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" Over at Grantland.com, they have a bit of a preview of the second season of The Newsroom, which I liked more than a lot of people did, if only because I gloried in Sam Waterston&amp;#039;s Charlie (&amp;quot;I&amp;#039;m too old to live my life in fear of dumb people.&amp;quot;) Skinner, a character that let Waterston cut loose in a way that he never could as the tightly wrapped -- but quite beloved -- Jack (&amp;quot;What laws for the rich?&amp;quot;) McCoy. Buried deep in the piece is something a little ominous. To beef up the stakes of Season 2 - and hopefully steer clear of the pratfalling, Cosmo-splashing rom-com theatrics that marred Season 1 - Sorkin recruited a murderer&amp;#039;s row of high-profile advisers and consultants, including Hardball host Chris Matthews, former Bush staffer Mark McKinnon, CNN vets Rick Kaplan and Jeff Greenfield, and &amp;quot;two former members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff whom Sorkin declines to name.&amp;quot; Dear Jesus, no. Chris Matthews? Cutting edge there, pal. McKinnon is one of the greasier bits of Bush campaign flotsam still permitted to float around the media biopshere for reasons that passeth understanding. (He&amp;#039;s posing as a &amp;quot;centrist&amp;quot; now, hoping you&amp;#039;ll forget his role in promoting the biggest dunderhead in the history of the Republic. You foisted him on the nation. Go sweep up in a VA hospital for a decade and then come back and see us.) The other two are people I haven&amp;#039;t even thought about in five years. And retired generals give me the creeps. Unfortunately for those of us who don&amp;#039;t consider him utterly insufferable, Sorkin has a sweet-tooth for this kind of tinpot &amp;quot;expertise.&amp;quot; And, even more unfortunately, his vetting process makes the one at Rutgers University look like the CIA. For example, after only a single season, The West Wing sported as &amp;quot;consultants&amp;quot; in its closing credits John Podhoretz, Pat Caddell, and Peggy Noonan. There might have been a fourth, had Sorkin been able to find a superannuated Beltway crazy person named &amp;quot;Shemp.&amp;quot; I am not optimistic for Will and Mac and the gang this year. Once the &amp;quot;No Labels&amp;quot; story arc begins, I&amp;#039;m out of there. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a18855/bad-news-for-the-newsroom/>