I thought “West Wing” opened with a nice bit by Penn and Teller last night. As part of a magic trick they were performing at the White House, they folded up an American Flag (correctly), wrapped it up in the Bill of Rights, went ‘poof’- ‘flash’, and the flag disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving the Bill of Rights unscorched. And one of the on-going sub-plots for the rest of the show was getting the “White House” to condemn the ‘burning of the Flag’ in the White House, at a private birthday party.

It might have been more political to have had them fold up the Bill of Rights into the Flag, and then, ‘poof’-‘flash’, the Bill of Rights disappears, and the flag is left unsullied. But that might be getting too obscure and would have ruined the following sub-plot. Hard to imagine the press corps getting worked up about the alleged destruction of the Bill of Rights in the White House.

I thought the writers missed a good, cheap shot when the Josh Lyman character is trying to jump on Penn (he’s a pretty big dude) to announce that they did not burn the flag and to explain how the trick was done and Penn denies him with a stirring speech on just what the Bill of Rights is all about. Josh then asks if Penn went to law school and Penn replies, “No, clown school.” And, what Josh didn’t say was, “Pretty much the same thing” or something like that. A missed opportunity.