New footnotes for the May 19 season finale of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Kevin Spacey, are on-line
here. Here are some footnotes on those outtakes.
- "Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa." This quote is from President George W. Bush's 2003 State of the Union address (on-line here). Months later, Ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV questioned the veracity of that statement with a July 6, 2003 op-ed piece in the New York Times in which he described his role in investigating - and discrediting - Niger's suspected link to Iraq's weapons program. Within days, CIA Director George Tenet issued a statement (on-line here) that the reference to British intelligence should not have been presented to Bush when the CIA had already concluded for itself that the allegations were dubious.
- "Major combat operations in Iraq have ended." This quote is from Bush's May 1, 2003 speech from the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln (on-line here). By the time of that speech, 109 U.S. military personnel had been killed in action or died of wounds from action. In the three years since that speech, more than 1,500 U.S. military personnel have been killed in action or died of wounds from action.
- "I don't believe anybody I'm aware of in the administration ever said that Iraq had nuclear weapons." This quote by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld seems to be from a May 14, 2003 Senate appropriations subcommittee hearing (Rumsfeld's prepared remarks are on-line here). Before the Iraq war, Vice President Dick Cheney said several times that Iraq was trying to acquire nuclear weapons and could acquire nuclear weapons soon (see an August 26, 2002 speech on-line here). Cheney did say in a March 16, 2003 appearance on NBC's Meet the Press (transcript on-line here) that "we believe he has, in fact, reconstituted nuclear weapons," though he referred at other points in this appearance to Iraq pursuing such weapons.
- "We will respond, John, to requests of our commanders on the ground. And I have yet to hear from our commanders on the ground that they need more troops." This Bush quote is from a November 4, 2004 press conference (transcript on-line here). Some administration officials have acknowledged that they did believe more troops were needed in 2003. Former Ambassador L. Paul Bremer said in 2004 that there were not enough U.S. troops in Iraq during his time in Iraq and that his requests for more troops were not met. According to a statement put out by DePauw University (on-line here), Bremer said in an appearance there that "[t]he single most important change – the one thing that would have improved the situation – would have been having more troops in Iraq at the beginning and throughout … Although I raised this issue a number of times with our government, I should have been even more insistent." More recently, former Secretary of State Colin Powell said in an interview broadcast on April 30 that he had advised President George W. Bush and his military advisors before the Iraq war to use more troops (article on-line here).
- "They're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency." This quote by Vice President Dick Cheney is from a May 2005 interview with Larry King (on-line here). When asked if President George W. Bush agreed with Vice President Dick Cheney's comment that that the Iraqi insurgents were in their "last throes," White House spokesman Scott McClellan said on June 23 (transcript on-line here) that Bush did agree that "there is significant progress being made by the Iraqi people on the political front. And that's what the Vice President was talking about in his remarks. He was talking about the significant progress that's being made, and he was talking about how the terrorists, the ruthless enemy that we're working to defeat, along with the Iraqi security forces, has not been able to stop that progress." In the year following Cheney's comment, more than 600 U.S. military personnel have been killed in action or died of wounds from action.
- "Any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order." This quote by Bush is from an April 20, 2004 appearance in which Bush urged the renewal of the USA PATRIOT Act (on-line here), about a year and a half before the New York Times first reported in December 2005 that the Bush administration had authorized the National Security Agency to monitor communications involving U.S. persons within the United States without warrants.
- "I don't think anybody anticipated the breach of the levees." This Bush quote is from a September 1, 2005 interview with Diane Sawyer. In the spring of 2006, news organizations reported on video and transcripts of an August 28, 2005 videoconference in which President George W. Bush received warnings of Hurricane Katrina before it made landfall (article on-line here). The White House issued a March 2 release responding to the video, saying that the video had been available to the public for months and that it showed Bush being involved and responsive (release on-line here).
For more footnotes, go
here.
5/18 - Daily Show, Colbert Report
New footnotes for the Daily Show (guest Willie Nelson) and the Colbert Report (guest Ted Daeschler).
Guest: Willie Nelson
Guest: Ted Daeschler
5/17 - Daily Show, Colbert Report
New footnotes for the Daily Show (guest Ramesh Ponnuru) and the Colbert Report (guest Jonathan Alter).
Guest: Ramesh Ponnuru
Guest: Jonathan Alter
5/16 - Daily Show, Colbert Report
New footnotes for the Daily Show (guest Denis Leary) and the Colbert Report (guest Tyson Slocum).
Guest: Denis Leary
Guest: Tyson Slocum
New footnotes for the Tomorrow, the final episode of The West Wing.
After seven seasons and eight years of President Josiah Bartlet, what is the legacy of the Bartlet administration?
The legacy is not so clear, and this has much to do with the show's overall theme, which I think that many critics have overlooked. The West Wing was not just a fantasy look at what the world could have been like if Bill Clinton had resisted his worst demons and never met Monica Lewinsky. It was about compromise and about how even a president faces limits in what he can do.
West Wing episodes tended to end dramatically with people deciding to make a proposal or winning some procedural step. But they often did not show what happened next and we rarely got to see how those proposals actually worked out. After all, Bartlet faced a Republican-controlled House of Representatives and a Republican-controlled Senate, and he had to make do with what he had. Bartlet could not be as liberal as he himself was and as some of his constituents probably wanted, and his limited success record reflects that.
- Social Security is probably not saved; Josh helped arrange a bold proposal to save Social Security (Slow News Day), but this never came up again, probably because the idea failed.
- The United States is not part of the Kyoto protocols or of the International Criminal Court (as referenced in Running Mates).
- The United States probably still maintains its embargo with Cuba; Bartlet made a big proposal to end it (Ninety Miles Away), but this probably was easily dismissed given his lame-duck status and opposition by the upcoming presidential candidates.
- Campaign finance issues are still a problem in the seventh season, even after all of Bartlet's efforts in the first.
- Terrorism is still a concern, even though Bartlet ordered the assassination of a terrorist leader at the end of the third season and it was not mentioned at all in 2006 presidential debate episode. In fact, Osama Bin Laden exists and is still very much at large in the West Wing world; he was mentioned by name in "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen" (which aired in October 2000) and the possibility that a 9/11-type attack may occur is probably not much less than it was in the real world pre-9/11.
On the domestic front, there are a few notable successes that Bartlet can claim. For one thing, the minimum wage is higher, thanks in part to Sen. Arnold Vinick (
"In God We Trust"). Perhaps the clearest success was in abortion rights: Bartlet nominated two liberal Supreme Court justices (Roberto Mendoza in
"The Short List" and Evelyn Lang in
"The Supremes"), thus establishing a more liberal bent to the Supreme Court than in real life. This means that the possibility of constitutionally-protected abortion rights being undermined probably is much less than in the real world.
On the international front, Bartlet has deployed the military in ways more keeping with Bill Clinton than with George W. Bush. Bartlet has deployed troops to the fictional African country of Kundun to prevent genocide, to Israel to maintain a peace agreement, and to Kazakhstan to prevent war between China and Russia over the Caspian Sea region's oil.
Accordingly, the United States under Bartlet probably is perceived by other countries better than it has been under the Bush administration, but possibly not by much. The United States under Bartlet may not have invaded in Iraq or engaged in the torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, but it did order the assassination of a Middle Eastern leader and it did set forth a foreign-policy doctrine that justified greater military intervention when the United States unilaterally decides.
Ultimately, Bartlet's record is mixed and unclear, just as it would be in real life. I've appreciated this underlying truth over the past seven seasons as much as I've enjoyed the dramatic moments and eloquent speeches. I'm sorry that we won't be able to see Matt Santos or Arnold Vinick face the same challenges and end up with a similarly mixed record.
5/13
I usually would have footnotes up for Saturday Night Live by now, but my cable service went out last night, so footnotes will have to wait. I have added a West Wing chronology in light of the series finale tonight, and will post an essay about the Bartlet legacy later today or tomorrow.
Where are you?
I recently discovered Frappr, a site that allows groups of people to map themselves, and thought it would be interesting to start a a map of FootnoteTV readers. I've been doing the site for four-and-a-half years and I've gotten emails from people all over the United States as well as from South Korea, Australia, England, and an entire class of students in Germany, and I'd love to know where you are. Please check out the map and add yourself.
Of course, if you're in the New York area, you're invited for a viewing party my wife and I are having for the West Wing finale on Sunday. It's at the Dekk restaurant in Tribeca, it starts at 7, and we'll be giving out t-shirts and stuff.
5/10 - Daily Show, Colbert Report
New footnotes for the Daily Show (guest Billy Connolly) and the Colbert Report (guest William Bastone of the Smoking Gun). I didn't see anything to footnote in Law & Order (Hindsight).
Guest: Billy Connolly
Guest: William Bastone of the Smoking Gun
5/9 - Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America
NOTE: I have not managed to watch all of ABC's "Fatal Contact: Bird Flu in America" movie yet, but what I saw seemed interesting and a good attempt at imagining what could happen if the H5N1 influenza virus does mutate into a form that is contagious among humans. Here are some footnotes in general about the situation.
Health and government officials around the world are watching the spread of avian flu, concerned about the possibility that the H5N1 strain could mutate into a form that is contagious among humans and cause a worldwide pandemic that could result in the deaths of millions of people.
The World Health Organization has warned that if avian flu becomes contagious among humans and causes a pandemic, widespread illness will occur, medical supplies will be inadequate, millions of peoples will die (WHO's "conservative" estimate is 2 million to 7.4 million people), and there will be great economic and social disruption (see reference
here). The Bush administration has warned that 2 million people could die in the United States alone as a result of a modern pandemic.
As of May 2006, avian flu has been reported in birds in Asia, Europe and Africa (WHO maps of infected areas are on-line
here). There have been 206 confirmed human cases of avian influenza in the countries shown in shades of red to white below, resulting in 114 deaths (WHO data on-line
here).
The Bush administration has taken some steps to prepare for a pandemic. President George W. Bush announced a strategy in November 2005 (transcript on-line
here) to deal with an avian flu pandemic, focusing on early detection and containment of outbreaks anywhere in the world, development and stockpiling of vaccines in the United States, and developing emergency plans with state and local officials. The Bush administration announced on May 3 a plan (on-line
here) that would implement the strategy announced in November.
Bush also has requested $7.1 billion in emergency funding, including $251 million to help foreign detection and containment efforts, $1.2 billion to purchase vaccines from manufacturers for 20 million people, $2.8 billion for technological research, and $583 million for pandemic planning. Legislation for $3.8 billion was authorized in December 2005.
There is no currently commercially available vaccine for the avian flu at this time. A clinical trial in 2005 of an experimental H5N1 vaccine did find that high doses could induce antibodies possibly sufficient to neutralize the virus (March 2006 press release on-line
here), which could be a significant step towards increasing preventive measures. Bush asked in November 2005 for $1.2 billion to purchase "enough doses of this vaccine … to vaccinate 20 million people."
"There is no pandemic flu in our country or in the world at this time -- but if we wait for a pandemic to appear, it will be too late to prepare, and one day many lives could be needlessly lost because we failed to act today," Bush said in November 2005.
Earlier influenza pandemics resulted in the deaths of millions of people. The 1918 pandemic ("Spanish influenza") was the worst, causing the deaths of about 40 million people. Other pandemics occurred in 1957 and 1968.
5/8 - Daily Show, Colbert Report
Here are footnotes for Monday's Daily Show (guest New Yorker editor David Remnick) and Colbert Report (guest author Shere Hite).
Guest: David Remnick
Guest: Shere Hite
New footnotes for Institutional Memory, the penultimate episode of The West Wing. Also, if you're in the New York area, please join me for a West Wing finale party the evening of May 14. Check back for more details, or email me at footnotetv@gmail.com to get an email update.
Regarding gas taxes, CJ's proposal to reduce the deficit by raising federal gas taxes to 50 cents a gallon would more than double the current amount of federal gas taxes and raise current gas prices by about a tenth. Federal gas taxes currently are 18.3 cents per gallon; the federal government also imposes an additional 0.1 cent charge per gallon to fund a trust fund for leaking underground storage tanks, and state taxes add another 21 cents on average per gallon. (Gas taxes came into the news in early 2006 when, in response to rising gas prices, some Republican senators proposed a $100 gas tax rebate on April 27; the proposal was widely criticized and was dropped quickly.)
Still, even with such an increase, gas taxes in the United States would be far less than in other countries, which impose more taxes and thus have higher gas prices. According to March 2006 price data provided by the International Energy Agency (on-line
here), gas taxes per gallon are many times as high in France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom than in the United States.
Regarding Toby's discovery about the Takings Clause, that clause governs how the government can condemn private property. It states that "nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation." Toby apparently thinks that the comma, which is noted in the National Archives' transcript of the Bill of Rights (on-line
here) actually may be a smudge and that the distinction may have legal consequences. The excerpt below is taken from the Archives' scan on-line
here:
For more footnotes, go
here.
New footnotes for the May 6 episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Tom Hanks, are on-line here.
The opening sketch mocked a Republican proposal that would have provided consumers with a $100 gas tax rebate. The rebate proposal was announced on April 27, 2006 but quickly was derided and dropped. A New York Times article on the short life of the rebate is on-line
here.
U.S. retail gasoline prices have increased in recent weeks, approaching the levels seen in the wake of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005. Retail prices are now about twice as much as they were in 2003, and are approaching the inflation-adjusted highs of the 1970s. The graph below is based on information on-line
here.
For more footnotes, go
here.
5/4 - Daily Show, Colbert Report
Here are footnotes for Thursday's Daily Show (guest actor John Malkovich) and Colbert Report (guest columnist Rick Reilly).
Guest: actor John Malkovich
Guest: columnist Rick Reilly
5/1 - Daily Show, Colbert Report
Stephen Colbert made some headlines this weekend with his appearance at the Washington Correspondents dinner (see article on-line here). Here are footnotes for Monday's Daily Show (guest author Matthew Continetti) and Colbert Report (guest author Jon Meacham).
Guest: Matthew Continetti
Guest: Jon Meacham
New footnotes for The West Wing. Also, if you're in the New York area, please join me for a West Wing finale party the evening of May 14. Check back for more details, or email me at footnotetv@gmail.com to get an email update.
First of all, there is precedent for people serving in the Cabinet of a president of another party. In the past decade, two people have done this. William Cohen, a moderate Republican who had served in Congress for 25 years and, like Vinick, had been about to retire before being nominated for a Cabinet position, served as Bill Clinton's Secretary of Defense from 1997 to 2001. Norman Mineta, a Democratic member of the House of Representatives from 1975 to 1995, served as Clinton's commerce secretary for the last seven months of that administration and has served as George W. Bush's secretary of transportation since 2001.
Second, from a legal point of view, it probably is safer for Santos wait until he is sworn in as president and then nominate Governor Baker as his vice president as per the Twenty-Fifth Amendment's procedures, rather than ask the members of the electoral college to vote for Baker when they convene to officially elect Santos as president. Many states require their electors to vote for their party's candidates, and some of those requirements do not have provisions for the death of a candidate.
For more footnotes, go
here.
