It’s “awkward public outbursts by public figures” week! Woo-hoo! We can start with Michael Moore, who always has had a penchant for public stunts and the embarrassment of his foes, and his new movie, Capitalism: A Love Story, is no exception. (Watch the trailer here.) Ted gives us a quick review (more on his blog), pondering the unchecked dangers of a free market system and wondering if Moore gives us a compelling argument for socialism. Maegan and Teresa, well, they’re less on board; they’re sick of Moore’s tactics and believe this new movie will only help fuel the “Obama is a muslim socialist terrorist” meme on the Right. But there’s no stopping that anyway, right? Because it’s the truth, and we all know how fast that travels…

Next up in our hall of fame of rudeness is South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson, whose outburst during President Obama’s health care speech – “You lie!” – has been roundly criticized. With Wilson’s half-hearted apology and his Democratic challenger raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in its aftermath, this is just another distraction from the real debate. But who cares? It’s a me-centric world, and Joe Wilson’s got a right to get his part of the Reality TV pie!

Oh, and Kanye? Mr. West’s public outburst on stage at MTV’s VMAs this week made for great TV and for an embarrassing moment for everyone involved. Was it staged? Are there no rules of civility in pop culture? (See: MTV’s The Hills.) No matter. What’s more important is that Obama called Kanye a “jackass” (why is this in quotes, MSM? You know what it means, right?) during an off-the-record interview. Well, crap. Can’t Obama speak his mind with a live-mic on? (That did doom a certain California State Senator last week…) Is there even an off-the-record anymore? Can public figures trust anyone these days, or are they doomed to paralyzing total restraint in the fear that someone, somewhere is recording?

Finally, Obama’s doing the full Ginsberg this Sunday, hitting each of the morning talk shows, all except one – Fox News. Boo. Wouldn’t it be better if Obama took questions from a hostile host for once? I’d buy popcorn and watch. But this does seem like a big ol’ case of overexposure; do we need to see Obama so much on TV? What about online? What about through social media? Youtube videos? What’s with the social media snub, Mr. President?

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.

In today’s Wilshire & Washington, we talk Government 2.0 with special guest Dr. Mark Drapeau, an Associate Research Fellow at the National Defense University and Co-Chair of the Gov 2.0 Expo Showcase and the Gov 2.0 Expo in May 2010. The Gov 2.0 Summit (#gov20s), currently being held in DC, is bringing together some of the top minds in the tech industry to talk how government can better use technology. “Now is the time to reshape government” is the summit’s platform, and Drapeau talks about the idea of government as a platform, providing an infrastructure to help people get together and solve problems themselves or with the help of their local government. He encourages a DIO approach, or “Do It Ourselves,” taking data provided by the government and using it to solve our problems.

It’s a relatively foreign idea these days, imagining the government as an effective, useful entity, but that wasn’t always the way of things. “A lot of people forget how innovative the government is,” Drapeau says. Government researchers invented GPS, the wristwatch, even the trench coat (spy vs. spy, indeed…) so why can’t they do it again with online technology? But those results of scientific research need to be readily available for everyone (using this Internet thingy, maybe?), and the same thing applies to legal decisions by the Supreme Court. It’s all public data, right, so why can’t we have an easy way of accessing it? And while the public’s trust in the government has probably never been lower, the open processes of social media are the types of things can rebuild that trust. Drapeau argues that there are security concerns about government involvement in the public’s data, but those concerns shouldn’t stop progress, right?

We also talk winners and losers for the summer, as well as Obama’s education speech and his upcoming health care speech to Congress tonight. Teresa brings up Bill “The Comeback Kid” Clinton and the Birthers (both winners), Maegan talks Hamid Karzai (loser) and Howard Dean (winner), and Ted highlights Glenn Beck and the American Worker (guess who’s the loser between those two…)

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.

In today’s show, we continue on our Twitter kick. Last week, we had David All, a conservative new media strategist, on to discuss how conservatives are winning the Twitter war and why it’s essential that they do. Today, we’ve got Jim Gilliam, co-founder of Brave New Films and Chief Technology Officer of Business.com, who recently created Tweetprogress.us, a directory of progressive tweeters and a place where people can be mentored in Twitter politics. Can progressives come back in the Twitter war? Is it important to people like Jim to push the #p2 hashtag? Is competition as much a part of the progressives on Twitter as it is for the conservatives? Jim makes some good points about the driving forces in elections; how the 2004 election was driven by blogs, how 2008 was driven by video, and how he believes 2012 will be driven by Twitter. A curious thought, sir, but can you imagine Mitt Romney twittering about his magic underpants in 2012? Hmm.

With the end of the August recess, the word is that President Obama is considering giving a major speech to Congress, outlining his healthcare demands. Oh yeah, and the public option might not be on the table. How disappointed are you if you’re a progressive right now? Does it feel odd to be agreeing with Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid? I feel dirty, personally. But why is this happening? Is it Rahm Emanuel? His appointment was a big change in tone from the campaign, and putting such a hard-ball abrasive guy at the forefront of healthcare reform might have been a huge mistake.

While the administration is trying to get back to its roots, with the president holding a charming “huddle” with Organizing for America last week, Maegan believes Obama needs to get back online and start speaking to his people directly. Youtube it, baby! Also, it might help not to lump all young people together (college students and young professionals do not have the same priorities, yet they are both “young”) and to ask people to do more than just provide community service. Ted believes a big problem here is that Obama underestimated the trust factor – people don’t trust the government after eight years of blunders – and the voters aren’t too comfy with all these giant new government programs he’s pushing.

Finally, we touch on Glenn Beck, who thoughtfully decided to call Obama a racist, and how this fine, upstanding boy scout could be the future face of the Republican Party; but that’s probably a bad idea. Mitt Romney and Tim Pawplenty, however, both seem to be poised to reposition themselves as potential leaders for 2012 over such populist politicians as Mike Huckabee. Time to start watching the Iowa papers, everyone!

Listen to the show here, subscribe to the iTunes podcast, or use the Blog Talk Radio player to the right.

Wilshire & Washington, the weekly Blog Talk Radio program that explores the intersection of politics, entertainment, and new media, features co-hosts Ted Johnson, Managing Editor of Variety; conservative blogger Teresa Valdez Klein (www.teresacentric.com), and liberal blogger Maegan Carberry (www.maegancarberry.com). The show airs every Wednesday at 7:30am PST on BlogTalkRadio.com.