The Last Straw

Well, he really went and did it this time, pre-empted my favorite TV show. There are only three or four currently running on the tube that I can even tolerate let alone call a favorite, but "The Office" qualifies. It is that one-in-a-million show, a takeoff on a British program that turns out to be better than the original. All the others have been pathetic flops.
"The Office" has a fine cast of accomplished actors. Boy, is that ever a rarity today. Three of them have been in movies released during the past few months. That in itself isn't saying much, of course, but the two men and a woman who play leading roles in "The Office" know their craft.
Then there are the writers. They actually write a humorous script. No belly laughs and few sight jokes, just easy-to-take humor. That's quite an accomplishment at a time when the average script writer uses a tried and true formula aimed at people with the intelligence of a second grader: pratfall - double entendre - pratfall - double entendre - toilet joke - pratfall and on and on and on.
So anyway, I turned on the TV to enjoy an entertaining re-run and who pops up on the screen but the short-term occupant of the White House. The Smirker. The guy who likes to call himself The Decider. Considering the decisions he's made during the past seven years you'd think he'd want to keep it a secret.
I was so irritated it took ten seconds for me to hit the mute button. Like so many people, I've heard it all before. Didn't believe what he said before, don't believe it now. Earlier in the day CNN ran clips showing him repeating himself year after agonizing year. If nothing else it makes life easy for his script writers.
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Does it strike anyone else as strange that the same man who pre-empted my show doesn't hesitate spending two or three billion a week on his pet war but threatens to veto a bill costing five billion a year that would provide more children with health? What a great guy!
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In July Fred Thompson, who plays a district attorney on "Law and Order," said he wouldn't announce his candidacy for president until September because TNT would be showing re-runs until then and he didn't want the other actors to lose their residuals, meaning that after he was in the race they'd be off the air. Well, Fred, you've made the big announcement and TNT is still running them.
If I were one of the other Republican candidates I'd be screaming to high heaven. In his "Law and Order" role Thompson comes across as the wise man who has all the answers and yet retains his down home characteristics. Considering the IQ of the average American, that's how they'll think of him on primary election day. Yes, the others should be screaming.


http://www.dickstodghill.com/