Tuesday 30th September 2008, 18:30

West Wing vs. reality

I'm not going to get all political here (being both no doubt less well-informed than many others, plus being a Brit, so having no real stake in the upcoming US election!), but I've not written anything here for a bit, and this just occurred to me. Plus it's TV-show related, so vaguely relevant to this site. Comparisons have been drawn before to the West Wing's 7th season (with a relatively out-of-nowhere Democratic senator going up against a slightly more liberal-than-some Republican), so I won't reiterate them.

However, now the race has another similarity. In the West Wing, the race is very close until a near-meltdown at a nuclear plant. Vinick, the Republican, had been very vocal about nuclear power, and his perceived ties to this potential disaster end up having a negative effect on him in the election, resulting in a narrow defeat.

I've read a few reports today claiming that John McCain suspending his campaign to help hammer out a bail-out package connected him rather too closely to it. If it had passed it might have been a major coup, but it didn't, so now he may suffer the associated fallout as a result. Not exactly the same thing as the West Wing, obviously, but a definite similarity. Although this is, y'know, reality, so has somewhat more importance. Here ends the closest thing to political commentary this site is ever really likely to get - just found it faintly interesting.