Okay, I'll admit I began watching the blockbuster TV series 24 late in the game, five years late to be precise. The show proved to be everything and more of what I had heard; a series that has literally redefined the action/drama genre. Whole new levels of suspense and complexity executed at an intense breakneck pace with a juxtaposition of images that leaves you as exhausted at the end of each episode as counter terrorist agent, the indefatigable Jack Bauer…..but ready to tackle the next round of challenges with renewed vigor. This uber espionage fare is quite a departure from my normal staple (after the college football season) of Fox News, TCM, and The Antique Road Show. 24 is the perfect escape vehicle and antidote to the pervasive realities of Obamaland.
A major part of the immense appeal of 24 is the eschewing of political correctness (as in real life, in 24 enhanced interrogation produces results) and exercise of red blooded Americanism - a refreshing change in the all too familiar, predictable, and overarching landscape of TV series’ content and plot, where the Holy Grail is a pronounced left wing bias. No less a paragon of the American way, Rush Limbaugh is an avid fan of the series having visited the set and receives advance DVDs of 24 episodes from the producers. So from all appearances it seemed that 24 was firmly entrenched as a bastion of action and excitement untainted by far left moralizing. It’s hard to use “far left” and “moralizing” together without thinking that you’ve created an oxymoron.
As season seven of 24 concluded this week I was left with a strong sense of disappointment and betrayal. I suspect my enthusiasm for the series blinded me to the reality that in the entertainment business – actors, writers, producers, et al, are almost exclusively liberal in their ideology, and it would simply be a matter of time before their hard left orthodoxy would be unsubtly ingrained into episode content. My first rude awakening was seeing the 24 actors – Kiefer Sutherland (Jack Bauer), Carlos Bernard (Tony Almeida), Cherry Jones (Allison Taylor) and Janeane Garofalo (Janis Gold) all pitching a public service message warning of global warming.
The presence of Garofalo, a radical liberal atheist comedienne (sic) in real life, in the cast of 24 fits about as well as hiring Dr. James Dobson as a writer for Rolling Stone magazine. Clearly a change is underway. Several snatches of dialogue further revealed the not so subtle shift….Bauer responding to Gold regarding racial profiling, “I don’t like racial profiling anymore than you do.” Bauer on his apparent death bed is prayed to by an Imam who offers a prayer that is neither Christian nor Islamic, but pop psychology, “You must forgive yourself first.” Bauer advising the female FBI agent not to torture the man responsible for killing thousands with a biochemical bomb in order to gain critical information. Season seven moved aggressively to sympathetically portray Muslims and show counter terrorism as barbaric and cruel.
So much for 24 as an escape from Obama and central planning; it’s back to the current panoply of events that embraces Ralph Waldo Emerson’s admonition that consistency is the “hobgoblin of small minds”.
Obama has now flipped on releasing the photos of enhanced interrogation techniques in action. Again showing that this administration is largely driven by polls, since 60% of Americans do not want these photos published. Don’t expect Obama to flip on abortions, even though for the first time in over ten years the majority of Americans oppose abortion according to the latest Gallup poll. Obama has received a funding rebuff from Congress on the Gitmo evacuation until a specific plan for evacuation is presented, while Democrat Senator Jim Webb has publically denounced the closing of Gitmo. Get ready for government/union ownership policies of the auto industry with the new CAFÉ standards and with FIAT owning Chrysler the death knell of the American auto industry has sounded.
The mendacious Speaker of the House in her fifth version maintains that she was purposely misled by the CIA. Don’t expect Pelosi to apologize, or better yet resign, until the polls shift from being evenly split according to a Rasmussen Poll on whether she or the CIA lied, a pretty sad commentary on the state of the populace today but could change if the public's dissatisfaction with her performance gets much higher than 58%. How about that madcap of a Vice President Joe Biden, who tells the Gridiron Club in DC where the bunker was located for Dick Cheney.
Walt Disney could not have created two more cartoonish buffoon characters than this dynamic duo. Pray for Obama’s protection with this succession lineup.
In the face of higher than expected projected unemployment figures, White House Budget Director, Peter Orszag said the U.S. economy appears to have bottomed out. Alright Pete, whatever you say.
Thirty Three percent of Americans now favor gay civil unions and the coup de grace of recent polls – 23% of voters claim to be Republican and 53% Democrats, not unlike the exponential growth of Islam.
Now for a new escape since 24 no longer meets the escape criteria. A place where one is transported to environs that afford the certitude of truth, honor, and duty, where hard work is rewarded and evil is punished….Andy of Mayberry. Where the world remains on its axis and a cast of characters representing humanity with all its pretenses, follies, kindness, and nobility in full view through the characters of Andy, Opie, Aunt Bea, Barney, Gomer, Floyd, Otis and others. I know that there must be at least 25 episodes that I haven’t seen. I feel better already.
