Too bad it's fictional! But it's a message worth hearing, nonetheless. If you're watching Amazon's political satire series "Alpha House" (penned by "Doonesbury" creator Garry Trudeau), you've no doubt already seen John Goodman, who plays a good ole boy Republican senator being primaried by a right-winger, finally take a stand against the Tea Party madness dividing his party. (Video and transcript below.)
If you're not watching the series, you need to be! The show -- which has just been renewed for a second season -- follows four Republican legislators as they face the threat of being primaried on the right, deal with Koch Bros-like funders/would-be string-pullers, and in general try to advance their careers (and sometimes serve the public) amid the craziness that is Republican politics today. Mark Consuelos in particular is a revelation as a Ted Cruz/Marco Rubio-like conscienceless pol setting his cap on the White House.
It's just too bad a show like this is so low profile, appearing only on Amazon Streaming for Amazon Prime customers. Think of the impact if speeches like the one below could be heard on primetime network TV! I hope by diarying about this show to help raise its profile - so please check it out if interested (I have no connection to the series other than liking it).
John Goodman's longtime Senator Gil John Biggs from Ruby Shoals, North Carolina, is in the middle of campaigning against a primary challenger when he finally gets fed up with the right-wing lines he has to spout, and lets loose before a reporter with an anti-Tea Party tirade:
Ruby Shoals has always been pretty conservative - solid Republican. And as Republicans, the thing we believed in most of all was opportunity, which meant we believed in building stuff to create opportunity. Like roads and schools and power grids. It was a Republican - Ike - who built our highway system and another, Nixon, who created the EPA to protect what we’re looking at right now. As conservatives, we believed in conserving. And free markets. Which is why most of us used to favor cap and trade to fight climate change.
Anyway, that was then. We don’t believe in climate change now, or any research into it. Same with mandates or infrastructure or background checks or a dozen other things we used to support before we got within pissing range of the Tea Party. I’ve about had it with all that.
Remember the old Gil John Biggs? The one who used to bring home a new clinic or a research center or whatnot without apology? Sure, I named ’em after myself, but I don’t mind future generations knowing who invested in ’em. And remember Coach Biggs, who made college loans a huge priority, because he’d seen how they changed lives? And remember the guy who never voted to shut down the government or wreck our credit or suppress voting rights or compare people to Hitler - remember that guy?
He’s back.