Paging West Wing fans

We're four episodes into the second season in our annual rewatching of the entire show.

Love this show.

 

Zeke and the Pope have got me laughing, even though I knew what every line was gonna be.

Outstanding show, and If the filmed a version of a grocery list that Aaron Sorkin wrote, I swear I would watch.

 

The man wrote dialogue like an angel.

Put it down! Put it down!
Toby!
No champagne.
We're just getting--
Put it down. Everyone in this room, let me have your attention! Please. The law of our land mandates that Presidential appointees be confirmed by a majority of the Senate, a majority being a total of half plus one for a total of what, Ginger?
Fifty-one.
Fifty-one 'yea' votes is what we see on these screens BEFORE a drop of wine is swallowed! Because there's a little thing called what, Bonnie?
'Tempting fate'?
'Tempting fate' is what it's called. In the three months that this man has been on my radar screen, I have aged forty-eight years. This is MY day of jubilee, I will not have it screwed up by what, Bonnie?
By tempting fate.
By tempting fate! These things take patience. These things take skill. These things take luck. In the fifteen months we've been in office, what kind of luck have we had? Ginger?
Bad luck.
What kind of luck?
Very bad luck.
We've had very bad luck.

This one got mentioned earlier, and I love it, as well:

Okay, Mr. President, I say this with all possible respect, but each of these knives cut, you know, meat. Why is it important?
Because it's something we pass on. Something with a history so we can say, 'My father gave this to me. His father gave it to him.'
Well, okay, sir, but if that's true, then why don't you already have one?
I do have one.
Why do you need a new one?
I'm giving mine away.
To who?
Whom.
To whom?
Funny you should ask. Charlie, my father gave this to me, and his father gave it to him, and now I'm giving it to you. Take a look. The fully tapered bolster allows for sharpening the entire edge of the blade.
It says 'P.R.' I thought I knew them all, but I don't recognize the manufacturer.
Yeah. This was made for my family by a Boston silversmith named Paul Revere.

 

Oh, Christ, it just got dusty in here. Awesome scene.

 

The Bartlett-Charlie relationship was always outstanding. It's as if he considers him the son he didn't have.

 

Along those lines, the airport scene in "Shadow," when Josh is flying off to his dad's funeral, always struck me as a paternal moment. Josh finally seeing the Bartlet we've all known, rather than the prick he was through most of the primary. My suspicions were confirmed when I listened to the commentary on the DVD, when Sheen says they played the scene as if Josh just realized that he had another father (Bartlet). Great stuff.

Wish I could find it on youtube, but... here's the carving knife scene:

 

My view of this is simple: we don't need a Federal Department of Education telling us our children have to learn Esperanto, they have to learn Eskimo poetry. Let the states decide, let the communities decide on health care, on education, on lower taxes, not higher taxes. Now, he's going to throw a big word at you - "unfunded mandate." He's going to say if Washington lets the states do it, it's an unfunded mandate. But what he doesn't like is the federal government losing power. But I call it the ingenuity of the American people.

President Bartlet, you have 60 seconds for a question and an answer.

Well, first of all, let's clear up a couple of things. "Unfunded mandate" is two words, not one big word. There are times when we're fifty states and there are times when we're one country, and have national needs. And the way I know this is that Florida didn't fight Germany in World War II or establish civil rights. You think states should do the governing wall-to-wall. That's a perfectly valid opinion. But your state of Florida got $12.6 billion in federal money last year - from Nebraskans, and Virginians, and New Yorkers, and Alaskans, with their Eskimo poetry. 12.6 out of a state budget of $50 billion. Now, I'm supposed to be using this time for a question, so here it is: Can we have it back, please?

Game on.

 

I seem to have a new favorite quote every time someone posts one, but I always come back to this scene right here. I mean, there was no way he wasn't going to win the election, so you assume he's going to win the debate, but the scenes still packed such a great punch.

 

Which one was about honor?

 

billikens --

They dropped in a great line of dialogue about that scene the next year. Supposedly, the polling showed that no matter what Bartlett did, he was going to be viewed as a little arrogant. But people also believed the things he said.

So, the only thing left to do, as Toby knew all along, was to clobber Ritchie as not up to the job.

Also:

Forgive my bluntness, and I say this with all due respect, Congressman, but vote yes, or you're not even going to be on the ballot two years from now.
How do you figure?
You're going to lose in the primary.
There's no Democrat running against me.
Sure there is.
Who?
Whomever we pick.
You're bluffing.
Okay.
I'm in your own party!
Doesn't seem to be doing us much good now, does it?
Against an incumbent Democrat. You'll go to the press and endorse a challenger?
No sir. We're going to do it in person. See, you won with fifty-two percent, but the President took your district with fifty-nine. And I think it's high time we come back and say thanks. Do you have any idea how much noise Air Force One makes when it lands in Eau Claire, Wisconsin? We're going to have a party, Congressman. You should come, it's gonna be great. And when the watermelon's done, right in town square, right in the band gazebo... You guys got a band gazebo?
Josh...
Doesn't matter, we'll build one. Right in the band gazebo, that's where the President is going to drape his arm around the shoulder of some assistant DA we like. And you should have your camera with you. You should get a picture of that. 'Cause that's gonna be the moment you're finished in Democratic politics. President Bartlet's a good man. He's got a good heart. He doesn't hold a grudge. That's what he pays me for.

 

It's interesting how the show developed. It began with Rob Lowe's Sam Seaborn clearly the main character and the show's star (he was listed first in the credits during his entire run on the show; the rest of the cast --- except for Martin Sheen, who was always last --- were listed in alphabetical order).

But then Sam Seaborn became more and more marginalized as the producers realized that Lowe was the weakest actor among the main cast --- not that he's bad, but he's clearly not in the same class as Whitford, Schiff, Spencer or Janney. That's the biggest reason Lowe got fed up and left after Season 4 (though he was on his way out early in Season 4, hence the whole "California 47th" storyline).

Still, Sam had his moments. This argument with Mallory over school vouchers is a particular gem (fast-forward to the 5:50 mark for the really good stuff). I've got it's main points filed away in my head should I ever get the opportunity to date a cute red-headed school teacher:

 

"In the future, if you're ever wondering, 'Crime, boy, I don't know ...' was when I decided to kick your ass."