Comments on: Sorkin stole my sanity

By: Benjamin Knight

Benjamin Knight — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 19:04:06 +0000

Uh, I was saying that the 21st century POTUS might need to be taller and more immediately, physically impressive than his predecessors …in order to keep up with a well informed and well nourished country, but your latest evidence is duly noted and I withdraw that hypothesis.

By: dr_whom

dr_whom — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 12:12:02 +0000

Benjamin, I might have lost the thread of our argument somewhere along the way but are we saying that the President of the United States is evolving along some separate evolutionary timeline into some manner of cro-magnon man? Are we? Is that what we’re saying? http://www.bushorchimp.com

By: Benjamin Knight

Benjamin Knight — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 11:00:43 +0000

Dr, This is just an observation… but all those presidents you mention are pre-tv; I don’t know if that makes a difference or not.

And the average human height has been rising through the ages as well, again I don’t know if that’s relevant because I don’t know how dramatically it has been happening.

But those are the two thoughts I had when I read your post.

By: dr_whom

dr_whom — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 15:06:26 +0000

Interesting mind fudgery, however, on one issue you are woefully mistaken. Martin Sheen is 5′7″ (or so he’d have us believe) and according to an Excel spreadsheet I once saw that would give him height parity with John Adams, John Quincy Adams and William McKinley. It would give him height superiority over Benjamin Harrison, Martin van Buren and James Madison. Martin Sheen is entirely tall enough to be POTUS.

Hilary Clinton is 5′6″ tall. Coincidence?

By: FLETCH

FLETCH — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 12:33:23 +0000

The West Wing is to realistic politics what James Bond films are to MI6

It’s a slick, glossed up semblance of reality that omits most of the tedious drudgery – it is TV after all. And The West Wing was pretty much an exaggerated Democrat fantasy of the Clinton years – when things were going (comparatively) well anyway.

If they tried to launch the West Wing now it would have to be re-written dramatically or it would appear utterly irrelevant – just look at how Commander In Chief failed.

It would have to be a male Republican president; they would have to be in a long drawn-out war in Qumar; there would be walk-and-talks about clamping down on freedoms in the name of the Patriot Act and freedom of choice for women; and of appeasing the Christian right, and so on.

But am I the only one who can’t help thinking of 24’s Presidential candidate, Senator Palmer, every time that Obama comes on the telly?

By: radio_menthol

radio_menthol — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 15:28:29 +0000

I think that’s a good thing really.

By: Jody T

Jody T — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 10:40:45 +0000

A poll in the States a few years ago I read did a purely ‘just for a laugh’ test - they put three candidates up for ‘Who would you like as President?’ Bush, Gore and (the fictional) Bartlet, and Bartlet won hands down. Yes its all hypothesis I know but it’s to Sorkins writing credit that makes you believe that he could be. I love The West Wing but what I find hardest is keeping up with the US political system - im on series 7 and im still none the wiser…!

By: radio_menthol

radio_menthol — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:12:02 +0000

Don’t you just hate scientists. They go on for years of developing a drug to help fight depression. Spend years marketing the drug. Profit from the mentally ill and then turn around and say ” Those pills I gave you, right? Yeah they don’t work. Sorry you had to blow your money on that.” Oh yeah and get some sleep. I know I do