Premiere of The West Wing last night. The staff here drove to super-intern’s Julie’s house to watch. But a coworker, who will remain unnamed, got lost so I missed the first 17 minutes!!! Thus, I’m unsure of what all these dramamine comments of TWOP refer to.
I must admit that even without Sorkin, the show was good. Weird lighting and set–was that a shout out to Star Wars with the Death Star window? (Prob not, but a boy can dream.)
Then, the 10-way democratic debate. I heard Chris Matthews said Dean won. Either way, this was definitely the debate highlight (on Medicare):
GEPHARDT: “This is not the view of Democrats, in my view.
This program has been under attack from the Republicans since the beginning. And we need a candidate against George Bush that can take the fight to him on it, not someone who agreed with the Gingrich Republicans.
HOST: Governor Dean?
DEAN: That is flat-out false, and I’m ashamed that you would compare me with Newt Gingrich. Nobody up here deserves to be compared to Newt Gingrich.
(APPLAUSE)
First of all, I did say that Medicare was a dreadful program because it’s administered dreadfully.
I’ve done more for health insurance, Dick Gephardt, frankly, than you ever have, because I’ve delivered it to a lot of seniors and a lot of young people. And I’ll stake my record on health insurance against anybody up here.
Of course, we’re not going to get rid of Medicare, and you are wrong to insinuate so, but we’re going to run it properly because we’re going to have somebody that actually is taking care of patients running Medicare and Medicaid in the FDA so we can get the things that we need to get to patients.
To insinuate that I would get rid of Medicare is wrong, it’s not helpful, and we need to remember that the enemy here is George Bush, not each other.”
(APPLAUSE)