A serious question for all those watching the Sonia Sotomayor hearings: Nobody, especially Sotomayor, is really going to say anything new or dramatic, so can we skip it? No? D’oh! A wise Latina might let us, but we all know how the Republicans feel about them.

On this week’s Wilshire & Washington, we confront bipartisan hackery head-on in policy, journalism, and words, and we welcome Jon Henke to our digital broadcast booth. Henke is a political and policy consultant, who’s worked for Fred Thompson, George Allen and Senator Mitch McConnell; he’s also been a blogger since 2003 at QandO.net and recently launched TheNextRight.com.

We start out on the notion of bipartisan policy, which is in some ways bad for everyone: It demands compromise and therefore will annoy the heck out of supporters and push forward half-baked policies. Or, as Henke eloquently puts it, “cutting the baby in half.” Eww. Thanks, Jon. But is this sort of buying-votes-through-compromise actually a form of collusion? Can’t partisanship be actually productive? Perhaps we could start by crossing lines to confront legislative bundling and transparency: Why can’t Congress remove irrelevant amendments in huge omnibus bills or at least vote on them separately? (Apparently, some earmarks in DC are written on napkins. Great work, guys.)

As is our want, we can’t go a whole show without talking Twitter and its effect on politics, with Ted chuckling at Maegan’s obsession. Henke offers a novel suggestion: allow politicians to only make statements in 140 characters or less and only in categorical imperatives. It would certainly quicken press conferences, but what would @TheHyperFix do to amuse himself? Teresa suggests that while dialogue in social media politics is exciting, the rampant nature of trolls often quickly devolves the conversation from any logical merit. Is there room for organizational mechanisms in comment sections, Gawker-style?

We also address recent articles about HuffPost and Politico as the future of journalism, which have led some to suggest the future holds only partisanship. Henke thinks it’s a good thing. Isn’t there a lot of profit – not necessarily monetary – to be had in partisan journalism? Financial rewards for being crazy partisan are there, of course (see Beck, Glenn), but opinions are a commodity at this point and what we really need is new information and investigation on both sides. Darn. That’s what the objective press provides, isn’t it? Maegan notes that it’s about time more outlets start competing with Arianna and Josh Marshall, and Jon addresses the GOP’s lame rightroots efforts at doing so. It does look like journalism will become far more specialized, just like it has in the tech industry.

We wrap the show with Ted weighing in on Bruno. How offensive was it? Neither Maegan nor Teresa have seen the flick, nor do they want to. Is all this furor over its release just a lot of people not having a sense of humor? It did, after a huge opening on Friday night, crash and burn a little at the box office over the weekend. Will Americans leave their sensitivities at the door? Is it worth seeing Ron Paul and terrorists punked?

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.

Yesterday was a big day in the battle over gay marriage. The California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 8, but also unanimously agreed to keep in place the 18,000 marriages that took place before the November election. Protestors gathered all across the state to condemn the decision, and we’ve got audio from the West Hollywood protest, featuring Kathy Griffin, Drew Berrymore, and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. But these protests weren’t anywhere as big as those right after the election, and this brings up the question: how does the movement sustain the enthusiasm and organization that it lacked during the “No on Prop 8″ campaign?

A big question mark on this issue is President Obama, whose support of civil unions was often believed to be a feint for a truly progressive stance. That belief hasn’t bourn out, as the President has been virtually silent on both Prop 8 and Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. What gives, Mr. President? You can commend yourself for nominating a Latina to the Supreme Court while you totally ignore another minority group that desperately needs leadership? Maegan and Teresa discuss what would be the best way forward for marriage equality, including legal arguments and possible best practices.

That big nomination of Judge Sonia Sotomayor is a big deal, of course, and while it’s pretty unlikely Sotomayor is going to be denied, could she turn out to be the Democratic version of David Souter? And what is the media doing paying any attention to what Mitt Romney says about this issue? He has nothing to do with Sotomayor’s confirmation. It’s all the media’s push for drama. But since we love the drama, what can the GOP hang their opposition of Sotomayor on? Racism? Playing identity politics, which Teresa denounces as a big part of why she doesn’t consider herself a Democrat?

Finally, we touch on Mr. Bow-Tie Himself, Tucker Carlson, and his feeble-looking attempt to counter The Huffington Post? With The Daily Caller, is the Right starting to believe that talk radio is being marginalized, so they have to jump into the online realm? Can the conservatives match the relentless nature of Arianna Huffington and her work with the internet newspaper? Carlson’s got his work cut out for him, certainly.

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.