The Democratic Debates and Reclaiming The Narrative
See Something Say Something
Ahmed Ali Akbar
4.8 • 550 Ratings
🗓️ 6 August 2019
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The July 30th and 31st Democratic debates had 20 (TWENTY!) candidates on stage. So, what do Muslim folks working in PR think about how the candidates fared? We invited on Firdaus Arastu, political consultant and activist, to discuss her work, how American Muslims can reclaim the narrative, and to break down the debates.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, I'm Amadal Yuckber and this is See Something Say Something. This week I wanted to dig into the |
| 0:06.6 | Democratic debate that just happened and think about how folks working in PR and political action |
| 0:11.9 | are shaping the story of American Muslims. So there were two Democratic debates in Detroit |
| 0:19.6 | this past week and 20 candidates spread |
| 0:22.4 | out over both. |
| 0:23.7 | On night one, some of the important names were Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Elizabeth Warren, |
| 0:29.1 | former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, and Mayor Pete Buttigieg. |
| 0:32.6 | Night two featured former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Cory Booker, Senator Kamala Harris, and rep Tulsi Gubbard, |
| 0:39.6 | amongst others. |
| 0:41.5 | As I always do when these debates come on, I was watching with bated breath to see how |
| 0:46.5 | the candidates would discuss American Muslims and Islam. |
| 0:49.7 | There's a lot of talk about it recently, especially within the Democratic Party. |
| 0:53.9 | Leadership like Nancy Pelosi is clashing with freshman reps like Ilhan Omer and Rashida Taleb, |
| 0:58.9 | and it got me thinking about the people whose work it is in PR and political consultancy |
| 1:04.1 | to address the narrative around this. |
| 1:07.2 | So I invited on Ferdosa Rastu, whose work is in PR, and she does do a lot of analysis on the |
| 1:12.2 | shifting ground around American Muslims. We talk about her work and then discuss the Democratic |
| 1:18.1 | debate, what she's gleaned from it. |
| 1:34.3 | But before we get to that, I want to remind everyone about our Patreon. Patreon is a platform where you can commit to supporting our show for as little as $1 a month. |
| 1:39.3 | The show has been entirely funded by Patreon and has made the show possible after its comeback from his hiatus from |
| 1:45.2 | BuzzFeed. And we have a special offer happening right now. If you are a new patron and you pledge at |
| 1:50.6 | $5 or above, you'll be entered into a raffle to win a very limited edition, see something, |
... |
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