Martin Sheen, who played the fictional US President Bartlet in The West Wing, has told students at Oxford that he would never run for office.
Sheen, who is well known for his progressive politics, said the thought of spending all his time in meetings was too much.
"Acting is what I do for a living," he said. "Activism is what I do to stay alive."
Having properly launched my campaign to be elected as a councillor in Wiltshire I can empathise with the 'activism' bit. Getting out and talking on the doorstep to residents, addressing public meetings (as I did on Tuesday night) and debating with other people is invigorating. (You can find out more on my Facebook site).
You just hope to carry that enthusiasm through when the smoke has cleared and you find yourself in the council chamber debating the minutiae of policy.
Kerron Cross has nice post on this where he says: "I am simply hooked on the West Wing". The show is like a little cult where fans swap favourite liberal one-liners. Cross picks out a bit where Bartlet takes apart a bigoted talk show host.
However the clip below, for me, is another cracker. Bartlet is up against a folksy southern Republican who, watching it now, comes across as a male version of Sarah Palin. They accidentally meet in private just before a social engagement when this exchange takes place.
I took part in a debate with the other candidates in my ward on Tuesday night. The Lib Dem's had wanted me step aside because I would be splitting the anti-Tory vote. Yet I watched their prospective councillor struggle to even read off a cue card correctly. That was my "Boy, crime, I don't know" moment.
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