About this time last year Democratic strategists were patting each other on the back and congratulating each other on masterminding the enduring rise of The Progressive Majority built on the backs of bloggers and digital media as a messaging and fundraising machine. Republicans were supposedly leaps and bounds behind at that time, but after a year’s worth of execution on the part of both parties, it now looks like the space could be anyone’s to own and we’re about to see it all play out in 2010′s midterm elections.

Today we’re joined by Patrick Ruffini, a leading conservative blogger, and a partner at Engage and The Next Right, a forum for rising young leaders. Ruffini recently wrote a piece detailing how Obama’s official website has started fishing for emails again. What happened to that fabled 13 million person list of emails? Is the sign-up rate going down? Does this reflect the general discontent of Obama’s supporters with the glacial pace of change?

Ruffini also helps us look at the state of politics online as we approach 2010. Is the GOP in better position now to take the new media battle to the Democrats? It’s certainly possible, with Ruffini claiming that the conservative site Hot Air is getting more hits than DailyKos. We also take a look at what the internet has done to the political discourse, and how it reinforces people’s political opinions rather than informing them, and the problem with what is basically a “forever war” between the two parties. (At least it keeps all the political commentators employed!)

Finally, we talk Obama’s pro-war peace speech at the Nobel Prize Ceremony in Oslo, which was criticized by both the Right and the Left. Isn’t this what we asked for as a president? A nuanced, intelligent, thoughtful person who is considerate of all the complexities of war and peace? Oh, yeah, he’s a socialist and a puppet for the insurance industry. That’s right. Ok, no one liked it then, so how does Obama inspire us again? Does he make the campaign about us again, empowering individuals to make the change they wanted like he did in 2008? Or was that all a façade?

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.

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.

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad media world, and we’re just players, right? We don’t even have Walter Cronkite to tell us how it is anymore. The latest to the fray is Mediaite.com, and on today’s Wilshire & Washington, we have Rachel Sklar, the Editor-at-Large for Mediaite and a former senior contributing editor here at Huffington Post, to talk about this new venture. One of the site’s most interesting features is its Power Grid, which uses a proprietary algorithm to determine the top voices in 12 different media categories. (Damn popularity. You thought you escaped it after high school, didn’t you? Not a chance.) It’s certainly an interesting feature (like a car crash, you can’t look away) but should journos be ranked like this? Does the feature inspire a narcissistic-type of journalism, with people trying to game the system? Sklar offers a few fascinating tidbits, including that men are way, way more likely to tweet their personal ranking than women. Hmm, curious.

Along with hosts Ted Johnson, Maegan Carberry, and Teresa Klein, Sklar also talks about the media feedback loop: Does the media cover itself too much? Also, can this “new new journalism” ever produce a figure of such towering importance and universal voice as Walter Cronkite? (TV news was kind of the first version of an RSS feed, right? Cronkite Aggregator? Sounds like an iPhone app.) Now we’ve lost the fabled newsman, and with the news media splitting itself into increasingly small segments of the population, can anyone command that sort of influence again? Finally, we touch on Obama’s upcoming presser tonight. What do we expect? Will he say anything new or novel? And more importantly, will he be wearing those mommy jeans again?

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.

It’s been a crazy week, and it’s only Wednesday! Since their election on Friday, Iranians have been burning up the Twittersphere, drumming up support abroad and organizing protests internally. Why has Twitter suddenly gone political? Finally appreciating the service, Ted exposes his luddite roots, and Teresa helpfully explains why Twitter is so difficult to block, even in a country like Iran. (It’s basically impossible to stop people from sharing information on the Internet.)

So will people start relying more on Twitter for their news? Is this a shift for journalism? Can citizen journalists do a better job of covering things like the Iranian protests? CNN and the rest of the MSM certainly could’ve done better this weekend – check out the #CNNfail hashtag or the anger during the #140conf in New York – but couldn’t professional news organizations be doing more to use services like Twitter? The wisdom of the crowd is great, but who’s going to fact check all the information coming out of Twitter? Couldn’t it be the MSM interpreting and confirming this massive output of information?

Most of us are aggregators and distributors on Twitter anyway, and that shouldn’t be confused with actual in-depth, critical, original journalism. It’s like a game of “hot potato” with information. Some people cast this as MSM vs Social Media, but that’s a false argument, as our Prez likes to say. Aren’t Twitter feeds, Maegan suggests, just like AP/Reuter wire services in some ways?

We also talk President Obama’s lame attempt to appease the gay community, which sounds more like a fundraising stunt than anything else, and that ridiculous Letterman-Palin feud over the last week. (Does anyone even care about the Alaskan Governor anymore? If we stop talking about her, will she cease to exist? Kind of like Alf?)

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.

As the SCOTUS nomination of Sonia Sotomayor continues to dominate the news cycle, CNN’s Leslie Sanchez joins us to get right to the heart of the matter: what’s up with Newt Gingrich withdrawing his “she’s racist” comments? Can’t the guy just stand up for what he believes? But seriously, how many controversies does Sotomayor need to go through just to get on the Supreme Court? Any errors on her tax returns? Let’s just check to make sure, okay?

Sanchez, a Republican strategist and former advisor to President George W. Bush, gives us some serious thoughts about the historic nature of Sotomayor’s nomination to the Latino community, how the GOP can talk about identity politics without turning people off, and how it’s actually President Obama who made this nomination all about race and ethnicity when he spoke so glowingly of her empathy and background. She also addresses the relevancy of those comments about a “wise Latina” – it is justice for all, without favoring one group over another.

The second big story of the last week is Doctor George Tiller, the Kansas-based abortion doctor who was killed in his own church by an anti-abortion activist. A devastating story all around, Sanchez speaks to the controversy over how certain media pipelines push angry vitriol against figures like Tiller and how that can lead to violence. Finally, Sanchez weighs in on former VP Dick Cheney’s thoughts on gay marriage. Does this mark a point of moderation for the GOP on the issue or is this fight just going to get worse? And how do Latino voters enter into the equation?

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.

As the recently released film, “The Soloist,” has focused the country’s attention on the hidden beauty in Los Angeles’ Skid Row, music photographer Scott Schultz has taken things a step further by embedding himself within the community, where he discovered a thriving scene of artists – songbirds and warblers alike – making the most of their situation at Skid Row Karaoke. After months of visiting with residents and participating in their performances, Shultz has begun a photo essay for LARecord.com which shows the faces of poverty in a new light. Schultz joins hosts Ted and Maegan to share the story of how he discovered this group of people who gather each week in the basement of a church to sing, dance, and take their minds off their troubles. (Since the last time they had updated music was in the mid-90s, it’s not surprising that the most popular song is Will Smith’s “Wild Wild West.”)

The pictures, which can be seen here, are inspiring and remind us that Skid Row is more than just a street corner where people with bad luck end up. It’s a community, with photography groups, basketball clubs, and other organizations. The big question is, can these images, and The Soloist, change people’s perception of homelessness or inspire them to take action?

Schultz encourages anyone interested in donating new karaoke tunes or heping out in another capacity reach out to him at scott@larecord.com. He also recommends visiting the Downtown Women’s Center or Food Not Bombs.

In other news we discuss the gossip surrounding Jon Huntsman, the GOP Governor of Utah, who was named Ambassador to China. He’s a telegenic figure, a moderate and popular Republican, and a possible threat to Obama in 2012, so is this a shrewd move by the President, eliminating a major challenger? Is he the best person for the job? (Who cares? What are his politics? That’s FAR more important than qualifications!) Could this work against Democrats in the long run, elevating Huntsman and giving him real foreign policy credentials for a 2016 run? And why is Huntsman agreeing? A curious situation, all around.

Maegan also addresses a new study released by the Center for American Progress, showing overwhelming support for progressive issues among younger voters. It’s from a liberal think-tank, so you have to take it with a grain of salt, but still, it’s an interesting development. And finally, the first Twitter lawsuit has emerged, where a conservative blogger, #tcot founder Michael Leahy, is suing someone for tweeted libel because she mocked his tax situation. If successful, it would set a huge precedent for online rights, and Maegan and Ted ponder its possible ramifications on the online world for both “citizen” and “real” journalists.

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.