"Is there anything I can say other than, 'The President rode his bicycle into a tree'?"

[disarm_d]

What would be super helpful is if someone put together a primer on what parts of the West Wing are factually accurate and what parts are fiction, because at this point, 95% of what I know about politics comes from the show. There's also the 5% that came from the Canadian politics class I took last year. I saw only 5% because in that class I

Comments

[ext_63023]

re: the Senate and House of Representatives. Both are elected directly by the people of the states that they represent. All states have only two senators, but the more populous a state is, the more representatives they can have. Senators serve 6 years; Reps serve 2-4. As a result of the higher turnover and higher numbers, the House of Reps tends toward the "fiery activist" side of things. It reacts faster to the swings of public opinion. When Obama came in the whole place went Democrat, but now, just two years later, Republicans have control of the House again because people feel like Democrats didn't do enough with their power, whereas the Senate just slid more towards the middle

[disarm_d]

Hmm, that's not what it's like in Canada. Weird!

[thepouncer]

There are quite a few Americans who feel that Congress did entirely too much while both houses and the Presidency were held by Democrats. Or who disagree with the philosophical path of accruing ever-greater federal government control of the economy and daily life.

And the House of Representatives have 2 year terms. They have to run again every other year, but incumbency confers a lot of advantages.

[ext_63023]

See, I thought it was 2 years, but then Wikipedia said this:

Representatives and Delegates serve for two-year terms, while the Resident Commissioner serves for four years.

I'm not sure who the "Resident Commissioner" is?

[harriet_vane]

I LAUGHED SO HARD AND SO LONG AT THIS. Oh god. TEARS OF JOY. Amazing.

[disarm_d]

:DDDDDDDD THANK YOU AND GOODNIGHT, ♥

[iamsupernova]

Quebec still wants to become its own country, but there are enough of us who don't want to that it hasn't happened yet. Those Separatists, eesh.

[disarm_d]

Indeed.

[cellophne_chst]

Canadian government, west wing, west wing, cj, west wing, HATS.
♥

[disarm_d]

That about sums it up!

[left_of_weir]

The only thing you have to know is that midway through the third season, Aaron Sorkin got jealous of the Sam-Josh love that he fired made Sam go away. I still have tears left from that year of sad.

[disarm_d]

I already knew that! :) I'm almost done the fifth season. It's been a tough loss to bear.