DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Pundits dish it out on political radio show

Convictions run deep at the "Commentary Cafe," an out-of-the way diner that serves no food and lots of politics.
For six years, diners have enjoyed, via WYSU (FM-88.5), the head butting of Republican Bill Binning and Democrat Bob Fitzer. Thursdays at 7 p.m., the two argue local, state and national issues, often aided by a guest, among them columnist Molly Ivins, former U.N. Ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick and state Sen. Bob Hagan.
I've wanted to write about "Commentary Cafe" since I saw Fitzer and Binning meet over coffee at The Beat. Great angle, I thought. Kind of a Carville and Matalin thing -- great friends who disagree on everything political.
"First off," Fitzer said, setting me straight, "we meet at The Beat to interview our guests before we head over to the studio to tape. Not because we are best buds or anything!" And he sort of snarled "best buds."
OK, I can live with that, I thought as I hung up the phone. I jotted down: 10:45 a.m. Tuesday, The Beat, meet Fitzer, Binning and guest Andrew Arena, Youngstown's senior supervisory resident FBI agent.
Tuesday came, but no one else did. Wrong date, maybe?
I crossed the street to Cushwa Hall, found WYSU's studio, and phoned Binning, political science department chair.
"Well, your first mistake," he said in his trademark Connecticut accent, "was you talked to Fitzer!" And he sort of snarled "Fitzer."
And now, I started to think, maybe I have a story after all.
Mutual respect: The truth, of course, is somewhere in between. As Arena related, Binning and Fitzer have been known to heatedly argue issues as they cross Lincoln Avenue on their way to tape. But, as each man tells it independently, they've come to a place each considers friendship.
"I think Bill's a good man, and I think I'm a team player," Fitzer said, when I tagged along for the taping. "He's given me better skills at debating."
Binning sees similarities amid their political differences. "We have some common interests," he said. "We are both advocates of downtown redevelopment -- but [Fitzer] was against the Higbee demolition, while I was in favor of it. We're both concerned about sprawl. I don't think there's much agreement in any state or national issues ... But we're friends."
It's the mutual respect that makes the show so darned civil, something even a casual listener is struck by. But it's the differences that make the show jump.
"In the beginning, it was tense," Binning said. "But now, we know which buttons to push to irritate or create a response."
"It's our charge [to be civil]," Fitzer said. "We have a lot of respect for the form and the community. And I'm the producer. The show has to be buoyant, but the audience is intellectual and won't put up with too much."
Accomplishments: Fitzer holds a degree from Northwestern University in music performance/clarinet. He plays up to 80 shows a year in Cleveland for touring performances, among them "Titanic" and "Ragtime." And he spends time agitating for good causes. As Binning puts it, "Bob gives a great deal of his time to promote causes in the Valley."
He also teaches music privately and at YSU.
And dabbles in journalism. Some credit his scathing editorial in the now defunct Speed of Sound magazine with helping Mike Morley get elected to lead the county Democrats. "The party's over, the end of an error," he wrote, referring to the previous Democratic leadership. (Morley has since stepped down as party chairman).
Binning holds a Ph.D. in political science from Notre Dame. He's taught at YSU for 31 years and was Republican Party chairman here in the '80s.
How it started: The show's creation was serendipitous. Fitzer and Speed of Sound Publisher Holly Burnett hoped to bring the magazine to radio. WYSU's director at the time, Robert Peterson, thought it needed a Republican view for balance. Binning was one of the names Fitzer thought of.
Meanwhile, Binning was thinking the Valley could use a radio show concerning local politics. When the two accidentally crossed paths on campus, "Commentary Cafe" was essentially born. It began with a pilot, then a few trial shows, and now the two have a sign featuring their caricatures and the signatures of dozens of guests.
"Some of these people are in jail now," Binning wisecracks.