Always an interesting exercise to me as it was basically a time capsule of the Clinton years and you can see how the Dem perspective has shifted so drastically. Say what you will about the show but it was well written and acted and excellent TV, also gave a lot of insight at the time to the WH. That said it was Dem propaganda for the most part and tried to always show "Liberal Dems good, Conservative Reps bad" over and over with some notable exceptions.
Some of the interesting things though:
They openly court religious leaders and try not to offend Christian groups. Of course they make them all out to be extreme school marms but the types of conversations are fascinating. For instance they have an episode about how some gay guy was killed (based around Matthew Sheppard) and they are torn about how they won't let gays in the military. Gay marriage is beyond a no no.
Lots of emphasis on free speech and expression. The Rob Lowe character literally has a "Don't Tread on Me" flag in his office. They had a rant about how if we aren't careful they are going to try to regulate speech on the internet and tell people what they can say and of course it's the Republicans that are the bad guys.
Of course they try to make example after example of Republicans making assumptions about minorities and being evil and yet at the same time they treat Republicans like they are all Jerry Falwell wannabes much of the time.
It's an interesting time capsule for any political geek to watch and see just how much things have changed and of course just how hypocritical the Dems are. Essentially they got everything they wanted in the culture and yet people are more angry than ever talking about racism.
You also see how much Congress and the WH are now broken. We had actual political discussion and budgets back then and not Omnibus bills and constant theater.
Some of the interesting things though:
They openly court religious leaders and try not to offend Christian groups. Of course they make them all out to be extreme school marms but the types of conversations are fascinating. For instance they have an episode about how some gay guy was killed (based around Matthew Sheppard) and they are torn about how they won't let gays in the military. Gay marriage is beyond a no no.
Lots of emphasis on free speech and expression. The Rob Lowe character literally has a "Don't Tread on Me" flag in his office. They had a rant about how if we aren't careful they are going to try to regulate speech on the internet and tell people what they can say and of course it's the Republicans that are the bad guys.
Of course they try to make example after example of Republicans making assumptions about minorities and being evil and yet at the same time they treat Republicans like they are all Jerry Falwell wannabes much of the time.
It's an interesting time capsule for any political geek to watch and see just how much things have changed and of course just how hypocritical the Dems are. Essentially they got everything they wanted in the culture and yet people are more angry than ever talking about racism.
You also see how much Congress and the WH are now broken. We had actual political discussion and budgets back then and not Omnibus bills and constant theater.
"The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help."
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
