the low road of mcnuggets

last week on west wing (not this week when there was a lame-ass re-run. not that the episode was lame. just the state of repeat was lame. yes lame. ass. sniff it.) ahem. last week on west wing, there was this scene, which to me, was pretty damn appropriate and telling to our society and social consciousness.

josh and donna were in his office and he was asking her about this book seminar she went to by some guy named tombo (spelling? i just don’t know tuuuumbaaa…) who was involved in the opposing republican party’s nominee for president’s campaign somehow. i want to force you all to hear/read the dialogue that occurred between them because it made an impact on me, and so….i like to share. i am a nerd.

donna: nothing he (tomba) said was wrong or objectionable, as opposed to the man sitting next to me who was named fern.

josh: open this book to any page.

…….(there follows a less interesting passage where josh bashes some quote the guy used.)

josh: give me another one.

donna: look outside the cave.

josh: right. that’s from an old paper back called the republic by plato. good thing tombo’s been able to put it on a fortune cookie so it suits the attention span of the republican nominee…here he quotes Robert Frost, ‘good fences make good neighbors.’ did he talk about that?

donna: yeah

josh: what did he say?

donna: basically, if you stay within your personal space you’ll end up getting along fine with everyone.

josh: you had to study modern poetry.

donna: yes.

josh: is that what frost meant?

donna: no, he meant that boundaries are what separate us from each other.

josh: why did he say ‘good fences make good neighbors’?

donna: he was being ironic, but i still don’t…..

josh: because what does it remind you of? i believe in hope not fear…i’m a leader not a politician…it’s time for an american leader…america’s earned a change…i before e except after c. it’s the fortune cookie candidacy! these are important thinkers and understanding them can be very useful. and it’s not ever going to happen at a four hour seminar. when the president’s got an embassy surrounded in haiti, or a keyhole photograph of a heavy water reactor, or any of the 50 life and death matters that walk across his desk everyday, i don’t know if he’s thinking about emmanuel kant or not, i doubt it. but if he does i am comforted at least in my certainty that he’s doing his best to reach for ALL of it and not just the mcnuggets. is it possible we would be willing to require any less from the person sitting in that chair?–the low road?–i don’t think it is.

do you think president george w. bush eats mcnuggets? i think he does. it’s amazing to me sometimes how closely a tv show like the west wing will align itself with current events. maybe they do it unthinkingly (unlikely) but maybe they do it tongue in cheekily. and come on, what this country needs is more public media disparaging the imbecile we put behind that desk. as an english major i’ve got to be horrified at people who mis-interpret great literature. and as a citizen i’ve got to be resentful of stupid people dictating to the world at large. and what else is bush but a regime led by a bully whose aspirations of political global domination are forcing america down the low road of supreme grand patriarchal leadership of the world?

that’s a rhetorical question, knuckleheads.