ABC's 'Boston Legal' Mocks Reagan's Alzheimer's

A practical joke on last night's "Boston Legal" had mad cow disease-afflicted lawyer Denny Crane (played by William Shatner) believing the RNC wanted him as the presidential nominee. 

And it left "Boston Legal" writers with plenty of opportunities to slam Republicans, like this exchange that suggests former Republican President Ronald Reagan had mad cow disease instead of Alzheimer's:

ALAN SHORE: Do they know you have mad cow?

DENNY CRANE: They're looking for the next Ronald Reagan, and he had it at the very end.

Or this exchange between Crane and members of the RNC, which at best oversimplifies conservative views and makes Republicans look like buffoons:

COMMITTEE MEMBER: I'd like to play a political Rorschach test, a, uh, word association game.

CRANE: Shoot.

COMMITTEE MEMBER: I'll throw out a word. You say the first word that pops into your head.

CRANE: Shoot.

COMMITTEE MEMBER: Homosexual.

CRANE: Shoot.

COMMITTEE MEMBER: Abortion.

CRANE: Murder.

COMMITTEE MEMBER: The war.

CRANE: 9/11.

COMMITTEE MEMBER: Economy.

CRANE: Democrats.

COMMITTEE MEMBER: John McCain.

CRANE: (Snores)

COMMITTEE MEMBER: immigration. 

CRANE: No mas.

COMMITTEE MEMBER: Hillary.

CRANE: (Passes gas) Pull my finger.

The liberal-leaning script writers couldn't resist hinting that Republicans are really sexual deviants or declaring that the Christian political activists are marginalized:

CRANE: I like sex. I like women. I'll hump anything in a dress. I'll even get down on the floor with you right now if they'll turn off the lights. But know this, the American public will find it refreshing to finally get a Republican candidate who's not a moralistic, sexually repressed, crusading hypocrite who cruises airport men's rooms late at night. Denny Crane rides high in the saddle. I'll go into office with my boots on, I'll die with my boots on. Next?

...

COMMITTEE MEMBER: We're prepared to go forward this year without the blessing of the Christian right, but we cannot and will not abandon the values of our most valuable and precious Republican base. I speak, of course, of the N.R.A.

Or the knocks on George W. Bush:

PAUL CRUICKSHANK, RNC MEMBER: Do you know how W. got to be president?

DENNY CRANE: His S.A.T. Scores?

CRUICKSHANK: We picked him, not because of his intelligence...

CRANE: Gee.

CRUICKSHANK: Or that he was a great speaker...

CRANE: No?

CRUICKSHANK: But because he tracks. He was a cowboy. He was somebody we could sell to the American public.

...

SHORE: Denny, you don't think before you speak. You barely speak the English language. You always have to get your way. You'd never get along with other countries. For God sake, what would possess the Republican Party-

CRANE: --heir apparent.

Last night's episode also gave vent to Hollywood's anti-religious bigotry.  See the full article on the Culture and Media Institute Web site.