'West Wing' Creator Aaron Sorkin: No Political Agenda in My Work

'West Wing' Creator Aaron Sorkin: No Political Agenda in My Work

Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin is best known for gritty dramas like “The Social Network” and politically charged projects such as “The West Wing” and “The American President.”

It doesn’t take a gimlet eye to spot Sorkin’s political inclinations. He’s unabashedly liberal.

But Sorkin has an inner comedian waiting to break free, apparently. In an interview to promote his new HBO show “The Newsroom,” Sorkin told The New York Times he doesn’t bring a political agenda to his work.

I have no political background, and I have no political agenda. All of my experience has been in theater and writing. But I just thought it would be fun to write about a hypercompetent group of people [in ‘The West Wing’]….

But I do think that there are going to be people who say that I’m just putting my own politics on display. Which again I’m not. I don’t really have my own politics. I’m very easily convinced of other people’s position.

Tell that to former Gov. Sarah Palin, whom Sorkin called a “witless bully” and “deranged” in an unhinged column for The Huffington Post two years ago. Does that sound like someone with an open, easy-to-convince mind?

Sorkin is a great writer, and chances are “The Newsroom” will be full of his sharp, stinging banter, the kind that kept even conservatives watching “The West Wing” for all those years despite serving as a dream version of a Democratic administration. But for him to deny his own biases is as ridiculous as Dan Rather clinging to those fake National Guard documents.

Follow Christian Toto on Twitter @TotoMovies

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