GregTV ... The Real Deal

Well, nobody died, nobody got hurt, a bolt of lightening didn't tear through the studio to punish the audio-video gods who allowed me to appear on camera. So in that sense of the word, all went well.

OK, in all seriousness, it was a pretty smooth appearance. My instructions were to show up a whopping 15 minutes in advance and await some minor prep work by David Jones (the Dem side of the show's equation), and go from there. Not content to brace myself for a mere 15 minutes, I head out a little early and chit chat with the producer (Mike, if my faulty memory serves correctly). The extra little bit of downtime did the soul some good.

Right on schedule, David Jones shows up about T-minus 15. I'm sitting in the hot seat in front of the camera and David goes into a mini interview that serves two purposes: it gives him a feel for the material he can quiz me on and also allows me to test myself on both the quality of responses I'm giving and also to check any last remaining nervous ticks on the audition floor. That was probably the most intense portion of the night, not that David has anything to do with it ... just that I'm sitting there trying to keep any fidgeting to a bare minimum, ensure that I'm not trailing off in a rambling answer here and there, checking myself in the monitor to see what can be done to instantly increase whatever modicum of telegenic good looks I might have. I mean, it's not like I won over the crowd with my good looks, so I had to get everything else as perfect as possible. David did a rather impressive job in his 15 minute shakedown for info, I have to admit ... chalk that up to some skillful lawyerly training.

Gary Polland (the GOP side of the show) shows up somewhere in this process. Having followed Gary a bit while he was Party Chair here in Harris County as well as his own conservative organization's newsletter, I'm reasonably well versed on what I needed to know about Gary's own spin on conservatism. Say what you will, but between the two of these guys, they keep the banter and discourse to an entertaining level. I mean, focus number one of any show such as this is to entertain and hold an audience. I think they've got the right approach down for that. Having seen their two-minute version as part of the 4pm news on Channel 2 (Gary, the invoice is in the mail for plugging this), I think the hour-long format is more enjoyable as both a spectator and participant. About the only time I had any nerves going out on me was when I'm talking near the end and I see in the side monitor that we've got less than a minute left ... I may have broken an actual sweat when I got down to 30 seconds.

For those who either didn't concern themselves to watch the show, or were geographically/technologically limited in their ability, here's what you missed ... a few minutes of me-time, who am I, what is blogging, why do I blog, what do I blog about, etc.... The short version of all this is that at some point after 9/11, I found myself a bit disappointed that I hadn't bothered to collect any thoughts either privately or publically in any ongoing, meaningful way. I mean, technically, I had a post on an old predecessor of this site ... but the driving force was the realization that I felt I owed it to myself to put those thoughts down and that as one who's not been overly fearful of living life a little bit out loud, you have this very blog before you as a result of all those forces coming together.

After that, it went into a slew of issue hit peices ... if someone wants to give a more accurate and thorough play-by-play, go nuts. The stuff I remember going into a bit were those areas where I do tend to be a bit non-stereotypical of my party, hitting a bit on Iraq and also covering how anyone can consider themselves pro-life on abortion (in the traditionally understood meaning, not in the "oh, but we're ALL pro-life" attempt to fudge the terms of debate in some sort of Lakoffian slight of hand) and also be a Democrat. I'm sure that somewhere in the hustle and bustle of the give and take of my initial foray into the medium of television was uneven at best. Yeah, I think we're doing the right thing in Iraq despite the fact that much of the past year has seen us learn the lessons that some in both parties tried to warn the administration about before the war. And just as I would argue for the advancement of freedom and democracy is well within the progressive spirit, I would also argue that, as painstaking as any life and death decision is for a family forced to make a horrendous decision, that it is also well within the progressive ideal to minimize abortions and unplanned pregnancies with a goal of zero. Honest people can disagree (heck ... dishonest ones, too), but neither decision should be viewed as simplistic and easy regardless of which side one falls on.

We touched on some more recent hot button posts as seen by most who frequent this fair blog. We hit on my qualms with Al Edwards and Sly Turner as well as the recent dustup that Sue Lovell is attempting to brand Jay Aiyer with. I'm reasonalby confident that those issues have much more detail in the posts they correspond to within the archives here, but it's always good to help spread the sunlight out to a few more nooks and crannies.

Shifting to city politics, David pointed out something I had neglected in my scouting report ... that basically, Gary was one of those at the forefront of trying to get a conservative makeover of City Hall. David's presumption seemed to be that for our side, there was no Democratic organization to counter what the GOP has been doing in varying forms since the new regime at the GOP HQ. The point that I'm sure I failed to get across entirely succinctly was that I think the GOP has it a bit easier in that they can honestly say to a candidate "Here's some money" if you dot the right I's and cross the right T's to indicate sufficient conservatism. Democrats don't compete locally on money so much as they do on the strength of shoe leather (El Franco Lee and others having a notable GOTV effort where they choose). It's harder to draw candidates when you can't promise cold hard cash to run a campaign on. That we do should rightfully be viewed as a) a minor miracle, and b) proof positive of the strength of our ideas. There may not be any Democratic or Republican potholes, but there is a realization among a certain portion of local election voters who tend to espouse the view that they don't want an entirely partisan City Hall. I think the success of Bob Lanier, Bill White (and to an only slightly lesser extent, Lee Brown) have demonstrated this. And naturally, I think there's a few City Hall candidates that may well get the opportunity to further this viewpoint for the remainder of Mayor White's tenure and beyond.

Best shots headed my direction? I think David did get in a nice bit of investigative journalism by asking who I supported if it came down to Nick Lampson vs Gordon Quan in a CD22 primary. I think that's a fairly easy call from my perspective, as I think Lampson would be the best available candidate (post-Morrison, of course) to take on Tom DeLay. I mean, a consistent reader of this site could probably look at those names, my previous statements of beliefs, and guess I'd be more "down" with Lampson, but since the convo on camera didn't derive from the pre-show quizzing and was more spontaneous, it was good material. Of course, I still second Kuff's strong recommendation that CD07 would be a good run if Gordon's just got a Congressional itch he has to scratch.

For Gary, I think the best shot was asking if I thought Priscella Owens should be the poster child for the judges that have been "on hold" due to the Senate standoff over judicial nominees. Excellent question in that, heck yeah I think she does and I think I got the basic points across on the show ... she's from the President's state, she's a Rove disciple, she's as clear a case of conservative judicial activism as one can point to, and ... yes, I think Gary should have a poster of Priscella Owens on it for his own personal pleasure. ... not that there's anything wrong with that.

For my own sake, I think the few nice digs I got across were (at Gary) the notice of his implied confidence in John Kerry's stewardship of our national defense when Gary pointed out some areas of agreement with our Presidential nominee's call for more troops ... (at David) the critique that what we're doing in Iraq is not fairly described as "destruction."

Proudest moment of the show (other than mere survival)? Probably the opportunity to plug my own political hero: William Proxmire. Sure, there's maybe 10 people outside of Proxmire's home state of Wisconsin who recall his tenure as a US Senator or hold his name in their prayers as he struggles with Alzheimer's ... but damned if that doesn't stop me from finding innovative ways to plug the many years of inspirational work in public service that have led to much of what I hold as an ideal. I also got to plug one of my favorite books: "A Problem From Hell" by Samantha Power (who, regretably could not call in as she was not among the 10 viewers of the show or similar number of readers of this site). Of course, I've also got a permanent link up towards the top for another great read by Andrei Cherny that I neglected to plug (D'oh!). Favorite President, though? I tend to hate that question just because, after Proxmire and a few others, I'm not big on political heroes or heroes of any other ilk. I went with Jefferson, which is kindofa bland history-class kinda answer. But how do I split hairs between the idealism and hawkishness of JFK, or the nearest policy nirvana I may yet experience in the way of Bill Clinton? Tough call and my heroes tend to be a bit more obscure than the level of President. So make of it what you will. With apologies to Gary, Ronald Reagan doesn't qualify entirely as a hero, even though I think there were more than a few respectable features of his Presidency that even I hold near and dear. Though I do share a number of views that, were I placed in a time machine, might well rank me as a "Reagan Democrat" of some sort ... it's also worth noting that I came of political age in the era of Reagan and quite confidently see myself as a Democrat.

After getting the whole experience of the show behind me, I headed to catch the late crowd at Chris Bell's meet & greet downtown. I wondered to myself when I'd first bump into someone asking if I was the guy from TV. Given a personal disposition more inclined towards modesty and self-deprecating humor, I had to think through how I could possibly deal with such an ego-gratfying moment. It wasn't something I'm accustomed to dealing with, so I wanted to make sure I could deal with the soon-to-be-expected deluge of interest I might get while out in public. I'm not sure I really came to any hard and fast conclusions, but at some point in this pontification, a rather lovely redhead in front of the Magnolia Hotel stopped me, looked at me in that vague "I recognize you from somewhere" sorta look, and asked: "Did you used to go to a lot of Houston Aeros games?" Ummm ... why yes, I did. Of course, even if I didn't I would have quickly developed an interest in local minor league hockey. Seems she worked for the team a few years back in ticket sales and merely needed to satisfy her all-too-fleeting curiosity. Much to my displeasure, the moment did not lead to dinner and a movie.

Damn! What good is celebrity?

Final round of shout-outs: First up is David and Gary for being patient, tolerant, and helpful hosts. Both have their routine for the show down and they know their roles. I hate to think what would have become of me were I in less gentle hands (unless, of course, those hands belong to local news anchor Dominique Sachse). Carl Whitmarsh was also the mastermind behind scheduling that conned brokered the arrangements. And to all of the callers, your input was much appreciated as well. Despite not having enough pull to get a call from Nicole Kidman, I think I can settle on a high point being Houston's award-winning blogger, Charles Kuffner, for a rookie outing. Funny thing is, the entire experience ought to give heart to those who doubt civility cannot exist despite political differences. Who would have guessed that from a Crossfire-style poltical show? Thanks a ton, guys ... now let us never speak of me going on television ever again.