Browse our archive by

Filter by

Clear
97: Death to Wacky
Mar. 20, 1998

Act Three: The Politics Of Wackiness

Ira with Michael Lewis, author of Losers: The Road to Everyplace but the White House and many other books, who says that in the '96 Presidential Election all the candidates with new ideas, all the candidates capable of talking the way real people act in their real lives, were shunned by the media as "wacky." (10 minutes)
417: This Party Sucks
Oct. 29, 2010

Act One: Patriot Games

Rich Carlson and Tom Swenor, two best friends in Michigan, got so fed up with the political process in the country, they decided to form their own Tea Party chapter in Petoskey, Michigan. But as election season revved up and push came to shove, Rich and Tom had very different ideas about how to advance a conservative agenda.
696: Low Hum of Menace
Mar. 13, 2020

Act Two: Reality Show

FBI agents question NSA contractor Reality Winner, who was later charged with leaking evidence of Russian interference in U.S. elections. Even the most casual small talk takes on an air of menace. (18 minutes)This is an excerpt from Is This A Room, a play based on the real FBI interrogation transcript.
376: Wrong Side of History
Mar. 13, 2009

Act Four: The Other Guy

When Bernie Epton ran for mayor of Chicago in 1983, he was a long shot—Chicago historically voted in democrat mayors, and Bernie himself didn't think he stood a chance. Beyond that, Bernie was a moderate republican, with some liberal tendencies: He was a opponent of McCarthyism, he marched in Memphis after Dr.
599: Seriously?
Oct. 21, 2016

Act Two: Judges with Grudges

In this election year we look at the story of one small ballot initiative, in one state. We heard this referendum would gut Georgia's Judicial Qualifications Commission (JQC), an independent organization that investigates ethics complaints about judges.
Nov. 3, 2016

Seriously

15 million people watched this on Facebook. Right before the 2016 election, we asked Sara Bareilles to imagine what President Obama might be thinking about Donald Trump, but couldn’t say publicly. Leslie Odom Jr. sang. 

Nov. 3, 2016

Party Guy

The third song we commissioned on the eve of the 2016 election. Broadway composer Michael Friedman imagined what RNC Chairman Reince Priebus might be thinking, but not expressing publicly. John Ellison Conlee sang.

Nov. 3, 2016
Paul Ryan standing behind two mics, smiling

A Better Way

Just before the 2016 election, we asked the Frozen songwriters Robert Lopez and Kristen Anderson-Lopez to imagine what Speaker of the House Paul Ryan was feeling, but couldn’t say publicly, about Donald Trump. Neil Patrick Harris sang the part of Paul Ryan.

372: The Inauguration Show
Jan. 16, 2009

Prologue

Back in November, two weeks after he was elected president, Barack Obama delivered a pre-taped speech to an international conference on global warming that was convened in Los Angeles by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. It wasn't Obama's most important speech, but the effect it had on the audience was profound—mostly because they heard it through the haze of the last eight years.
139: Ghosts of Elections Past
Sept. 3, 1999

Act Four: Throwing Money At The Problem

A few years back Alex Kotlowitz wrote a book called There Are No Children Here, about two boys growing up in Chicago's Henry Horner public housing projects. Those projects were across the street from the site of the 1996 Democratic Convention in Chicago, and when the convention came to town, money poured in for a makeover.
599: Seriously?
Oct. 21, 2016

Act Four: Seriously?

We’ve been wondering about some of the things President Obama thinks about the current election, but can’t say publicly. But since he hasn’t told us his thoughts explicitly, we asked singer/songwriter Sara Bareilles – who did the Broadway musical “Waitress” – to imagine those thoughts for us.