In This White House - TWW S2E4

Original airdate: October 25, 2000

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (25)
Story by: Peter Parnell (2) & Allison Abner (1)

Directed by: Ken Olin (3)

Synopsis

• A bright and quick-thinking Republican spokesperson outwits Sam on a political TV talk show, causing the President to ask Leo to bring her on to the White House staff. The administration tries to broker a deal between African nations and American pharmaceutical companies over the price and availability of AIDS treatment drugs.

"Say they're smug and superior. Say their approach to public policy makes you want to tear your hair out. Say they like high taxes and spending your money, say they want to take your guns and open your borders, but don't call them worthless. At least don't do it in front of me. The people that I have met have been extraordinarily qualified. Their intent is good, their commitment is true, they are righteous, and they are patriots. And I'm their lawyer."

Being the writer of a popular TV show, it turns out, is a pretty powerful spot to be in. And that goes triple if you're the writer of every episode. When your show starts taking criticism for being "smug," "superior," too liberal (even being called The Left Wing by too-clever conservative critics), why, then, you can just write into the show a conservative Republican character who espouses those countering opinions and then have her see how committed, righteous, and patriotic these liberal characters actually are.

Okay, that's certainly painting Aaron Sorkin in an admittedly ungenerous light, and I'm not entirely serious - but there's a little bit of that in Ainsley Hayes, the blond Republican conservative in favor of gun rights (and not in favor of condom distribution in schools) who is introduced here.

I actually think the character of Ainsley is great, and Emily Procter is absolutely wonderful in the role (she brings a lot of her own mannerisms and speech patterns, which fits in great with Sorkinese), but she's still a liberal's idea of what a conservative might be like. And the manner in which she comes around to the fact that the staff of this White House (which she has disdained from afar) is actually fighting the good fight and is as patriotic as any Republican is, well, kind of a liberal fantasy. Less so in the atmosphere of the early 2000s than now, but still ... I mean, the Trump GOP/Democratic dichotomy of today is as wide a split as I can remember, but the GOP vs. Clinton divide nearly 20 years ago seemed so, so dramatic at the time (oh, what I'd give for those days again).

To the episode! Ainsley appears on a TV talk show where we're led to believe she's just a punching bag for Sam, who has appeared a "couple of dozen" times on the show taking apart various Republican spokespersons. Ainsley is a last-minute replacement who says she hasn't been on TV before; so naturally, she picks apart Sam's defense of the President's education bill, calling him out for lying and even catching him in a glaring geographical error.

This takedown does a couple of things: It brings us one of the fan-favorite lines of West Wing history ("Ginger, get the popcorn!") even while that same exchange between Josh and Toby really exposes Sorkin's less-than-charitable view of women in power ("Sam's getting his ass kicked by a girl!"); but more importantly, it draws President Bartlet's attention and makes him think she'd be a great addition to the White House staff:

President: "We should hire her."

Leo: "What, you mean as a joke on Sam?"

President: "No, not as a joke. I mean we should hire her as a reality. We should hire her."

Leo: "She's a Republican."

President: "So are half the people in this country."

The meat of the episode from here on is Leo's attempt to talk Ainsley into joining the staff of the White House Counsel ("Associate White House Counsel, who reports to the Deputy White House Counsel, who reports to the White House Counsel, who reports to me."). Ainsley is reluctant to do so, as the policy positions of the Bartlet administration are pretty much the exact opposite of everything she believes. A couple of discussions while she's waiting to see Leo to formally turn down the job help change her mind, however - first, she helps CJ with an (overheard) potential legal issue, to CJ's evident relief and gratitude; then she brings up the Second Amendment and the administration's (unconstitutional, to her) gun control proposals, which brings a fiery and deeply felt response from Sam in the still-fresh aftermath of the Rosslyn shooting:

Sam: "But for a brilliant surgical team and two centimeters of a miracle, this guy's (motions to Josh) dead right now. From bullets fired from a gun bought legally."

 Ainsley doesn't back down, though, making the point that the administration (and liberals in general) act from feeling, instead of hard fact:

Ainsley: "Your gun control position doesn't have anything to do with public safety, and it's certainly not about personal freedom. It's about you don't like people who do like guns. You don't like the people."

But after that, there's a flurry of activity as the senior staffers head into the Oval Office. Through an open door, Ainsley sees President Bartlet and his staff break the news to President Nimbala that the military has staged a coup in his country of Equatorial Kundu, that his family's whereabouts are unknown and that his life is in danger if he insists on returning.

I believe these three things - CJ's evident concern about doing the legal and correct thing, the ability to have a frank back and forth about a controversial topic that exposes each side to the other's stance, and the view of a compassionate, caring Chief Executive who is truly trying his best to improve the nation and the world - have a deep impact on Ainsley. In any event, she changes her mind and tells her two (rather snotty Democrat-hating) friends that she's going to take the job (which gives us the quote at the top of this post).

Speaking of President Nimbala, he's in the United States to meet with pharmaceutical company reps in order to try to get a handle on the price and availability of drugs to treat AIDS. AIDS was on the rampage in Africa at this time, and the cost of treatment through American firms was much higher than if African countries evaded patent laws and bought the drugs at cut-rate prices from other countries. There's some good discussion of some real-life issues here: Josh brings up the point that even though drugs may be far cheaper to produce than the drug companies charge, there's a huge initial cost to develop the drug in the first place ("The second pill cost them four cents; the first pill cost them four hundred million dollars"); The attitude of first-world industry towards third-world consumers is made clear by the pharmaceutical company executive's doubt that Africans have the capability to follow the requirements of AIDS drug dosages and timing; The realities of generics and drug sourcing from less-than-quality sources is pointed out. It's a nicely developed plot point that shines light on a real-world issue.

Interestingly enough, we also get one of the first walk-and-talks in which Josh explains things to Donna (while in fact actually explaining things to the audience). The West Wing Weekly podcast calls this technique a "Telladonna" (a goof on Donna's actual first name, Donnatella). While it is somewhat necessary for exposition for the audience, the fact that it's usually Donna getting the explanation is sorta-kinda another example of Sorkin's unbalanced male-female point of view (yes, I may be reaching here, but why couldn't Donna, a completely capable and smart person herself, explain something to another character? And this is going to happen a lot over the course of the series):

Donna: "I don't feel that I've homed in on this."

Josh: "There are a lot of people in Africa with HIV."

Donna: "Right."

Josh: "American companies hold the patents on the medicines they need."

Donna: "Yes."

Josh: "Most people in most African countries can't afford to buy the drugs at these prices, so they buy them on the black market."

Donna: "In violation of the US patents and international treaties."

Josh: "Yes." 

Toby and Josh eventually come up with a deal for Nimbala, saying they can get concessions from the drug companies and a deal on international development loans if he gets his police and military to crack down on the black-market drug purchases. Unfortunately, this all comes to naught at the end of the episode when we discover there's been a coup in Equatorial Kundu and Nimbala's government has been overthrown. Despite the offer of asylum from President Bartlet, Nimbala insists on returning home, facing certain execution.

There's another minor plot point involving CJ, who inadvertently lets slip to a (new and green) reporter word of a grand jury investigation into a company violating sanctions by selling oil drilling equipment to Iraq. She goes through several sleepless nights, waiting to see if the reporter will publish the story and (she believes) put her in legal jeopardy for revealing the grand jury news, but Ainsley bumps into the reporter and hears about the leak. She later happens across CJ sweating things out on her exercise cycle, and (eventually) lets her know she's in the clear legally:

Ainsley: "Who told you?"

CJ: "One of the witnesses who was called. What could happen?"

Ainsley: "Eighteen months, medium security. (CJ abruptly stops pedaling) CJ, I'm kidding. You didn't break the law. Attorneys and jurors are under a gag order. Witnesses are free to say whatever they want, and anyone is free to repeat what they've said."

(I think in addition to what I covered previously about  what caused Ainsley to change her mind about the White House job, she also can see here the staff could really use additional help from the Counsel's office.)

Some truly memorable moments in this episode, some clever writing, a little cringiness from Sorkin, and the great introduction of another terrific character. Season 2 is off and running, and believe me, there's a lot of really good stuff ahead.


Tales Of Interest!

- Ainsley tells Mark Gottfried that this is her first time appearing on TV - yet in the opening video for Capital Beat we see a "talking head" clip of Ainsley apparently speaking on TV at some prior time. If this were her first time on TV, where did they get this video?

- Since the timeline of the series got so wonky in the previous episode, there are a couple of clues here that definitely place this episode in the fall (as it aired in late October). Sam talks about winning an NFL football bet with a member of the Capital Beat crew; and on the computer screen behind Leo in one scene we see the word "SNOW."

- The number Ainsley sees on her caller ID (202-456-1414) is indeed the actual White House switchboard phone number.

- I believe this is the first time the series creates a fictional country (Equatorial Kundu). Of course, for the purposes of the plot (AIDS-ravaged African country disregarding international patent law, with a military coup overthrowing a democratically elected leader), it probably wouldn't do to use a real-life nation. Mentions in the script helping to pin down the location of Equatorial Kundu indicate there are informational contacts in Sudan and Angola, and Nimbala's wife flees to Kenya (so that must be nearby). With the equator running through the northern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Uganda, and Kenya, this would appear to place Equatorial Kundu somewhere around Uganda or northern Congo.

- So when does Capital Beat air? Obviously Toby and Josh are at the office, given the scene where they run to see Sam get "his ass kicked by a girl," so that would seem to be a weekday (given these guys all appear to get weekends off). The first act of the episode (after the cold open) is clearly labeled "Tuesday," and the staff are giving Sam a hard time for showing his face at work after his performance on TV. The call from the White House to Ainsley comes on Tuesday night; when Leo is talking to her he says, "I've never seen Sam Seaborn get beat the way you beat him on Monday." All these indications clearly point to Sam's appearance on Capital Beat as being on a Monday night. Yet ... when Leo tells Sam and CJ he's going to offer Ainsley a job, he says she's "the woman who was on Capital Beat with Sam Sunday night." So which is it?

- When President Nimbala is informed of the coup, he asks to call his embassy, to which President Bartlet replies "Your embassy is in exile." What does this mean, exactly? A government would not have an embassy in their own country; embassies are, by definition, offices/residences of ambassadors to other countries. Why would Nimbala be wanting to call any of his embassies, and why would any of those embassies be in exile, when the military coup is happening within his own nation? I think Sorkin messed up here.


Quotes    

Sam (as Capital Beat goes to a break): "Please, oh please, let them not be watching."

(Cut to Josh running into Toby's office)

Josh: "Toby, come quick! Sam's getting his ass kicked by a girl."

Toby (rushing out of his office): "Ginger, get the popcorn." 

-----

Toby: "A drug they gotta buy from us for four dollars a unit they can get generic from Pakistan for forty cents."

CJ: "That's not the only bargain in Pakistan, Toby, my girlfriends and I go for the spring fashions."

Toby: "It shows."

-----

President: "She's smart, she's not just carping. She feels a sense of something."

Leo: "Of what?"

President: "Of duty. Of civic duty."

Leo: "How many pieces by her did you read?"

President: "Three."

Leo: "And you're certain of her sense of civic duty?"

President: "I can sense civic duty a mile away." 

-----

Leo: "I wanted to tell you this out where there were people so you wouldn't scream about it."

CJ: "Scream about what?"

Leo: "The woman who was on Capital Beat with Sam Sunday night."

Sam: "What about her?"

Leo: "I'm offering her a job."

Sam: "Where?"

Leo: "Here."

CJ: "Are you kidding?"

Leo: "No."

CJ: "Are you kidding?"

Leo: "No."

CJ: "ARE YOU KIDDING?"

Leo: "No!"

CJ (yelling): "Well, what the hell made you think I wouldn't scream where there were people?"

Leo: "I took a shot."

-----

Ainsley: "The woman who works out there who I imagine is your secretary offered me coffee or a soft drink."

Leo: "Okay, so -"

Ainsley: "She was also kind enough to ask for my coat."

Leo: "Excellent. And -"

Ainsley: "She seems to be a very good secretary."

Leo: "Well, she'll be happy to hear that. She's standing right outside the door." (Bangs on office door)

Margaret (from behind door): "Ow." 

-----

Leo: "Ainsley, even if you hadn't already told me all of this, you know, many many times, I would know it anyway cause I have this FBI file."

Ainsley: "You have my FBI file?"

Leo: "Yes."

Ainsley: "I can't believe this. You have my FBI file?"

Leo: "Yes."

Ainsley: "I have an FBI file?"

-----

Leo (to Ainsley): "The President likes smart people who disagree with him. He wants to hear from you. The President's asking you to serve. And everything else is crap."

Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)

• Familiar TV show guest Ted McGinley (Revenge of the Nerds, Married .. With Children, Hope & Faith) is here, as Capital Beat host Mark Gottfried. McGinley got a somewhat undeserved reputation as "the patron saint of shark-jumping," called on to take roles on several TV series nearing the end of their runs (Happy Days, The Love Boat, Dynasty).

• Bruce, the male half of the Democrat-hating Republican team hanging out with Ainsley, is played by Tom Gallop. While he's not a household name, you've probably seen him in one of his many, many roles on TV (Will & Grace) or movies (the Bourne series).

• Len Cariou appears as the pharmaceutical company executive. Cariou has a long and successful career on Broadway (Sweeney Todd), movies (Thirteen Days, Spotlight), and TV (Blue Bloods).

• Gail's fishbowl features an elephant, appropriate for the addition of a Republican to the West Wing staff.

• Capital Beat is the same TV show Josh appeared on with Mary Marsh prior to the events in Pilot, when he was nearly fired for saying her God was under indictment for tax fraud.

• A "Stackhouse" was mentioned back in Mandatory Minimums, as one of the lawmakers who had some family or staff connection to drug-related charges. Here he's mentioned as an unavailable guest for Capital Beat. He'll come up again.

DC location shots    

• There are no location shots in this episode.

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• President Nimbala brings up the American "miracle" maker who revolutionized agriculture, Norman Borlaug (from Iowa, by the way. Yay, Iowa!). As President Bartlet expands on later, Borlaug's research into dwarf wheat varieties helped yields nearly double in southern Asian countries like India and Pakistan.

• The President mentions Paul Ehrlich's book, with Josh recalling the title (The Population Bomb).

• President Bartlet has his handy Dayton Flyers mug in the Oval Office (as mentioned before, Martin Sheen is a native of Dayton). He's also seen wearing a Notre Dame shirt at the end of the episode.

• Ainsley mentions the possibility of having a spot on Geraldo. Geraldo Rivera had a sensationalistic syndicated TV talk show in the late 1990s. At the time of this episode, he hosted Rivera Live on CNBC. He moved to Fox News in late 2001.

• We spy CNN's Wolf Blitzer on a TV screen in Leo's office.

• The flying Windows 98 logos screensaver is seen a couple of times, most clearly on Ainsley's computer.

End credits freeze frame: Ainsley looking through the Oval Office doorway as President Bartlet talks to President Nimbala about the coup.

The Midterms - TWW S2E3

I realize it's been nearly four months since we last gathered to talk about The West Wing. I'm sorry, I'm sorry! It shouldn't happen again. I'm back now, baby! Let's continue with Season 2 -

Original airdate: October 18, 2000

Written by: Aaron Sorkin (24)

Directed by: Alex Graves (2)

Synopsis

• As Josh recovers from his wounds suffered at Rosslyn, the administration pushes forward towards the midterm elections in November. Sam recruits an old friend to run for an open seat in Congress (with unexpected results).  The psychological effects of the shooting linger, as Charlie turns colder towards Zoey (and the President), and Toby becomes obsessed with using questionable tactics to go after extremist groups. President Bartlet also finds himself obsessed with a school board election in New Hampshire. A meeting of media types in the White House ends in a verbal beatdown of a conservative radio host.

"Well, Toby, it's election night. What do you say about a government that goes out of its way to protect even citizens who try to destroy it?"

"God bless America."

Now that In The Shadow of Two Gunmen has concluded, and we've had the flashbacks revealing how the entire Bartlet gang got together, now it's time to deal with the present and the psychological aftereffects of that assassination attempt. Pair that with the onrushing midterm elections and the prospect of the Democrats actually taking control of Congress, and the White House staff has plenty on their plates in this episode.

I won't go into the timeline problems here, but you can read all about it in the next section (apparently time is pretty much meaningless in The West Wing universe). Aaron Sorkin decides to compress the calendar between the shooting (originally in the spring) and the fall election in order to create a sense of urgency and conflict on both the personal and macro/national levels.

As we begin, the lingering impact of the attack at Rosslyn is working on a couple of levels. The President's approval rating has shot up 30 points, and Ed and Larry in particular think this puts the Democrats in solid position to take over the House, add two Senate seats, a couple of governorships and a half-dozen statehouses. Toby, on the other hand, wants to use this temporary wave of good feeling to make an end-run around the Constitution and go after white supremacist groups like West Virginia White Pride, whose members mounted the assassination attempt on Charlie.

This actually fits what we're getting to know about Toby, as well as what we'll learn about him in the future. While he's mostly a prickly, standoffish leader of the Communications staff, when a topic touches him personally, his passion comes roaring through. He gets in a yelling match with CJ (as she and Sam try to be the voices of reason and defenders of the First Amendment), and even threatens to go above everyone's head straight to the President in order to bring the government's power to bear on white supremacist groups. That's when Toby and Jed have a meaningful discussion; after Toby asks for a leave of absence to deal with his personal demons regarding the psychological aftermath of the shootings, the President talks about his own nightly urge to send the Department of Justice and the FBI after West Virginia White Pride, and explains why he doesn't:

President: "Then I hang up the phone because I know it'll be better tomorrow, and better the day after that. We saw a lynching, Toby, that's why it feels like this."

Toby: "I'm not sure I'm gonna come out of the other side of this thing." 

President: "I'm not sure I can either. But until we are sure, I think we should keep coming to work every day."

Charlie is dealing with demons of his own. Realizing it was his relationship with Zoey that led directly to the shooting, he pulls away from her, using his work to put distance between them in an effort to avoid putting others in danger. It takes Andrew McIntosh, an IT specialist working on Mrs. Landingham's computer, and his son to reach Charlie. As Charlie sees the little boy coming along with McIntosh as he works, he recalls how he asked his police officer mother to change shifts that fateful night a year and a half ago, when she was shot and killed on the shift she traded into at his request; and when McIntosh tells him the old adage "If they're shooting at you, you must be doing something right," Charlie realizes he can't hide from the consequences of dating Zoey. If he's going to be in, he's going to be in all the way, and he patches things up with her as he gets ready to go vote.

Another election subplot is Sam recruiting his law school friend (and current District Attorney) Tom Jordan to run for a House seat in some unspecified district. The Democratic incumbent, Grant Samuels, died in office in August, and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee thinks Jordan would be a good candidate to replace him. Sam brings Tom and his (pregnant) wife to the White House to convince them to run, on short notice, true, but he promises the full support of the White House and the Democratic party.

But then, as usual, complications ensue. A month later, CJ brings word that Jordan's history of jury selection may be a problem; he has a history of favoring white jurors when he's prosecuting African-American defendants. That alone wouldn't prove enough to sink him, but by October, when the fact that Jordan belonged to an all-white fraternity in college comes to light (coupled with weak polling numbers), Leo tells Sam the party and the White House are pulling their support to focus on other, more promising races. Tom's wife Sarah tears Sam a new one, probably rightfully so - they've now been tarred as racists, abandoned by their party and left to twist in the wind:

Sarah: "Not even a word from the White House; not even a word."

Sam: "That's how we do it."

Sarah: "Sam -  any time we have the opportunity in the future to screw you - count on getting screwed."

All in all, though, this really illustrates the hard realities of politics, with Leo's "We can't afford all the things we want, Sam. It's over" a terrific shorthand description of the whole thing. Sam knows Tom isn't a racist, he knows him personally and knows he's a good guy, with a new baby on the way - but the realities of allocating party resources and ditching losing battles takes priority, no matter who gets hurt on the way.

Finally, let's go to the President and his seemingly irrational focus on a school board race in New Hampshire. When Jed discovers Elliot Roush is running for the school board in Manchester, he wants to pull out all the stops to defeat him. He gets a White House polling group to actually poll the school board race; he tells CJ he'd be willing to do an interview on the record to oppose Roush; it all seems kind of nutty when you're talking about a school board. It just so happens Roush was the guy Bartlet defeated in his first race for Congress, and apparently he was a real piece of work:

President: "CJ, I've known men of faith in my life. Towering men. Men of wisdom and compassion. Men of all faiths, of healing and peace. Pro-choice, pro-life, Republican, Democrat, men and women of God. Elliot Roush ...(long beat) ... is polling at 53 percent. He's polling at 53 percent. He's the front runner."

CJ: "Then that's the way it is. In a democracy, oftentimes, the other people win." 

By election night, the President has come to his senses (thanks in no small part to a tasty egg cream). He tells Toby Roush is going to win, and he's fine with that. When Toby asks how he beat him in that first congressional race, Jed realizes he can't remember. Sam rolls in to invite the President downstairs to the meeting of radio talk show hosts (with crab puffs!):

President: "Toby. Go with us to this radio thing."

Toby: "Oh, God. Really, sir?"

President: "There'll be crab puffs. New England crab puffs, by the way, made in New England."

Sam: "Actually, it's Alaskan crab."

Toby: "Sam -"

President: "There's Alaskan crab in this White House?"

Toby (to Sam): "He would have known the difference?"

President (to Sam, narrowing his eyes): "Have you tried them?" 

Sam: "I - Yes, reluctantly. I think it was clear the way I ate the crab puffs that it was a gesture of protest."

President: "Were they good?"

Sam: "Extraordinarily good, and going very fast."

President: "Let's get there." 

So off they go, and that brings us to one of the highlight moments of early Season 2. One of the radio hosts is Dr. Jenna Jacobs, a conservative talk-show host modeled after Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who caused some controversy in the late 1990s due to her strong views against homosexuality and her reliance on the "Dr. Laura" title despite her degree in physiology (instead of any field of ethics, psychology or theology). A letter written to Schlessinger focusing on her hypocrisy went viral via e-mail about that time, and Sorkin admits this was the source of the scene where the President calls out Jacobs. I'm going to put a big chunk of the exchange here, because it's a great moment in West Wing history and needs the context around the hammer drop at the end. Firstly, when President Bartlet comes into the room all the guests stand, except for Jacobs (proudly wearing her crab pin, to go along with the delicious Alaskan crab puffs):

And then President Bartlet, attempting to make some remarks to the group, finds himself distracted by Jacobs and turns his attention to her:

President: "Forgive me, Dr. Jacobs, are you an M.D.?"

Jacobs: "A Ph.D."

President: "A Ph.D."

Jacobs: "Yes, sir."

President: "In psychology?"

Jacobs: "No, sir."

President: "Theology?"

Jacobs: "No."

President: "Social work?"

Jacobs: "I have a Ph.D. in English literature."

President: "I'm asking 'cause on your show people call in for advice and you go by the name Dr. Jacobs on your show, and I didn't know if maybe your listeners were confused by that and assumed you had advanced training in psychology, theology, or health care."

Jacobs: "I don't believe they are confused, no, sir."

President: "Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination."

Jacobs: "I don't say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does."

President: "Yes, it does. Leviticus."

Jacobs: "18:22."

President: "Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I had you here. I'm interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She's a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My chief of staff, Leo McGarry, insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself, or is it okay to call the police? Here's one that's really important, 'cause we've got a lot of sports fans in this town. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean, Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side-by-side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing - while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building when the President stands, nobody sits."

(Note: while footballs have colloquially been called "pigskins" for years, perhaps because very early footballs were animal bladders and sometimes pig bladders, footballs today are actually made out of cowhide. So the strictures of Leviticus 11:7 wouldn't apply to the Redskins, Notre Dame, Army, or anyone else.)

And then, Jed turns to Toby and says, "That's how I beat him." Which is followed by Sam taking a crab puff right off Jacobs' plate:

The episode wraps up on Josh's stoop, with the staffers stopping by to hang out, drink beer, and await the election results. Josh, at the end of his recuperation and just about ready to return to work, shows off the pajamas CJ gave him (keep a close eye, you might see these again):

And in a very anticlimatic finish, Sam brings word that the last 12 close House races all ended with the incumbent losing, but the nature of the parties in those races meant the Republican/Democratic split in the House remained exactly the same. After a summer and fall of optimism, hard work, and plenty of money spent, nothing changed as far as the balance of power in Congress.

And that's the real theme of the episode. Life goes on, events come and go, we have some influence on the outcome of some things, but by and large - the world grinds on. Democracy continues to work. The people keep on making their voice known, and the best these public servants can do is keep on serving the public in the best way they know how. The Constitution lives. The rights of the citizenry are protected. And that's, well ... the blessings of America.

God bless America, indeed.

Tales Of Interest!

- Let's get right to the timeline issue. It seemed clear back at the end of Season 1 (What Kind Of Day Has It Been) that the Rosslyn shooting happened in May, or at least sometime in the spring. The first season episodes kinda-sorta matched the calendar with when they aired, there wasn't any obvious reason why the finale would jump in time, and, perhaps most revealingly, President Bartlet was anxious to get back to the White House after the MSNBC town hall in order to watch an NCAA women's softball game; Sacramento State vs. the University of the Pacific, to be exact. The NCAA softball season runs from February to May, with the national championship series in mid-May (in reality in 2000 Sacramento State actually played Pacific in softball on April 21 and 22). That little nugget alone firmly plants the shooting in the spring, either late April or early May.

So here, the cold open shows us that Josh is still in the hospital at George Washington University. We don't know the exact date yet, but we find out Congressman Grant Samuels died the night before. A bit later, when we're told it's August 12, we hear Samuels died "a few days ago," so Josh was still in the hospital in August. In general, gunshot victims stay in the hospital, at most, a couple of weeks. President Ronald Reagan, seriously injured in the attempt on his life in 1981, left the hospital 13 days after being shot and undergoing surgery. Considering the seriousness of Josh's injuries, let's give him some more time ... but three months? Seems excessive.

Then let's get right to the timeline as told by the characters themselves. On August 12, talking about the President's 81 percent approval rating, CJ says, "A week ago the job approval's at 51, we get shot at it's 81." Later that day we hear, "It's been a week and the high noon's about to be over. We want to be sure it doesn't look like we're taking advantage of the situation" (meaning, the assassination attempt). On election night in November, the President says, "Every night for the last 12 weeks" he's been wanting to send the FBI after West Virginia White Pride; that same night Josh says, "Everybody should have to stay inside for three months so that they truly appreciate the outdoors." Again, that puts the shooting and Josh's hospitalization/recovery starting in August, because if it were in the spring as the show itself led us to believe in Season 1, he'd actually be talking about six months and the President would say he's been struggling with the decision for 24 weeks.

There's a definite attempt by Sorkin to fix the time of the Rosslyn shooting a week or so before this episode opens, so early August. This ties into the temporary bump to President Bartlet's approval ratings, Toby's obsession at going after West Virginia White Pride, and Charlie's raw-edged relationship issues with Zoey. However, there's no way to make that fit the timeline of the actual events that occurred in What Kind Of Day Has It Been ... so this becomes an irreconcilable timeline/continuity glitch.

- We see in the background of the cold open TV news broadcasts with a "Hate Crime" graphic. It's not a stretch to say this is continuing reporting on the Rosslyn assassination attempt and coverage of white supremacist groups (which continues to rile Toby throughout the episode).

- We see dates on the screen during this episode to show the passage of time from August to Election Day. These dates match up with the 2000 calendar: August 12 was a Monday 12 weeks (plus a day) before Election Day; September 5 was exactly 9 weeks before Election Day; October 20 was a Friday 2 1/2 weeks before the election (not three weeks, as the graphic shows); and November 7 was Election Day in 2000 (and what a fateful Presidential election that turned out to be ...).

- The final straw ending the Democratic and White House support for Tom Jordan's campaign is the news that he belonged to an all-white fraternity while an undergrad at Oberlin College. It turns out in reality Oberlin doesn't allow fraternities on campus.

- Zoey must have earned some college credits while she was still in high school; she just started at Georgetown in the spring semester, yet by November (in what would be her second semester of college) her father mentions she's a sophomore.



Quotes    

CJ: "You know anything about theoretical physics?"

Sam: "Ah, the great Unified Theory."

CJ: "You know anything about it?"

Sam: "No." 

-----

CJ (at press briefing): "And as a special treat for our friend Josh Lyman, who is recovering very nicely at GW, the President's science adviser is telling us that psychics at Cal Tech and the Fermi National Accelerator Lab ..."

(Cut to Josh in his hospital bed, banging his head against the headboard)

CJ (voiceover): " ... you know what, I'm pretty sure that was supposed to be physicists." 

-----

Sarah Jordan: "When we were out in the lobby it seemed as if you didn't know that Tom was married and that there was a baby on the way, and now it sounded like you already had that information."

Sam: "Sarah, there's very little information about your husband that I don't have. And tell your mom happy birthday for me."

-----

President: "This is real. And a man who makes the Spanish Inquisition look like a Barbara Walters special is now polling at 46 percent in your school district (pointing at Zoey), for which I have personally baked things to raise money. (to CJ) You can go, too."

CJ: "You baked things?"

President: "You can go."

-----

Josh: "Well, Toby, it's election night. What do you say about a government that goes out of its way to protect even citizens that try to destroy it?"

Toby: "God bless America."

Sam: "God bless America."

CJ: "God bless America."

Donna: "God bless America."

Josh: "God bless America."

-----

Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)

• Sam's law school friend Tom Jordan is played by Jamie Denton, although he hardly has any lines as Jordan's wife ends up with them all. While he had a recurring role in The Pretender and appeared in many TV series, he's probably best known as Mike Delfino on Desperate Housewives.

• We are back to seeing pagers, just as we did in Pilot when Sam and Laurie got theirs mixed up. Here CJ is paged just outside President Bartlet's bedroom. Admittedly, it appears pagers may be used in certain situations when cellphones may not be as secure or reliable, so this could make sense in the White House (even though pagers were on their way out by 2000 and Motorola actually stopped making theirs in 2001).

• Zoey says, in the August 12 section of the episode, that she and Charlie have been dating for nine months. That puts their relationship starting in December, which fits fairly close with what we saw in Season 1 (it's in Lord John Marbury where Charlie asks the President if he can date Zoey. That aired the first week of January).

• Charlie also mentions his mother's death as being "a year ago June," so June of 1999. In A Proportional Response, when he was first being interviewed to work at the White House, he said she had been killed "five months ago." With that episode airing in October 1999, that's pretty close for the timeline.

• We all remember Sam's disastrous effort in Pilot to tell elementary students about the history of the White House, because he doesn't know any of it. There's a little callback to that as he welcomes the Jordans to the White House:

Sam: "This is the Mural Room." 

          Sarah Jordan: "Oooh. Can you tell us anything about it?"

          Sam: "It's called the Mural Room."  

• Gail's fishbowl has a ballot box in it, reflecting the theme of the midterm elections.

DC location shots    

• I personally doubt the production went to DC to film the final scene on Josh's townhouse stoop, but I'll be damned if that street doesn't look like some of what we've seen in earlier DC location shots. I did try to use Google Street View to look at the blocks in Northwest DC/Georgetown that still have streetcar rails, but I did not find anything that matched this stoop. I'm pretty sure this was a Warner Brothers backlot shot, but I could be wrong.

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• We find out Sam is a graduate of Duke Law School, annually ranked as one of the top law schools in the country (and also where my son earned his law degree. Oh, and Richard Nixon, too ... they have his portrait tucked away in a corner of the law library).

• Tom Jordan is referred to as a graduate of Oberlin College, in Ohio.

• The President sports a Notre Dame coffee mug.

• The Pendleton Act is mentioned, a law requiring civil service jobs to be granted on merit and not patronage, and named after Senator George Pendleton of Ohio.

• There's a Dunkin Donuts cup on a cart in the hallway as Sam and Toby walk by.

• Toby also lambastes the civil-rights-upholding record of the "Warren Court" (the Supreme Court when Earl Warren served as chief justice) when he's on the warpath to take away constitutional protections for white supremacist groups.

• Real-life media groups and people mentioned include the CNN/USA Today poll, the New York Times, Barbara Walters, and radio talk-show hosts Howard Stern and Don Imus.

• There's a sign for ADT home security outside Josh's townhouse.

End credits freeze frame: President Bartlet surrounded by paperwork as he awaits news on the midterms and Elliot Roush.

End of an Era

The Administration building at the Mike Monroney Aeronautical Center, Oklahoma City

April 17, 1991. I walked into the Administration Building at the FAA Academy in Oklahoma City to begin my orientation for the screen program, beginning my journey as an air traffic controller. That chapter comes to an end at midnight this Saturday, as I officially retire from the FAA after 27 years, eight months, and five days. For the first time since late summer of 1988, I won't have a job when I wake up Sunday morning.

It's been a long trek - the air traffic control career has been infuriating, exhilarating, fulfilling, and frustrating, but the one constant was that every day was different. I worked with some of the best mentors and colleagues I could ever hope to have, and our joint commitment to excellence and safety fills me with a sense of pride I kept all throughout my career.

Tabletop exercises at the FAA Academy (yes, some tower training still involves walking around carrying toy airplanes)

The memories are thick: Driving away from my wife and 15-month-old daughter that April morning as I headed from Minnesota to Oklahoma, unsure of exactly what lay ahead; the folksy instructors and the lab grades that determined your future; the bathroom graffiti at the Academy from all the students there before you; the unexpected move to Cedar Rapids; training, lots of training, and learning to dread the sight of aircraft in the touch-and-go pattern on my drive to work; the early morning when a cargo plane veered off the icy runway into the snow when I was getting some under-the-table training time on local control, then taxiing back and taking off (without anyone present whispering a word about it to anyone else - this was in 1992 so I think the statute of limitations is up); the changes at the airport, as the old terminal building came down and new structures and taxiways were built; the time I spent as the training specialist, and a temporary supervisor; the frantic pace of air traffic we saw in the late 1990s, before the dot-com crash; visits from Presidents and presidential candidates and rock bands and college football teams (the pilot of the Delta jet bringing the Miami Hurricanes in to play the Hawkeyes actually trash-talked us, that was fun); the effects of 9/11 on our jobs and on travel in general; the Chicago Center fire and the mad scramble to keep the air travel system working over those weeks; and the emergencies, the pilots lost in snowy weather, the aircraft running out of fuel, the ones landing without gear or tipping nose-first onto the runway, the smoke-filled jets evacuating on the ramp or the runway, and the last-minute traffic calls that prevented possible collisions.

Not actually me entering training at the FAA Academy - but the nonradar screen I went through in 1991 was set up much like this

So many good people I've worked with over the years, some of whom retired, some of whom moved on to other facilities, and some of whom still work in the tower at Cedar Rapids. You guys didn't always work traffic the same way I would have, but you all had the safety and best interests of the flying public at heart. Working with so many people dedicated to this public trust fills me with pride.

Cedar Rapids Tower

And so, I move forward, on to a new chapter. One involving, it appears, more culinary activities (which is exciting in its own regard!) as well as a chance for me to take on the multiple tasks and projects I've been able to get started, but not had enough time to move ahead with. My yard will get more attention, that's for sure.

And for my friends and acquaintances here in Cedar Rapids ... if you know about a part-time position with flexible daytime hours that would work well for a guy just entering his crotchety years, hit me up. I might be able to use something to do for a few hours a week.

I Know, I Know

Yes, I know, it's been over two months since my last West Wing post, all the way back on the first of September. I did have good intentions - but this time of year is pretty cluttered. I do high school football on the radio, and with the time I put in with that plus my regular job, that's somewhere around 55-60 hours per week. My wedding anniversary is in October, too, and I always do remember to set aside time for that. Excuses, I know ... at least I'm not working on Daddy Warbucks this fall, like I was last year at this time.

I thought maybe I'd get my next post out before the midterm elections (because the next episode is, of course, The Midterms) but that didn't happen either. It will be soon, though! I promise! Plus, as you'll discover in my take on the episode, time really doesn't mean much in The West Wing universe anyway (how can an event happen in the spring, then be referred to as "last week" in August? It can, in West Wing World!).

Have patience, my friends. I'll be firing up the DVD player and diving back into the fantasy world of sane, functioning adults in the White House soon (and, spoiler alert, I'm retiring from my 27+ year career in December, so I'll actually have time to do important stuff like this!).