West Wing is Fictional???

April 3, 2002 12:29 PM

West Wing is Fictional??? Just in case our friends in New Mexico are concerned, what happens on the West Wing this week cannot happen in New Mexico. "New Mexico has no tunnels" a press release, approved by state governor Gary Johnson, states. Whew...a load off my mind. Is this an example of government being very pro-active, or just plain insulting to the people of NM?
posted by JaxJaggywires (14 comments total)

Tried to post actual press release itself, but the government site seems to be down.
posted by JaxJaggywires at 12:31 PM on April 3, 2002

Johnson is not the sharpest crayon in the box, and the last time I ran into Diane Kinderwater (his spokeswoman), she was making wedding videos for a living. So my knee-jerk reaction is "how condescending."

*but* in the wake of the run on gas masks, rubber gloves and cipro after Sept. 11, maybe it is proactive. WIPP is an unwelcome neighbor, and plenty of New Mexicans believe an accident could happen any day.
posted by whatnot at 12:56 PM on April 3, 2002

"JaxJaggywires" is the best username ever.

That is all.
posted by andnbsp at 1:14 PM on April 3, 2002

In related news, they also announced that there are no six-foot-tall coyotes with crates full of Acme products on any New Mexico highway (well, except maybe one).

And also, Santa Fe should not be mistaken for Santa Claus.

That is all.
posted by briank at 1:25 PM on April 3, 2002

Actually, there is a tunnel in New Mexico.
posted by daveadams at 2:20 PM on April 3, 2002

That is all.
posted by stormy at 3:13 PM on April 3, 2002

The press release mentioned above was approved by the Govenor's spokesperson, not Gary Johnson himself. There's a difference.
As far as "not being the sharpest crayon in the box" I've always liked his stance on the war on drugs
posted by keithl at 4:21 PM on April 3, 2002

And by the way (and off point), Beowulf was written down in Old English, not Middle English.
posted by datawrangler at 8:23 PM on April 3, 2002

approved by the Govenor's spokesperson, not Gary Johnson himself. There's a difference.

Is the Governor not responsible for the actions of his staff? I don't think there's much of a difference.
posted by daveadams at 6:21 AM on April 4, 2002

I think it's ridiculous that any government entity feels it needs to remind people that a fictional show is fictional.
posted by Orb at 6:28 AM on April 4, 2002

Except that every time a show like this runs, government offices are deluged by people saying "why didn't you tell us about the tunnels!? What else are you hiding?" Nothing wrong with being a little proactive.

People are dum. That is all.
posted by rodii at 7:13 AM on April 4, 2002

Is the Governor not responsible for the actions of his staff?

Mountains of paperwork move through the govenors mansion everyday. To say that he knows or should know about every single press release is reaching pretty far.
posted by keithl at 8:38 AM on April 4, 2002

To say that he knows or should know about every single press release is reaching pretty far.

I never said that. But if his PR guy signs off on something, it's still his responsibility, and it reflects on him, good or bad.
posted by daveadams at 11:10 AM on April 4, 2002

if it makes you feel any better, there wasn't any local news coverage of this press release.

and don't even get me started on WIPP. (a big set of underground, uh, tunnels meant to hold radioactive waste.)
posted by sugarfish at 3:26 PM on April 4, 2002