I just want to applaud the logic Sam Stone - IANAScientist, but the basics of your explanation sound spot on.
Having said that, I think the basic point is that it was a well-written, fast-moving plot, so people are willing to forgive holes like that…
Nuclear detonations make things radioactive. That includes seawater.
Oh look! c_goat’s head just exploded!
Well, except for that little murder charge back in L.A. that she hasn’t really been cleared of yet, and those cops that are looking for her…
I wonder if that line was a deliberate homage to Mr. Rogers? (Although it’s kind of difficult to think of two guys who are more different than the late Fred Rogers and Jack “Hacksaw” Bauer.)
Ack… Strange mental image forming…
[smi]
“Will you be my neighbor? No? Okay, then, we’re going to take a ride on the trolley, and run over your family? No…? Tell me you’ll be my neighbor! Okay, kill his first son… Be my neighbor! Be my neighbor!”
[/smi]
KGS:
Yes! I couldn’t understand all these people in this remote area near LA driving up to San Jose. That was especially unbelievable.
As for the “Three mideast countries” at least they could have had someone show the pres a piece of paper with the names on it. As far as we see, he never actually hears the names! Flyng to LA is very much in keeping with his character.
Just watched it on tape. Now I get to watch the best show on TV on tuesdays: The Shield.
Did anyone else notice that this episode also set up a possible romantic relationship between Jack and Marie’s sister? Mason’s little speech about Jack letting go of the past and learning to live again, Jack finally appearing to accept that, and whats-her-name running out as Jack was taking off, yelling, “JACK!!”
My prediction: That relationship will take a turn for the romantic after this episode.
Oh yeah. I saw that coming from day one. (Or “hour one”. Or whatever.) She couldn’t be pretty and about in his age range for nothing, you know. 
Arrrrrghhhhh…
And I thought you people were my friends!
“…but if the bomb goes off in the desert, there is minimal environmental damage, and only a slight chance the winds will change and kill everybody in Las Vegas…”
Gee, thanks folks…save those California beaches and three fisherman off the coast of Catalina Island, but screw them folks in Las Vegas!
As punishment, there will be no pudding for tourists at our buffets for a month.
Oh, and NO PIE either.
(other than that, it was a really good show!)
Blah, I’m getting really disappointed in the show. They have too many things just plain wrong for my WSOD. It’s easy to blow up a nuke without a nuclear explosion, there’s no need to detonate it. Even then, it shouldn’t be too hard to get a military aircraft to the airfield with an hour to do it in - aren’t the bases on alert after the aborted evacuation order anyway? There were just too many easy ways to deal with the nuke, and ‘Jack has to give his life to detonate it safely but George saves him at the last minute’ was kind of hokey.
Also, there are just too, too many instances of idiot plotting. The whole Kim plotline just keeps getting stupider and stupider (anyone want to bet that she’ll end up hanging over the edge of a cliff before it’s all over? We’ve already had wife/child abuser guy, bad local cops, a mountain lion, a crazy survivalist, a motorcycle gang, and rapist in an old car, and I was expecting the “Nice Lady” to turn out to be either “Pushy Lesbian” or “Secret Agent”). The Presidential line is also getting silly, he’s willing to torture people but not bug those constantly used phones? I can ignore a certain amount of this, especially when they do a good job with keeping the action moving, but the amount of ‘gosh, lets ignore the obvious’ and the entire Kim plotline are just ruining it for me.
And now another three week break? I’m going to finish watching this season, but next season I’m not going to bother - I’ll read reviews and see what it’s like, but I’m going to wait and rent it on DVD instead of playing the Fox ‘in three weeks…’ game.
Hey, everyone in Vegas loves a gamble…
I’m pretty sure that at least in season one it was made clear that he’s a Democrat.
I’m glad they at least made that stand. If you’ve ever read any Tom Clancy books, you’ll notice that despite many right-wing views, Jack Ryan is actually an “Independent”. Sure, Tom.
Hmmm… I wonder if Al Gore would have agreed to have Stanton tortured with high voltage…
Al Gore would have tortured him by forcing him to listen to Al read passages of Earth in the Balance.
Throw in some passages from Hillary’s It Takes a Village, and Stanton would sing like a canary…
I was watching Buffy the other day on FX, and Stanton was on. He seemed to be the head of the Giles-like people (watchers?). He was going to “test” Buffy to see if she was fit to continue slaying, or something like that. Annoying old codger no matter who he’s dealing with.