Hawkeye and Arnie

One audience member asked him about playing Republican Arnold Vinick on NBC's The West Wing, an experience Alda enjoyed, he said, because the writers made the character real, not just a straw man for the Democratic characters to knock down. But one thing still puzzles him. "People always say, 'It must have been so hard to play a Republican,' '' he says. "But nobody ever asked me that when I played an ax murderer."

That's Connie Ogle for today's Miami Herald.

Malcolm, who avoids "celebrity" news at all costs, found himself reading just that. He concluded that there has to be an exception to every objection, and that Alan Alda was such a case.

Alda was promoting his book:

Things I Overheard While Talking To Myself, which combines biographical stories, speeches he's given in the past and his quest for discovering what constitutes a meaningful life.

Which provoked two thoughts:

First, anyone who has messed with a politics would recognise the poignant moment when Arnold Vinnick faces up to the new-found anonymity of being a defeated candidate, and has to give his name in buying his own coffee. That's the episode The Last Hurrah.

Second, can there be an apter name for an entertainment writer than "Connie Ogle"?

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