SORKIN, A LEFT WINGER, BLASTS BUSH: WE'RE 'PRETENDING' HE HAS EXHIBITED UNSPEAKABLE COURAGE

LEFT WING SORKIN BLASTS BUSH: WE'RE 'PRETENDING' HE HAS EXHIBITED UNSPEAKABLE COURAGE

Back to the Government-Media Complex Page

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN FEB 24, 2002 11:37:09 ET XXXXX The force behind NBC's WEST WING is blasting off against the real West Wing in upcoming pages of the NEW YORKER, which names AaronSorkin "the country's loyal opposition." NY'ER reporter Tad Friend has penned a high-impact Talk of the Town set for release in March 4 editions. Sorkin, the creatorproducerwriter of WEST WING, tells Friend: "It's absolutely right that at this time we're all laying off the [Bush] bubblehead jokes. But that's a far cry from what the Times and CNN and others on whom we rely for unvarnished objectivity are telling us, which is that 'My God! On September 12th he woke up as Teddy Roosevelt! He became the Rough Rider!'" Of NBC's own look at a day in the life of the Presidency, 'The Bush White House: Inside the Real West Wing,' which aired as the lead-in to a WEST WING repeat a few weeks ago, Sorkin charges: "The White House pumped up the President's schedule to show him being much busier and more engaged than he is, and Tom Brokaw let it happen?" Sorkin continues: "The show was a valentine to Bush. That illusion may be what we need right now, but the truth is we're simply pretending to believe that Bush exhibited unspeakable courage at the World Series by throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, or that he, by God, showed those terrorists by going to Salt Lake City and jumbling the first line of the Olympic opening ceremony. "The media is waving pom-poms, and the entire country is being polite," Sorkin declares. "I just began reading Frank Bruni's campaign book AMBLING INTO HISTORY: THE UNLIKELY ODYSSEY OF GEORGE W. BUSH which begins with Candidate Bush at a service in Texas for seven people who were killed in a church by a crazy gunman. Bruni describes Bush making goofy faces at the press, and it reminds you of a junior high schooler on a museum field trip." Sorkin tells the mag that he is planning to revisit the BUSH-GORE Florida showdown in an upcoming episode. President Josiah Bartlet [played by actor Martin Sheen, who has called Bush a white knuckled drunk] is up for re-election this November. "Bartlet is going to be running against Governor Robert Ritchie, of Florida, who's not the sharpest tool in the box but who's raised a lot of money and is very popular with the Republican Party,? Sorkin says. "It was frustrating watching Gore try so hard not to appear smart in the debates. Why not just say" 'Here's my fucking résumé, what do you got?' We're a completely fictional, nonpolitical show, but one of our motors is doing our version of the old Mad magazine 'Scenes We'd Like to See.' And so to an extent we're going to rerun the last election and try a few different plays than the Gore campaign did." Developing... ----------------------------------------------------------- Filed By Matt Drudge Reports are moved when circumstances warrant http://www.drudgereport.com for updates (c)DRUDGE REPORT 2002

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX SUN FEB 24, 2002 19:24:25 ET XXXXX NBC SUITS RAP SORKIN AFTER BUSH 'COURAGE' SLAM; WHITE HOUSE: PRODUCER 'BITTER' AFTER DENIED REQUEST **Update** **Exclusive** WEST WING's Aaron Sorkin landed in the hotseat with NBC executives late Sunday after he mocked President's Bush courage and ripped his own network's news anchor in an interview set for release on Monday. According to publishing sources, Sorkin has told the NEW YORKER: "It's absolutely right that at this time we're all laying off the [Bush] bubblehead jokes... but the truth is we're simply pretending to believe that Bush exhibited unspeakable courage at the World Series..., or that he, by God, showed those terrorists by going to Salt Lake City and jumbling the first line of the Olympic opening ceremony." MORE "Mr. Sorkin is way out of bounds, and his comments certainly do not, I repeat, do not represent the view of NBC, or anyone I know who works here, or our advertisers," said a top NBC executive from New York, who asked not to be named. Meanwhile, a Bush Administration source reveals to the DRUDGE REPORT that Sorkin recently approached the real West Wing with a request to feature real White House players in an upcoming episode -- a request which was denied! "He's attacked the president cause we turned him down," a White House staffer charges. "He's bitter after we closed the door on him! But, quite frankly, we're preoccupied with other things these days." NEW YORKER reporter Tad Friend has penned the high-impact Talk of the Town which features the controversial Sorkin comments. An early rush of the story was already causing a commotion in Burbank at NBC's entertainment headquarters. "I think Aaron would be better served focusing on the production of his show," said a source close to NBC entertainment president Jeff Zucker. "I am not sure he is aware just how inappropriate and damaging this might be for us. I've already got a dozen annoying phone calls here from people screaming about 'the Mushroom Guy.' Whether he likes it or not, he does represent NBC and I know the folks over at Warner Brothers plan to sit down with Aaron to express their concerns." The NEW YORKER names Sorkin "the country's loyal opposition" in the report set to run in the mag's March 4 editions. MORE Sorkin tells Friend: "It's absolutely right that at this time we're all laying off the [Bush] bubblehead jokes. But that's a far cry from what the Times and CNN and others on whom we rely for unvarnished objectivity are telling us, which is that 'My God! On September 12th he woke up as Teddy Roosevelt! He became the Rough Rider!'" Of NBC's own look at a day in the life of the Presidency, 'The Bush White House: Inside the Real West Wing,' which aired as the lead-in to a WEST WING repeat a few weeks ago, Sorkin charges: "The White House pumped up the President's schedule to show him being much busier and more engaged than he is, and Tom Brokaw let it happen?" Sorkin continues: "The show was a valentine to Bush. That illusion may be what we need right now, but the truth is we're simply pretending to believe that Bush exhibited unspeakable courage at the World Series by throwing out the first pitch at Yankee Stadium, or that he, by God, showed those terrorists by going to Salt Lake City and jumbling the first line of the Olympic opening ceremony. "The media is waving pom-poms, and the entire country is being polite," Sorkin declares. "I just began reading Frank Bruni's campaign book AMBLING INTO HISTORY: THE UNLIKELY ODYSSEY OF GEORGE W. BUSH which begins with Candidate Bush at a service in Texas for seven people who were killed in a church by a crazy gunman. Bruni describes Bush making goofy faces at the press, and it reminds you of a junior high schooler on a museum field trip." Sorkin tells the mag that he is planning to revisit the BUSH-GORE Florida showdown in an upcoming episode. President Josiah Bartlet [played by actor Martin Sheen, who has called Bush a white knuckled drunk] is up for re-election this November. "Bartlet is going to be running against Governor Robert Ritchie, of Florida, who's not the sharpest tool in the box but who's raised a lot of money and is very popular with the Republican Party,? Sorkin says. "It was frustrating watching Gore try so hard not to appear smart in the debates. Why not just say 'Here's my fucking résumé, what do you got?' We're a completely fictional, nonpolitical show, but one of our motors is doing our version of the old Mad magazine 'Scenes We'd Like to See.' And so to an extent we're going to rerun the last election and try a few different plays than the Gore campaign did." Developing... ----------------------------------------------------------- Filed By Matt Drudge Reports are moved when circumstances warrant http://www.drudgereport.com for updates (c)DRUDGE REPORT 2002

Aaron Sorkin is Lying
And Peggy Noonan, alas, is wrong.

March 1, 2002 1:35 p.m.

My heroine Peggy Noonan has a column this week that asks the vexing question, "Why shouldn't Aaron Sorkin tell us what he thinks of President Bush?"

She poses this query in the wake of one of the sillier little flapdoodles to come down the pike in a while. Aaron Sorkin, the creator of NBC's West Wing — while on break from his community service for attempting to fly with a mushroom-not-usually-put-on-a-pizza — gave an interview to The New Yorker in which he made some dumb jokes about the president, criticized Tom Brokaw, and claimed the press generally was being too soft on George W. Bush. Despite his insistence that Bush is an amateur, pretty stupid, and maybe a bit cowardly, Sorkin insists that he supports Bush 100%. I'd hate to see what 75% support looks like.

Anyway, if I'm giving short shrift to the substance of Mr. Sorkin's comments, you can judge their shriftworthiness for yourself.

The story was played up by Matt Drudge, because Matt owns vast quantities of stock in Mylanta, Pepto-Bismol, and Tums and he therefore likes to make media executives consume vast quantities of it. When he got word of the interview he splashed it on his page, which forced NBC execs to publicly defend Brokaw while at the same time making nice with Sorkin, a ratings golden boy.

NBC president Jeff Zucker issued a statement saying, "We respect Aaron's right to say whatever he thinks. The only place we disagreed with him was (in his comments) about Tom Brokaw….Aaron was not chastised by anybody at NBC at all."

As you can see, the tone of the NBC brass was very similar to the way you have to talk to a dog when he's got something very valuable in his mouth and you don't want him to chew it anymore or runaway with it; "Good boy, leave Tom Brokaw alone. Good boy." But why no one has asked Zucker if he really agrees with the rest of Sorkin's comments is a mystery.

Regardless, the media swarmed, partly because the press loves West Wing, partly because it was a slow "news" week, and partly because Drudge has an uncanny ability to cause trouble. I even had to hash out the pros and cons of Mr. Sorkin's views on CNN's Crossfire the other night. In fact, that's the only reason I read The New Yorker piece at all.

But I'm kind of glad I did. Because it turns out the press, the pundits, and Peggy (she's not only talented and pretty, she makes alliteration easy!), missed the only interesting comments in that interview. All of the discussion has been about Sorkin bashing Brokaw and Bush. But, who cares if Sorkin thinks Bush is a "bubblehead"? Does this shock anyone? If you've watched the show or seen The American President, or just listened to the guy talk, you'd know that even if Bush had an I.Q. of 7,000, spoke 16 languages, and could explain in flawless Latin how to make the clock on my VCR stop blinking, Sorkin would still think Bush is an idiot. Sorkin's just one of those arrogant Lefties who thinks conservative ideas are stupid until proven otherwise and the burden of proof can never be met (more on that in a moment).

Similarly, who cares if Sorkin thinks the press is too easy on Bush? Tom Brokaw could have confronted the president with a picture of Bush funneling a liter of Jagermeister at Yale while annoying a goat in a very intimate way and Sorkin would still probably call it a softball interview.

In fact, one is sorely tempted to ask (as I'm sure many of my readers have already) who gives a rat's patoot what Sorkin thinks about anything?

After all, Sorkin's just another Hollywood politics junky. His opinions about politics shouldn't count for that much (though for some reason they do). However, his opinions about his own show are interesting. He is a legitimate expert on the NBC's third-best-rated drama and the only show in years to deal successfully with politics (you may not know this, but Hollywood has been trying to do DC-based programming for years — and they stink at it).

So that's why I think Peggy and everyone else missed the only interesting comment in The New Yorker piece. Sorkin insists, as he has many times, "We're a completely fictional, nonpolitical show…."

Now, let's just say it plain and simple. That's a lie. A big, fat, Clinton 101, lie. And Sorkin has said it in enough ways and enough times that we can say with total confidence that Sorkin is a habitual and inveterate liar.

Jeez, just look at the context of the statement:

Bartlet [West Wing's fictional Democratic President] is going to be running against Governor Robert Ritchie, of Florida, who's not the sharpest tool in the box but who's raised a lot of money and is very popular with the Republican Party," Sorkin said. If this sounds familiar, it should. "It was frustrating watching Gore try so hard not to appear smart in the debates-why not just say 'Here's my fucking résumé, what do you got?' We're a completely fictional, nonpolitical show, but one of our motors is doing our version of the old Mad magazine "Scenes We'd Like to See." And so to an extent we're going to rerun the last election and try a few different plays than the Gore campaign did.

This is about as nonpolitical as Sorkin's support of the president is 100%. If Sorkin was frustrated by Gore trying not to appear smart (Memo to Aaron: He wasn't trying to avoid looking smart, he was trying to avoid looking like a brain-sucking pod-person), it's just as frustrating to listen to Sorkin lie about his own show again and again and again.

Right now college courses are being taught on the politics of The Simpsons and the semiotics of Keanu Reeves's oeuvre, but we're supposed to believe that a show which contains sometimes-endless speeches about the benefits of gun control, the glories of confiscatory tax rates, the rapaciousness of the business class, and, not to mention, thousands of words and phrases like "Republican," "Democrat," "Christian Right," and "affirmative action," is "completely nonpolitical"? It's about the frickin' president of the United States for Pete's sake.

The "fictional" defense is meaningless. Primary Colors, Joe Klein's anonymous broadside at Clinton was fictional too. You'd have to eat lead paint chips or be raised by Alec Baldwin to think Klein's book wasn't political.

Oh sure, sometimes Sorkin qualifies his statements by saying that the show's not "partisan," it's "political." But that's a lie too, of course. The Republicans are invariably wrong, stupid, or nasty — as Peggy pretty much concedes.

If the show has nothing to do with politics, why did Sorkin hustle out a "very special West Wing" to address the Sept. 11 attacks? I don't remember Buffy the Vampire Slayer (a great show, by the way) hustling out "a very special Buffy," in which vampires with turbans are revealed to be no more evil than vampires in yarmulkes or baseball hats.

Putting aside the staggering arrogance behind the assumption that America needed to be "reassured" by such breathy agitprop, it seems to me that Sorkin is being cowardly when he says such things. In this sense, he's very Clintonian. He wants to be able to comment on whatever he wants without making himself vulnerable to criticism from those he criticizes.

Indeed, this is the sneaky way he editorializes within the show itself. Sorkin claims that conservative ideas get aired on West Wing, which shows it has balance. And Peggy tells us today that she's often the author of those ideas, to which I say, "You go girl."

But the conservative ideas only get offered up to be knocked down by the supposedly objective superiority of liberal ideas. In episode after episode, conservative views are floated largely so they can be ridiculed, mocked, or simply ground into the dirt. This isn't "balance," it's an editorial.

Sorkin was frustrated with Gore for not admitting he was smart. In The American President, Sorkin has the president come out swinging, owning his ideas and not apologizing for them. This season on West Wing, Sorkin is determined to make his President Bartlet understand that you shouldn't pretend to be something you're not. This is all fine.

So why the hell is Sorkin such a sneaky, word-game-playing coward when it comes to admitting the truth about his own show?

I actually think I know the answer. NBC can't admit it's running a pro-Democrat show. Admitting that NBC gives a weekly one-hour commercial for the Democratic party might make for all sorts of legal problems for them (it certainly exposes a problem with campaign-finance reform). But even if this is the case, that doesn't make Sorkin any less of a liar. It just means he's a well-compensated liar.

©NRO