meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
The NPR Politics Podcast

Quick Take: The Politics of 'Star Wars'

The NPR Politics Podcast

NPR

Politics, Daily News, News

4.425.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2015

⏱️ 10 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In anticipation of The Force Awakens, White House correspondent Tamara Keith, campaign corespondent Scott Detrow, and editor Brett Neely discuss the messy intergalactic politics of Star Wars. Find the team on Twitter @tamarakeithNPR, @scottdetrow, and @brettneely or at npr.org/politics.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The anticipation is building and so is the hype. You might say the force is

0:07.2

awakening. The force. It's calling to you. And at this point you may be

0:13.3

wondering if you downloaded the wrong podcast but I assure you this is the

0:19.4

NPR Politics podcast. I'm Tamara Keith Whitehouse correspondent. I'm Scott

0:24.0

Detrello I cover the campaigns in tech. I'm Brent Neely I'm a political

0:27.0

editor here and we are all together because we're Star Wars nerds and

0:32.2

Tam is wearing Princess Leia Buns as we speak in the studio. Which sadly do not

0:38.7

double its headphones. But with earbuds you can still wear your Leia Buns and

0:43.0

tape your Star Wars podcast. But you don't have to be a total Star Wars junkie to

0:47.9

enjoy this we swear. You just need to know what this means.

0:52.6

I am your father. That of course is Darth Vader telling the Jedi Luke Skywalker

0:59.4

that he is his father because Star Wars is in the end just a big family drama.

1:03.6

But it is also a political drama or at least as we started watching the pre-

1:09.0

cools to get ready for the new movie coming out we realized that those movies

1:13.2

that came out about a decade ago they are political movies it's it's like

1:18.0

C-SPAN with some lightsaber fights. From the opening scroll.

1:25.0

Turmoil has engulfed the galactic republic. The taxation of trade routes to

1:29.8

outlying star systems is in dispute. Hoping to resolve the matter with a blockade

1:34.2

of deadly battleships the greedy trade federation has stopped all shipping to

1:39.2

the small planet of Naboo. While the Congress of the Republic endlessly

1:42.9

debates this alarming chain of events the Supreme Chancellor has secretly

1:46.8

dispatched two Jedi knights the Guardians of Peace and Justice in the galaxy to

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from NPR, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of NPR and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.