On today’s BradCast, guest host Angie Coiro of In Deep Radio traces the filthy past and the bogglingly successful present of TV “holy man” Peter Popoff. Then it’s excerpts from Angie’s chat with Derek Cressman, about his book When Money Talks: The High Price of “Free” Speech and the Selling of Democracy.
Over the holiday weekend, Angie came face to face with her first “Miracle Water” TV commercial. She’s only thirty years behind the curve, because charlatan Peter Popoff has been reaching through the TV screen and into the pockets of the most vulnerable since the early 80s. By the end of that decade, his schemes were publicly exposed, he was tarred, feathered, and bankrupt — so how is he back on TV, making more money than ever? It’s a long trail, and on the way Angie found clues on how to chase him back into his hole — along with the rest of his ilk.
Then it’s Derek Cressman, with solid, smart ideas on how to get money out of politics — and no, you haven’t heard this exact song before. Not only does he plumb history and the Constitution for new insights, but he’s run for office himself. In excerpts from an In Deep show taping in March, he details his time on the campaign trail and a map for future reform.
Download MP3 or listen online below…
The BradCast with Brad Friedman 5/31/2016Rising from the Dead: a Serial Scammer & (Maybe) Democracy: ‘BradCast’ 5/31/2016 | Guest host Angie Coiro looks into the ugly past and present of Peter Popoff; how Derek Cressman proposes getting money out of politics · · · · · Rising from the Dead: a Serial Scammer & (Maybe) Democracy: ‘BradCast’ 5/31/2016 | Guest host Angie Coiro looks into the ugly past and present of Peter Popoff; how Derek Cressman proposes getting money out of politics0:00 0:00
The documentary about The Amazing Randi is now on Netflix. I got to see it with the director taking questions from the audience afterwards. Randi’s radio technicians very nearly missed being able to find out what radio frequency Popoff’s scam was using.
Very interesting film with many laughs also. Uri Geller even got persuaded to give an interview, although Geller wasn’t half the creep Popoff is.
Oh, thanks for the tip about the film! I’ve wanted to see that and didn’t know it was there.
Enjoy the film Angie.
Randi totally wreaks Uri Geller’s appearance on Johnny Carson, but as it turns out, they were beneficial to each others careers. Uri, also went on with his scam after being exposed on the Carson show. Pretty crazy.