
Speaker 1: a nugget meal at Chick fil A and it was,
6:52
Speaker 1: like I think it was, I want to say it
6:54
Speaker 1: was fifteen or sixteen dollars for one person. That's where
6:59
Speaker 1: we are within now, Like it's insane. And part of
7:03
Speaker 1: that is the wages have gone up. And so when
7:07
Speaker 1: the wages go up, you now to feed a family
7:10
Speaker 1: it Chick fil A, it's like fifty to sixty dollars.
7:14
Speaker 1: That's like fast food folks. And now these California fast
7:19
Speaker 1: food locations are letting go massive amounts of their workers
7:23
Speaker 1: ahead of the new twenty dollars minium wage loss slated
7:25
Speaker 1: to take effect in April. That could dramatically impact their
7:28
Speaker 1: bottom lines. Several eateries, including pizza chains, have begun to
7:32
Speaker 1: cut jobs and an effort to get ahead of the
7:36
Speaker 1: possible financial repercussions. The Wall Street Journal is now reporting.
7:40
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Speaker 1: Usa dot com. Tom Benferguson sent you now, Michael oj
9:39
Speaker 1: dot twenty nine. He is a pizza Hut driver in Ontario, California.
9:43
Speaker 1: Told the newspaper that he received a notice from Pizza
9:45
Speaker 1: Hut franchise Southern California Pizza in December informing him that
9:49
Speaker 1: his last day of work would be in February. Pizza
9:52
Speaker 1: Hut was my career for nearly a decade, and with
9:56
Speaker 1: little to no notice it was taken away. Well, if
9:59
Speaker 1: you I want to know who to blame for that,
10:02
Speaker 1: that driver who had been doing this for ten years
10:06
Speaker 1: needs to call his legislators and say, why did you
10:09
Speaker 1: cost me my job by demanding a pay rate that
10:13
Speaker 1: was unrealistic? And he's not the only one, by the way,
10:18
Speaker 1: He's just one example here. Do you believe the government
10:22
Speaker 1: should step in and mandate massive increases in minimum wage
10:28
Speaker 1: or should the market decide it? They're now moving not
10:32
Speaker 1: It was fifteen dollars an hour, right mandated? It must
10:34
Speaker 1: have fifteen dollars an hour. It was over and over again.
10:36
Speaker 1: They were going nuts on that. Remember that Now it's
10:40
Speaker 1: twenty dollars an hour and it's becoming the law out
10:42
Speaker 1: in California. So what's happening? People are losing their jobs
10:46
Speaker 1: left and right? And why are they losing their jobs
10:49
Speaker 1: left and right? Very simply one thing, one thing, and
10:53
Speaker 1: one thing only, because you can't afford to pay people
10:57
Speaker 1: twenty dollars an hour for every single entry level job.
11:02
Speaker 1: It doesn't work. It just doesn't work. It's not financially
11:09
Speaker 1: feasible and everybody knows it's not financially feasible, it's not possible,
11:17
Speaker 1: but they're doing it anyway because it's about buying votes.
11:21
Speaker 2: That's what this is all about.
11:23
Speaker 1: You look at this twenty nine year old the Pizzahut
11:26
Speaker 1: driver in Ontario, California. He said, I got this notice
11:30
Speaker 1: from Pizza Hut in December informing me that my last
11:33
Speaker 1: day of work would be in February. And by the way,
11:35
Speaker 1: I think that's a pretty good runway for them, right.
11:37
Speaker 1: They were showing him respect by not holding until two
11:41
Speaker 1: weeks notice kind of thing, because they know that between
11:44
Speaker 1: December and February he could have found another job. And
11:46
Speaker 1: he said, pizzaut was my career for nearly a decade,
11:48
Speaker 1: and with little to no notice, it was taken away.
11:51
Speaker 1: I feel bad for that guy, but the Democrats just
11:53
Speaker 1: cost him his job. Last year, multiple Pizza Ut franchises
11:57
Speaker 1: in California if filed notice is to comply with the
12:00
Speaker 1: Workers Worker Adjustment and Retaining Notification Acts, saying they were
12:04
Speaker 1: discontinuing their delivery services because they couldn't afford to pay
12:08
Speaker 1: the drivers twenty bucks an hour. Many of the services
12:11
Speaker 1: were delivery driver jobs. In December Southern California Pizza coming
12:15
Speaker 1: an it's layoffs of around eight one hundred and forty
12:19
Speaker 1: one drivers across the state. Eight hundred and forty one
12:22
Speaker 1: people's jobs were lost because the Democrats went psycho and
12:27
Speaker 1: decided that everybody deserves twenty dollars an hour. The moves
12:30
Speaker 1: will impact pizza at locations in La Orange County, San Bernardino, Riverside, California,
12:36
Speaker 1: and Ventura Counties in California, where select California franchises have
12:42
Speaker 1: elected to make changes to their staffing approach. Access to
12:45
Speaker 1: delivery service will continue to be available via Pizza Hut
12:47
Speaker 1: and mobile app, they sat in a statement, as well
12:51
Speaker 1: as the website and phone ordering and the customer ordering
12:54
Speaker 1: experience will remain consistent, is what a Pizza Hut spokesman said.
12:58
Speaker 1: Roundtable Pizza, founded in Menlo Park, California, said it plans
13:04
Speaker 1: to lay off around seventy three different delivery drivers this year,
13:09
Speaker 1: seventy three. It's Caliber Pizza LLC said the employees being
13:13
Speaker 1: laid off are delivery drivers. We can't afford to pay
13:16
Speaker 1: people twenty dollars an hour to deliver pizza. We wouldn't
13:19
Speaker 1: make any money. The franchisee is transferring their delivery service
13:23
Speaker 1: to third party, is how they're describing it, saying, while
13:27
Speaker 1: it is unfortunate, we look at this as a transfer
13:29
Speaker 1: of jobs. As you know, many California restaurant operators are
13:34
Speaker 1: following the same approach due to rising operating costs. We
13:37
Speaker 1: anticipate third party delivery providers will in turn, we'll see
13:41
Speaker 1: a boost in their businesses, which require additional staff on
13:44
Speaker 1: their ind But we just can't do it. Fat brands
13:48
Speaker 1: acknowledged that delivery fees may increase and customers could see
13:53
Speaker 1: higher prices as a result of the mandated shift in
13:58
Speaker 1: what it costs to hire a human being. Brian Home,
14:01
Speaker 1: owner of two Virtual Virtue Virtual Vitality excuse me Vitality
14:06
Speaker 1: Bowls restaurants in San Jose, said he runs his stores
14:09
Speaker 1: with two employees and said the typical four the staff
14:12
Speaker 1: shortage means longer wait times for customers and increased prices
14:16
Speaker 1: to cover the additional labor costs. I'm definitely not going
14:19
Speaker 1: to hire any more, he told the paper. The wage
14:22
Speaker 1: law applies to workers in fast food chains with sixty
14:25
Speaker 1: or more locations around the nation, so not just in California.
14:29
Speaker 2: In the nation.
14:30
Speaker 1: Supporters have said, many workers in fast food restaurants are
14:34
Speaker 1: not teenagers working their first job, and so therefore they
14:37
Speaker 1: deserve a living wage. How's that working out? Restaurants are
14:42
Speaker 1: struggling to stay above water, and Democrats just threw them
14:45
Speaker 1: another disaster. That's where the California Assembly Republican leader said
14:51
Speaker 1: to Fox Business, saying, we warned Democrats that the new
14:54
Speaker 1: mandate would cost countless jobs. They ignored us, and here
14:58
Speaker 1: we are with the highest unemployment w rate in the country,
15:02
Speaker 1: posed to get even higher. So California is the highest
15:05
Speaker 1: unemployment rate and it's gotten even higher. To make things
15:07
Speaker 1: even worse, there was corruption with this deal. California Governor
15:12
Speaker 1: Gavin Newsom has a best friend. It's one of his
15:15
Speaker 1: longtime billionaire donors. Yeah, guess what he did hook him up. Well,
15:20
Speaker 1: he made an exemption to the state's new twenty dollars
15:23
Speaker 1: minimum wage regulation for the fast food industry that if
15:26
Speaker 1: you create bread, you don't have to pay the twenty
15:29
Speaker 1: dollars an hour. And guess what his billionaire friend owns
15:32
Speaker 1: countless Panera Bread stores. Panera Bread, it's fast food around
15:37
Speaker 1: the state. Yeah, So just thought i'd tell you about
15:41
Speaker 1: that corruption.
15:42
Speaker 2: There.
15:43
Speaker 1: Chains exempt from the new law are those that prepare
15:47
Speaker 1: baked bread on site to be sold as a standalone
15:51
Speaker 1: menu item. So Panera bread was initially exempt until allegation
15:56
Speaker 1: surface at the California Governor Newsom pushed for the exemption
15:58
Speaker 1: to benefit his billionaire friend and donor, Greg Flynn, he
16:03
Speaker 1: owns dozens of Panara locations across the state. Newsom, of
16:08
Speaker 1: course denied the allegation in februaryes that Panera would have
16:11
Speaker 1: to comply with a new law after massive backlash over
16:16
Speaker 1: the clear corruption between the two men. All Right, this
16:21
Speaker 1: has been something in the Fight for fifteen here in
16:23
Speaker 1: the mid South has been pretty like prominent lately. We've
16:27
Speaker 1: seen it in front of McDonald's on Union, We've seen
16:30
Speaker 1: it in front of a taco bell on Poplar. We've
16:33
Speaker 1: seen it in several different areas where they've been really
16:37
Speaker 1: pushing hard for this quote fight for fifteen. My question
16:42
Speaker 1: for you is this is is it the government's job
16:48
Speaker 1: to mandate that you make a certain amount of money
16:54
Speaker 1: or is this a disaster waiting to happen? And look,
16:59
Speaker 1: wages have already gone up several dollars an hour just
17:03
Speaker 1: since COVID it was hard to find employees post COVID
17:07
Speaker 1: or during COVID when everybody was making more money sitting
17:11
Speaker 1: at home, and so wages had to go up to
17:14
Speaker 1: get people to even show up for their jobs. That
17:17
Speaker 1: was a huge problem. They have not come down since then.
17:22
Speaker 1: They've not come back since then. It's an issue. It's
17:25
Speaker 1: a really, really, really big issue. So this idea that
17:31
Speaker 1: we're going to pay you twenty dollars an hour in California,
17:35
Speaker 1: twenty bucks an hour, folks like twenty dollars an hour,
17:38
Speaker 1: like this is nuts for any entry level job.
17:43
Speaker 2: And this is how you destroy an economy. It's also
17:47
Speaker 2: the studies have been.
17:48
Speaker 1: So clear, like they've been overwhelmingly clear. Okay, the studies
17:55
Speaker 1: are are obvious, and what they have shown are again
18:01
Speaker 1: it's it's very clear. It's clear that you give people
18:07
Speaker 1: these artificial wages and then the costs of goods and
18:11
Speaker 1: services go up, so you actually lose the money that
18:14
Speaker 1: you're mandating through instantly giving it back into to the
18:18
Speaker 1: economy to try to cover what you just mandated through
18:23
Speaker 1: the government. Like that doesn't work. It's not going to work.
18:27
Speaker 1: It's it's never worked, and you can see it time
18:31
Speaker 1: and time again. I'm in favor of a lower minimum wage,
18:35
Speaker 1: federal minimum wage, if there is a minimum wage, Like
18:38
Speaker 1: I think, I'm a fair market guy, and I think
18:41
Speaker 1: that the markets ultimately should decide. Like I don't believe
18:47
Speaker 1: that the that the markets, Okay, I just don't. I
18:52
Speaker 1: don't believe that the markets should have these these mandates
18:55
Speaker 1: on them. I believe that businesses should be able to negotiate.
19:00
Speaker 1: And if someone feels like they're getting screwed or not
19:04
Speaker 1: being paid with their worth, then it's their job, their
19:06
Speaker 1: their obligation to find someone that's willing to pay them
19:09
Speaker 1: what they're worth. I've had to do that many times
19:12
Speaker 1: in my career, where I have left an employer because
19:18
Speaker 1: it was very clear that they were never gonna pay
19:21
Speaker 1: me what I believed I was worth. So what do
19:24
Speaker 1: you do? You have to find a new market, you
19:28
Speaker 1: have to find a new partner, you have to find
19:31
Speaker 1: a new business to go work for, or create something
19:38
Speaker 1: on your own that's no one's gonna get.
19:42
Speaker 2: And this is I also think.
19:44
Speaker 1: Part of this mentality that worries me that that you're
19:46
Speaker 1: just supposed to show up and then someone else is
19:48
Speaker 1: going to like be your agent for you and like
19:51
Speaker 1: is gonna just like, oh, well, I'll get you a raise.
19:56
Speaker 1: Like part of life is learning to fight for what
19:58
Speaker 1: you believe you're worth and figuring out how to make
20:01
Speaker 1: more money.
20:02
Speaker 2: That's part of what being an.
20:04
Speaker 1: Adult is, by the way, all about it's not the
20:08
Speaker 1: government shouldn't be your your agent, Like, that's not the
20:11
Speaker 1: job of the government. The government shouldn't be the one
20:14
Speaker 1: that mandates what you like, what you make, and it
20:17
Speaker 1: goes in and negotiates on your behalf.
20:21
Speaker 2: That's your job. That's what you're supposed to do. Like,
20:25
Speaker 2: that's on you. And if you don't like it, then
20:32
Speaker 2: I don't know what to tell you.
20:33
Speaker 1: But this run to a party, and then the parties like, oh,
20:37
Speaker 1: we're gonna be the ones that help you change. We're
20:40
Speaker 1: gonna be the ones that help you make more money.
20:42
Speaker 1: That's just unrealistic.
20:45
Speaker 2: Like it just is. I'm sorry, it's unrealistic. Want to
20:48
Speaker 2: get to some other Sad news.
20:50
Speaker 1: Joe Lieberman, someone that I got to know pretty well
20:53
Speaker 1: back in the early two thousands, has passed away at
20:57
Speaker 1: the age of eighty two. The former Democratic vice presidential
21:01
Speaker 1: candidate then turned independent. A Jewish political hero, he was
21:08
Speaker 1: truly one of the last I think real moderates.
21:12
Speaker 2: Has passed away at the age of eighty two.
21:15
Speaker 1: He was dear friends with John McCain, for example, went
21:19
Speaker 1: and visited John McKay many times when John McCain was
21:21
Speaker 1: struggling with his brain tumor. And Joe Lieberman, who was
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Speaker 1: that former Democrat who then turned independent, has passed away.
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Speaker 1: He died yesterdayt the age of eighty two, due to
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Speaker 1: complications from a fall. According to his family, this is
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Speaker 1: awful because no one was expecting this. Net and Yahoo
21:43
Speaker 1: said Sarah and I grieve with the entire Lieberman family
21:48
Speaker 1: on the passing of our beloved Joe Lieberman. Joe was
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Speaker 1: an exemplary public servant, an American patriot, and a matchless
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Speaker 1: champion for Jewish people and the Jewish state. Netan Yahoo's
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Speaker 1: sang that on Twitter. He went on to say, my
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Speaker 1: very first meeting with him decades ago, I was struck
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Speaker 1: by his integrity, decency, and civic courage. He had a
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Speaker 1: deep moral sense and common sense, and was fearless in
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Speaker 1: the defense of truth. He was also an extraordinarily kind
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Speaker 1: and loyal personal friend. We will miss you, great Joe.
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Speaker 1: May the Lieberman family be comforted among the mourners of
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Speaker 1: Zion and Jerusalem, Net and Yahoo, putting that out on
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Speaker 1: social media.
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Speaker 2: He was last the moderates, was how Mark Levin described
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Speaker 2: it last night.
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Speaker 1: Lieberman was in the news just a few days ago
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Speaker 1: after he criticized Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer for demanding
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Speaker 1: early elections in Israel. He called Schumer's Gammeut outrageous and
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Speaker 1: a mistake in the midst of Israel's war against Amas Terras.
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Speaker 2: He was born in St.
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Speaker 1: Stamford, Connecticut. Lieberman had an incredible career. He attended Yale
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Speaker 1: for college and law school, served as Attorney General of
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Speaker 1: Connecticut in one election to the state ledge legislature. He
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Speaker 1: became more religious over the course of his life and
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Speaker 1: was the only Orthodox Jewish member of the Senate during
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Speaker 1: his twenty four year tenure. He observed the Jewish Sabbath
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Speaker 1: and even wrote a book, The Gift of Rest in
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Speaker 1: two thousand and nine and its importance when voters were
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Speaker 1: on Saturdays. When votes were on Saturdays, excuse me. He
23:19
Speaker 1: would walk to the capital from his home in Georgetown
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Speaker 1: and a colleague would cast his vote for him. Lieberman
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Speaker 1: was a New Deal Liberal who combined an enthusiasm for
23:29
Speaker 1: civil rights, social welfare, and social policies. He did not, however,
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Speaker 1: support gay marriage, and voted for the Defensive Marriage Act
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Speaker 1: in nineteen ninety six, defending the importance of traditional families
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Speaker 1: in the raising of children. He grew in stature as
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Speaker 1: a moral voice in the Senate and was one of
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Speaker 1: the Democrats who spoke out most forcefully against President Bill
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Speaker 1: Clinton's conduct in the Monicolensky affair. That we ultimately vote
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Speaker 1: against removing Clinton from office in the Clinton Senate impeachment
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Speaker 1: trial in eighteen ninety nine, then President Al Gore or
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Speaker 1: Vice President should say excuse me. Al Gore when he
24:06
Speaker 1: ran for president in twenty twenty, Lieberman was a natural
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Speaker 1: choice as his running mate. His criticism of Clinton would
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Speaker 1: also allow Gore to put some moral distance between himself
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Speaker 1: and the troubled incumbent. Lieberman's nomination was also a milestone
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Speaker 1: American history, as it marked the first time a Jewish
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Speaker 1: person had been considered for the nation's second highest office,
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Speaker 1: with the potential to rise even higher. Gore and Lieberman
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Speaker 1: won the popular vote, but fell short in the electoral college.
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Speaker 1: After the Florida recount and after the Supreme Court decision
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Speaker 1: in Bush v. Gore that insured victory for George W.
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Speaker 1: Bush and Dick Cheney. Lieberman became an important ally of
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Speaker 1: the Bush administration the wake of the Tarr attacks on
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Speaker 1: September the eleventh, when he spoke out forcefully in favor
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Speaker 1: of war against al Qaeda. Drawing on his experience as
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Speaker 1: a Jew and a support of his or, Lieberman emphasized
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Speaker 1: the need to confront terrorism and terrorists, both militarily and ideologically.
25:06
Speaker 1: He also supported Bush in the Iraq War, remaining a
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Speaker 1: steadfast supporter of the effort as it faced a bloody
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Speaker 1: counter insurgency that led to a major backlash against Lieberman
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Speaker 1: the Democratic Party. He failed to gain traction as a
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Speaker 1: presidential candidate in two thousand and four when he ran,
25:23
Speaker 1: then faced a primary challenge in six the so called
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Speaker 1: net roots of online left wing activist targeted Lieberman for
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Speaker 1: defeat and backed a businessman, Ned Lamont on an anti
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Speaker 1: war platform. After losing the primary, Liebingberman became an independent,
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Speaker 1: betting that Connecticut voters still supported him, and guess what
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Speaker 1: he won. In two thousand and seven, Liberman endorsed John
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Speaker 1: McCain for president, backing the veteran lawmaker due to support
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Speaker 1: of the war against terror. Lieberman went on to launch
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Speaker 1: No Labels, an independent group that seeked modern, nonpartisan alternatives
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Speaker 1: to traditional candidates. He praised President Trump for his pro
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Speaker 1: Israel policies and attended the opening of the US embassy
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Speaker 1: in Jerusalem in eighteen, telling Breitbart News that support for
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Speaker 1: the Jewish state should not be a partisan issue. In nineteen,
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Speaker 1: he told Breitbart's editor in chief on their show on
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Speaker 1: exem Patriot, the President Trump's decision to recognize Israel's sovereignty
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Speaker 1: over the over the Gowen Heights was critically important. He
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Speaker 1: explained the fact that the president is unconventional enables him
26:34
Speaker 1: to do something the presents before him of both parties
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Speaker 1: probably thought was the right thing, but would never do
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Speaker 1: it and never did it. Joe Lieberman has passed away
26:44
Speaker 1: from a complications from a fall at the age of
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Speaker 1: eighty two. Our thoughts and prayers with a Lieberman family.
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Speaker 1: He was a patriot and someone that truly loved this country.
26:55
Speaker 1: This is going to trickle out. I have a feeling more.
26:58
Speaker 1: I'm going to cover it all for you. Make sure
27:01
Speaker 1: that you download the Ben Ferguson podcast every day. We'll
27:03
Speaker 1: keep you updated. Hit the share button on our podcast
27:07
Speaker 1: as well. If you miss a show, go back and listen.
27:10
Speaker 1: We're gonna cover it all and I'll see you back
27:12
Speaker 1: here tomorrow on the Ben Ferguson Podcast