Bipartisanship pop quiz

One of the most striking aspects of the WikiLeaks debate from the start has been the identical mindset of political and media figures and the full consensus among them in condemning that group; in almost every debate I did on television, radio and everywhere else, it was impossible to distinguish between the views on these leaks from politicians and journalists, as they read from the same anti-WikiLeaks script.  With a few exceptions, exactly the same has been true of Democrats and Republicans:  there has been full-scale bipartisan consensus such that it's impossible to distinguish between the "two sides" on this issue. 

Yesterday, MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan hosted a segment on the extreme, prolonged isolation in which Bradley Manning has been kept for eight months now, despite having been convicted of nothing.   He had on his panel a "Democratic strategist," a "Republican strategist," and "a Washington insider."  Ratigan tried without any success to get them to understand why putting someone in a cage by themselves for 23 hours a day under extremely repressive conditions was unjust and intolerable.  Begin at the 1:20 mark -- right after Ratigan introduces his panel -- and see if you can identify who the Republican is, who the Democrat is, and who the "Washington insider" is; I'd submit it's impossible.  Once your guesses are in, go back and watch the beginning of the segment and grade yourself -- on the honor system.  It's the Joys of Bipartisanship: 

One other aspect of this bipartisanship quiz -- an extra credit essay, if you will (and the flu I referenced yesterday turned out to be anything but "mild," so posting may be quite sparse over the next few days): yesterday, Atrios referenced the snide, Red-State-mimicking derision of prolonged isolation and solitary confinement by former Obama campaign aide Joy Reid (which I noted in the update to yesterday's post), and then asked this extremely relevant question:

As I wallow in my flu-induced misery, I'd be genuinely interested in hearing answers to that question.