Who Turned Down the Choice Role of Indiana Jones? Let's Call Him "Raider of the Lost Part"

100 of the Worst Ideas in History

100 of the Worst Ideas in History

1:15:36

In this episode, we welcome back David French, columnist for The New York Times , former constitutional attorney, and author of Divided We Fall . We discuss the current state of American democracy, the challenges of political division, and how we can engage in civil discourse despite deep ideological differences. David also shares a personal update on his family and reflects on the profound trials and growth that come with adversity. 📌 What We Discuss: ✔️ How David and his family navigated the challenges of a serious health crisis. ✔️ The rise of political polarization and the factors driving it. ✔️ Why distinguishing between “unwise, unethical, and unlawful” is crucial in analyzing political actions. ✔️ How consuming different perspectives (even opposing ones) helps in understanding political dynamics. ✔️ The role of Christian values in politics and how they are being redefined. ⏳ Episode Highlights 📍 [00:01:00] – David French’s background and his journey from litigation to journalism. 📍 [00:02:30] – Personal update: David shares his wife Nancy’s battle with cancer and their journey as a family. 📍 [00:06:00] – How to navigate personal trials while maintaining faith and resilience. 📍 [00:10:00] – The danger of political paranoia and the pitfalls of extreme polarization. 📍 [00:18:00] – The "friend-enemy" paradigm in American politics and its influence in Christian fundamentalism. 📍 [00:24:00] – Revisiting Divided We Fall : How America’s divisions have devolved since 2020. 📍 [00:40:00] – The categories and differences of unwise, unethical, and unlawful political actions. 📍 [00:55:00] – The balance between justice, kindness, and humility in political engagement. 📍 [01:00:00] – The After Party initiative: A Christian approach to politics focused on values rather than policy. 💬 Featured Quotes 🔹 "You don't know who you truly are until your values are tested." – David French 🔹 "If we focus on the relational, we can have better conversations even across deep differences." – Corey Nathan 🔹 "Justice, kindness, and humility—if you're missing one, you're doing it wrong." – David French 🔹 "The United States has a history of shifting without repenting. We just move on." – David French 📚 Resources Mentioned David French’s Writing: New York Times David’s Book: Divided We Fall The After Party Initiative – More Info Advisory Opinions Podcast (with Sarah Isgur & David French) – Listen Here 📣 Call to Action If you found this conversation insightful, please: ✅ Subscribe to Talkin' Politics & Religion Without Killin' Each Other on your favorite podcast platform. ✅ Leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen: ratethispodcast.com/goodfaithpolitics ✅ Support the show on Patreon: patreon.com/politicsandreligion ✅ Watch the full conversation and subscribe on YouTube: youtube.com/@politicsandreligion 🔗 Connect With Us on Social Media @coreysnathan: Bluesky LinkedIn Instagram Threads Facebook Substack David French: 🔗 Twitter | BlueSky | New York Times Our Sponsors Meza Wealth Management: www.mezawealth.com Prolux Autogroup: www.proluxautogroup.com or www.granadahillsairporttransportation.com Let’s keep talking politics and religion—with gentleness and respect. 🎙️💡…

about a year ago 1:43

MP3•Episode home

What Was He thinking?

Refusing to don the fedora and crack the bullwhip, this A-list Hollywood actor declines the choice role of Indiana Jones in George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's modern classic Raiders of the Lost Ark. Instead of assuming the mantle of the two-fisted, Nazi-fighting professor, he decides instead to star in the long-since-forgotten Heart Beat -- all with big thank you from Harrison Ford. Who is this judgment-challenged thespian? Listen and learn the answer in this episode.

More Blundering Brainstorms to Come

The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment.

For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.

44 episodes

Who Turned Down the Choice Role of Indiana Jones? Let's Call Him "Raider of the Lost Part"

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

What Was He thinking?

More Blundering Brainstorms to Come

The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment.

44 episodes

All episodes

1
This Comedian's Transvestite-Hooker Pickup Was No Laughing Matter 2:32

5 days ago2:32

2:32

What Was He thinking? Tossing and turning one sleepless night, one of Hollywood's best-known, best-loved actor/comedians decides to drive his wife’s SUV to a nearby L.A. newsstand to browse the latest periodicals. Along the way, he encounters a diminutive damsel stumbling down a tough section of Santa Monica Boulevard at 4 am. In a moment of compassion (or abject stupidity), he offers to give her a lift. Two miles down the road, an unmarked L.A. County Sheriff’s vice squad car pulls over the pair. The suprising revallation that follows would send the jokester's career, marriage and reputation careening down the highway for years to come. Listen, laugh and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
The Weaponized Elephants That Climbed the Alps 1:59

12 days ago1:59

1:59

What Were They Thinking? A pack of elephants can't possibly climb the Alps in order to engage in a life-or-death battle in the valley below, right? Well, that's the logical conclusion ancient Roman generals have come to. Are they correct? Or would this band pugnacious pachyderms wreak stomping, earth-shaking terror on enemy foot soldiers in the Po Valley? Listen and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Ban Baseball's Greatest Home Run Hitter from Playing in the Major Leagues 2:09

19 days ago2:09

2:09

What Were They Thinking? Some insist it’s the legendary Babe Ruth. Others say it's Hammering Hank Aaron -- or even that prickly chap named Barry Bonds. Yet the most prolific home run hitter of all time isn't any of them. Rather it's a man who never played in the major leagues—banned by the game’s small-minded stewards based on a hatefully-prejudiced idea. Listen and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Special Episode: "And the Oscar Goes to...None of Them." It's 12 of the Worst Movie Ideas in History 13:16

25 days ago13:16

13:16

What Were They Thinking? Here on Hollywood's biggest star-studded night, we honor the "dirty dozen" -- 12 of the worst movie ideas in film history. So get ready to cross dress, buddy cop with your mom, get eaten by a roll of shag carpeting and play the pinao with finger sausages as you listen, laugh and learn all about these cinematic stinkers. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Ignorance is Bliss: The Doctor Who Killed the President 2:02

5 weeks ago2:02

2:02

What Were They Thinking? History tells us that President James Garfield is shot and killed in a Washington railroad station by an irate diplomat-wannabe named Charles J. Guiteau. The part about Guiteau shooting Garfield is unquestionably true. But the part about him killing the President is dead wrong. Listen and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Bob's Wedding-Night High Jinks Leads to the Ford Motor Company Stealing Him Blind 2:26

6 weeks ago2:26

2:26

What Were They Thinking? It’s his wedding night. And in a blissful, celebratory moment, Robert Kearns pops a champagne cork—right into his left eye, leaving him partially blind. Fast-forward ten years. Driving home in a rainstorm, the sight-impaired automotive engineer and part-time inventor squints through his car’s rapidly oscillating windshield wipers—and comes up with a revolutionary idea -- one that the Ford Motor Company promptly steals. Listen and learn about the David-versus-Golliath legal battle that followed -- changing automotive history and the way you drive your car, forever. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
How Do You Stop a Pandemic? Try a Hot Cup of Influenza 2:17

7 weeks ago2:17

2:17

What Were They Thinking? Early in the last century, in the absence of licensing, almost anyone in America can claim to be a “doctor”—from folk healers to your goofy next-door neighbor Fred. So it should come as no surprise, in the face of the dreaded Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918, that the world is ill prepared to fight its symptoms or find a cure. Into this desperate breach comes an age-old practice that involves placing a small, heated object on the patient’s back, in order to draw out the sickness. What was this object and how effective was its far-fetched therapeutic value? Listen and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Extended Episode: Unholy Preachers and the Profitable Nonprofits They Run 5:38

8 weeks ago5:38

5:38

What the Flock Were They Thinking? Which much-less-holier-than-thou preacher perpetrated “The Fake-Death Radio Shack Up”? How about the notorious man of the cloth who became known as “The Big Easy Sleazy”? And what of the antigay clergyman who invented “Rentboy's Long Stroke"? Listen and learn all about these and other inglorious evangelicals in this extended episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
No More "Mr. President." By Law, We Must Now Refer to Him as "His Elective Majesty" 1:58

9 weeks ago1:58

1:58

What Was He Thinking? A bulwark of the American Revolution and a clarion voice for the adoption of our Declaration of Independence from “the tyranny of the British monarchy,” this founding father curiously decides to champion a quintessentially un-American idea: He pushes for legislation requring the leader of the newly-formed United States to carry a title more regal than the functional, prosaic “President of the United States.” You won't believe the ludicrous series of soaring appelations he champions. Listen, laugh and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Multimillion-Dollar NFL Career Goes to the Dogs 2:34

10 weeks ago2:34

2:34

What Was He Thinking? Talk about fantasy football: You’re the number one pick in the 2001 NFL draft. You make, in 2006, an estimated $26 million. You’ve been selected to the elite Pro Bowl three times. And the corporate endorsement dollars are rolling in like a green tsunami. If you’re the average pigskin-lovin’ American male living this dream life, you might want to throw a mega-party. If you’re this misguided player, you’d rather throw an innocent dog up against a wall. Listen and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Who Turned Down the Choice Role of Indiana Jones? Let's Call Him "Raider of the Lost Part" 1:43

11 weeks ago1:43

1:43

What Was He thinking? Refusing to don the fedora and crack the bullwhip, this A-list Hollywood actor declines the choice role of Indiana Jones in George Lucas and Steven Spielberg's modern classic Raiders of the Lost Ark. Instead of assuming the mantle of the two-fisted, Nazi-fighting professor, he decides instead to star in the long-since-forgotten Heart Beat -- all with big thank you from Harrison Ford. Who is this judgment-challenged thespian? Listen and learn the answer in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
The Ball Drops on the World's Biggest New Year's Scare 2:34

12 weeks ago2:34

2:34

What Were They Thinking? Dire consequences are predicted for the new year: Airplanes will fall from the sky. Our defensive missiles will be un-launchable. Broadcast communication will cease. The financial system will collapse. All due to a terrifying cyber event. Millions of dollars and thousands of manhours are spent in preparation for what The Wall Street Journal later calls the “the hoax of the twentieth century.” What in the name of digital dunderheadedness happened? Listen and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Drunken Hessians Shocked by George Washington's Christmastime Sneak Attack 1:54

13 weeks ago1:54

1:54

What Were They Thinking? The Revolutionary War is on holiday break. On one side of the Delaware River, Hessian troops (in league with the British) are opening casks of rum and having a “Ho-ho-ho!” lot of fun celebrating Christmas Eve. On the other side, George Washington and his ragtag colonial troops sit quietly in the cold—eager to show the enemy who’s naughty or nice. What happens next comes as a shock to the Hessian troops -- and adds a feather to Washington's three-cornered hat. Listen and learn all about it in this episode. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
What's in Your Teeth Could Have You Feeling Down in the Mouth 2:13

14 weeks ago2:13

2:13

What Were They Thinking? Known to be more poisonous than arsenic, this substance would seem to be low on the list of elements you might want to pop into your mouth. Yet it's been a cornerstone of dentistry for over one hundred years. And it's likely in your teeth right now. Listen and learn all about it. More Blundering Brainstorms to Come The next episode of "100 of the Worst Ideas in History, the Podcast" is in production and on its way to you. Watch for it wherever you get your podcasts. And remember to subscribe, like and comment. For 99 other examples of historical, hysterical stinkin’ thinkin’ from the past, get your copy of popular book "100 of the Worst Ideas in History," available at Amazon.com and better retailers everywhere. Audiobook now available at Audible.com and other platforms.…

1
Henry Ford and the Uni-Hue Automobile 2:01

15 weeks ago2:01