1115.org

So this blog is now three years old. Jason and I were trying to figure out how many human years that translates into, and settled on “a lot.” Gone are the days when life took a back seat to researching and writing until the early morning hours, and truth be told, we’re in debt to Sarabeth for covering all the insanity while we work on other things. We’d also like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who has been with us since the beginning, hopefully you’ve learned something, been entertained, or both.

I caught Aaron Sorkin’s new show Studio 60 the other day, and fully recommend it to anyone who liked The West Wing specifically, or fantastic writing in general. Sorkin is a genius, and his writing often manages to get at truths beyond the range of even the supposed experts. In the first episode of Studio 60, a haggard old TV producer has a meltdown on live TV and lays into reality television something fierce:

We’re eating worms for money. Who wants to screw my sister? Guys are getting killed in a war that’s got theme music and a logo. That remote in your hand is a crack pipe…Pornographers - it’s not even good pornography - they’re just this side of snuff films. And friends, that’s what’s next, because that’s all that’s left.

I loved the Sorkin era West Wing, but as good as that show was, it never broke politics down as far as that reality TV quote did. Blog writing is so different from other forms, and in my case I have taken advantage of the limitless space to express my ideas. But there is certainly something to be said for brevity, and “that’s what’s next, because that’s all that’s left” boils down my position on those in power to the point that it makes everything else secondary. Want to know what is coming next from the administration? What’s left? At every turn, they have not only embraced the extreme positions of their fringe elements, but blown past them with a vengeance in a race to the bottom that makes reality TV look positively classy in comparison.

No matter what happens next month, two years remain for this President to wipe his ass with the Constitution and run his little reverse Robin Hood games. I’m sure he even has a few tricks that we haven’t seen, but that’s what’s next because that’s all that’s left.