West Wing Nuts Arise!
"Politics is just like show business. You have a hell of an opening, coast for a while, and then have a hell of a close." Ronald Reagan
Okay West Wing fans, it's time to stand up and be counted. Or if you prefer, sit in our recliners and be counted. The show lost a lot of it of its luster and literacy when Aaron Sorkin left, but it's rebounded at the end of this season with a pretty good bounce.
For all who didn't get the candidate or president we wanted in the Real Life election, The West Wing is giving us a fantasy do-over tonight, a dream come true. We're offered some solid choices for a change, men with character and integrity and brains on both sides of the aisle, and I'm having a great time with the hypothetical possibilities.
Though I have to admit, as a lifelong Democrat I'm a bit torn. And isn't that the point here?
Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) is not only a Democrat, he's one of the Really Good Guys, a thoughtful, dedicated, honest public servant who fairly drips sincerity and integrity. He can't be bought or sold. He's issue driven, on the side of the disenfranchised and the angels; he's an advocate and a fighter ... but as a callow newbie to Washington politics, is he a winner?
And while the current West Wing Vice President, Robert/Bingo Bob Russell (Gary Cole) might be a winner, he comes off as such a light weight, he'd be the booby prize at best.
On the other side we've got Senator Arnold/Arnie Vinick (Alan Alda), a Republican with the Right Stuff, a decent, experienced Beltway veteran who oozes honor and dignity, isn't owned by Big Business or the Radical Right, favors affordable health care, fixing Social Security, tax cuts for the Middle Class. A candidate even entrenched Democrats can admire. And he's Pro Choice, for crying out loud!
Another big plus -and a nicely delivered smack in the kisser to so many of our Leaders in the Real World- Vinick's not a religious fanatic, far from it.
That grabbed me last week, as it was meant to do. He's not a regular churchgoer, but depends on his own spiritual inner guide. He clearly doesn't believe God is telling him what to do. And he doesn't want God, in the guise of Organized Christian Religion telling the rest of us what to do either. Get this: he wants Religion out of politics altogether!
In the Real World our founding fathers were devoutly religious men, but even they recognized the critical necessity for a legal division between Church and State.
Our current Real Life President and his Posturing Pals do not. They welcome the blurred lines, they're responsible for them. And compared to any of the candidates presented by The West Wing, George W. Bush (Karl Rove et al) is a tool of the highest order.
Tomorrow we'll have to face the mess they've made of our country and the suffering it's caused.
Tonight, watching The West Wing, we can dream.
Okay West Wing fans, it's time to stand up and be counted. Or if you prefer, sit in our recliners and be counted. The show lost a lot of it of its luster and literacy when Aaron Sorkin left, but it's rebounded at the end of this season with a pretty good bounce.
For all who didn't get the candidate or president we wanted in the Real Life election, The West Wing is giving us a fantasy do-over tonight, a dream come true. We're offered some solid choices for a change, men with character and integrity and brains on both sides of the aisle, and I'm having a great time with the hypothetical possibilities.
Though I have to admit, as a lifelong Democrat I'm a bit torn. And isn't that the point here?
Congressman Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) is not only a Democrat, he's one of the Really Good Guys, a thoughtful, dedicated, honest public servant who fairly drips sincerity and integrity. He can't be bought or sold. He's issue driven, on the side of the disenfranchised and the angels; he's an advocate and a fighter ... but as a callow newbie to Washington politics, is he a winner?
And while the current West Wing Vice President, Robert/Bingo Bob Russell (Gary Cole) might be a winner, he comes off as such a light weight, he'd be the booby prize at best.
On the other side we've got Senator Arnold/Arnie Vinick (Alan Alda), a Republican with the Right Stuff, a decent, experienced Beltway veteran who oozes honor and dignity, isn't owned by Big Business or the Radical Right, favors affordable health care, fixing Social Security, tax cuts for the Middle Class. A candidate even entrenched Democrats can admire. And he's Pro Choice, for crying out loud!
Another big plus -and a nicely delivered smack in the kisser to so many of our Leaders in the Real World- Vinick's not a religious fanatic, far from it.
That grabbed me last week, as it was meant to do. He's not a regular churchgoer, but depends on his own spiritual inner guide. He clearly doesn't believe God is telling him what to do. And he doesn't want God, in the guise of Organized Christian Religion telling the rest of us what to do either. Get this: he wants Religion out of politics altogether!
In the Real World our founding fathers were devoutly religious men, but even they recognized the critical necessity for a legal division between Church and State.
Our current Real Life President and his Posturing Pals do not. They welcome the blurred lines, they're responsible for them. And compared to any of the candidates presented by The West Wing, George W. Bush (Karl Rove et al) is a tool of the highest order.
Tomorrow we'll have to face the mess they've made of our country and the suffering it's caused.
Tonight, watching The West Wing, we can dream.
Labels: Media Musings, TV or Not TV
posted by Sally Swift at 4:51 PM
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