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<img vspace="0" hspace="0" border="0" align="right" src="/media/2005-10-11-MSNBCHBWarren.jpg" />The opposition from the religious right faced by the fictional Republican presidential candidate on NBC's <i>The West Wing</i>, symbolizes for Jim Warren, the former Washington Bureau Chief for the <i>Chicago Tribune</i> who is now a Deputy Managing Editor for the paper, how real-life conservatives, upset over the Harriet Miers pick, will never be satisfied. On Tuesday's <i>Hardball</i> on MSNBC, Warren admired how the fictional drama's Alan Alda character “confronts a top Christian Right official who insists on a public pledge that Alan Alda, if elected President, will only pick anti-abortion judges to the federal court. And Alan Alda, seeing the world as much more complicated, declines to do that.” Warren asked and answered his own question: “Why is that relevant? I think it's relevant because just like Bill Clinton could never satisfy his left, it seems that Bush can never satisfy a group for whom he has cut taxes, delivered Saddam Hussein on a platter, done what they want on late term abortion and stem cell research, come out against gay marriage and picked a whole lot of conservative judges.”</p><p>Full transcript of his proposition, and the <i>West Wing</i> scene, follows.</p>
The West Wing
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<img vspace="0" hspace="0" border="0" align="right" src="http://newsbusters.org/media/2005-10-09-NBCWWBruno.jpg" />Only on fantasy television would anyone predict the<i> New York Times</i> would endorse a Republican presidential candidate, but that's what occurred on Sunday's episode of NBC's drama, <i>The West Wing</i>. On the October 9 show, the GOP nominee, California Senator “Arnie Vinick” (played by Alan Alda), lays out a series of proposals on immigration (such as doubling the border patrol), aimed to put his Hispanic Democratic opponent, Congressman “Matt Santos” (played by Jimmy Smits), in a box. In one scene, “Vinick” campaign advisor “Bruno Gianelli” (played by <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0798779/">Ron Silver</a>), a former campaign adviser to Democrats including the show's “President Bartlet,” walks into a meeting and declares: “The<i> New York Times</i> loves your guest worker program. Think we might have a shot at an endorsement." At least another campaign staffer points out the naivete of the Democratic operative who has switched sides: "Kiss of death for a conservative." But another adds: "New York has 31 electoral votes."<br /><br />Liberal commentator Lawrence O'Donnell serves as Executive Producer of the series and Sunday's episode also featured "Vinick," who is Hollywood's dream of a Republican who is “pro-choice,” pro-minimum wage, environmentalist and anti-religious right, going on a rant against the head of the "American Christian Assembly." Vinick asserts: "Tell that lying little creep the United States Senate gets to advise and consent on judges, not the clergy." More on that scene, and links to past NewsBusters and MRC <i>CyberAlert</i> items on the liberal advocacy in the series, follows.<br /> </p><p>
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<p><img hspace="0" border="0" align="right" src="media/2005-10-07-MSNBCHBAlda1.jpg" />MSNBC viewers are used to seeing <i>Hardball</i> host Chris Matthews take on Republicans from the left, but in a new twist, he'll being doing the same this weekend on NBC's Sunday drama, <a href="http://www.nbc.com/The_West_Wing/index.html"><i>The West Wing</i></a>. As shown on Friday's <i>Hardball</i>, Matthews plays himself in a scene in which the “Josh Lyman” character, the campaign manager for imaginary left-wing Democratic presidential candidate “Matt Santos” (played by <a href="http://www.nbc.com/The_West_Wing/bios/Jimmy_Smits.html">Jimmy Smits</a>), cheers on Matthews for his questions to “Arnie Vinick,” the very un-conservative Republican presidential candidate played by <a href="http://www.nbc.com/The_West_Wing/bios/Alan_Alda.html">Alan Alda</a>. “Lyman” exclaims, "Yeah, welcome to <i>Hardball</i>, Arnie!" and "Chris, baby, keep slugging!" <br /><br />Following the preview, MSNBC aired a taped interview by Matthews with Alda from the <i>West Wing</i> set. Matthews conceded “the script was written for me,” but he that he “thought it was really smart.” Matthews applauded Hollywood's ideal GOP candidate: “You come off as kind of a Giuliani guy. You're for abortion rights, but you don't like the idea of partial birth. You're kind of a maverick Republican, you're from California. You shine your own shoes. What an interesting guy you are.” Matthews admired how “your character this last season [said] he'd studied the Bible...and you just couldn't go along with having people die because they didn't go to church or didn't honor the Sabbath, but yet slavery was okay in the Bible back in those days.” Matthews fretted: “It's a very thoughtful sort of inquiry, but do you think a guy like that could ever be elected President in this church-going country of ours?"<br /><br />Indeed, as recounted in an April MRC <i>CyberAlert</i> item: “Hollywood's ideal Republican President, as brought to life two weeks ago by NBC's <i>The West Wing</i>, is 'pro-choice,' 'pro-environment,' will save the party from the 'right wing,' engineers a deal to raise the minimum wage and lectures about keeping religion out of politics.” (See full rundown below)</p><p>