August 28, 2001

What was I doing on August 28, 2001. I don't know. I don't remember.

But it was summer and that's when I catch up on TV shows that I don't watch during the regular season.

I watched re-runs of "The West Wing" that summer. It's actually a pretty good show. Liberal, of course, but then it's made in Hollywood. I mean, who out there is going to do a celebratory paean to Republicans?

But the WW shows I watched that summer were entertaining. I remember one about some Chinese Christians who were seeking asylum in California and how Martin Sheen (who plays the President) has to decide about sending them back to China. There's this scene in the Oval Office where the President interrogates one of the Chinese to determine the sincerity of his faith. If the Chinese man fails the test, he and everyone else will be sent back to China.

And I remember thinking, this is interesting. Is this how Democrats really feel? That they have the right to question someone's faith? What if this had been a group of Buddhists or Muslims? Well, maybe you can only question the sincerity of Christians. Because otherwise someone might think you're a bigot. Anyway, President Bartlett finds the man's faith to be adequate and the Chinese refugees are allowed to "escape" from the detention facility where they are being kept in California.

I guess this way we had "plausible deniability" with the Chinese but I remember thinking what would be wrong with saying: "We're letting these Christians stay in the USA because they can practice their faith openly here and you will hunt them down and kill them if they are sent back to China." Oh, well. It's TV.

The re-runs started with what happened after an assassination attempt on the President. It's white supremacists or somebody like that. Of course, that's politically correct. And it fit right in with Waco and Ruby Ridge and Oklahoma City. Because the only enemies we have are all home grown, racist nutbags who hate diversity and multi-culturalism.

And the first couple of episodes also have a story line about an American pilot who's shot down in Iraq. And I guess this White House thought it would be a good idea to rescue him but there was a lot of dithering about not being honest with the media about what we were intending to do.

And I remember thinking, come on! So lie to the press already and get this guy home. Do Democrats really think like this? That any American would prefer we reveal our military options because the press doesn't like being lied to? And would the press ask questions designed to get secret information that might harm an American pilot? It didn't seem too realistic.