Panel Round One
Our panelists answer questions about the week's news ... The Allure of Politics
TOM HANKS, HOST:
We want to remind everyone there's a seat with your name on it at the Chase Bank Auditorium here in Chicago, Ill. For tickets and the 4-1-1, go to WBEZ.org and you can find a link the website, waitwait.npr.org. Now, right now, panel, it's time for you to answer some questions about the hellfire that went down last week.
(LAUGHTER)
HANKS: You ready? Luke, according to a new study in the Journal of Public Economics, Republicans are more likely than Democrats to be what?
LUKE BURBANK: The Journal of Public Economics.
HANKS: Uh, that - or it's known colloquially as the jope (ph).
BURBANK: OK.
(LAUGHTER)
BURBANK: Can I get a hint?
HANKS: Yeah, I'm going to give you a hint - more like red hot states, yow (purring).
BURBANK: Oh, more...
HANKS: They are...
BURBANK: More attractive?
HANKS: There you go. They're sexy and attractive, Bill.
(SOUNDBITE OF BELL)
HANKS: That's right. According to, you know, according to this journal that has evidently been typed by monkeys, conservative politicians...
(LAUGHTER)
HANKS: ...In the U.S., Australia and Europe, hotbeds for democracy, all of them, they all rate better looking than their left-leaning counterparts. And I've got to tell you, wasn't this first obvious with that dream boat that was the former secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld?
(LAUGHTER)
HANKS: I mean, holy cow, that was a very, very beautiful conservative man.
(LAUGHTER)
HANKS: Am I wrong? I mean, more like Donald Yums-feld (ph).
(LAUGHTER)
HANKS: I haven't been that excited to be in the same room with a celebrity since I had dinner across the table from David Beckham.
(LAUGHTER)
HANKS: Who, to me, is the Donald Rumsfeld of international football.
(LAUGHTER)
FAITH SALIE: I can also tell you that - if this is just a broad sort of conservatives are better looking, I can tell you that when I have appeared on Fox News - and I have - when you go into hair and makeup, I mean, they tell you you're going to be sitting in the legs chair...
HANKS: Wow.
SALIE: ...And strongly suggests that you wear a short dress.
HANKS: Get out.
SALIE: And then they made me, quite, look like a blow-up doll.
HANKS: Uh-huh.
SALIE: Like, the hair goes out, the lips those super, super big and glossy.
HANKS: Did you feel as though you wanted to pay lower taxes after all of this?
BURBANK: Yeah.
(SOUNDBITE OF THE BUDOS BAND'S "EPHRA")
HANKS: Hey, listen, guys, coming up we try and fail to improve workplace morale for our panelists in our Bluff the Listener game. Call 1-888-WAIT-WAIT to play. We'll be back in a minute with more of WAIT WAIT... DON'T TELL ME from NPR.
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