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Which is obviously not to say 4 liberal Jewish comedians from New York . But could it be possible to have an engaging show between 4 people with both liberal and conservative perspectives that wasn't "theater"?
I suppose one key quality would be the ability to be "real" even when joking, as opposed to righteous posturing. But at the same time, the shared goal between all the hosts would be furthering the public discourse, not "scoring points" for your team.
I am a fairly liberal person - no, actually I'm a very liberal person - but at the same time, I am willing to concede that there are conservatives that are genuine out there. I know people hate the guy, and I disagree with him on virtually every point, but I think Pat Buchanan is (usually) genuine.
Let me go with a better example, one who might end up in the West Wing: Teresa Heinz. She's actually a wonderful liberal in my book, but she comes from a lifetime of Republicanism as the spouse of Sen. John Heinz. Would it be possible to get someone who is intelligent and engaging and real, but also conservative?
Personally, I love the folks on the Foreign Relations Committee, because they (usually) try their best to put aside partisanship in the name of true patriotism. Which brings an even better example to mind: John McCain.
I know lots of folks hate when good liberals express admiration for someone ideologically opposed to them, but I don't. I applaud it.
Ok, I'm going to venture into heresy - I've heard Tucker Carlson on the Leonard Lopate show (WNYC). He's not always a dickhead. Unfortunately, he's chosen the path of the bowtie. But it isn't that hard for me to imagine an alternate universe with a Bizarro Tucker that is both conservative and not an asshead (flame away).
One of the reasons that I truly love John Kerry so much is that he is a diehard liberal like myself, but he is also genuinely interested in bi-partisanship in the best sense (not the suck-ass sense). In that way, I see alot of similarity with Jon Stewart - also a liberal, but willing to concede a point from someone on "the other side."
If we had a Crossfire with 2 liberal Jon Stewarts and 2 conservative Jon Stewarts (allow for cognitive dissonance), I think this Presidential race would have been a very different thing. It would have been much more sincere, less full of shit (pardon my French), and so would have clearly favored John Kerry over the most full-of-shit President in American history.
Is it so hard to imagine such a program? Can we not be entertaining and engaging without resorting to partisan hackery?
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