Washington Sketch: Sarah Palin, Mouthpiece Theater, More

Post columnist Dana Milbank serves as the capital's foremost critic of political theater in his Washington Sketch columns, videos and blog posts.

He was online Friday, June 12 at Noon ET to take your questions and comments about the things politicians say -- and the absurd ways they find to say them.

____________________

Dana Milbank: Good afternoon Sketchreaders. If you haven't already please check out today's installment of Mouthpiece Theater:

http://specials.washingtonpost.com/video/politics-theater/

Cillizza and I are still figuring this out, so we'd like your advice on what we can do better. Lose the moustache? No more underwear over trousers? More caveman costumes? Less Palin? More Palin? New smoking jackets?

And, as always, please send your other questions as well.

_______________________

Fort Belvoir, Va.: Let me lay some truth on you there Mr. Milbank... what Letterman said was hilarious.

Love Mouthpiece Theatre by the way.

Dana Milbank:

You betcha!

I think Dave was very respectful when he said Palin "bought makeup at Bloomingdale's to update her slutty flight attendant look." Note that he did not call her a stewardess.

_______________________

Fizzled: Which figure in the Obama administration has been the greatest disppointment to you in terms of expected column material vs. actual column material? I was expecting Rahm Emmanuel to provide more color to the media scene than he has.

Dana Milbank:

Rahm isn't good copy -- too careful to avoid the sort of mistake I feed upon.

Larry Summers has been a disappointment. But maybe I'm not looking hard enough. My friend Jackie Calmes had a great piece about him in the Times with an anecdote about how Obama swatted at a fly near Summers' knees and Christina Romer suggested the president "aim a little higher."

______________________

Hartford, Conn.: Where do they keep the set for "Mouthpiece Theater"? Does The Post have a production studio? When does the Smithsonian call to ask you to donate it, a la Archie Bunker's Chair?

Dana Milbank:

The set fits our age of austerity at the Post. It's in the ground-floor studio used by the delightful Julia Ewan to shoot photographs of vegetables and other things for food and fashion stories. The room is about 12 feet by 12 feet and we work in our taping in between vegetable fashion shoots.

_______________________

don't: Between the caveman costumes, smoking jackets and now mustaches, I have to wonder what your significant others think about this video production. Or do you have a don't ask, don't tell policy about what happens in the basement?

Dana Milbank: Luckily for me whenever my wife tries to watch the video from our house it crashes before she gets to the part of me wearing the moustache or the tightie whities.

_______________________

Boston: Hi Dana,

If I were a "slutty flight attendant" I would be demanding an apology from Letterman for comparing me to Palin.

Dana Milbank:

How can we know for sure that you are not a slutty flight attendant, Boston? That is the trouble with the anonymity of these chats.

_______________________

Larry Summers has been a disappointment.: Probably doesn't wear exterior underwear, either.

Dana Milbank: Although: I did see him come to address a Senate Democratic Caucus. His shirttails were sticking out from under his suit jacket.

_______________________

Real World DC: Will you be interviewing the participants in this thrilling documentary program? Or must they form liaisons with Congresspeople in order to receive coverage?

Dana Milbank: I have been monitoring Real World DC for 15 years, and I have a feeling the MTV crowd is going to be in for some disappointment. On the other hand the Real Housewives of DC has the promise of being an excellent production, and I am hopeful that they will select me.

_______________________

Salinas, Calif.: Dana: kudos on Mouthpiece Theater, although red and blue smoking jackets maybe a little too 2008. More shades of purple? Definitely include more Palin. Her current media junket (call it "The Moral Outrage Tour, '09") requires more probing coverage by Sketch and The Fix. Why not appear with beards that grow longer with every episode?

Dana Milbank:

As it happens, expert Post researcher Alice Crites has agreed to go on e-bay this very day and find us some vintage smoking jackets to replace those $29 ones from the costume shop. I do like the growing beard thing, although it gets very hot in the studio because there is no ventilation.

_______________________

Ohio: Will Your Editor be making a special appearance on Mouthpiece theater?

Dana Milbank:

Our studio audience yesterday was one Leonard Downie Jr., our former executive editor. We hope to have him and others on the set as soon as we can find space for an extra chair. If all goes well we can add a day and do some interviews with our favorite political figures. Probably they will need smoking jackets and pipes too.

_______________________

Inside the Beltway In Lovely Humid Alexandria: Dana - I was going to ask a question about the relative importance of the most pressing unsolved political problems of our electoral process and prospects for progress..then thought, NAH, bag it. It's Friday, lighten up. Ask Dana what kind of car he drives..I am betting you are a Prius kind of guy, or at least a hybrid man.

Dana Milbank:

Hello, Alexandria. As a patriotic gesture my wife and I drive two American cars: a Volvo (Ford) and a Saab (GM). Got to replace the Saab, though, because it's falling apart, much like its parent company. I would indeed like to get a Prius but I can't help thinking I'll get squashed by Orrin Hatch driving an out of control Hummer.

_______________________

George W.: Take my advice, Dana, and never make decisions based on polls. Just follow your gut and it will work out fine just like it did for me....

Dana Milbank: You're right. There's only one opinion that matters, and that's Dick Cheney's. So I guess we should stick with the $29 smoking jackets.

_______________________

Fashionistas: David Letterman described Sarah Palin's dress style as "slutty airline stewardess." How would he classify your fashion choices?

Dana Milbank:

Filenes Basement chic.

_______________________

Washington, D.C.: Dana if you could have an alternate Celebrity Monicker which would you choose? DaMil or D. Bank?

Dana Milbank: Tim Curran.

_______________________

Journalistically speaking: Have you invited the Ombudsman to review Mouthpiece Theater? And speaking of reviews, are you and Mr. Fix interested in doing movie reviews? "The Hangover" was excellent.

Dana Milbank: I have not heard from the ombudsman since he was the subject of one of these chats. I gather that my boss, however, has heard from him. I'm thinking he doesn't need an invitation to review Mouthpiece Theater. But if he doesn't approve of the tightie whities, I may go after him with a pair of Tom Toles's underwear, which is currently being stored in the desk of Amy Argetsinger, half of the Reliable Source.

_______________________

Madonna: Suggest you contact her for a consultation on exterior underwear. Can be written off as a business expense.

Dana Milbank: Was just talking with the bookkeeping folks about how to submit my expenses for Mouthpiece Theater:

Fake leather chairs from WalMart: $132.

Two Sherlock Holmes pipes: $12

Faux Library Wallpaper: $50.

Electric Crackling Wood Log Set: $59

_______________________

Mouthpiece: I think Tim should be on your show. That way all the ladies could evaluate him.

Dana Milbank:

This will take some coaxing but it is part of our master plan. We have assured him that our disapproval of moustaches does not apply to people who have beard and moustache together.

_______________________

The selection process: Did Mr. Fix audition to be on Mouthpiece Theater? Was he chosen after a casting call in the newsroom?

Dana Milbank: He narrowly beat out Walter Pincus.

_______________________

alternate Celebrity Monicker : Snark Czar

Dana Milbank:

I think I'll take that. Thank you.

_______________________

Minnesota: I love that you have tomes by Rush Limbaugh and Larry Flynt behind you on the mantle. Did you bring those in from home?

Dana Milbank:

Also Dan Quayle. We are planning to have a revolving collection on the mantel.

_______________________

Evanston, Ill.: Hey Dana, you missed a great sketch opportunity yesterday. Kucinich vs Ken Lewis was first rate. Maybe you can turn those Fed e-mails into a sketch.

Dana Milbank:

The boy mayor of Cleveland is indeed a bountiful blessing. I devoted half my column to him in yesterday's paper. Once I get the pipes and electric logs expensed, I'm going to recommend we hire a full time Kucinich correspondent.

_______________________

Brookland, DC: I have to disagree rather strenuously on the Palin bit. I can't stand the woman and wish she'd disappear, but Letterman was over the line no matter which daughter he was talking about (and it was clear it was the 14-year-old, whatever he says now). Statutory rape "jokes" by old men are not funny -- and even if he did mean Bristol, does the extra four years really mean that much? Hasn't she been through enough?

One thing I learned from the election -- we might be conquering racism in this country, but we may never conquer the pervasive misogyny.

Dana Milbank:

Please note that I defended Letterman on the slutty flight attendant line, not the daughter-knocked-up-by-Alex-Rodriguez line. I do think it was touching that the governor came to A-Rod's defense, however.

_______________________

Alexandria, Va.: Those smoking jackets look like you bought them at the Victoria's Secret Men's Store. Is there no budget for bottle-green velvet?

Dana Milbank:

I am forwarding this to Alice Crites, personal shopper for Mouthpiece Theater.

_______________________

Fairfax, Va.: Yes, Letterman was very funny. Especially when he speculated on a baseball player raping Obama's 12-year-old daughter. Oh, no, I mean Palin's 14-year-old daughter. I love it when celebrities make jokes at the expense of children. It was so funny when all those jokes were told about 12-year-old Chelsea Clinton -- you remember, the ones which said she was so ugly. Yuk,yuk.

Don Imus was funny, too. His joke about the basketball players looking like "ho's" was just like Letterman's Palin joke. We all enjoyed that, too.

Dana Milbank:

Yowza. It's only 12:45 pm in Fairfax but I'm giving you special dispensation to start drinking now.

_______________________

Dallas: Dana,

Between Orin Hatch and the extreme right, is D.C. a safe place to vacation?

Dana Milbank:

I would say that between Hatch and Patrick Kennedy, the smart tourist will want to avoid Capitol Hill this summer. The White House is claiming Sotomayor injured her ankle rushing for a plane in New York, but I wouldn't be surprised if it emerges in the coming days that she was trying to avoid Orrin's Cadillac.

_______________________

Speaking of Tim Curran...: Where's that photo you promised us single gals?

Dana Milbank: Wait til we get him on the set -- it'll be very hot in there, and not only because of the ventilation problem.

_______________________

a full time Kucinich correspondent.: I will definitely apply if I get to interview his wife.

Dana Milbank:

I will not have such misogyny on my chat, Dave!

I should add that, inexplicably, the congressman has a perfectly normal daughter, Roll Call's Jackie Kucinich.

_______________________

Evanston, Illinois: Must get interviews for Mouthpiece Theatre: Alan Keyes, Roland Burris, Michelle Bachman, Joe Biden, Tom Tancredo, Ron Paul, Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Al Franken, Lyndon LaRouche, John Ziegler, Christopher Hitchens, Keith Olbermann, and Sarah Palin. Basically anyone who will say something very crazy or very stupid.

Dana Milbank:

I am forwarding this to our production team of -- oh, wait, we don't have a production team. But maybe Crites will get on this after she finds the velvet jackets.

Anyways, thanks for chatting today. Please tune in to the next Mouthpiece, on Tuesday morning.

______________________

Editor's Note: washingtonpost.com moderators retain editorial control over Discussions and choose the most relevant questions for guests and hosts; guests and hosts can decline to answer questions. washingtonpost.com is not responsible for any content posted by third parties.