Politically incorrect humor

One White House press secretary, one veteran comedienne, one local news anchorman and the associate director of Penn's Office of Student Conduct. Only Bill Maher could bring together a group as eclectic and antagonistic as this. Then again, that was the point of Friday night's campus version of Politically Incorrect, part of "There's No Place Like Penn" weekend. Sponsored by Connaissance, Maher and his panel treated 1,200 students at Irvine Auditorium to an evening of heated debate in a most politically incorrect fashion. The panel was filled out by White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart, former Saturday Night Live comedienne Victoria Jackson, local news anchor Rick Williams and Neal Rajmaira of Penn's Office of Student Conduct. Maher's opening monologue focused on the current presidential election. Bashing both candidates equally, Maher ridiculed the Republicans for what he said was a "phony" presence of minorities at their convention and harshly criticized Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Lieberman's emphasis on the importance of faith in politics. But in the end, Maher joked, "This election, whether you know it or not, is still about Bill Clinton's penis." Indeed, during both Maher's monologue and the panel debate that followed, the conversation kept returning to Clinton's extra-marital affair and the impact of his legacy on November's election. "I think, though, 50 years from now, when all the silliness dies down, Bill Clinton will be remembered as a wonderful president, which he really has been," Maher said, sparking heated debate surrounding Clinton's accomplishments in office. Still, the guests did manage to discuss a range of issues, from gun control to the failures of the drug war to the economy. Lockhart, who has been Clinton's chief spokesman since the fall of 1998, represented the more liberal of viewpoints on the panel. Jackson and Rajmaira voiced more conservative opinions, and Williams, the quietest of the panelists, seemed to side with Lockhart on most issues. At one point in the discussion, Jackson tried to argue that the country's current economic prosperity could be attributed not to Clinton's presidency, but to the economic policies of the Republican presidents preceding him. "Reagan and Bush planted the field," Jackson said, "and now we're harvesting." Lockhart, offering statistical evidence to support Clinton's economic successes, responded that, "I thought what they planted was more of a fertilizer," drawing cheers from the audience. Not surprisingly, neither side was convinced of the other's arguments. When the discussion turned to Gore's choice for vice president, Jackson said of the Orthodox Jew, "Well, we know he'll be good with money," to which the audience reacted with loud disapproval. Lockhart also fiercely debated Rajmaira over the subject of gun control, after Rajmaira criticized the Clinton administration for what he believed was insufficient criminal prosecution. Here again, Lockhart offered arguments -- the decreased crime rate under Clinton, for example -- that seemed no match for Rajmaira, who drew mostly boos and hisses from the crowd. "It was great, but I thought it was a little one-sided," Wharton freshman Michael Witalec later said. "There was no really good Republican representation." College freshman Lauren Ordene agreed, saying she was "very disappointed" with Jackson "from the feminist perspective... they have one woman up there, and it's the most idiotic person." Maher disagreed, however, saying the panel was "great." "You have to set up a panel that's really going to be contentious, that's going to have fireworks, and they really did a great job."

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