laceblade: (Default)
laceblade ([personal profile] laceblade) wrote2008-09-21 12:17 pm

Break's Over

It is no secret that The West Wing is my favorite TV show of all time. And I could explain it with the brilliant characterization, the pretty men in suits, the setting, and the funny.

But really, what makes The West Wing my favorite show of all time is the superior writing style of Aaron Sorkin. The man makes my heart soar in a way that few writers can.

So you can imagine my excitement with Maureen Dowd's most recent New York Times article. In it, she asked Aaron Sorkin to write a script of what would happen if Obama were to meet with fictional president Jed Bartlet. And the result is nothing short of amazing.

OBAMA The problem is we can’t appear angry. Bush called us the angry left. Did you see anyone in Denver who was angry?

BARTLET Well ... let me think. ...We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know ... I’m a little angry.

OBAMA What would you do?

BARTLET GET ANGRIER! Call them liars, because that’s what they are. Sarah Palin didn’t say “thanks but no thanks” to the Bridge to Nowhere. She just said “Thanks.” You were raised by a single mother on food stamps — where does a guy with eight houses who was legacied into Annapolis get off calling you an elitist? And by the way, if you do nothing else, take that word back. Elite is a good word, it means well above average. I’d ask them what their problem is with excellence. While you’re at it, I want the word “patriot” back. McCain can say that the transcendent issue of our time is the spread of Islamic fanaticism or he can choose a running mate who doesn’t know the Bush Doctrine from the Monroe Doctrine, but he can’t do both at the same time and call it patriotic. They have to lie — the truth isn’t their friend right now. Get angry. Mock them mercilessly; they’ve earned it. McCain decried agents of intolerance, then chose a running mate who had to ask if she was allowed to ban books from a public library. It’s not bad enough she thinks the planet Earth was created in six days 6,000 years ago complete with a man, a woman and a talking snake, she wants schools to teach the rest of our kids to deny geology, anthropology, archaeology and common sense too? It’s not bad enough she’s forcing her own daughter into a loveless marriage to a teenage hood, she wants the rest of us to guide our daughters in that direction too? It’s not enough that a woman shouldn’t have the right to choose, it should be the law of the land that she has to carry and deliver her rapist’s baby too? I don’t know whether or not Governor Palin has the tenacity of a pit bull, but I know for sure she’s got the qualifications of one. And you’re worried about seeming angry? You could eat their lunch, make them cry and tell their mamas about it and God himself would call it restrained. There are times when you are simply required to be impolite. There are times when condescension is called for!

I want Obama to take the gloves off.

And also? Internet, I can't even tell you how much I am looking forward to watching a debate between Joe Biden and Sarah Palin. The pwnage will be of such epic proportions that I'm afraid of having a hernia from laughing.

[identity profile] hellocthulhu.livejournal.com 2008-09-21 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I so wish Obama would take the gloves off too. One of the reasons that the right has gotten away with so much over the past decade is that not enough people are willing to stand up and call bullshit what it is when they see it...

Speaking off... I watched some clips from the Palin/Hannity interview, and screw the LHC, I'm amazed that suckfest didn't implode into a black hole of bullshit that consumed the planet right there.

[identity profile] jackshoegazer.livejournal.com 2008-09-21 05:55 pm (UTC)(link)
I loved that rant. I've never seen The West Wing (yet!) but this is pretty brilliant.
ext_6446: (What.)

[identity profile] mystickeeper.livejournal.com 2008-09-21 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
WTF YOU HAVE NEVER SEEN WEST WING?! DO IT.

[identity profile] jackshoegazer.livejournal.com 2008-09-21 06:07 pm (UTC)(link)
I have a set number of shows I can watch at once and I am totally at the limit. TWW is on the list of shows-that-I-must-see.

[identity profile] sasha-feather.livejournal.com 2008-09-21 07:28 pm (UTC)(link)
I think you should watch Firefly first, because it's faster. ;)

[identity profile] jackshoegazer.livejournal.com 2008-09-21 07:32 pm (UTC)(link)
I've already watched all of Firefly (in like 3 days) plus the movie :)

[identity profile] sasha-feather.livejournal.com 2008-09-21 09:42 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, right, sorry; I change my statement to "you should make Jacquelyn watch it." :D

[identity profile] jackshoegazer.livejournal.com 2008-09-23 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
Will do. Even if that means I have to watch it all over again :)
ext_6446: (Community Organizer)

[identity profile] mystickeeper.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 04:13 pm (UTC)(link)
I guess that's fair. My surprise is more from that you hadn't seen it previously. I'm less surprised when people my age haven't seen it, because we were in middle school and high school when it was on the air. You, however, have no excuse!

Seriously, though, given the political posts I've seen you make in your LJ, you would probably like it.

[identity profile] jackshoegazer.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 10:35 pm (UTC)(link)
The reason I never saw it was that I did not really watch television, broadcast or cable, from 1995-2001 and from 2003-now. Even now, everything I watch is on DVD, thanks to the awesomeness that is Netflix. Now I have a ton of good shows to catch up on :)

[identity profile] homo-nescius.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 04:25 pm (UTC)(link)
I love that Dowd asked Sorkin to do this. Genius and good publicity.

My only beef is that I'm not sure Obama, as a religious man trying to appeal a bit to the Christian community, would have been quite so disrespectful about the creation story - though maybe in private confidence he would be, in which case I would love him more.

I guess what surprises me the most about the real election right now is that people are buying this McPalin BS. It's the same disease America suffered from when George W. was getting his wins. You put a pretty face up there that's personable and it doesn't matter who they've stepped on, what they represent, or what freedom they're looking to take away. "I feel like I could sit down and have a beer with him!" GREAT! You can drink beers together while he bombs the shit out of a country we think we're superior to and the rest of the world judges us for our imprudence. Oh, and did I mention that can you're shot-gunning is dripping all over our miserable economy that was left on the floor?

Please, people, don't gargle Bud while cleaning a moose. Oh yeah, remember? Bud isn't American anymore, it was sold during our shitty economy. KTHX.

[identity profile] jackshoegazer.livejournal.com 2008-09-22 10:37 pm (UTC)(link)
Oddly, Obama won both the One-I-Want-A-Beer-With and the One-I-Want-To-Watch-Football-With contests :) I think after eight years of Bush, the majority of Americans see the advantage of hanging out with a smart guy.