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| Did This Guy even Watch Tanner '88? |
| 02.07.04 (6:09 pm) [edit] |
Well, another caucus day has come and another caucus has gone with John Kerry cleaning up. Personally, I have no problem with John Kerry's history or his record in the US Senate. War hero, prosecutor, and a politician who has seen his fair share of battles. He's also voted his conscience when it comes to the environment and labor. He actively calls for tenure reform in a party beholden to the teacher unions. And did you see him play the guitar with Moby in C-SPAN? Not bad, until one realizes that most of Moby's work is done with a computer.
But I often worry about him as a candidate. His voting record is largely inconsistent with the message (Anti-war, pro-resolution; pro-environment, anti-Kyoto) and there are those pesky photo-ops with Teddy Kennedy and Mike Dukakis, for whom he served under as Lt. Governor. Hell, campaigning with Dukakis was so bad it drove his first wife into a mental hospital. But he's done well for himself with Ms. Heinz, including making him the richest person in the US Senate. I do love hearing the Republicans make may with this, considering the combined wealth of the Bush family and Dick Cheney. He'll be great, but how did he walk away with this contest so handily?
Perhaps a little bit of Jack would have put the love of Willie Horton into John Kerry. Who is Jack Tanner? He was the fictional Presidential Democratic candidate back in 1988 that was devised from the minds of Garry Trudeau and Robert Altman. [i]Tanner '88[/i] was one of those early premium-cable shows that is now seen as a precursor to the equally successful Soderberg/Clooney collaboration [i]K Street [/i] Michael Murphy, as Tanner, would trudge around the campaign trail bumping into the likes of Pat Robertson and Jesse Jackson. The thing was hardly scripted and was filmed, chopped, and aired within days apart. A film crew mocking the Presidential primaries. Can't miss, right?
Wrong. This is KC's own Robert Altman, and during that period in the 1980's where everything he touched went down the drain. The series was full of misguided statements about South Africa, trickle-down economics, and other things the Democrats could never wrap their fingers around. Plus, it had that cheap [i]OC and Stiggs [/i] feel whenever Altman would film the exterior of Tanner's jet with a model or the tackiness of Tanner being Gump-ed into the debates. This did make for great TV when Tanner told Jackson: "America is ready for a black President. It just isn't you." Tap! Take that, Jesse! Altman and Trudeau didn't care much for Jackson, but they loved Bruce Babbit. Yes, Bruce Babbit. The former governor of Arizona and eventual (inevitable) Secretary of Interior under Clinton. Tanner always talked this guy up and even had a chance to eat bagels with him one morning. "This is a sad day", Tanner remarked when Babbit dropped out of the race. "This guy really said something."
What this was is anybody's guess. He must have been pro-weed (for Altman) or anti-farming (for Trudeau). At any rate, I only mention this because the Sundance channel is running [i]Tanner '88[/i] as a reflection of the current race. T,his week, Altman hometown paper, [i]The KC Star [/i], ran a follow-up complete with an interview with Altman. Altman says he's for Kerry but we all know he was a Dean guy until he started to tank in the contests. Altman also went after the American media, praising the BBC for being more accurate with its portrait of American politics. In the same breath, Altman also mentions that the BBC plays [i]Tanner '88[/i] once every couple of years. Keep those royalty checks coming! The Star reporter gushed of the show's audacity and edgy material. I'm not sure he actually watched it. (Please see my review of Tanner '88 in the "Altman Owes Us" section.)
But perhaps we need another dose of Tanner this time around. The mood seems right. Tanner represented, or attempted to anyway, a gush of anger against the Republican machine and the Democrats inability to answer. Another guy from Mass is running against another Bush. But perhaps Tanner now has learned a thing or two from two Clinton terms and the failure of Al Gore. Perhaps he could say a thing or two about the conservative shift of the media or the influence of the Internet. MMMMM... The Internet. We have at least a few dozen readers. Maybe we can get something started in this post-Joe Trippi era. Snobs, get ready for this November because we want you to write-in Tanner for President. That would never work. He would probably pick Babbit as a running mate. But who knows. As Altman says, "Tanner did get 20,000 votes in back then." Yeah, Bob. That's why we love you.
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posted by: Jimmy (reply)
post date: 03.27.06 (4:01 am)
You have Gotcha really nice blog
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