This week's panel included former Lt. Gov. of MD [R] Michael Steele, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan [R] and actor/activist Kerry Washington [D].
I had written to the show before the last hiatus to complain that Bill did not put enough panelists who were women of color and it looks like that criticism was taken to heart as he has remedied that and then some. Last week he had Michelle Martin of NPR who made an eloquent plea to the Democrats to not take the nomination of Sarah Palin lightly. Somebody's been listening.
Michael Steele is cut from the same cloth as Ward Connerly meaning there's not a Black person out there they're not willing to legislate against to get close to Massa. He's compared stem cell research to the Holocaust. He also shares a similar platform as Sarah Palin particularly in his anti-abortion stance even in cases of rape or incest.
I do not subscribe to the theory that one's affiliation with a specific political party is the be all and end all of your political participation. In fact, I'd argue we need to be loyal to our interests not party affiliation. As we have seen during the course of this election cycle it is small groups with singular platforms that wield the most power. They threaten to not support the candidate selected or say they'll stay home. I despise the platform of the Republican party and how they do the opposite of what they claim to be about, but I admire their organization and focus. It is something we can all learn from.
Kerry Washington was an excellent surrogate for the Democratic party platform and the Obama campaign. She was clean, articulate - ok let me stop! She made all of her points without being mean and combative. She did attempt to steer the conversation towards focusing on policies and not the Palin (Lack of) Family Values as so ordered by the Obama campaign. Michael Steele came across as the sputtering fool he is. Interestingly enough Scott McClellan was gracious and engaging - and seemed to stay on the right side of sanity and composure. See he really really likes George Bush, he just doesn't agree with him. Good move Scott for staying alive and wealthy.
After that my favorite segment of the show was columnist Dan Savage's outrage over the Republican hypocrisy of dictating morality standards that they don't follow. I loved his zinger about how out gay men don't have to fly to various cities to use random bathrooms to get 'serviced'. They.Can.Go.Home. Classic.
h/t to JJP, Jed Report and heathr456.
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