Ep. 107 - Eli Attie

The Axe Files with David Axelrod

CNN

News

4.6 • 7.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 December 2016

⏱️ 64 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Eli Attie, writer for The West Wing and former political speechwriter, talks with David Axelrod about how he went from being a speechwriter to writing television scripts for one of the most notable shows on American politics, his recollection of being in the room on election night when Al Gore rescinded his concession to George W. Bush, and how the fictionalized version of the political speechwriter is often at odds with reality. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	And now, from the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN, the Axviles, with your
0:12.5	host, David Axelrod.
0:16.5	One of the most celebrated television series of the 1990s in early 2000s was the West
0:24.6	Wing as sometimes idealized, but often accurate depiction of life in the White House.
0:31.0	And one of the reasons that it was so true to life were the core of White House veterans
0:37.8	who worked on that show.
0:39.7	Eliatti was Al Gore's speech writer during Gore's years as vice president in the White
0:45.7	House and was very familiar with the rhythms and the plot lines of life there.
0:53.2	He took that to Hollywood and ultimately became chief script writer for the West Wing and
0:59.3	went on to play that same role on shows like House.
1:03.7	Eli also is a graduate of PS40, my alma mater in New York City, and a guy with an incredibly
1:10.8	interesting story.
1:12.8	I sat down with Eli a couple of weeks ago in Los Angeles to talk to him about his life
1:18.0	in politics, his life in Hollywood, in PS40.
1:29.4	Eliatti, we have led parallel lives, well if you can leave parallel lives at different
1:36.4	times, but we're both sons of New York City.
1:40.2	This is true.
1:41.2	And graduates of PS40 is New York City.
1:44.9	Life begins at 40.
1:46.0	Yeah, we both had this wonderful elementary school teacher.
1:52.4	You don't think teachers can make a difference.
1:54.8	This woman, Lee Roth, made a huge difference in my life.
	...

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