Veep is lots of fun ane realistic (to a degree)

The Julia Louis-Dreyfus HBO vehicle Veep is a lot of fun on so many levels, to name a few the brash humor and verbal jousting among the competitive and eccentric members of the VP staff, JLD's terrific portrayal of a character who's the epitome of house angel/street devil, sweet and effusively positive in public (mos of the time) and a harpy in the office and in ordering about her staff, and probably most surprising the accurate sense (exaggerated for comic effect of course) of how a high-level political office operates, threading a course through a field of many hazards: pushing a legislative agenda, building an image for a future election and a rise to the next step, compromising on key issues, playing up to powerful people whom they hate, pleasing the boss (or, JLD's case, the president - never seen, at least in the first 4 episodes of season 1), managing the media, seeking photo ops, handling the ceremonial obligations, and trying to keep personal life out of the picture. It's not exactly realistic - it's a 30-minute comedy series after all - and it's had to accept that JLD (Selina Meyer) could rise as high as she has and still make the elementary blunders that get her into trouble in most of the episodes, but the show is full of quirks and quips, moves at a rapid pace, and gives us a funhouse-mirror version of high and low level political operatives and loyalists at work.