While some political talk shows get buzz with a lot of yelling and screaming, others adopt a more gentle tone. ?Inside Washington,? a half-hour weekly program hosted by WJLA?s Gordon Peterson and produced by POLITICO?s parent company, Allbritton Communications, is of the more civil fare. It features panelists ? Mark Shields, Charles Krauthammer, Colby King, Evan Thomas and Nina Totenberg are the regulars ? who keep their decibels to a tolerable level and exchange opinions as if they?re at a Georgetown dinner party.
But amid the usually staid chatter, an interesting on-air dynamic has emerged between Krauthammer and Totenberg, the legal correspondent for NPR. The conservative Krauthammer, a commentator for Fox News, regularly uncoils and strikes Totenberg whenever he thinks there?s a whiff of liberal politics in the air.
Continue ReadingOn the Oct. 23 show, for instance, Krauthammer wouldn?t let Totenberg dodge a question posed by Peterson about why the White House hadn?t ?put their arms around the Bowles-Simpson deficit-reduction plan.? Totenberg answered: ?They should have.?
?But why didn?t they?? Krauthammer interjected. ?He asked a question. Why didn?t they??
?Don?t make me the spokesman for the White House. Geez, I don?t know,? Totenberg said.
?What would be new about that?? Krauthammer shot back, to stunned silence from Totenberg.
A few weeks later, Totenberg was asked by Peterson to name the Republican candidate whom she would be ?most comfortable with? as president.
?That?s really hard since I don?t believe any of them would do some of the things that they said they would do,? Totenberg said.
?And if they did, would you support them?? Krauthammer interrupted. ?I hardly doubt it either way.?
?No,? Totenberg said. ?On the things I worry about, no.?
?Yes, all right. Let?s get that straight,? a smug Krauthammer said.
Calls to Krauthammer?s office were not returned.
Totenberg isn?t the only regular panelist subject to Krauthammer?s arrows. Last summer, he teased host Peterson by saying, ?I like the way you pose an objective question implying the insanity of a Republican proposal which passed the House. I just want the viewers to understand how this is a fair and balanced program. ? You manage to introduce a hell of a lot of bias.?
But he jumps on Totenberg with greater frequency ? and snark.
?I?m in the middle of a sentence, and I am going to get to the end, and I will let you know with punctuation, all right?? Krauthammer scolded her on the Nov. 25 show.
And he confronted Totenberg following Juan Williams?s firing from NPR last year, saying, ?Why is it OK for Nina to express opinions as she has tartly, sharply, unashamedly and openly? And she?s an honored correspondent there; in fact, they mention your status here on [?Inside Washington?] in your biography at NPR. And Juan, because he expresses his opinions, he gets canned from NPR.?
?There is a certain tension there,? Peterson told POLITICO. ?They have different perspectives in terms of political landscapes. I think she probably irritates him a little more than the other two.?
Totenberg takes it in stride and can reel off a handful of examples to prove that the two are, in fact, close friends. She said she picked her 2000 wedding venue, in part, because of its impressive accommodations for wheelchairs. (Krauthammer was paralyzed during a diving accident when he was younger.)
?I tease him, he teases me,? Totenberg told POLITICO. ?Charles is Charles, and he makes the show very lively.?
Totenberg noted that she is usually the only woman on the show and said that can be difficult.
?I think sometimes, I have a hard time getting a word in edge-wise,? said Totenberg, who recently chastised her panel for cutting her off, saying that it would ?get a lot of mail? as a result of its treatment of her. ?As the only woman on the show, you just can?t get too feisty because people will think you?re a harpy. You?re better off to laugh at things. Every once in a while, I see the steam come out of my ears, but most of the time when I feel that start to happen, I just laugh. It?s the best reaction, and it works better.?
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