August 04, 2004 - 10:39 am

Paraphrasing something Bill Maher said in an interview with Fresh Air�s Terry Gross, people want to have an opinion, but they don�t really want to do the work it takes to get one, so they just sort of adopt the Jon Stewart view or the Colin Quinn view because it�s easier.

So, in and effort to get the young people of today more interested in the actual day to day activities of our elected government officials rather than have them rely on the spin of MTV comedians posing as political talk-show hosts, I have come up with a great idea for a new EXTREME! political commentary program. I call it "C-SPAN: MST-3000 STYLE." You know, based on Comedy Central's Mystery Science Theatre 3000, the show where the guy and the robots are forced to sit and watch B-movies for eternity, so they entertain themselves by making fun of the bad acting, shallow plots, and cheap sets.

Doesn�t that sound familiar?

The idea came to me while watching C-SPAN at lunch yesterday. While watching C-SPAN I have been known to scream at the television or roll my eyes and make the talking-hand-puppet gesture at people who run on and on without saying anything, and yesterday�s events afforded ample opportunity to mock those blathering fools.

Yesterday was particularly interesting because, as I�m sure you know, Congressional Representatives had the opportunity to interview September 11 Commission members regarding their work with the Commission Report. I have to say, both Bob Kerrey and John Lehman impressed me mightily with their non-partisan, factual account of the Commission�s findings.

The peanut gallery, however, did not, and I reacted out of my bullshit detector instinct. I had John laughing at my MST-3000 responses and joining in the taunting, and � voila � the idea was born. We could get together a panel of uninformed celebrities with a few people who really know what they're talking about to make fun of our Senators and Representatives and just possibly call bullshit on them. Hey, at least it would get people watching so we'd know who's actually present (or not) on the floor.

Now if I could just get the backing of R. J. Reynolds, the Teamsters Union, Standard Oil, and AARP, I just might get it on the air...

~Samantha

recommended:
reading -9/11 Commission Report
viewing - The Manchurian Candidate
listening -"Sandinista" by The Clash

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