and before a pundit can make a sound
I always cry at television. We know this, yes? And sure, there's the "I first watched The Wish when I had a horrible head-cold and used an entire box of tissues," or the "I cried over Doomsday at least ten times...just counting the times while I was in the shower," but then there's the things I don't mention, like the fact that I'm probably the only person who has cried while watching Extras.
Here's another thing we all know: I am less than pleased with the current state of politics and government. Honestly, any time someone I know tries to explain that The Fake News Hour's brand of satire isn't actually helping anything, I just want to tell them in very loud words how effective it is in helping me not to bash myself over the head with a blunt object any time I have to hear the President speak. It's not even what he's saying anymore, it's his smugly monotonous voice and his lack of proper diction or conviction or ...knowledge of what he's saying.
Today I got disc two of The West Wing's seventh season, and I watched them all in one sitting. The last on the disc was The Debate, which I've been waiting to see ever since I saw Alan Alda promote it on TDS or Conan the week it was to air. [I think it may have been Conan, because I think it was the night The Decemberists were on, and Alan Alda heard Conan say their name, perked up, and was like, "The Decembrists? Weren't they a Russian revolutionary group?" and I fell in love forever.] So I watched the debate, and I was cheering and shouting and laughing through it, applauding like a giant dork, and then came this:
SANTOS
It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.
VINICK
A Republican President ended slavery.
SANTOS
Yes, a liberal Republican, Senator. What happened to them? They got run out of your party. What did liberals do that was so offensive to the liberal party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.
---
And I may have cried like a baby. A hungry, angry baby. It was just so wonderful and so moving to hear, even though it was fictional. Also, there's the fact that I've been mysteriously smitten with Jimmy Smits for over a decade since he was on NYPD Blue, even though I have never to this day seen an episode of that show, or, really, anything else he's ever been in.
Except for that thing where he played Princess Leia's adoptive father. I try to block that out.
Here's another thing we all know: I am less than pleased with the current state of politics and government. Honestly, any time someone I know tries to explain that The Fake News Hour's brand of satire isn't actually helping anything, I just want to tell them in very loud words how effective it is in helping me not to bash myself over the head with a blunt object any time I have to hear the President speak. It's not even what he's saying anymore, it's his smugly monotonous voice and his lack of proper diction or conviction or ...knowledge of what he's saying.
Today I got disc two of The West Wing's seventh season, and I watched them all in one sitting. The last on the disc was The Debate, which I've been waiting to see ever since I saw Alan Alda promote it on TDS or Conan the week it was to air. [I think it may have been Conan, because I think it was the night The Decemberists were on, and Alan Alda heard Conan say their name, perked up, and was like, "The Decembrists? Weren't they a Russian revolutionary group?" and I fell in love forever.] So I watched the debate, and I was cheering and shouting and laughing through it, applauding like a giant dork, and then came this:
SANTOS
It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.
VINICK
A Republican President ended slavery.
SANTOS
Yes, a liberal Republican, Senator. What happened to them? They got run out of your party. What did liberals do that was so offensive to the liberal party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.
---
And I may have cried like a baby. A hungry, angry baby. It was just so wonderful and so moving to hear, even though it was fictional. Also, there's the fact that I've been mysteriously smitten with Jimmy Smits for over a decade since he was on NYPD Blue, even though I have never to this day seen an episode of that show, or, really, anything else he's ever been in.
Except for that thing where he played Princess Leia's adoptive father. I try to block that out.