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NBC's Senator Sterling: Bush a Bad President (NBC Hour-Long Commercial For Demmycrats)
Media Research Center ^ | January 13, 2003 | Brent Baker

Posted on 01/13/2003 8:22:56 AM PST by PJ-Comix

In an interview Friday night on MSNBC's Hardball, which aired after the EST/CST debut of Mr. Sterling, NBC's new show about an appointed U.S. Senator from California, Chris Matthews asked the man who plays Sterling, actor Josh Brolin: “Do you think that George W. Bush is a good President, Senator Sterling?” 
     Brolin, answering for his character, snapped: “N–O.”

     During the debut episode the character largely affirmed his liberalness. Reading a chart with a breakdown of constituent mail, Brolin as “Sterling” reported: “2,387 in favor of a capital gains tax cut, 1,949 opposed. And one undecided.”
     Press Secretary “Jackie Brock,” played by Audra McDonald, was flummoxed: “You're undecided?”
     Sterling: “Yeah I am after reading the Wall Street Journal's editorial today, yeah.”
     Brock informed him: “Well the Journal's never met a tax cut it didn't like. See problem number one with this one is it's going to cost the Treasury at least $12 billion, which means that we have to cut spending by $12 billion and the first place people always go for that kind of money is Medicare. So, the real question is how much do you want to cut spending on health care for the elderly?”
     Sterling: “I don't.”
     Brock: “Then you just moved out of the undecided column on the capital gains tax cut.”
     Sterling: “I guess so.”

     That liberal reasoning settles that.

     For more about the show produced by liberal political commentator/Hill veteran Lawrence O'Donnell, see: http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/2003/cyb20030110.asp#5

     Later, Sterling did express some variance from the liberal line on oil drilling in Alaska, but I'm way over today and so don't have space for that.

     The biggest incongruity of the show is how Senator Sterling is portrayed as an independent “idealist,” yet he decides to vote with the Democratic leadership for control of the Senate because they give him seats on the Finance and Appropriations Committees while the Republicans offered only a slot on one of those two committees.

     But maybe that's what makes you an “idealist” to liberals: Getting as much taxpayer money for your state as you can.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: chrismatthews; hardball; mistersterling; nbc
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To: PJ-Comix
Never heard of the show, or the actor. If folks want to see regular conservative Americans on TV, try "King of the Hill" or "Mail Call." Two great programs.
61 posted on 01/13/2003 9:55:22 AM PST by Huck
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To: PJ-Comix
Down, boy.
62 posted on 01/13/2003 10:14:36 AM PST by lorrainer (My "Mom" got me this job, since Dad couldn't...)
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To: PJ-Comix
Is there any doubt that this show about this "apolitical" Senator was going to be the same as it is with the "apolitical" network? It's such a joke and it should be obvious. Wow, he was in the Goonies. He was annoying there and he's still the same annoying turd.
63 posted on 01/13/2003 10:41:29 AM PST by bushfamfan
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To: PJ-Comix
FOX should consider a political show that leans right. I believe their news department found some sucess with that formula. Instead, they put out some of the worst crap on the tube.
64 posted on 01/13/2003 10:54:43 AM PST by zygoat
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To: zygoat
FOX should consider a political show that leans right.

I would settle for a comedy show that is just fair and balanced in its politics. Of course, the critics would claim it is "rightwing" because it would dare to skewer the Liberal icons.

65 posted on 01/13/2003 10:58:58 AM PST by PJ-Comix (Moderator of the LARGEST Internet Reading Club---Freeper Reading Club)
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To: linn37
Never happen, amigo!

Remember, they have no knowledge base from which to draw (example: opponent prez candidate on WW).

THEY are smart and right, they KNOW it. To portray one of us as either would be, well, wrong!

Remember Norman Lears ill-fated attempt to do a mirror-image of All In The Family? The family would be black, living in Archie's old house, with a LIBERAL dad and a CONSERVATIVE son. It tanked quick, because, among other things, Lear has no idea how a conservative thinks. So, his 'conservative' character ended up (of course) losing all arguments, and basically being portrayed as a fool.

Similarly, some other station tried to cash in on the Rush Limbaugh fame by running a series about a conservative talk radio fellow. Naturally, on THIS show, reality would be better served, and the character (played by lefty Henry Winkler) would be regularly upstaged and proven wrong by his callers, his children and his wife.

Strangely enough, it tanked too.

Go figure...

= )
66 posted on 01/13/2003 11:27:53 AM PST by Mr. Thorne
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To: KarlInOhio
>>What happened to "First Monday", the Dems fantasy version of the Supreme Court? <<

Good question.

When the opening show had James Garner saying to the rest of the judges that it was "time to MAKE law," I knew the show was gonna be a real stinker.

(The SC--like all courts--are to interpret the law, not make it.)
67 posted on 01/13/2003 11:31:16 AM PST by Gunrunner2
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To: Gunrunner2
When the opening show had James Garner saying to the rest of the judges that it was "time to MAKE law,"

Maybe Garner was slated to play a senator and stepped into the wrong studio.

68 posted on 01/13/2003 11:33:44 AM PST by PJ-Comix (Moderator of the LARGEST Internet Reading Club---Freeper Reading Club)
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To: L.N. Smithee
Thanks for the Billy Jack link. I used to work for Tom Laughlin's company thirty years ago, and I can see he hasn't changed. It was a shock to learn that he lost his archive when his Malibu house burned down. I wonder if my stash of vintage "Billy Jack For President" buttons would be worth anything now?
69 posted on 01/13/2003 12:07:10 PM PST by Argus
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To: PJ-Comix
I understand there are all sorts of tax advantages wealthy entertainers have such as being able to defer large amounts of income.

I love to see some pol start trying to eliminate those breaks. Do it in the name of fairness. See who complains.

70 posted on 01/13/2003 12:24:58 PM PST by Tribune7
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To: Dave S
Larry O'Donnell is usually pretty fair in his assessments

MSNBC's Larry O'Donnell? I guess I'm even further out of the pop-culture loop than I thought.

71 posted on 01/13/2003 4:22:34 PM PST by LurkerNoMore!
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To: PJ-Comix; L.N. Smithee; redlipstick
More Billy Jack music, pics, film clips and reviews: Billy Jack review at Bad Movies.org. You too can leave a comment here.:

You know a movie's really bad when you smoke the rough equivalent of British Columbia's yearly cannibis output before watching it and you're still saying, "Oh, GOD, this sucks!" Not that I would know from personal experience, mind you. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought Steven Seagal was channeling this movie big time!

Lol!

72 posted on 01/13/2003 4:45:08 PM PST by Ragtime Cowgirl
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To: elbucko

Tommy

by Rudyard Kipling

I went into a public-'ouse to get a pint o' beer,
The publican 'e up an' sez, "We serve no red-coats here."
The girls be'ind the bar they laughed an' giggled fit to die,
I outs into the street again an' to myself sez I:
      O it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, go away";
      But it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play,
      The band begins to play, my boys, the band begins to play,
      O it's "Thank you, Mister Atkins", when the band begins to play.

I went into a theatre as sober as could be,
They gave a drunk civilian room, but 'adn't none for me;
They sent me to the gallery or round the music-'alls,
But when it comes to fightin', Lord! they'll shove me in the stalls!
      For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, wait outside";
      But it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide,
      The troopship's on the tide, my boys, the troopship's on the tide,
      O it's "Special train for Atkins" when the trooper's on the tide.

Yes, makin' mock o' uniforms that guard you while you sleep
Is cheaper than them uniforms, an' they're starvation cheap;
An' hustlin' drunken soldiers when they're goin' large a bit
Is five times better business than paradin' in full kit.
      Then it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, 'ow's yer soul?"
      But it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll,
      The drums begin to roll, my boys, the drums begin to roll,
      O it's "Thin red line of 'eroes" when the drums begin to roll.

We aren't no thin red 'eroes, nor we aren't no blackguards too,
But single men in barricks, most remarkable like you;
An' if sometimes our conduck isn't all your fancy paints,
Why, single men in barricks don't grow into plaster saints;
      While it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Tommy, fall be'ind",
      But it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind,
      There's trouble in the wind, my boys, there's trouble in the wind,
      O it's "Please to walk in front, sir", when there's trouble in the wind.

You talk o' better food for us, an' schools, an' fires, an' all:
We'll wait for extry rations if you treat us rational.
Don't mess about the cook-room slops, but prove it to our face
The Widow's Uniform is not the soldier-man's disgrace.
      For it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "Chuck him out, the brute!"
      But it's "Saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot;
      An' it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' anything you please;
      An' Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool -- you bet that Tommy sees!

73 posted on 01/14/2003 2:56:47 PM PST by irv
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