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‘The West Wing’ meets the 2008 election

Posted on September 30th, 2008 at 2:35 pm by David Kaiser, Editor

I was a huge fan of ‘The West Wing’. To this day, it remains my favorite TV show, and this is coming from a guy who’s television diet consists primarily of sports and politics, rarely of network primetime dramas and sitcoms.

Did the show skew to the left? Absolutely. Is creator Aaron Sorkin a bit of a nut job? No doubt.

But ‘Wing’ and Sorkin brought the drama of White House politics to us in a way that had never before been experienced. The show was smart, funny and a lot of vets of the real West Wing praised it as pretty darn close to the real thing, with a little creative license thrown in for dramatic effect.

A colleague of mine sent me a piece from Maureen Dowd at the Times that portrays what a fictional meeting between Barack Obama and ‘West Wing’ President Jed Bartlet could look like, and it apparently comes from the pen of Aaron Sorkin.

As I said, Sorkin is quite to the left, and the fictional Presidential Bartlet is a Democrat, but man, there is some funny stuff in there. Here’s how it begins:

BARACK OBAMA knocks on the front door of a 300-year-old New Hampshire farmhouse while his Secret Service detail waits in the driveway. The door opens and OBAMA is standing face to face with former President JED BARTLET.

BARTLET Senator.

OBAMA Mr. President.

BARTLET You seem startled.

OBAMA I didn’t expect you to answer the door yourself.

BARTLET I didn’t expect you to be getting beat by John McCain and a Lancôme rep who thinks “The Flintstones” was based on a true story, so let’s call it even.

Check out the article for the rest of a pretty entertaining (if biased) read.

Posted in Media Issues by David Kaiser, Editor • 9 comments  9 comments •  Post a comment

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9 Comments

  1. Rusty Shackleford on 30.09.2008 at 20:58 (Reply)

    The West Wing rocked. If you could get past the left slant (more like a cliff) it was truly great TV. YouTube “Butterball Turkey Hotline” and see if you don’t find yourself laughing out loud.

    1. David Kaiser on 30.09.2008 at 22:22 (Reply)

      Rusty, you brought a tear to my eye with that reference.

    2. David Kaiser on 01.10.2008 at 07:49 (Reply)

      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4TcGEcKjSu4

  2. Red State Eddio on 30.09.2008 at 21:18 (Reply)

    Aha! So now we know how David Kaiser spent his Sunday nights - curled up with a warm blankie, sipping herbal tea, exulting in a prosaic president who adeptly navigates around world crises. Now the truth comes out…

  3. Brian H on 30.09.2008 at 21:45 (Reply)

    I appreciate Sorkin’s ability to use dialogue to engage the viewer, truly GREAT stuff. I never got into West Wing because of its clear liberal “cliff”.

    LOVED “Charlie Wilson’s War”, by Sorkin, some of the greatest movie dialogue I have ever seen.

  4. David Kaiser on 30.09.2008 at 22:22 (Reply)

    Brian, I was a big fan of that movie as well.

  5. David Kaiser on 30.09.2008 at 22:23 (Reply)

    It was only Sunday nights for the last season or two. It was Wednesday nights for the fist five or six years.

    And yes, those nights were sacred.

  6. Chris on 01.10.2008 at 05:28 (Reply)

    Did you guys hear about this? Our Parliament used The West Wing tactics to fool Tony Blair when he was prime minister:

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1509435/Blairs-whips-fooled-by-West-Wing-plot.html

    1. David Kaiser on 01.10.2008 at 08:23 (Reply)

      I actually did hear about this, good stuff Chris

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