ER's Republican Hit Piece...

[txaslftist]

So last night I settle in for a nice winter's TV viewing of my favorite old drama, and what do I see?

Half of the show is dedicated to bashing an ambulance chasing lawyer who lurks outside of the ER trying to seduce clients into filing "frivolous lawsuits". Our good doctor saves the day by having him thrown out, and then in a moment of poetic justice he gets run over by a tow truck.

KKKarl couldn't have written it better. The reality is that PI attorneys can't do any of the crap this guy was doing or they get disbarred.

Second reality, if there weren't PI guys out there suing crappy doctors who through their own failure to do their job inflict serious harm on patients, the level of care would be worse than it is. It is the PI lawyers that get incompetent doctors expelled from the practice of medicine, much to the good of all of us. You have no idea what I mean until you've been misdiagnosed by a quack who doesn't bother to ask for a second opinion and you have an allergic reaction to the medicine he prescribes.

Third reality, lawsuits and costs associated with them are a minimal part of overall medical cost. The real hummer of medical costs is pharmaceutical, thanks to Bush's buddies at Merkt.

[mslux]

1. Gave up ER a long time ago.

Just another good reason.

[coloradodem2005]

2. This is why Pete Coors would have been a shitty Senator.

All he ever talked about was this kind of stuff.

[MissMarple]

4. They believe their own propaganda. Now how bad is that?

Why bother with reality when you can create an alternate one based on whatever you want? Is the orchestrated right becoming a bit hmmm...too orchestrated?

[soleft]

3. Next week's episode has this exchange

Reporter;
"Hey, I'm from the Trib! It's a good paper!"

Kerry;
"Oh yeah? You guys endorsed Bush!"



Last year's episodes included Molly Ivans speaking at a commencement ceremony and another line about not wanting to name a baby George

[vi5]

5. Oh come on, that's absurd....

That show over the past 4 years has had so many digs at bush and republicans in it that it's not even funny. And that's great and I"m in favor of it. But their digs at rebublicans and bush are out there and in the open and blatantly straightforward. Your interpretation of this sub-plot is a stretch at best. Plus, one of their longest ongoing plots was the two doctors working in africa and attempting to show the brutatlity and the poverty that goes on there. Personally I thought that particular sub-plot made for uninteresting television due to the two actors, but it was definitely extremely liberal slanted.

On edit: For the record I agree with you about lawyers and doctors in general. I just think this was a goofy sub-plot about an individual sleazy attorney and not a larger statement on anything.

[Sopianae]

6. I agree.

On various occasions, Carter has admitted that he is a Democrat, he didn't vote for "these people" and he wasn't for the war in Iraq.

What's her name (the boss) is a lesbian who has gone through a custody battle for her partner's child after her death.

One episode was about a gay teenager beaten to death just for kissing in a park. Many episodes about racial prejudice, immigrants, one episode about wingnut husband forbidding mother to have abortion (mother has already five small kids) etc.

All in all, the show has a rather liberal perspective.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

18. Good. Then the ER producers should NEVER AGAIN.......

run such as vile "hit" as this stereotyping a an Injury Lawyer again!

[vi5]

20. Was this sarcasm?

Or are you basically saying that if a show runs any plot line that casts an individual character who happens to be very generally speaking a democratic constituent in a negative light, that it is completely republican shill material?

[AP]

7. Call me when the insurance co. CEO and the drug co. rep get run over by...

...a tow truck.

Or how about when the Republican politician telling the hospital they can't get funded out of progressive income tax and instead have to support themselves on sales taxes on the poor people the county hospital serves gets run over by the tow-truck? Yeah. I'd like to see that episode.

[President Jesus]

8. 4th reality: Americans are all greedy humps

Lawyers can't file lawsuits on their own. They have to be ordered to do so by their clients. And the fact is, conservatives, nationalists, liberals, sheep, poor and rich alike are ALL guilty of outright greed when given the opportunity of suing. Lawyers are simply our means to this end.

Of course, no politician will say that, so we point the finger at faceless corporations and they point the finger at lawyers. We're both tards for doing that.

[President Jesus]

9. political donations of ER cast

http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/hall_of_fame.php?#TV-ER

mostly past

[txaslftist]

10. Ok. That's the cast. They don't write it.

Who writes it and who owns the network it rolls on?

[President Jesus]

12. I hear ya...just put it up there cause it's fun to look at

Michael Crichton did create the show, but does not write for it. He's solidly Dem: http://www.newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations/Michael_Crichton.php

[vi5]

15. Whoever writes for that show is absolutely liberal....

..If you've watched the show consistently over the past 3-4 years that would be obvious.

That plot last night was about a specific sleazy attorney. Nothing more. In fact past episodes have shown doctors screwing up and trying to cover it up, and then condemned their actions either formally or in the fate that befalls them because of it.

[David__77]

11. The show is undoubtedly on balance, progressive.

It highlights the crisis in health care as being on of a lack of resources. It highlights poverty and the plight of oppressed peoples, whether people of color, women, or lesbian and gay people.

[AP]

13. But does it argue that the problem is the system or the break down

of families not taking responsibility for their children?

Talking about issues liberals care about doesnt' make a show a liberal. You have to take a look at how they argue the problems should be solved.

I don't watch ER so I don't know how they argue about the issues.

[vi5]

14. No, it doesn't argue any of those things......

Most of the time the problems are the callousness of the system and people in general. It's constantly showing people who take an "I've got mine" attitude in a completely negative light. It consistently shows zealots and moral extremists in a horrible light. So to answer your question, I find the show to be liberal and progressive not only in the plots and stories but in how they address problems overall and where they pin the sources of the problems.

[AP]

16. What were the A and B plots last week?

Let's break this down with examples.

[vi5]

19. Oh lord, I don't remember.....

I'm not trying to argue it's a great show, just that it's hardly republican or conservative shill material. Like I said, the main crux of things is that nothing is as black and white as it seems.

When one of the ongoing story lines is about two doctors volunteering to help stop the genocide and disease in africa and then coming back and being angry at how much people here take the littlest things for granted, and another is the injustice of a lesbian woman having her daughter taken away from her by the intolerant family of her dead partner, we're definitely not looking at Reverend Dobson material. And when the main character declares himself a democrat and openly puts down bush and republicans, I would bet that there's not a rebublican on the writing staff.

[ArkDem]

17. Is Merck a competitor of Merkt?