'BradCast' 10/19/2022 (Guest: Congressional historian Norm Ornstein on a potentially 'catastrophic' GOP House takeover)
b"On today's 'BradCast':\\xa0 With the critical 2022 midterm elections fast approaching, Democrats are working to hold on to majorities in the U.S. House and Senate. Republicans have detailed some of the political nightmares they have in store for the country if they win a majority in one or both chambers. In their own words, Republicans pledge endless Congressional investigations (think 'Benghazi on steroids'), pointless culture war legislation, impeachment investigations into President Biden and members of his cabinet, blocking Biden nominees, and more. Republicans have also publicly pledged to wreak extraordinary damage to the U.S. economy by refusing to raise the debt ceiling. The GOP's presumptive House Speaker if they win, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, said Republicans will hold the nation hostage to extract major cuts to Medicare and Social Security and other draconian measures as their price for lifting the debt ceiling. Congressional historian and political scientist NORM ORNSTEIN explains the history of the debt ceiling, how increasingly radical Republicans have weaponized it, wreaking economic havoc, and how even the threat of a US default will cause extraordinary chaos here and around the world. Ornstein details potential tools that could stave off the threat of GOP debt ceiling brinkmanship, and other nightmares if the GOP wins control of either chamber.\\xa0 Also today: a fascinating spy story regarding retiring Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and U.S. intel agencies in the run-up to the Iraq War, and the Bush/Cheney Administration lies about WMDs\\u2026"