West Winger ...

Having never seen an episode of The West Wing (I know, I'm weird for a political junkey) - I found myself mysteriously flipping back and forth from the Redskins game to the "live" West Wing presidential debate on Sunday.

NBC scripted the debate, but chose to go "live" as a sweeps-week ratings "gimmick."

I don't know, maybe it's because this years' races have been so boring, but I thoroughly enjoyed this faux presidential debate. In fact, it seems I enjoyed it more than NBC did. According to today's Washington Post, the debate was scripted so that the liberal candidate would deliver pre-arranged heroic lines (thus guaranteeing the liberal candidate would win).

Here's the kicker: In a real-life Zogby poll, the liberal candidate (played by Jimmy Smits) was clobbered by the conservative candidate (portrayed by Alan Alda) - even among young voters.

Let me repeat this: NBC intentionally scripted this TV debate so that the liberal would appear more gallant. ... And he still lost.

This is just more proof that liberal arguments are losers - even when scripted perfectly. I'm sure the folks in Hollywood are stunned.