I stopped watching WW shortly after AS left, but my brother watched and mentioned the parallels. Hopefully, Biden won't die on election day!

Nope. But we West Wing aficionados also remember what happened next. Still, it is a good scenario. Except, if course, that the Senator played by Alan Alda really was an independent politician rather than a befuddled, kept man.

They had to pick somebody.

The GOP oppo-apparat will go into full destructo-mode on whomsoever was selected.

Mebbe Biden's faults were so well known already that the Dims figgered he was the one with the least to hide...and thus posed the least threat for scandal.

Never thought of it.

A buddy of mine who's a casual news consumer said "Hey, that Biden guy is like Dick Cheney. Only, you know, he's not evil."

I figure it's a good thing.

Dodd is the progressive version of a non-evil economic Cheney, and Biden is the progressive version of a non-evil foreign policy Cheney.

Leo McGarry was, in his own character's words, a "war time consiglieri". Biden, not so much.

The notion floated by Kos & Co. that Obama's description of the role of the Veep manages to give both a pass with regard to Obama's opposition to the war in Iraq and Biden's support of it is laughable.

Presumably, Biden, given his foreign policy chops, was in-the-know and supported Bush's War (tm)

Obama, apparently in a state of blissful ignorance, opposed it.

Obama's going to need some awfully damn smart people working in his campaign to make the case he needs to make - too bad all those people are Hillary-supporters.

-

As a Chicano from the Sonoran Desert, I did not get the analogy to the West West, although I am familiar with the contest between the Hispanic dude and Alan Alda as protagonists.

However, Reality intrudes.

Last week Richard Tumpka, the Chief-Jefe of the Mine Workers Union called it best regarding this election when he said, "economics...and racism".

And with this in mind, here in Arizona and in State Legislative District 6, a conservative district, the GOP primary will be held in early September. One of the two GOP incumbents has decided to depart for green pastures, and as such, two candidates have surfaced. One is a Minuteman and proud of it, and thusly, has had history for having run at various times for public office and has always lost--both in California and Arizona. The second candidate is an African American, and five days prior to submiting his name and petitions with the appropriate number of signatures as per our Clean Election laws, was a Democrat, and now is registered as a Republican.

The existing incumbent has 'teamed-up' with the Minuteman and against the former-Democrat, and who while living in Florida was an NFL football player. Perhaps, a modern version of the 'carpet-bagger? Nonetheless, the "litmus test" is that he has not been a Republican and therefore, has no history for advocating and perpetuating the Conservative Ideology for the affective Philosophy for Thought and Action.

Regardless, the Chambers of Commerce and the Independent Business Association have endorsed the African American. The Maricopa County GOP has endorsed the Minuteman. Of course, the Chairman of the GOP is also a Minuteman.

And there you have it.

Chicanos are watching this outcome with a tongue-in-cheek behavior for the 'rap' of the existing "Big Tent" that was and has been espoused by the late Ronald Reagan and the current acolytes and better known as the modern version of the John Birchers.

As such, I much prefer my analogy, "protagonists-to-John Birchers".

Jaango

Good one. My wife is going to like it.

Leo was the first person I thought of too.

It gets better -- the creators of the show said that the Santos character was explicitly modeled on Obama, after his 2004 debut at the DNC.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/21/barackobama.uselections2008

For what those West Wing fans stunned by the similarity between the fictitious Matthew Santos and the real-life Barack Obama have not known is that the resemblance is no coincidence. When the West Wing scriptwriters first devised their fictitious presidential candidate in the late summer of 2004, they modelled him in part on a young Illinois politician - not yet even a US senator - by the name of Barack Obama.

"I drew inspiration from him in drawing this character," West Wing writer and producer Eli Attie told the Guardian. "When I had to write, Obama was just appearing on the national scene. He had done a great speech at the convention [which nominated John Kerry] and people were beginning to talk about him."

Attie, who served as chief speechwriter to Al Gore during the ill-fated 2000 campaign and who wrote many of the key Santos episodes of the West Wing, put in a call to Obama aide David Axelrod.

"I said, 'Tell me about this guy Barack Obama.'"

Like I commented at Cosmic Variance blog (BTW they have a thread right now on Obama/Biden, give it a visit) The current put-down meme of the Right (and netroots would say, soon to be of what I call the MSMemia as well) is that Obama isn’t expressing his move for “change� by picking Congressional veteran Joe Biden. But that is a fallacious argument. The top of the Ticket provides direction, and makes use of the skills of the VP in a complementary way. It’s like a young CEO hiring a seasoned scientist or engineer as VP to help manage a tech company - it makes perfect sense.

Go BO-Joe!

What Biden REALLY brings is yet more reason to vote Green!

Establishmentarian, old politics, pro war, anti-middle class bankruptcy (with the gall to talk about the middle class yesterday), pro-Georgia in NATO or leaning that way, etc. etc.

Won't help in states besides PA, not likely attractive to diehard Hillaryites, and NOT attractive to ppl like me.

Go, Cynthia!

(And, psuedoliberal Dem blogs are all on the clock now to see how quickly and thoroughly they rally the wagons behind the alleged brilliance of this pick.)

Just reminds me how much I miss John Spencer:(

If only McCain were as ethical as the fictitious Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda).

Does this mean the United States is going to be canceled come November? I know our ratings have been falling ...

DymaxionWorldJohn posted about this yesterday afternoon over at CogBlog. Dunno if he was the first blogger to post that thought, but he was pretty fast off the mark.

As I said over there, who needs Nostradamus anymore?

Damned if you do. Damned if you don't. Damn Republicans.

Wait until Exxon John picks Mittens. Hahaha. That will be great... a rich elisitist Mormon without a soul joins up with a guy who can't remember how many houses he owns.

PS: Biden will eat these R idiots alive.

Why did The West Wing have to end? I would have paid money to continue watching that show.

So, if I remember the Republican VP candidate from the West Wing correctly, it's going to be Mike Huckabee. I'm fine with that, assuming that we're all going to get used to hearing the name "Wayne Dumond" a lot over the next couple of months.

*

The current put-down meme of the Right is that Obama isn’t expressing his move for “change� by picking Congressional veteran Joe Biden.

Posted by: Neil B at 11:44 AM

I heard Ed Rollins toss out the same B.S. this AM on NPR. No surprise of course but it's their typical damned if Obama did and damned if he didn't M.O.

Biden provides balance and RepubCo despises balance. They can't attack Obama for reinforcing his "youthful inexperience" so they will attack him for abandoning his philosophy of change.

RepubCo's credibility is zilch. They'll complain about whatever is in front of them.

I can go with the Biden as Cheney analogy, (with apologies to Mr. Biden for any association at all with such a scumbag), mainly because I think Biden is capable of telling RepubCo to "go F**k itself" with feeling and conviction.

Go for it Joe. Be like Dick.

I stopped watching TWW after AS left. Didn't know that Obama was the model for Santos. Interesting.

To those folks who think that the choice of Biden is reason for them to vote Green, clearly you have not learned the lessons of 2000.

Excellent call on McGarry, Steve. I had said a few times in the past that all Obama needed was a Leo McGarry-type Chief of Staff to help him with his legislative agenda and knife-fighting, but it never occurred to me to think of the VP as playing this role. But I like it.

Not being a West Wing watcher, I thought you were talking about Kennedy/Johnson in 1960. There are probably other parallels out there.
I'm looking forward to Biden's campaign contributions. The "which of the 7 kitchen tables" start was auspicious.

(Someone somewhere recently imagined McCain doing a Dorothy, clicking his ferragamo loafers together and saying "there's no place like home", and wondering where he would go.)

Me? I thought Yoda and Luke Skywalker -- but I like the McGarry comparison too.

And I do miss John Spenser -- and the West Wing.

Oops, I meant Obi Wan Kenobe -- the Alec Guinness character! Sorry am not a Stars Wars buff by any means.

"Is Biden the new Cheney?" seems to be a very common question this morning. -- PA

Comparing Biden to Cheney would have to also, I think, invoke the comparison of Obama to Bush. And that's where the comparison falls flat on its face; there's no way in heaven or earth that Obama would become Biden's mindless puppet...

"The media seems to have settled on Biden taking on a role similar to that of the current vice president. "Is Biden the new Cheney?" seems to be a very common question this morning."

In order for Biden to be the new Cheney, he would have to show that he capable of running a huge bureaucracy and getting it to do what you want. Love him or hate him, there is no denying that Cheney has been the most powerful Vice President in the nation's history.

Plus, Biden would have to have Obama's complete trust and be given a free hand to be as effective as Cheney. Do any of you guys think Obama would give Biden as much power as Bush has given Cheney? I don't. So I don't believe that Biden will be anything close to Cheney in terms of power and running the day to day operations of an Obama Administration.

Steve Benen wrote: "Sure, the parallels are far from exact ..."

In the spring of 2001, a TV fantasy sci-fi program called "The Lone Gunmen", which was a spinoff of "The X-Files", had an episode in which terrorists hijacked an airliner and attempted to crash it into the World Trade Center, but were thwarted by the show's protagonists.

In 1898, a fellow named Morgan Robertson wrote a novella entitled "Futility, or the Wreck of the Titan". The novella features an oceanliner named the Titan, a large and advanced ship considered to be "indestructible", which on its maiden voyage from the UK across the North Atlantic, strikes an iceberg and sinks. Numerous specific details about the fictional Titan and its voyage closely matched the Titanic, which sank 14 years later.

Even Bill Clinton's harshest critics and most bitter enemies never suggested that he was a mere figurehead and Al Gore was actually running the administration.

Even people who abhorred and despised Richard Nixon certainly never thought that Nixon was an empty suit, spouting inane talking points and stumbling through teleprompted speeches, and Agnew was the real power in his administration.

And if Obama becomes president, no one will suggest that he is a figurehead and Biden is really in charge.

The Cheney-Bush administration has been uniquely subject to such suggestions, for the simple reason that they are true. Bush is nothing but a smirking, glad-handing, back-slapping front man for a criminal cartel organized and run by Cheney.

Yes Harpo (after all, your posts would be more intelligent if they merely consisted of sound effects and music), we know that Cheney was capable of running a welfare client and, while collecting cash by the boatload from the US Government, using shell companies to deal with our enemies. And, yes we are aware that Cheney has done more damage to our nation with his eminently impeachable abuses of power as VP.

So yes, Mr. Unsel, we know that Biden is no Cheney, and no rational voter would vote for him if he were.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised that you folks haven't figured out what a disaster this choice is, yet I am surprised. Maybe you do realize it, but, like so many other things, it doesn't fit with your desired reality, so you ignore it. Biden has a long history of making unnecessary and ludicrous claims that he has had to retract, he has suggested legislation and policy maneuvers that have been simplistic and misguided, and he has displayed an inflated view of his own intellect, accomplishments, and importance that is at odds with reality. He seems like a decent man, possibly better suited for work as an apparel salesman, but those of you hoping for an Obama victory will regret this choice, and look back wondering, "WHY??"

It's funny; we've been winding our way through the DVD's, and landed on that episode last night-- it seemed a fitting stopping point as we come into the Democratic National Convention.

There were, as you know, a lot of other parallels as well; almost down to the brokered convention.

Alas, for a Bartlett presidency I'd almost give my right eye.

I'm actually pretty pleased by this. First, Biden has the foreign policy expertise to fill a hole that Obama otherwise would have in his political resume. Obama's not bad on domestic issues, but this was a valid concern, poorly worded with the experience attack. Secondly, Biden, for all his faults, is a fighter. His reputation for enjoying shoe-leather sandwiches actually shields him somewhat. If he says something a little off-key, the press is somewhat inclined to shrug and just say, "It's Biden. He does that." None the less, Biden is intelligent and policy driven. I can see the argument that his selection undermines the "change" narrative, but it definitely helps drive the narrative that Obama wants to talk to voters as if they're thinking adults.