Manchester, Part II

Previously on The West Wing: Jed and Abby were at odds over his decision to run again; C.J. told Josh about the conflict with the FDA's RU-486 announcement; Bruno wanted POTUS to apologize for lying to the electorate; Shrug asked C.J. why Toby has a problem with him; Josh consulted Joey on his little plan to leak his press release about the tobacco-suit appropriations; Toby tells C.J. he knew she's thinking of resigning; C.J. was badgered into a disastrous error during a press briefing; everybody was pretty upset with her, and boy, was she mad at herself.

The show opens with bucolic shots of Awasiwi Odanack, the Bartlets' verdant rural estate. As it was, I wanted this place badly enough last week, and that was before we saw the "farmhouse." Wait until you get a load of this pad. Jed's in the barn rehearsing his speech, with an audience of Toby, Sam, Josh, C.J., Connie, and Shrug, most of whom are perched hither and thither on hay bales and farm equipment. They're wearing casual clothes in fabrics appropriate to the rustic setting: corduroy, suede, denim, linen, and cotton. Toby, in particular, looks very nice in an earthy brown casual shirt. There are also assorted chickens and other farm creatures about. Jed's saying, "We're more than a set of borders. We are bounded by the reach of human freedom. We have mastered every moment. We have vanquished every foe. We are strong, we are prosperous, we are at peace with the world. We are, as we have ever been, the envy of every civilization. We are, as we have ever been, the hope of all mankind. But I am not satisfied. Indeed, I am restless. And I come before you not to speak of the America we have, but...." Good lord, I would have thought this was way out of line years before September 11, 2001. Fortunately, Toby -- who may have to be my new #1 boyfriend -- interrupts: "Excuse me, sir... 'We're the envy of every civilization'?" Shrug says, "Yeah," rather affirmatively. Toby cackles merrily. "Really?" Shrug tells Toby that they don't vote in England. Sam points out that they do. Connie starts to explain what Shrug meant, and Toby abruptly responds, "We know what he meant, thank you." Sam says he'll change it. Toby asks for someone to stick some pompons in Shrug's hand. Shrug just looks annoyed, but doesn't respond. Jed goes back to the speech: "But I am not satisfied. Indeed, I am restless. And I come before you not to speak of the America we have, but of the better, stronger, more prosperous America we can create together." Suddenly C.J. notices something on the ground: "There's a snake over here." Sam wants to know what kind. C.J.: "I don't know and I don't want to ask him. Can somebody shoot it, please?" Sam suggests it's probably a garter snake; POTUS insists it is, and carries on: "I seek re-election to the Presidency not because of its glories but because of its challenges." Man, I thought that was weak last week, and I still do. So does Shrug, who says he's got a problem with that. Sam quickly points out that he wrote that. Shrug tells Sam he's happy for him. From the sound of things, this speech was constructed along the lines of the Exquisite Corpse game. Shrug complains that "challenges" makes it sound as though Jed is overwhelmed by the job. He feels it's exactly the wrong note to strike; Sam, naturally, disagrees. Sam argues that it's the right time to raise the stakes of the election; when Shrug asks why, Toby impatiently explains, "'Cause if it's all a day at the beach, then any bozo with a handshake can do it." C.J.'s keeping a slightly nervous eye on the snake. At least she's not doing any stereotypical squealing. Shrug says, "I'm sorry, but America wants a happy warrior to lead the country, not Dr. Kevorkian." Josh says that's true, and that they've got polling data on that. Jed promises they'll revisit it. As he tries to resume, C.J. complains that the snake is looking at her now. Josh looks to see if it is.

Shrug interrupts again, to object to the description of the campaign and the country being Jed's. Connie thinks that's okay. Shrug thinks people don't hear that well. Sam says there's nothing wrong with the hearing of the people that are going to be at the speech. Connie, whose sole job it seems to be to interpolate Shrug's comments, explains that Shrug isn't talking about people's auditory capabilities, but rather the fact that people don't take that statement well. In any event, she disagrees. Josh sees the snake now, too. Toby feels Jed's well within his rights to claim to be the leader of the campaign and the country, since...well, he is. Bruno and Leo wander in. Shrug feels this points the pundits toward the MS. Bruno thinks the cat's out of the bag with regard to the MS. Jed: "Does somebody here have MS and they haven't said anything?" Given the lack of honesty he's shown the staff, not to mention the long-overdue apology they're owed, this doesn't come off as terribly amusing. Josh and C.J. are both regarding the snake (which never appears on camera) with some trepidation; Josh points out, "Seriously, that's a pretty big snake." They both start edging away from it. Jed returns to his speech: "'But I am not satisfied...' Indeed, Leo, I am close to taking my own life with a wheat thresher." That would be a pretty fugly way to go. My paternal grandfather lost his left middle finger in a grain thresher, and that was unpleasant enough. Leo says, "Bruno?" Bruno, who seems to be generally channelling Al Pacino for this role, states, "Listen up, I've been thinking...it might not be such a bad idea for me to lock you all in here and set the place on fire." He pauses. "We have forty-eight hours before we kick off this campaign. We will work hard, we will work well, and we will work together, or so help me, mother of God, I will stick a pitchfork so far up your asses you will, quite simply, be dead." No one is terrified, or even remotely scared -- not even Sam, who's been known to issue threats to "bust [someone] like a pi�ata." Let's just put it this way: writing credible threats is not Sorkin's strongest suit. C.J. pretends to take this in seriously, but has far more pressing concerns, what with the snake and all. Jed puts his glasses back on and concludes: "And so with pride and purpose, I hereby announce my candidacy for the Presidency of the United States!" Roll them credits. I can't help feeling there was a snake-in-the-grass crack that was missed here.

The title card informs us that it's four weeks earlier. Jed ambles into the bedroom after the meeting about Haiti in which the Alpha-strike formation plan was agreed upon, and heads for the bathroom. He doesn't see Abby sitting up in bed reading; she's kind of blocked by the curtains tied to the post of the canopy bed. But only kind of. It's a big room, but it's not that big. I suppose he's got lots on his mind. You know, apart from his crumbling marriage. Anyway, she calls out to him. He comes back out of the washroom, genuinely surprised to see her there. Either that, or Jed Bartlet is as good an actor as Martin Sheen. She asks what's going on; he tells her what they decided to do about Haiti. As he goes back to wash his hands, she asks whether it will work. There's some minor miscommunication until he comes out and says that he doesn't know if it will work; they'll see. Abby comments that "C.J. got beaten up pretty good in the briefing room." Jed kind of shrugs it off. Abby suggests benching C.J. for a few days, at least on Haiti. He keeps going in and out of the bathroom, so she has to keep repeating herself. Jed says it's up to Leo. Abby suggests using Peter or Nancy or someone from State. Jed reiterates that it's Leo's call. As he's turning his cuffs back down, he tells Abby, "I'm sorry, I can't get into our thing tonight." They're not really looking at each other; she's lying in bed looking more or less straight ahead of her; he's doing stuff around the room and kind of talking in her direction without really looking at her. Their tone is civil, revealing less strain than is actually there. Abby points out that two days ago, he said he had plenty to say. Jed says he does, and that's why he can't get into it; he adds that he has some reading to do. She says, "That's all right." He says, "All right, I'm going in the study." She says "okay" in as light a way as she can. At the door, he says, "Abby, you were lying down when I came in. I didn't see you." She says she believes him. He leaves.

We are at the Bartlet Family Farm. It is, naturally, a gorgeous old house on a small hill surrounded by lots of mature trees. Inside, in a sitting room, the Shirts (Bruno's staff) and the Skins (Leo's staff) are still bickering over the speech. I'm going to try to keep my mind on the show, but damn, this is a gorgeous house. Shrug is arguing that Jed has to sell the greatness of America; Sam claims that they are. Shrug thinks they're not doing it enough; Sam starts listing off the paragraphs, by number, in which they are indeed, selling America's greatness. Shrug declares, "Listen, it's a simple equation: Bartlet rules America. America rocks, therefore Bartlet rocks." Sam, slightly incredulous: "'America rocks'?" Toby, equally incredulous: "'Bartlet rocks'?" Shrug says yes. Josh replies, "He really...doesn't...that much."

Josh asks Leo if he can talk to him for a second. They walk out into the hallway. We see them from a shot at the top of the stairs. The front entrance is a spacious, sunlit foyer with lots of fine American antique furniture, warm incandescent lights, a large oval rug, polished wood surfaces, impeccable molding, and a maid carrying towels up the stairs. ["I think I'm getting the vapors." -- Wing Chun] Josh wants to talk about RU-486; he says, "The last thing we need is to come out of the gate waving a flag to the American heartland saying, 'We don't share your values.'" Leo says Jed understands all that, but that's the way the cookie crumbles. (He doesn't actually use that idiom.) Leo says that the FDA is an independent agency and can do what it wants. Josh argues that they're a division of HHS (Health and Human Services), and technically not independent. Leo doesn't care for the sound of this: "'Technically'?" Josh insists that he can keep POTUS away from it; he'll call the Chief of Staff of the FDA, since Josh got him his job. He wants to ask them to wait two weeks. Leo is firm: "No!" Josh keeps rambling and ends up, "I can fix tobacco." Leo's confused: "'Tobacco'?" Josh meant RU-486. He desperately wants to fix something. He really needs to have something go right, and he needs almost as badly to be the one who makes it go right. Leo tells him to leave the FDA alone, and walks away. Josh sighs and leans on the newel post at the bottom of the stairs.

C.J. drives up and gets out of her car in front of the farmhouse. She greets Abby, who's on the front law with a basket of apples. C.J. asks whether Abby just got there; Abby tells her it was a few hours ago. Abby is wearing jeans and a red plaid shirt. C.J. asks whether Ellie and Zoey are there; they are. Abby adds that Liz will be there later, and that she and the Bartlet daughters are going for a hike later if C.J. would like to join them. Alas, we will see none of the DOTPOTUSes in this episode -- not even the elusive Liz. C.J. can't, but she wants to talk to Abby about photo ops. As they walk toward the house, Abby asks C.J. whether she'd like some cider; C.J. says she's fine, but FLOTUS persists, saying their homegrown apples are good. C.J. relents and returns to the subject of the photo op. Abby says in a mildly sarcastic tone, "Because my husband and I came to the house separately, there were photos of the President getting on the plane alone." Listen, lady, why are you busting C.J.'s chops? She's just trying to do her job. Maybe Abby's punishing her for goofing up on the Haiti remark, but really, why care so much? If C.J. does something to goof up Jed's re-election bid, Abby might not exactly be thrilled to see Jed lose, but I don't believe she wouldn't be relieved that he didn't win. (Enough negatives in that sentence, Deborah?) Anyway, they've reached the house. C.J. tries to smooth things over by mentioning that it's obviously "uncomfortable territory," and tries this gambit: "The press has sources that say that you and the President..." FLOTUS interjects: "Do they have names?" C.J.: "I'm sorry?" Abby: "The sources." C.J. indicates that they are unnamed sources. FLOTUS doesn't care for that at all: "C.J., unnamed sources make me crazy. Just one time I'd like to see, instead of 'according to unnamed sources,' I'd like to see, 'according to tweaky little ill-informed chicken-ass wannabe...'" Um, huh? She breaks off with frustration. C.J. just looks at her in that professionally respectful and patient manner she has. FLOTUS tells her, "Don't ever come to me again with 'unnamed sources,' C.J. You don't get any cider." As Abby leaves, C.J. gives her the obligatory "yes, ma'am." I'm sure around now she's thinking she should have just kowtowed to Cutman back when she was working in L.A. making half a million a year. Was that really so bad?

At the front desk of their hotel in Manchester, C.J. tells Leo she spoke to FLOTUS about a possible photo op. Leo asks how Abby reacted. C.J.: "Well, she denied me cider." That's how people punish each other on this show: they withhold food. Leo, briskly, as they go outside: "What else?" C.J. says she'll brief the Sunday papers on what they can expect from Monday's speech. Leo points out that the speech isn't written yet. C.J. tells him she's just giving them highlights she's making up. C.J. hopes Leo will speak to Abby; she points out every single paper today had a picture of POTUS boarding Air Force One alone on his way home. Leo says it's the Saturday paper. He adds, "We are two private men, C.J. We don't talk about our marriages." Um, maybe not publicly, but it's not like he and Jed have never exchanged confidences about what was going on in their respective marriages. He asks, "What do you want from me?" Seeing she will get no help from Leo on that front, C.J. decides to mention she's not too happy that Leo told Toby what she told him about resigning. Leo snaps, "He's the Communications Director. You don't think he should know?" C.J. says, with a bit of exasperation, "When I think it's time..." Leo interrupts vehemently: "When I think it's time I will tell anyone who works for me anything I damn please!" He pauses a moment and then adds, "You know what, C.J.? Stop being pissed at me about Haiti." He walks off, leaving her staring after him. She mutters to herself, "Yeah, okay," and walks back toward the hotel.

POTUS and Leo are talking about Haiti as they walk to a meeting in the Situation Room. Bazan has demands; Leo thinks that to acquiesce to them is to surrender. Jed doesn't think so. Leo says, "It's as close as we come these days." Bazan wants $10 million USD, a private plane, a guarantee that he won't be prosecuted for war crimes, and asylum in the U.S.for himself and sixty family members. POTUS says that the last demand presents a bit of a dilemma. As they enter the Situation Room, he asks, "Does anybody have room at their place for Bazan and sixty of his relatives?" One of the military brass replies, "Sir, any amnesty conditions could be in violation of Hague treaties." Jed knows. Another guy asks, "Do we want to set a precedent that anyone can stage a coup and walk away if it doesn't work?" Adds another: "And with $10 million and a private plane?" Nancy says, "A shoot-out in the Presidential Palace is the worst possible outcome. Bazan's full surrender is the best, and that's what we've got on the table." Jed states, "I want to end this peacefully and right now. Nancy, what do you think of Venezuela?" She says Venezuela wants to be considered as a resource for supplying Strategic Petroleum Reserves. Jed tells her to tell them he'll give the SPR strong consideration, and he tells a guy named Mike to use the Canadians to get a message through: "We'll unfreeze his U.S. accounts, but he can't remove any money from Haiti. Only his wife, his children, and his parents can seek asylum. If he tries to go back, he'll be under arrest." Leo adds, "And he can screw the private plane. We'll fly him on a C-9 from Port-au-Prince to Caracas, and if he's very good we won't shoot him in the head on the way." Jed says, "Tell me when it's done." Nancy says, "Yes, sir," and everyone rises as POTUS leaves. Leo takes Nancy out into the hall and tells her to handle the press briefing once this is done. Nancy's not too jazzed about this. She says C.J. just made a mistake. Leo insists he's not punishing C.J. He wants Nancy to do it, because she's not part of the "political face" of the Bartlet administration, and she won't be asked questions about the MS thing. Nancy: "I don't feel right about this." Leo: "I don't care." He walks away. Wow, Leo is being incredibly prickly. ["If by that you mean he's acting like a prick, I agree." -- Wing Chun]

The staff continue arguing at the house in Manchester. They're in (I think) a different room now; we see a shot of Leo working in a living room, while we can hear some of the Shirts and the Skins quarrelling two rooms away. Man, I love this house. I love the set people on this show. They are so good. Everything that should sparkle sparkles; everything that should glow glows. The lighting people rock, too. And the paint colours chosen for the walls in both the West Wing and the Manchester farmhouse are fantastic. The production values on this show are at a level many films I've seen should have lived up to. (Do you think that if I keep lavishing praise on them, one or two of them will offer to come and help me decorate my house?)

Right, the show. Okay. Shrug is reading, "'I say to you today that I love this country. And I will make sure our military continues to be the best-trained, best-equipped, best-led fighting force in the world.'" Sam and I simultaneously interject, "Oh, my God." Toby suggests that Sam wants to take this one. Sam tells Shrug, "If you want to substitute testosterone for foreign policy, then why not have the President wade out into the crowd and challenge them to an arm-wrestle?" Sam might have to be my new boyfriend. The camera's in the room with the Shirts and Skins now. Connie says the foreign-policy section was too long. Shrug contends, "And there are no votes in foreign policy!" Sam objects, "You just wrote off 98% of the world's population and three quarters of the job description!" Toby: "It's that kind of thinking that makes us the 'envy of every civilization.'" Sam, you'll still have to stand in line behind Toby to be my boyfriend. Sam tosses a handful of papers aside and says, "Scrap this." Connie announces that she has a problem: "'This campaign must not be about the disease God gave me, but about the opportunities God has given our country.'" Shrug complains that they're going back to the strategy that's failed for a month. I want to give Shrug some slack and try to like him a bit, but his strident approach to everything is wearing on me. Toby asks what he's talking about; Shrug replies, "All MS, all the time." Toby asserts that they needed to do damage control. Shrug: "You couldn't stop educating the public! You guys are never happier than when you're educating the public!" Toby points out that, four weeks ago, 74% of the public thought MS was fatal. (Which it's not, in case anyone's still labouring under that misconception.) Shrug yells that every time they told the public it wasn't fatal, there was another story about MS: "Just change the subject!" The camera shows us Leo again, still working away in the other room, unperturbed by all the hollering and arguing in the other room. For a man with only one grown child, Leo has the nerves of an air traffic controller who's raised quintuplets. Toby's rejoinder: "Doug, why the hell didn't I think of that?" Shrug: "I don't know, but if you had, I probably wouldn't be here!" Toby's speechless. He turns around and leans in the doorway. Shrug looks exasperated.

A man walks up to Margaret's desk, where she's typing away, and introduces himself as Bruno Gianelli. He claims to have an appointment. Margaret checks her appointment book and asks him to wait a moment. She goes into Leo's office. The camera stays on Bruno and swirls around him while we hear Margaret in Leo's office asking who Bruno is; Leo says he's a strategist who's gotten five senators and three governors elected. He got somebody named Hacket elected in a place where no Democrat has been elected for forty-six years, and got the Prime Minister of Israel elected. Leo adds that it's entirely possible Bruno has never voted in his life. Got it: he's a mercenary miracle worker who probably doesn't care one way or another about politics. Margaret says that Bruno's here. Leo wonders why she hasn't sent him in; Margaret says he doesn't have an appointment. Leo: "I made...I did it." Margaret, with great disapproval: "You did it yourself." Leo says yes. She chides him, "And you're not supposed to do that, are you?" Leo's not in the mood for a scolding right now, and he calls Bruno in. Margaret leaves, closing the door behind them.

Bruno shakes Leo's hand, saying, "You people can find more ways to blow it." Leo counters that they might be running out. Bruno doesn't think so: "Why the hell didn't you call me before the announcement?" Leo wants to know what Bruno would have done; Bruno wouldn't have told the electorate about the MS. Leo says that would be concealing the truth. Bruno, bemused: "Oh, would it now?" Leo asks if Bruno can help them. Bruno needs to see their internals. Leo explains that Joey Lucas has been polling every day for two months. Okay, wait: two months? If this is about a week or two after the announcement of MS (it can't be any more than four weeks, because four weeks from the weeks of the announcement brings us to the Manchester scene, and the impression given then is that they've been working with Bruno's team for at least a little while -- more than a day or two), and she only had a short amount of time to do her fake polling before the announcement, isn't it more like a couple of weeks? A month at most? Whatever. Anyway, when Leo mentions Joey, Bruno's response is, "The girl?" I so don't like this guy's attitude. Bruno says he worked with her in California, and that she's good. But not good enough to merit something more than "the girl?" Leo looks at Bruno with some amusement: "What do you want?" Bruno wants 15% of the ad buys. He tells Leo, "You're going to say...ten, so why don't we just say thirteen?" Leo: "Why don't we say...twelve?" Bruno: "Why don't we say...thirteen?" He continues: "I want hiring and firing prerogatives in my department. For starters, I'm bringing in Doug Wegland and Connie Tate." Leo's fine with that. Bruno also wants a room at the Hay-Adams, a car, and a driver. Leo's fine with all that, too. Bruno makes his final demand: "I want unfettered access to the President." Leo's really not fine with that. Bruno insists he needs it; Leo says he can't have it. Bruno claims the only campaigns he's ever lost are the ones where the candidate didn't listen, or the advice didn't get through: "That isn't going to happen this time." Leo's unmoved: "Can't do it." Bruno says, "This is ego -- you know it as well as I do. I take this request to the President, tell him it's a deal-breaker, he's going to say yes." Leo replies, "Knock yourself out." He hollers for Margaret. She enters, and he asks her to take Bruno into the Oval Office. Bruno just sits there looking at Leo. He asks, "Are you playing with me?" Leo just gives him a "what, me?" kind of look. At her request, Bruno follows Margaret into the Oval Office.

C.J. brings Josh into a classroom, explaining that they'll use it as the Green Room. For reasons known only to God and himself, Josh sees fit to ask, "What's this room usually used for?" C.J. points out with the desks and blackboard that it "could be some kind of a classroom." I'm not sure if that was supposed to be funny or whether we're supposed to think Josh is occasionally unbelievably stupid. Josh turns to C.J. and asks in kind of a breathy way, "What's going on?" She asks, "What do you mean?" He says nothing; she says, "Nothing." She insists that she's sure. As they walk outside again, Josh complains that Leo won't let him wave off the FDA. C.J. points out that it's against the law. Josh shrugs and claims it's not like he's contemplating "sticking up a fruit stand"; he only has to make a phone call. He says he knows the Chief of Staff of the Subcommittee. C.J. asks, "You mean the FDA?" Josh admits that that is the second time this weekend he's done that. They run into Toby, who proudly displays the changes he is making to the campaign signs that say "Bartlet for President": he's crossed out "for" and magic-markered in "is the." He holds them up saying, "This is why I didn't want to do an announcement." C.J. says they're taking care of it. Toby replies, as he picks up another sign, "No, I'm taking care of it."

Back to a meeting in the Roosevelt Room between the Shirts and Skins -- probably their first game together. (I'm probably going to have to let the sports metaphor go here pretty soon, since when it comes to sports, I'm kind of in over my head once I try to describe anything more complicated than an obvious win or loss.) Joey and Kenny are there, too. Anyway, Toby is explaining that he doesn't think they should be doing an announcement event at all. Shrug insists that Jed needs to announce he's going to run for re-election; Toby argues that he already did, two weeks ago. Bruno thinks Jed's not gaining enough ground, and that means he's bleeding. Josh: "If we put him up there like any other candidate, we trade away the one big advantage we've got." Shrug wants to know what that is. Toby responds, "He's the President already." Shrug counters, "Signing Executive Orders and decorating the tree isn't going to do it." Bruno complains that he's "getting old over here," and that it was already decided on Tuesday. Shrug says that he not only has to declare, but also has to apologize. Toby says Jed's not going to apologize; he adds that he wants to know what Jed's supposed to apologize for. Shrug: "For your campaign and your White House perpetrating a fraud." Toby says nothing. Shrug continues, "I'm from Oregon. In Oregon, we like to see a man stand up and say he's sorry. Where are you from?" Toby: "Me? I'm from the United States of suck my --" Josh, ever on the alert: "All right..." Everyone kind of looks around. Shrug looks annoyed. Josh suggests they break for lunch. Shrug says, "Republicans talk about how arrogant you guys are. I always thought it was the natural reaction that comes to not getting the girl. I can't believe how much they've been lowballing it." As they leave, Bruno asks Josh to wait up.

Josh and Bruno pedeconference. Bruno says Shrug had a point about them being arrogant. Josh replies, "I guess that means Doug won't be coming to my sweet sixteen, then." Hee. Then Bruno asks whether Josh was the one who leaked the press release about the subcommittee on tobacco. When Josh says he was, Bruno comments, "Well, that was stupid." Josh responds, "I got two years as Legislative Director in the House, two years as Floor Director in the Senate, and thirty months as Deputy Chief of Staff. What have you got?" He adds, "Kalmbach's a fat-ass Rotarian gasbag; I knew once I sent the thing, he'd raise the profile and give us the press we needed." Bruno points out a couple of reasons that Kalmbach is vulnerable in his home state, and Josh interrupts, "We got the money, Bruno." They're back in his office now. Bruno, patiently: "You don't want the money. You want the issue. You should have waited until the fall when the bell rings and then we hammer them with it. Then Kalmbach, Leader, Ross, Roark, Stevens -- whoever gets the nomination -- has it hanging around their necks that they're nicotine pushers. Plus you get the money." Josh has a look of puzzlement on his face that puts one vaguely in mind of Joey Tribbiani. He's genuinely surprised to see that not only was there a better way of working this situation, but that he didn't think of it and Bruno did. Bruno continues, "The sooner you get [that] I know what I'm talking about and I'm on your side, the sooner your world gets better. Of course you got the money. I'm amazed he didn't send it to you with candy and a stripper." Josh thoughtfully chews on his pen. Bruno: "Pennsylvania, Michigan, Ohio: three swing states you could have brought over with that." He holds his hands up and drops them back in his lap. "That's an election." Josh uneasily realizes the scope of his gaffe here. Bruno leaves. I like it that Bruno didn't beat Josh over the head with this, and that he admonished him privately. That's how things like that should be done.

POTUS's motorcade arrives at the high school in Manchester. We see Abby on the stage making some notes. Charlie and Jed get out of the limo; as they do, Charlie asks, "Do you still get nervous talking in front of big crowds?" Jed replies, "I've never been nervous talking to big crowds; it's talking to one person...." He sees Abby. "I didn't know she was going to be here." Leo's gotten out of the car, too. Jed walks over to Abby and meets her at the bottom of the stairs to the stage. She tells him that she's going to be introducing them. He thought somebody named Leyland was going to be doing it. Abby says C.J. thought it would be good; Jed kind of cuts her off, saying, "Okay." He seems displeased by hearing it was C.J.'s idea. Abby starts to offer to back out, but Jed says he thinks it's a good idea. He seems more uneasy around her than she does around him, but there's definitely some distance between them. She says he needs to reach out to the staff: "Once you do that, they'll feel better and so will you." She says she's going back to the house. As Jed watches her go, he flashes back to a big fight.

Jed and Abby are in the First Bedroom. She's sitting on a sofa reading; he's reading in bed. She asks, fairly pleasantly, what he's reading. He says he doesn't know enough about agriculture. She says, "Well, I wouldn't worry about it. Agriculture isn't really your field." Pun not intended, I guess. He's reading Agriculture for Presidential Dummies. In a very testy and condescending way, he replies, "Yeah, well, agriculture is responsible for one in five American jobs, so it is a little bit my field." Grumpy, much? She starts to say, "You know..." but he interrupts with a bunch more statistics about the relevance and importance of American agriculture to his position, concluding, "So when I say 'it's not my field,' I'm not saying something. I'm trying to learn so I can." She's standing at the foot of the bed now, with her book under her arm, wanting to know why he won't talk to her. He grumbles, "Why aren't you with me?" She replies, "How do you know I'm not?" He accuses her, "You're not." She's incredulous: "You're pissed at me?" He growls that he's trying to read. Holy crap. These two really needed to talk before things deteriorated to this level. She rants that she can't believe he's pissed at her. He takes off his glasses and says, "Abby..." She carries on with righteous indignation: "You go from 'I've got a lot to say' to 'I can't say it right now because I've got so much to say' to 'I gotta read about agriculture and you're not with me and go to hell'?" He says, "Look..." but she continues: "Now that's an extraordinary evolution." Jed mutters, "Can I go a week without explaining myself?" Dude, not likely. Abby wearily replies, "You can go as long as you want without explaining yourself. Read your book." He lightly pats the bed beside him and says, "Sit down, we'll talk about it now." Oh, that's big of you. Abby: "I'm not in the mood, jackass." She starts to walk out. In a dry and insincere way, he inquires, "Isn't there any way I could change your mind, 'cause I really had my heart set on it." She stares at him for a moment, with a bitter expression on her face, and then says, "Go to hell." Jed just sits and stares ahead.

Back in Manchester, Leo comes up to Jed, asking whether he feels all right. He says he does, and mentions that Abby's going to be introducing him. Leo says that he thought it was a good idea, too. Jed states, "I wouldn't mind a little...you know..." Nookie? No, no. He means he'd like to be kept apprised of such matters. Jed looks out at the seating area and says there's going to be a big crowd here tomorrow. Leo says that that's his kind of crowd. Jed sits down in one of the audience chairs to finish his speech. And it's time for a commercial break.

Back at the White House, Toby appears at Sam's door late one evening as Sam pores over the transcript of Bartlet's interview. He's desperately looking for an apology that isn't there. Toby asks what he's doing; Sam tells him he's reading the transcript, and says that POTUS needs to apologize. Toby tells him not to worry about it. Well, that's easier for Toby to say; he got to confront the President, and he got an apology. Nobody else did, really. Easy for him to maintain that the President doesn't need to apologize. Anyway, straight-arrow, Boy-Scout Sam says, "He lied." Toby says he didn't lie: "It's what your people call a 'sin of omission.'" Sam points out that he's not Catholic, adding, "It's what everybody calls 'a sin of omission.'" He drops the papers on his desk and walks up to Toby, getting in his face: "Bartlet lied to us." Now we know Sam's mad; failure to refer to POTUS appropriately is not something Sam does casually. Toby reminds him that it's "President Bartlet." Toby goes back into his office for something and asks Sam, "Did you know that many multiple sclerosis advocates actually instruct victims to hide the illness, because it's so misunderstood?" Well, if that isn't a big old shout-out to Neurosturgeon, I don't know what is. I don't think she'll care for the use of the term "victim," however. I know I don't. On the other hand, "survivor" doesn't seem right, and "sufferer" doesn't seem much better than "victim." I think I'd go with "individuals with MS," myself. ["'Patient'?" -- Wing Chun] Anyway. Sam rightly asks, "You think they advise Presidential candidates to do that?" Toby does not. They walk out; Sam asks about the night Leo told Toby about Jed's MS. Toby admits, "I went crazy. I whaled on him in the Oval Office." Sam points out, "None of us had the chance to do that." Toby sighs. He knows. Sam, ever earnest, ever idealistic, ever optimistic: "We could have gotten it done. If he had just told us in the beginning, this would've been a whole different...." Toby abruptly acknowledges this, and tells Sam to go home. Sam goes back to his office to cry. Well, maybe. Probably not. But you know he wants to.

Nighttime in Manchester. Connie drives up and finds Sam out wandering along. He's wearing a leather coat, in which I don't mind telling you, he looks very nice. It looks like an oxblood colour, but it's hard to tell in the semi-darkness. Connie asks what he's doing; he sheepishly says, "Talking to myself." She says she'll join him. He tells her to feel free. I don't know what I think of Connie yet, but I do like her better than I liked Ainsley, whom I suspect may have gone the way of Mandy. Shouldn't she have appeared in something by now? I think the last episode she was in was "17 People." Connie's less smarmy than Ainsley. Connie says she thought the speech was locked, but that they're still up at the house arguing. Sam says it's not locked until POTUS says it is. Sam really does look very cute in this scene, and I don't even mind his hair. Connie admits she was out looking for a Starbucks: "A guy in a gas station said, 'Around here, people don't pay $4 for a cup of coffee.'" I think you'd have to be out of your mind to pay that much for a cup of coffee, unless it's being served to you in bed by Keanu Reeves, but whatever. Sam replies, "New Hampshire: Live Free or Cheap." Connie gets back to being Shrug's mouthpiece, claiming that he means well and that he's smart. Sam scores even more points with me by replying, "Connie, it seems to me that your job is to wait until Doug leaves the room and then say, 'What Doug really meant was....' How much they pay you for that?" He doesn't say it in as unkind or combative a way as I think he would have said it to, say, Ainsley. Connie mildly answers, "Sometimes it's my job to say it when he's in the room." Sam kind of chuckles: "Yeah." Connie thinks it's a mistake not to include an apology, and that that is what both she and Doug think. Sam tells her it's not going to happen: "Because Jed Bartlet's Jed Bartlet and that's the way it goes." He sets his jaw. Connie: "Well, I think that's what you're saying and it makes sense, but you know what? I think you want him to apologize and not just for political reasons." Sam claims not to have thought that much about it. He says there's been a lot going on, and that he hasn't thought that much about it. Except for every waking moment, of course. Connie didn't just fall off the back of the cider truck: "You were with him at the beginning. You got him elected, you got him elected. You worked for Bartlet eighteen hours a day. You never felt..." Sam gently interjects, "Connie? Please, it's President Bartlet." He tries to give her a disarming look. Maybe he's made his peace with it. She seems unsure how to take this minor reproach. But she nods and agrees. So far, I don't think they've got a lot of chemistry, but the potential could be there. He says he'd better get back to the hotel.

Toby, Shrug, and Bruno are meeting in what looks like an informal dining room at the farmhouse. Shrug maintains that they have to mention values; otherwise they will be spending the fifteen months trying to convince people that they did mention values. I'm not sure yet whether I can take fifteen months of Shrug's lack of people skills. I'd like to talk about the beautiful leather chair in the foreground, or the gorgeous built-in bookcases, or the lovely and elaborate cupboard behind Toby, or the overhead light fixture that I'm coveting, or how beautifully everything is arranged, but I'll tell you what Toby says instead. Toby quotes from the speech: "'My values are New Hampshire's values: hard work and responsibility, strong families and strong communities, a boundless faith in the American ideal of self-reliance...' and poor people can go screw themselves." Bruno says, "My point is that for thirty years Democrats have been labelled tax-and-spenders, as if they don't believe in getting up every day and going to work. That's why we have to say it." Toby says that if that's his point, nobody will understand it. I'm not sure I follow. Shrug says that's why he wanted to cut three particular paragraphs. Toby irritably asks, "Are there any problems you're interested in solving, or are you helping us run for the Grand Marshall of the Rose Bowl Parade?" Toby gets up and goes into the kitchen, claiming that he's stretching his legs. Bruno's cell phone rings. He answers, and glances at Shrug significantly as he says, "Okay."

Out in the kitchen -- which is also charming, although I'm not crazy about wallpaper borders (but at least this one is reasonably tasteful and properly applied) -- Shrug comes wandering in. There's a rather large pendulum clock on the wall. The noise made by its steady movement reminds me of the bouncing of Toby's rubber ball around the time of "17 People." Given what's to come, it's appropriate. Toby's got his back to Shrug; he's snacking on something at the counter. I can't quite make out what it is, but it's something with a substantial pit or shell, because when Toby tosses them in the garbage, they make a pretty big noise. Mind you, he's putting a little muscle into his throws. Shrug's opening gambit: "Is that something you run for? The Rose Bowl Parade? Don't you just get picked?" Toby doesn't know. Shrug dumps the chit-chat: "You guys are so pissed at him, you don't even know it. You're more pissed at him than the press is. You're more pissed at him than the party is. You're so pissed at him you're pissed at me! Because if he hadn't lied, you could have run the campaign you always wanted to run instead of a bunch of people coming in here and teaching you how not to bother anybody." He's not wrong, you know. About any of it. And you know how that makes our Toby-wan crazy. Toby just glowers. His face is half-hidden in shadow, and he's got that sensual rabbinical mien thing going on that I mentioned in the Charlie Rose Extra. Shrug continues, "I never drank the Kool-Aid™, Toby. I came to win." I know the Kool-Aid reference confused some viewers; I believe Sorkin meant it as a reference to the mass suicides/murders of 1978 in the doomsday cult known as Jonestown in Guyana. Followers of mentally and physically ill pastor Jim Jones and his pseudo-Christian People's Temple drank cyanide-laced Kool-Aid™ to kill themselves after an inspection visit from Congressman Leo Ryan went rather wrong (some followers were allegedly shot or injected with poison). It's possible the followers were duped or part of a CIA experiment or that any of a number of other conspiracy-theory scenarios took place, but we're not getting into it here. Mind you, the people at Kool-Aid™ want you to be aware that the people in Jonestown actually drank a cheap competitor's powdered beverage: Flavor-Aid™. Sorry, but I think the Kool-Aid™ horse is out of the barn. Can I also just say it's somewhat depressing to realize that there are probably a lot of people reading this recap who weren't even born when that happened? Also, I note that Shrug has a penchant for grim allusions: Jonestown, Kevorkian....Anyway, the point I believe Shrug was trying to make is that he's not a True Believer in the Way of Bartlet. Shrug adds, "And you're so pissed at him, you can't even admit that for the last two weeks you've gone to sleep at night thanking God that I did." I can't even tell you how menacing and grim the lighting is making Toby's face look. He simply mutters in a low tone, "Yeah?" Shrug can see he's not really getting through to Toby, so he wraps it up: "Bruno just got off with Leo. The speech is locked." He leaves Toby there with the big ticking clock; Toby punctuates the end of the scene by hurling another pit or shell into the garbage. And it's already time for another commercial.

"They can look it up!" POTUS breezes in and everyone stands and greets him. You can hear Abby speechifying in the background. Jed tells Shrug, "It's not our job to appeal to the lowest common denominator, Doug. It's our job to raise it. If you're going to be the 'Education President,' it'd be nice not to hide that you have an education." He then politely requests that Bruno take his Shirts out of there for a moment. They leave, and POTUS sighs. Leo and Charlie are behind him. He begins, "Churchill and FDR: serious men using big words for big purpose." Everyone is looking at him patiently and expectantly; but not as if they're still waiting for an apology, even though most of them are; more like they're waiting for a pep talk and marching orders. Jed sighs. "It occurs to me, I never said 'I'm sorry.'" No, you sure didn't. Don't think I've forgotten. He goes on, "I am. For the lawyers, for the press, for the mess...for the fear." Hey...what about for the actual dishonesty? "Bruno, Doug, Connie: these guys are good. They want to win. So do we. The only thing we want more is to be right. I wonder if you can't do both. There's a new book, and we're going to write it. You can win if you run a smart, disciplined campaign, if you studiously say nothing -- nothing that causes you trouble, nothing that's a gaffe, nothing that shows you might think the wrong thing, nothing that shows you think. But it just isn't worthy of us, is it, Toby?" Toby says, "No, sir." Jed: "It isn't worthy of us, it isn't worthy of America, it isn't worthy of a great nation. We're going to write a new book, right here, right now. This very moment. Today." Well, the shmaltz is a little thick, but I'm a bit of a sucker for it. Since they're all standing in a classroom, to desks, it feels like any moment now they will be asked to recite the Pledge of Allegiance. ("I pledge allegiance to the United States of suck my....")

Someone comes to the door to give POTUS the heads-up that he's about to be introduced. We can hear Abby saying, "And so, my friends, it is my pleasure and my great fortune to introduce my husband, our friend, New Hampshire's greatest son, and the President of the United States: Josiah Bartlet." Just before he walks out, Jed turns back to his staff and says, "You know what? Break's over." He walks out to the podium to loud cheering and clapping. If you look carefully, you can see a little red blob of an audience member to his right, and that's one of our regular forum posters, JohnConstantine, who is also one of the people who helped write the FAQ for this show. He's a red blob because he's wearing his Tomato Nation t-shirt (so that's a shout-out for Sars). Hi, John! Jed is followed by C.J., Josh, Sam, Toby, and Leo, as well as Charlie and Donna, who hang back by the door. They've all got Jed's back.

I hope Jed works harder at deserving these people. Until then, he's still on Boyfriend Probation.