The Worst Wing

The type of television that wins Emmy awards in 1999 is starkly different... ah who are we kidding. Anyway, the constitution of the American Liberal is incapable of reconciling ARE TROOPS?? with POOR?? and here the intersection of these two issues comes to a head with Toby Ziegler as its proxy. Emotional manipulation as an art form. Sorry we don't have Logan along for the ride as promised.

I thought we were sparring! That's why you don't win.

Disclaimer - don't watch this episode of the TV show! It's bad! There's a reason this particular podcast clocks in well under our typical 37-45 minutes and that's because nothing happens that matters at all in this show. God damn nothing, and it's also bad at BEING nothing. Please donate to RAINN during this hellweek at https://donate.rainn.org/ and show the FUCK UP to any direct action you have t...

Do what you've been trained to do... and CONDESCEND TO THE PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA! Abigail Bartlett's first appearance in the series is a soothing balm plastered over an embarrassing series of egocentric meltdowns. Shout out to Adam and Nima at https://soundcloud.com/citationsneeded for stealing our valor this week.

Our terrible excuse for representative governance will never be the same if we allow... THOSE people... any self-determinacy! A distilled ribbon of condescension and paternalism winds itself throughout an episode that could more appropriately be titled "SUT DA FUCJ UP MR PREISDENT". Also THIS is what got past the censors in 1999??

In a polemic return to form, Stu & Dave tackle the fifth episode of The West Wing, in which Christopher Lloyd's nephew, and Ron Swanson himself, each petition the government for redress of UFO- and or wolf- based grievances. Deficit spending is cool and good, Toby is correct as usual, and holy shit Aaron Sorkin is a paternalistic, chivalrous moron.

A vote looms that will test the legitimacy of the administration's command of the party apparatus, and minor characters assail our protagonists' dogged milquetoastery with ultimately fruitless truth bombs. Stu and Dave ~*DEAL WITH IT*~.

Dave and Stu wrestle with a complicated episode of the show, tying multiple plot points together into a difficult melange of tokenism and airstrike-orgasm conflation. A fugue state overcomes our protagonists. Read Tim Dickinson's ten-year prescient eulogy to John McCain here. https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/john-mccain-make-believe-maverick-202004/

The Bartlett Administration's turbulence evolves in Episode 2 of the West Wing. Stu and Dave take on capital-D Dames, the First-ish Estate in modern America, the trope of the Magical Negro and how Skoey's outfit makes him look like a homosexual (maybe you ALL are homosexuals!).

Stu and Dave tackle the premier of the seminal television show The West Wing, express solidarity with Lisa Edelstein, and ponder the media tropes of D.C. power brokers.

Stu and Dave introduce their concept and critique of The West Wing. This episode is the kindest we will be to a show beloved by liberals that, while occasionally entertaining and possibly well-crafted, should not define the political imagination of an entire god damn generation of Americans in the way it currently does.