Senior Producer Christina Phillips puts Nick and Hannah to the test in this trivia face off! Play along as our co-hosts prove their mettle (and also don't) and learn a little something while you're at it. Featuring Nick as Christopher Walken... with apologies to Mr. Walken.
Transcript
Christina Phillips: I remember the first time I tracked with you, Nick, I just would like. Like, can you back away from the microphone? I was like, Why are you.
Nick Capodice: Are you in a cemetery? Here's a fun piece of trivia.
Hannah McCarthy: Are you in a...Oh, this is a piece of trivia I know.
Nick Capodice: This is for our listeners. Christina, do you know how to. To make sure you spell cemetery properly?
Christina Phillips: No, but I would love to know.
Nick Capodice: They're so scary. You go "eeee" all the way through it.
Christina Phillips: It's not "tary?"
Nope.
Hannah McCarthy: No, [00:00:30] it's an e.
Nick Capodice: You go "ee" all the way through. All the way through.
Hannah McCarthy: You want to hear something really embarrassing? You know what else is e all the way through? Competent. You know who has to check her spelling on competent every time she writes it? This incompetent, This person right here.
Nick Capodice: Incompetent co-host
Christina Phillips: Oh, I feel like I. My spelling is so bad now, and it's just.
Hannah McCarthy: Hello. Hello, everyone. You are listening to Civics 101. I'm Hannah McCarthy. [00:01:00]
Nick Capodice: I'm Nick Capodice.
Hannah McCarthy: And this is another installment of the thing where our senior producer Christina, betrays what we do not know about American government and history.
Nick Capodice: In other words, it's time for Civics 101 trivia. I'd actually say that's one of the great privileges of being the host of civics one. On one hand, we can readily admit to not knowing anything.
Hannah McCarthy: And not knowing things. We we do. Do not know. We do not know a lot of things. Time to find out which of those our whole audience will learn the dark [00:01:30] truth of today Nick.
Nick Capodice: So without further ado, senior producer Christina Phillips takes it away and makes us squirm because actually the other secret is that we wish we knew everything.
Hannah McCarthy: Let's do this.
Christina Phillips: So our first question is about the Reconstruction era, which, to give you a little background to begin in the 1860s, during and after the Civil War, and from 1861 to 1875, Republicans controlled both the House and the Senate. Lincoln's assassination in 1865 [00:02:00] made his Democratic VP, Andrew Johnson, the president, and at the time the Republican Party was the party of Reconstruction, while the Democratic Party, especially Southern Democrats, were opposed to most any kind of civil rights legislation for people who are formerly enslaved. So this first question is for you, Hannah. Oh, boy, it is multiple choice. Johnson vetoed 23 bills. And from our episode on vetoes, we know that Congress can override a president's [00:02:30] veto only if two thirds of the House and two thirds of the Senate vote to override it. How many of these vetoes did Congress override? Five. Ten. 15 or 20.
Hannah McCarthy: Just because it was like an entirely radical Republican Congress at the time.
Hannah McCarthy: The White House page for Andrew Johnson. I'll never [00:03:00] forget this because the White House has a page for every president and for Andrew Johnson. They call him unfortunate. Like he was apparently actually like competent politician, but his presidency was unfortunate. But I'm going to venture that they overrode 20.
Christina Phillips: You are close. 20, I think would be sort of incredible because the override rate is so low.
Nick Capodice: Is it ten?
Christina Phillips: It is 15.
Nick Capodice: So [00:03:30] that's still a lot.
Hannah McCarthy: It is a lot.
Christina Phillips: It's a lot, especially considering that there's so few veto overrides. Yeah. Two thirds of the House and the Senate is a really hard thing to achieve. They really did not like Johnson. Oh, they did not. Here's some of the things that Congress ended up doing when they overruled Johnson's vetoes. They include passing legislation that reduced Johnson's control of the Army, ordering a military to call the elections in the South and reasserting Congress's control of reconstruction. [00:04:00] Basically legislation that said, no, no, we are in charge of reconstruction, not you. The president, and prohibited Johnson's power to remove Cabinet officers without the Senate's consent. Nick. This question is for you.
Nick Capodice: I'm ready for it.
Christina Phillips: Of these bills that Congress passed that Johnson had tried to veto and failed to veto, there was one that he chose to completely disregard and he did it anyway, and that ended up getting him impeached. So which [00:04:30] one was it? Was it the bill that reduced his control over the Army? The bill that ordered the military to call elections in the South? The bill that reasserted Congress's control of reconstruction? Or the bill that prohibited Johnson from removing Cabinet officials without the Senate's consent.
Nick Capodice: Hoo. I think it's the first one of the last one. And I'm going to go with the first one about whether or not he could remove people in the Army.
Christina Phillips: Yeah. So that one was reducing his control over [00:05:00] the army.
Nick Capodice: Right. That's the one.
Hannah McCarthy: Which no president. Well.
Christina Phillips: That's very true.
Nick Capodice: That's my guess.
Christina Phillips: It's a good guess. It is not the correct guess. Yes. So Congress had passed legislation saying that for Johnson's term he could not remove members of his own cabinet without Senate's consent, and he did not like that. So he eventually fired his secretary of war, who refused to step down because he was like, no, Congress has to approve this. Right. [00:05:30] And so Congress voted to impeach him. Ultimately, the impeachment was unsuccessful, but not without many, many, many angry speeches by Republicans and some Democrats about Johnson's failure to lead. So Johnson takes the record for the president to have the most vetoes overridden by Congress. But there are two presidents who each had 12 vetoes that were overridden by Congress. Hannah First, I'm going to give you some clues. You tell me. The President. All right.
Hannah McCarthy: I'll try my best.
Christina Phillips: This president owned a haberdashery, [00:06:00] was responsible for the secret establishment of the NSA and has haunted nearly every topic I've covered on the show.
Hannah McCarthy: Well, I was going to say LBJ.
Christina Phillips: No, it was not LBJ.
Nick Capodice: Is it Eisenhower?
Christina Phillips: No, it's Truman.
Nick Capodice: Oh, Truman. And I knew it was Truman.
Christina Phillips: Truman. Man of the Truman Doctrine. He delighted in using his emergency powers, helped establish NATO.
Hannah McCarthy: Of course. Truman.
Christina Phillips: Yes, that is Truman. Next question. [00:06:30] This is for Nick. This president ascended from Congress rather quickly, all the way up to the presidency. He was responsible for a cabinet reorganization known as the Halloween massacre. And he played football in college. He started in Congress. He ended up as the president.
Nick Capodice: I'm trying to think of the really handsome one who played football in college, which I think might have been Eisenhower. No, but this but this question about how they weren't. They were they didn't win the Electoral College. So.
Christina Phillips: Yeah, [00:07:00] he never had to He was never nominated for vice president or president before he became president.
Nick Capodice: So is this someone who became president because somebody else died?
Christina Phillips: He didn't die.
Nick Capodice: Uh huh. Who resigned.
Christina Phillips: Hmm.
Nick Capodice: Nixon resigned.
Christina Phillips: Nixon did resign.
Archival: To leave office before my term is completed as abhorrent to every instinct in my body.
Christina Phillips: And it's not Spiro Agnew.
Nick Capodice: Gerald Ford.
Yes. Okay. [00:07:30] Gerald Ford. Gerald. He played football in college. Yeah, he did.
Nick Capodice: I think a couple of them played football.
Archival: My fellow Americans, our long national nightmare is over. Our Constitution.
Hannah McCarthy: not feeling so hot after that one Nick.
Nick Capodice: Nick, I believe the score.
Hannah McCarthy: You know, we know the score
Nick Capodice: unless I am wrong and I am never wrong.
Hannah McCarthy: You know, you were you were wrong with that Johnson question.
Nick Capodice: The score is 1 to 0 me in the lead.
Hannah McCarthy: Tides can shift, my [00:08:00] friend.
Nick Capodice: Round two. Here we go.
Christina Phillips: We're going to talk about voter turnout and voting requirements. The first question is for you, Hannah. It is multiple choice.
Hannah McCarthy: Okay.
Christina Phillips: So this state takes the title for the highest voter turnout in the 2018 midterm election, with 65% of eligible voters casting ballots. It is also called the land of 10,000 Lakes, claims milk as its state drink and ice hockey as [00:08:30] its state sport.
Hannah McCarthy: Do we have state drinks?
Christina Phillips: We do. I have a whole thing about this, so. Is it Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota or Missouri?
Hannah McCarthy: The land of 10,000 lakes. Minnesota.
Christina Phillips: Yes. It is. So Minnesota was one of the earliest adopters of same day voter registration. Yeah. Amazing. Yeah.
Nick Capodice: I was thinking it [00:09:00] would probably be a state with a smaller population than some of those bigger states because it's easier to get a higher percentage with fewer people. Right.
Christina Phillips: Yeah. And I will say the Midwest is in general, there's higher turnout in the Midwest from what I could see. They also have been promoting for a long time absentee voting in early voting. So Minnesota has a lot of really easy ways to show up and vote. Other states that had high turnout in 2018 included Colorado, Montana, Wisconsin and Oregon. And by the way, Minnesota has over 11,000 lakes. So [00:09:30] it's sort of a misnomer. And 22 states claim milk as their state drink. So that was a trick clue.
Hannah McCarthy: I wonder if big milk is behind that.
Christina Phillips: Hmm, that's a good question. Some states don't have a state drink at all, but some are are very much in the milk camp.
Hannah McCarthy: We're the only animal that drinks another animal's milk. You ever think about that?
Christina Phillips: Is that true? It's pretty.
Hannah McCarthy: Flippin strange.
Nick Capodice: Cats drink cow's milk.
Christina Phillips: Well.
Hannah McCarthy: Not naturally. You know, we give them you give a cat a thing, a cow's milk. [00:10:00] But it's not like cats were seeking out domestic cows.
Nick Capodice: Just surreptitiously under cover of darkness, assaulting their udders in the dead of night.
Hannah McCarthy: Although I suppose naturally is a is not a what uses that adjective.
Nick Capodice: Because we are natural.
Hannah McCarthy: Right? Nothing we do, right?
Nick Capodice: Nothing we do is unnatural because we are nature.
Christina Phillips: Moving on. Next question. This is for you, Nick.
Nick Capodice: Ready for the dance.
Christina Phillips: It's also multiple choice. The state has the lowest voter turnout in the 2018 [00:10:30] midterm election at just 39.3%. It's the only state that is completely free of rabies, and it has more endangered species than any other state. Is it New Mexico, Wyoming, Alaska or Hawaii?
Nick Capodice: If it's completely free of rabies. That lends me to think of Hawaii. And there's lots of endangered animals in Hawaii, but mostly [00:11:00] birds, I'd imagine, because it probably split apart from Pangea so early, it doesn't have a lot of land mammals.
Hannah McCarthy: I would encourage you to think about the fact that birds aren't doing so hot.
Nick Capodice: That's true. I'm going to go with Hawaii.
Christina Phillips: You are correct, Hawaii. So in 2020, Hawaii sent out mail in ballots to every registered voter. And the voter turnout for the 2020 election was much higher. It was around 57% as opposed to 2016, where it was only 43%. So one thing that we do [00:11:30] know from Hawaii is that that mail in ballot initiative in 2020 really did boost turnout by a lot more than it did on a national average, which nationally voter turnout increased seven percentage points between the two presidential elections.
Nick Capodice: Good on you, Hawaii.
Christina Phillips: Yeah. Speaking of mail in ballots and absentee voting, we know 2020 was a record year for voter participation and a record year for the number of people who voted absentee. [00:12:00] So the average in 2020 absentee ballot rejection rate was 0.79%. So not very high under 1%. Only three states rejected greater than two and one half percent of ballots. I'm going to give you four states. I want you to tell me the state that did not reject that many. And this question is for you, Hanna. Okay.
Hannah McCarthy: So you're going to list four states. Three of them are going to be higher objectors, and one of them is going to be a low register. Yes. Okay.
Christina Phillips: Arkansas. [00:12:30] Georgia. New Mexico. New York.
Hannah McCarthy: Och, I'm going to say New York.
Christina Phillips: It's not New York.
Christina Phillips: So, again, this is the reason I wanted to ask this question is because there's not a lot of obvious reasons. There's not a really good like federal way to track how absentee ballots are going. So the states that had the highest rejection rates were Arkansas, New Mexico and New York. They were the only three states [00:13:00] that had more than two and a half percent of absentee ballots rejected. The vast majority of states had under 1%. States are not required to report why their absentee ballots are rejected, and every state has its individual regulations for election officials. So it is hard to know why absentee ballots are getting rejected. And also in several of these states, it was one county or two counties that had really high rejection rates. Other parts of the state were much lower.
Hannah McCarthy: Was it like Manhattan [00:13:30] people writing in like Batman and whatever?
Christina Phillips: I don't know. I did not look at the actual breakdown in the map. But the this study that I'm talking about is from MIT. They did come up with a few reasons that your ballot may be rejected, some of the most common reasons. So, Nick, this question is for you. It's multiple choice. In 2020, what was the most likely reason an absentee ballot was thrown out? Was it Sharpie bleed through a [00:14:00] mismatch signature, meaning the signature on your ballot did not match the signature the state had on file, a missing signature, meaning you didn't sign the ballot or didn't sign it in the right place, or you had the incorrect date.
Nick Capodice: You had to put the date down? Let me think.
Christina Phillips: I'm not saying anything.
Nick Capodice: My signature has changed so much since I got my first checkbook at the ripe age of nine.
Hannah McCarthy: I basically try out a new signature every time I have to sign my name [00:14:30] this morning. And I was like, How's that? That's a good one, right?
Nick Capodice: I know I used to put a little smiley face and the number two under my name as a little trick. If someone tried to forge my checkbook from my Paper Boy account. Anyway, I'm going to guess mismatched signatures.
Christina Phillips: You are correct. It is mismatched signatures.
Nick Capodice: I'm gettin all the easy ones McCarthy.
Christina Phillips: Here's the thing. Mismatched signatures comparing the signature that you submit on your ballot with the signature that the election officials have on file. So the signature that you [00:15:00] gave when you register to vote, for example, this could be when you registered on like over mail or it could be when you registered a year ago. So the way that they evaluate if your signature matches or not, it's depends on the election official. It depends on the state, it depends on the county. But that is the most common reason some states do have laws on the books that require them to notify people if their absentee ballot has been rejected and give them the opportunity to correct [00:15:30] it. Other states do not. So in many of these states, when an absentee ballot is initially rejected, they're able to correct it because they reach out to the person and say, hey, you know, we had an issue either come vote in person or we're going to figure out a system for you. Not every state requires that. So if you vote absentee, be aware of that and check to see if your what your state's local laws are about absentee ballots, what kind of pen to use, what kind of pen not to use. If you can track your ballot and [00:16:00] if your state will contact you if it doesn't end up going through. So that's that. The score now, I believe, is two Nick, zero Hannah.
Hannah McCarthy: No, I have one. One. Yes.
Hannah McCarthy: I've one point.
Nick Capodice: I actually have 3 points.
Christina Phillips: I don't know.
Nick Capodice: I have Hawaii.
Hannah McCarthy: Oh yeah. And Nick has three.
Nick Capodice: So that's 3 to 1.
Hannah McCarthy: Slow [00:16:30] and steady wins the race, man.
Nick Capodice: You remember how the other day you were talking about how much you learned to be a good loser to that friend of ours?
Hannah McCarthy: Yeah, well, my ability to lose well is surpassed only by my ability to selectively forget things.
Nick Capodice: All right, Hannah. Round three coming in hot.
Hannah McCarthy: Wait
Nick Capodice: One cannot delay the inevitable.
Hannah McCarthy: Unless it is to remind everybody of our very wonderful, very bright and interesting and never spammy newsletter called Extra Credit.
Nick Capodice: It's a good point. We can [00:17:00] always throw that in.
Hannah McCarthy: I've got like three newsletters that I subscribe to that I ever bother to click on in my inbox. And let me tell you something, this is one of them. The Civics 101 Extra Credit newsletter is one of them, and I already know most of the content.
Nick Capodice: Because you wrote it. Hannah.
Hannah McCarthy: Well, I do like to read my own writing. It's one of my my worst ego things, but it's also just good stuff that we put in the newsletter, right? It's civic stuff that Nick and I discover over the course of a week or a month, or just like one [00:17:30] strange night clicking wildly through Reddit. And it is always worth a read. You can subscribe at our website, civics101podcast.org. Now we can take a break.
Nick Capodice: We're back. We're playing Civics 101 trivia. And I am kind of trouncing Hannah at this point.
Hannah McCarthy: for now.
Nick Capodice: But there's many a slip twixt the cup and the lip. No more dawdling. Let's get back to it.
Hannah McCarthy: Round three, here we come. [00:18:00]
Christina Phillips: So the next category is campaign slogans. The good, the bad and the fake. Are you ready for this?
Nick Capodice: I'm ready.
Christina Phillips: Do you guys have favorite campaign slogans over the years?
Nick Capodice: I like Tippecanoe and Tyler, too.
Hannah McCarthy: I like Ike. Oh, it's one of my favorites.
Nick Capodice: Do you ever hear the song for I Like Ike for that ad, It's like, I like you like I like you like like I like like everybody likes Ike for president.
Christina Phillips: I think there is a song for the Tippecanoe and Tyler, too, as well.
Hannah McCarthy: There is.
Archival: ...Tippecanoe [00:18:30] and Tyler, too. For Tippecanoe and Tyler too. And with them will be little Van Van, Van is a used up man.
Christina Phillips: So I ended up on a very, very deep rabbit hole. I have no idea why I don't remember what episode I was working on, where I ended up in this rabbit hole, but I ended up in a rabbit hole reading about all these campaign slogans over the years. And the takeaway I had was that there was seemed to be no rules about this. So some of them could be about policy, like Abraham Lincoln's. The union [00:19:00] must and shall be preserved. That was one of his campaign slogans. Very literal. That's a long slogan. Yeah. It's not the longest that we're going to talk about. They can be about the person. So Gerald Ford's. He's making us again. I think that might capital us.
Nick Capodice: He's like, making us us again. Making the US again.
Christina Phillips: Well, now I need to look it up because I think it is.
Nick Capodice: It's Gerald Ford again.
Hannah McCarthy: Yeah he's making us. Us would Yeah that would make.
Nick Capodice: He's making us us again.
Christina Phillips: He's making us proud [00:19:30] again. I just didn't left out proud. So Gerald Ford, he's making us proud again. Again, again. There's other ones that are sort of vaguely inspirational, like McCain's 2008 slogan, Reform, prosperity and peace. Right. So there's the whole gamut of campaign slogans. So for the next round of questions, I'm going to give you the year. And the slogan, And I want you to tell me if it's a Republican candidate, a Democratic [00:20:00] candidate, or if it's fake. Okay. So the first one to you, Nick, 2012, the slogan is middle class first.
Nick Capodice: Wow.
Christina Phillips: Republican, Democrat or fake?
Nick Capodice: I can't believe somebody would actually put that on their middle class first. If it was, I'm assuming it would be.
Hannah McCarthy: From what I've learned of the great American myth, it's that most Americans classify themselves as the middle class.
Nick Capodice: I saw a chart about that yesterday. Hannah. Yeah, it was like everybody thinks they're middle class from $5,000 [00:20:30] a year to 125,000 a year. Anyhow, I'm going to guess fake Christina.
Christina Phillips: It is not. It is Democrat. It's Barack Obama.
Nick Capodice: Oh, my God. I can't believe I screwed that up.
Christina Phillips: And I should say that all of these are slogans that for actual candidates, not primary candidates. Yeah, whatever. That word is.
Nick Capodice: Cool. I'm ashamed that I got that one wrong.
Christina Phillips: Yeah, that one stood out to me because he had so many other great ones. This is, you know, hope and there's just so many great Barack Obama ones. This is middle class first. [00:21:00] That's it. So that is a no Nick. Hannah? Yes. 2004. Okay. A safer world and a more hopeful America. Republican, Democrat or fake?
Hannah McCarthy: 2004. I'm going to say it's. I must say it's real.
Christina Phillips: Mm hmm.
Hannah McCarthy: And I'm going to say Republican.
Christina Phillips: Yes. This is George W Bush's reelection [00:21:30] slogan, A Safer World and a more hopeful America, which I have never seen on a sign, I imagine it had to be kind of squished. All right, Nick. Things are going to get a little harder. 1932.
Nick Capodice: Okay.
Christina Phillips: We are turning a corner. Republican, Democrat or fake.
Nick Capodice: You're turning a corner.
Nick Capodice: 1932 I'm thinking about it. It's depression [00:22:00] related. And I'm going to say Democrat.
Christina Phillips: No, those as a Republican, it was Hoover, running for reelection. All right, Hannah, 1936. New Deal. Try No deal. Republican, Democrat or fake.
Hannah McCarthy: You could have come up with this.
Nick Capodice: Oh, it.
Hannah McCarthy: Would be rather clever if you did. I'm [00:22:30] going to say fake.
Christina Phillips: It is fake.
Nick Capodice: I was like, Why isn't she saying Republican? Why isn't she? And then she was right. You were right.
Christina Phillips: I will say it's better than what existed. So Roosevelt's Republican challenger, Alfred Landon. This was his slogan, Defeat the New Deal and its reckless spending. So I'm sorry, but New Deal or No deal is much better, in my opinion.
Hannah McCarthy: People were depressed enough as it is. [00:23:00] I mean, come on.
Christina Phillips: It just feels like a.. Defeat The New Deal. And it's reckless spending. All right, Nick.
Nick Capodice: Yo, yo.
Christina Phillips: Next question for you. Yo, yo, yo. 1980. Are you better off than you were four years ago?
Nick Capodice: Oh, yeah. This is a famous one.
Christina Phillips: Republican. Democrat.
Nick Capodice: Let me just I'm trying to think of the specifics of it. Are you better off than you were four years ago? It's 1980. Jimmy Carter, Somebody [00:23:30] who opposed Jimmy Carter. Jimmy Carter didn't say, Are you better off than you were four years ago? Jimmy Carter was a Democrat. I'm going to say Republican.
Christina Phillips: Correct. Sorry. The long and winding road, great powers of deduction. So that was a Ronald Reagan.
Nick Capodice: Yeah, that was That was one of his first ones, right?
Christina Phillips: Yep. Yep. And he beat Jimmy Carter.
Nick Capodice: Sure did.
Christina Phillips: Are you better off than you were four years ago? It's an it's a loaded question, Hanna. 1948. Move toward a new world order. [00:24:00] Republican, Democrat or fake.
Hannah McCarthy: Democrat?
That's fake. This is a line from Eminem song Lose Yourself.
Hannah McCarthy: In my defense, I wasn't cool enough to listen to Eminem. So how would I know that?
Christina Phillips: I only know all the lyrics to Eminem's Lose Yourself because in typing class in seventh grade, we had to type out all the lyrics, which is an interesting choice for a seventh grade class.
Hannah McCarthy: Shocking choice.
Nick Capodice: better than Mario teaches typing.
Christina Phillips: Yeah, it was. I mean, I. [00:24:30]
Hannah McCarthy: Stand by Mavis Beacon.
Nick Capodice: I also stand by Mavis Beacon
Christina Phillips: I stand by Eminem's lyrics.
Hannah McCarthy: So that's very funny Christina.
Christina Phillips: Yeah. So here's an actual slogan for Democratic candidate Harry Truman. I'm just wild about Harry.
Nick Capodice: There's something about Harry.
Christina Phillips: All right Nick. 1992. Don't change the team in the middle of the stream.
Nick Capodice: I forgot who it was. Well, if it's don't change [00:25:00] the team in the middle of the stream, then it's got to be who won in 90.
Christina Phillips: 92.
Nick Capodice: 92. But if you don't want to change the team, you have to keep with the one dance with the one that brung ya. 1988. Hold on a second. George Herbert Walker Bush.
Christina Phillips: George H.W. Bush.
Nick Capodice: Don't change the team in the middle of the stream. Not really known as sort of the best, the best stringer together of fun phrases. George Senior wasn't.
Christina Phillips: Yeah. Yeah. [00:25:30]
Hannah McCarthy: I believe that puts me at a whopping three pointeroos
Nick Capodice: I believe that puts me at 5, 5 pointeroos
Hannah McCarthy: Did you know that until I finally went to England, where the signs all over the subway system, the the tube, the metro [00:26:00] say mind the gap. They mean like the gap between the train and the platform up until that point. And I was like 12. I thought that mind the gap, which you sometimes see on like T-shirts, was just a really cool band.
Nick Capodice: Isn't it?
Hannah McCarthy: What is that band? It must be like a band from the nineties. Yeah, I'm sure it is a band name, you know.
Nick Capodice: But what are we on Hannah, round four?
Hannah McCarthy: Yeah, we're on round foyr 5 to 3. Nicholas Capodice
Christina Phillips: 5 to 3.
Hannah McCarthy: Doing a little [00:26:30] better. That's my campaign slogan.
Nick Capodice: Doin' a little better. McCarthy for President. Paid for by the Irish-Americans for Irish Irish-American Foundation.
Hannah McCarthy: I never promised you a rose garden. McCarthy For president.
Nick Capodice: Deal with it. I would love to come up with a campaign slogan for you. It ain't all bad.
Christina Phillips: She'll do it on time.
Nick Capodice: You should see the other guy. Hannah McCarthy for president.
Christina Phillips: All [00:27:00] right. So the final scores right now, Nick has five. Hannah, you have three. Last round, this or that.
Hannah McCarthy: You can get with this or you can get with that
Nick Capodice: You can get with that.
Hannah McCarthy: Sorry.
Christina Phillips: That's fine.
Hannah McCarthy: It's such a fun music video. Do your Christopher Walken.
Nick Capodice: He does. He he was in that.
Hannah McCarthy: He's in the music video for that. Well, it's in the Weapon of Choice music video by Fatboy Slim, who samples the fairly famous black sheep song they were referencing here. But whatever. I'm [00:27:30] just free associating.
Nick Capodice: What do you want him to say?
Hannah McCarthy: I want him to answer this next trivia question. Nick, is it Nick or is it me
Christina Phillips: Starting with Hannah.
Hannah McCarthy: Okay, You can. After that, you have to do a Christopher Walken.
Nick Capodice: All right, I'll do my best.
Christina Phillips: Okay, So earlier this year, Nick, you did a whole show on committees.
Nick Capodice: I did.
Christina Phillips: Yeah. Do you want to tell us just briefly, what's your favorite thing about committees?
Nick Capodice: My favorite thing about committees is that they are the most maybe the most important thing. When I did this episode, I went away being like, everyone, [00:28:00] forget everything about anything. Forget parties, forget platforms, Forget the Supreme Court. None of it matters. Committees are the only thing that matters. And I really kind of I mean, I think the rest does matter. But committees are super important and they determine people's what they determine what our elected representatives do. So I think everybody should go listen to that episode.
Christina Phillips: Yes, they definitely should. We're going to talk about a much less important thing that is committee adjacent and that is caucuses.
Hannah McCarthy: Oh, [00:28:30] caucuses. Oh, yes.
Christina Phillips: So caucuses are a group of like minded legislators who work together to educate their peers about things that are important to them. And I when I was looking at caucuses, I saw a lot of things where the description of the caucus was educate fellow legislators. So now I imagine that there's just slideshows happening all the time that, you know, I'm going to teach you about this thing today, and I can't even predict what the attendance is for those. But anyway, while there is a limit to [00:29:00] how many committees someone can serve on, there seems to be no such limit on caucuses.
Hannah McCarthy: Because they're made up.
Christina Phillips: Yeah, I came across one representative who is on could you not? 41 caucuses.
Nick Capodice: Wow.
Christina Phillips: The list just kept going and going and going. I don't even think I talk to 41 people in a month. I can't imagine being on 41 different caucuses. But that being said, for this round of this or that, I am going to give you a word. That [00:29:30] word is either the name of a caucus that currently exists in our House of Representatives or an official jelly belly jelly bean flavor.
Nick Capodice: Great.
Hannah McCarthy: Okay, I can do this. Ready? Yeah.
Christina Phillips: All right, Hannah, the first one is for you. Is this the name of a House caucus or a jelly belly jelly bean flavor? Maple.
Hannah McCarthy: Caucus?
Christina Phillips: Yes,
Nick Capodice: Well done.
Christina Phillips: There are three people on this caucus. They are from New York, [00:30:00] New Hampshire and Vermont. So Maple caucus. I could find no information about this caucus. But I can guess being from New Hampshire, I.
Nick Capodice: Think that caucus just has pancakes once a year.
Hannah McCarthy: Yeah.
Christina Phillips: All right, Nick. Yeah.
Hannah McCarthy: Who's who? Who are you, sir? Oh.
Christina Phillips: Nick, as requested answer this as Christopher Walken. Name of a House caucus or a jelly belly jelly bean flavor? Wine.
Nick Capodice: I would think that the creators of jelly bellies [00:30:30]...to sell. The children wouldn't have an alcoholic drink. But then again, I'm going to say caucus.
Christina Phillips: It is a caucus, but there is an entire cocktail line of jelly bellies.
Hannah McCarthy: I'm not surprised tall.
Nick Capodice: pina colada, probably.
Christina Phillips: There is a pina colada. There's a gin and tonic and a moscow mule, I think. Hmm. Hmm. Hmm. So this caucus was, [00:31:00] according to the website, founded with the idea that members of Congress could benefit from learning more about the challenges of growing grapes and making wine.
Nick Capodice: Yeah, we all could benefit from learning more about that.
Christina Phillips: Okay, Next question. Hannah? Yes. How is caucus or jelly Belly jelly bean flavor. Sausage? Hmm.
Hannah McCarthy: Jelly belly.
Christina Phillips: Correct? Yes. [00:31:30]
Nick Capodice: There is no sausage flavor.
Christina Phillips: There is a sausage.
Hannah McCarthy: There are other there are flavors that really shouldn't be flavors.
Christina Phillips: Mm hmm.
Nick Capodice: And these aren't even, like, rip off Bernie bodies.
Christina Phillips: No, this is from the Jelly Belly website. I went. I was fully official.
Hannah McCarthy: Jelly Belly made those Harry Potter jelly beans.
Christina Phillips: Oh, yes. Which I'm going to stop you there because I cannot confirm or deny if there are more from that list. So. Nick Yeah. House caucus or jelly belly jelly bean flavor. Cut flower F-L-O-W-E-R [00:32:00]
Nick Capodice: I'd much rather have a wad of dough in my mouth as a jelly belly. Let me guess. Cut flower. If it was a caucus, it would be sort of this fun rose society. And if it was a flavor, it would be for the sort of the erudite, Turkish delight loving person. So I'm going to say it's a jelly belly flavor.
Christina Phillips: It's a caucus.
Nick Capodice: Do they like flowers?
Christina Phillips: The congressional cut flower [00:32:30] or flower caucus? I saw it said both ways, was created to help address, support and represent the economic interests and opportunities facing America's flower farmers.
Nick Capodice: Oh, well.
Christina Phillips: All right. Next question is for you. Hannah House Caucus are Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor. Dirt.
Hannah McCarthy: Jelly Belly.
Christina Phillips: It is Jelly Belly in line with those other weird ones like sausage. There is a soil caucus, though. [00:33:00]
Hannah McCarthy: Yeah.
Christina Phillips: Yeah, but.
Nick Capodice: If you mix them together like a dirt sausage, one on the left cheek, one on the right.
Hannah McCarthy: The most upsetting thing about Jelly Belly is how chillingly accurate a lot of their flavors are.
Christina Phillips: Mm hmm. All right, Nick. Next one is for you. House caucus are Jelly Belly jelly bean flavor. Chicken.
Nick Capodice: Oh, that's a good one. That is good. We've already had sausage, and I'm going to go with caucus. I feel like the chicken caucus [00:33:30] is people who care about big chicken.
Christina Phillips: You are correct. It is the caucus that cares about baked chicken.
Nick Capodice: Oh, good.
Christina Phillips: All right.
Hannah McCarthy: Hannah. Yes?
Christina Phillips: House caucus are jelly bean flavor. Bourbon.
Hannah McCarthy: I'm going to say caucus.
Christina Phillips: You are correct. It's done. Yes, it is Kentucky.
Nick Capodice: I'd like to pay tribute to the spirit of Kentucky, literally. Bourbon whiskey. That was an actual.
Hannah McCarthy: Here's hoping thats a Kentucky accent somewhere.
Christina Phillips: Exactly what I was [00:34:00] thinking.
Nick Capodice: Bourbon. Whiskey. Bourbon. Bourbon. Whiskey.
Christina Phillips: And do they bring free samples to their presentations? I must know.
Hannah McCarthy: Hundo percent
Christina Phillips: if has a caucus presentation they want to send me please to. I am very invested.
Nick Capodice: What is also a rye caucus? I'd hope there would be.
Christina Phillips: I don't remember seeing one.
Hannah McCarthy: But it spelled w r y.
Nick Capodice: Wry comment.
Christina Phillips: Ok last one Nick House [00:34:30] caucus are jelly belly jelly bean flavor. Dead fish.
Nick Capodice: I feel like if there is a truly gross jelly belly, then it would be the dead fish and it'd be like a birdie body. Buffy Harry Potter growling Whatever her name is thing I'm going to say Jelly Belly for fun.
Christina Phillips: It is a jelly belly.
Nick Capodice: Is it one of those Bernie bots, birdie.
Christina Phillips: Bots, every flavor of beans and.
Nick Capodice: They mean every flavor.
Christina Phillips: It is a jelly belly flavor from [00:35:00] birdie bots. Every flavor of Bean's collection, which also includes soiled or dirty bandage. I can't remember booger vomit. And there's one that's I think banana belongs there.
Nick Capodice: I think.
Christina Phillips: See, I like the weird flavors. I like banana.
Hannah McCarthy: Have you ever tried vomit? I've always been too afraid.
Christina Phillips: No, I have not. Have you? No, no, no.
Nick Capodice: Keep that off. That's true.
Christina Phillips: I have tried the grass flavor.
Hannah McCarthy: Grass is fine. I actually kind of like.
Nick Capodice: I ate grass [00:35:30] all the time.
Christina Phillips: The jelly bean or the.
Nick Capodice: Actual substance.
Hannah McCarthy: Jelly bean.
Nick Capodice: As a child, I used to eat grass a lot?
Christina Phillips: Did you have digestive issues?
Nick Capodice: No. No. It just runs in the family.
Hannah McCarthy: Like you're pica.
Christina Phillips: It's because dogs eat grass when their stomachs are upset.
Hannah McCarthy: You probably have pica is usually a sign of nutritional deficiency.
Christina Phillips: You know, Or anemia. Yeah. Well, what is your flavorite? favorite flavor?
Nick Capodice: We can run for office on that campaign.
Hannah McCarthy: I know what Nick's favorite flavor is.
Christina Phillips: What [00:36:00] is it?
Hannah McCarthy: Black licorice. I bought him a whole thing of those were Jelly Belly brand, by the way.
Nick Capodice: Yeah, they were. They were also gone in about 5 minutes.
Hannah McCarthy: I can't. I've never seen anyone consume anything so quickly as Nick eating black licorice.
Nick Capodice: Oh, so horrible.
Christina Phillips: Which brings our score up to 8 to 7. [00:36:30] Nick, you have won. That's very, very convoluted.
Hannah McCarthy: I learned a lot. I learned.
Nick Capodice: A lot. A lot. Christina, thank you for this. This is a lot. A lot of fun. Yes.
Hannah McCarthy: Thank you.
Christina Phillips: Well, thank you for doing it with me.
Hannah McCarthy: And thank you for being here also. Mr. Walken.
Nick Capodice: It's my pleasure talking a lot about confectioneries and caucuses. That's kind of a B-level Walken. But, you know, you got to be in the right frame of mind. You can't just walk in and do it. Oh. [00:37:00]
Hannah McCarthy: Well, everybody, I guess now you know that I know a lot about jelly beans, so you're in really good hands. Also, I looked into it and I was only kind of correct about the milk thing. Apparently some birds will actively go after another animal's milk. And on Ysleta Guadalupe in Mexico, cats skim milk off elephant seals, which is just amazing. [00:37:30] Also, from what I have seen on the Internet, this is a big debate that gets some people really, you know, riled up. So I am sorry for hitting that hot milk button. This episode was written by Christina Phillips ever keeping us on our toes and produced by me, Hannah McCarthy, with help from Nick Capodice Who won by one point just one. Jacqui Fulton is our producer. Rebecca Lavoie is our executive producer. Music In this episode by Liz Dilating Times, Derek Stevens, Alexander [00:38:00] Kaufmann Ross, who wrote Tippecanoe and Tyler too in 1840. And get this, Irving Berlin as in White Christmas and God Bless America. Irving Berlin, who wrote I Like Ike. It was originally called They Like Ike and Berlin followed it up with I still like Ike and Ike for four more years. This is just a trivia packed episode, but we are more than a trivia show, everybody. And if this is your first civics one on one episode, I urge [00:38:30] you run. Do not walk to Civics101podcast.org to hear what we usually do. You can listen to our whole gigantic episode list there as well as find great teacher resources and you can contact us with your questions about American democracy. Civics 101 is brought to you by NPR, New Hampshire Public Radio.