dianora2

Here it is, a week late. I may start doing this every other Sunday instead of every Sunday, as I seem to miss posting on time more often than not. We'll see.

Anyway, today's episode is 1x19, "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet," which as we all know has a pretty kick-ass ending. And talk of muffins.

All caps by

_jems_.

We open with an awesome shot (thank you, Laura Innes) of Toby and Sam worrying about whether it's going to rain. And now I have "Soon It's Gonna Rain" from The Fantasticks in my head, but I suppose that's my problem, not yours.

MRS. LANDINGHAM: You know what this is, don’t you sir?
BARTLET: What what is?
MRS. LANDINGHAM: Your mood, sir.
BARTLET: There’s nothing wrong with my mood.
MRS. LANDINGHAM: It’s your diet.
BARTLET: Would you get off me with that?
MRS. LANDINGHAM: You’re not getting enough roughage in your diet. You know I’m right about that.
BARTLET: I know I’d like to beat you senseless with a head of cabbage. I know that for damn sure.
MRS. LANDINGHAM: Once again, you display an immaturity about vegetables that I think is not at all
presidential.

Two F.E.C. commissioners resigned and Bartlet thinks this might be a good time to dangle their feet in the water by putting forth their own guys and seeing if the Senate leadership will bite. Leo does not think this is a good idea.

Neither does Josh. Although let's face it, I just wanted to show this shot of wet Josh.

As is their wont, Josh and Donna provide our weekly civics lesson.
DONNA: So the President has the opportunity to back the FEC with our people and make immeasurable impact on campaign finance reform?
JOSH: Yes.
DONNA: Well, do it, baby!
JOSH: There’s a couple of roadblocks.
DONNA: What?
JOSH: Whenever a vacancy comes up, the party leadership of both sides...Did you just call me “baby” back there?
DONNA: Yeah.
JOSH: Okay. Uh, when a vacancy comes up, it’s up to the President to fill it, but the party leadership on both sides always, always, always dictates to the President who he’s gonna appoint. One Republican. One Democrat. Whoever the leadership says. That’s how you keep the peace.
DONNA: But you’re gonna change all that, right?
JOSH: No, but I’m gonna spend the rest of the week trying.
DONNA: That’s not the right spirit, Josh. You’re trying to change the nature of democracy.
JOSH: You’re right. I’m gonna need a bagel.

Steve confronts CJ with rumors about a "paper" that's been floating around. Oh, Steve, you are my second favorite reporter after Danny. I guess. Okay, I don't feel that strongly about it either way. Sorry to bother you.

It turns out Mandy knows all about the paper. Before you start to be impressed that Mandy actually knows something, let me stop you right there: she knows about it because she wrote it. It's a memo outlining the weaknesses of the Bartlet administration. Figures.

E-mail is down, and it's all because of Margaret's friend Lynette from the President's Council on Physical Fitness.
"Anyway, she sent me an e-mail about the actual calorie count in the raisin muffin they’re serving in the mess. I forwarded the e-mail to several hundred assistants and secretaries in O.E.O.B. and in the West Wing, and that was fine. But Jolene Millman, who works in political liaison, then hit reply, which apparently --"

"I’m sorry. I’m gonna have to...I hung in there as long as I could, but you long since passed the point when I stopped caring. If you’re curious, it was right around raisin muffin."

Meanwhile, Josh has stopped by with two potential candidates for the FEC who he and Leo both know will never be approved. What they're trying to figure out is whether Jed knows that, too.

Sam and Toby meet with high-ranking military and legislative advisors about the issue of gays in the military. This is where I remind you that Clinton was still in office when this show started. Also, those Danish are making me hungry.

All CJ and Donna were doing here was talking about Easter eggs, but I really liked this shot.

So not only does the Senate leadership plan to ignore Josh's suggestions for new FEC appointees, they're going to exact retribution for even nominating them in the first place, starting off by considering an English as the national language bill. Josh gets all Gabrielle Union in Bring It On and is like, "Bring it on!" (I think it's already been broughten.)

Major Tate doesn't like Toby's sense of humor. Toby gets that a lot.

DONNA: You don’t want to say anything more than that?
JOSH: I don’t, Donna, and the way that you know that I don’t, is that I’m not.
DONNA: But this is our special time together.
JOSH: I’m really not in the mood to mess around.
DONNA: Okay.
JOSH: I need you to get me prepped on something.
DONNA: What?
JOSH: English as the national language.
DONNA: Why?
JOSH: Might come up.
DONNA: Why?
JOSH: Because...it doesn’t matter. Because if we do a thing with the FEC, opponents will put English as the national language on the table.
DONNA: Are we for it or against it?
JOSH: Donna...
DONNA: I mean, we’re not in favor of making another language the official language, are we?
JOSH: Donna!
DONNA: Like Dutch or something.
JOSH: Donna, didn’t I just say that I can’t mess around?
What I love about this exchange is his saying that he's not in the mood to mess around...because usually, he totally is in the mood to mess around, even though he doesn't like to admit it, but he just did admit it here, by saying he's not in the mood to do it. Got it?

CJ shows Toby the paper that Mandy wrote. To say that Toby is displeased would be an understatement, like, say, "Dia thinks Bradley Whitford is an okay guy."

CJ feels about the same. CJ and I are headache twins.

Josh isn't too happy, either. Like Mandy needed more of a reason to be a pariah.

Toby goes to see Leo. There are still e-mail problems, but Margaret's on top of it.
MARGARET: Technical support says the pipeline’s been flooded. Apparently it happened when I forwarded an e-mail to several people, and one of them tried to reply. Everyone’s e-mail box is clogged with replies, which are now, automatically and constantly bounding back and forth at subatomic speed...I passed the point where you’re interested, haven’t I?
TOBY: Yeah.

Seeing Leo. Toby tells him that the paper says that Bartlet's instinct is to be aggressive, but Leo moves him to the middle, and if I were a Jed/Leo slasher I would have a good joke here, maybe.

Donna gives Josh a six-page memo on English as the national language, including some important information involving James Madison, and he responds by snapping at her.
DONNA: Don’t snap at me Josh.
JOSH: Donna?
DONNA: Look at the memo. I gave you what you asked for. Don’t snap at me. What’s wrong with everyone today? It’s been all day. Is it Mandy’s memo?
JOSH: No.
DONNA: Why is everyone walking around like they know they already lost?

JOSH: I wasn’t snapping at you. I just, I -- I didn’t realize that you also gave me the stuff I asked for. I thought it was just...you know, I thought you just gave me James Madison.
DIA: Your assistant wrote you a six-page memo in, like, an hour? You have no right to snap at her at all. It's a good thing you're so cute when you're completely chagrined and apologetic.

Mandy never heard of a burn bag. Neither had I, but now that I have, I think it sounds kind of hot. Errrr, maybe that's just me.

Ha ha ha ha I love this shot. Sam is getting righteous about gays not being allowed to serve in the military. The military is pushing back, hard, and there is nothing gay in that sentence, I swear.

And then Fitz walks in.
CONGRESSMAN: It’s an honor to meet you, Admiral.
FITZWALLACE: I imagine it would be, yes.
*giggle* Oh, we have to have some more here...
MAJOR TATE: Sir, we’re not prejudiced toward homosexuals.
FITZWALLACE: You just don’t want to see them serving in the Armed Forces?
MAJOR TATE: No sir, I don’t.
FITZWALLACE: ‘Cause they oppose a threat to unit discipline and cohesion.
MAJOR TATE: Yes sir.
FITZWALLACE: That’s what I think too. I also think the military wasn’t designed to be an instrument
of social change.
MAJOR TATE: Yes sir.
FITZWALLACE: The problem with that is that's what they were saying to me 50 years ago. Blacks shouldn’t serve with whites. It would disrupt the unit. You know what? It did disrupt the unit. The unit got over it. The unit changed. I’m an admiral in the U.S. Navy and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Beat that with a stick.

CJ goes to see Danny and his suspenders and finds out he's going to write about Mandy's memo.

CJ gets pissy that he's going to write about it, and Danny loses his shit.
"Mandy thought it was a pretty accurate analysis, and you know it. You knew she was working for Russell, and you knew why. You knew she had to have written the memo. Why wasn’t it the first thing you asked for when you hired her? 'Mandy, tell us everything you think we’re doing wrong.' ‘Cause you knew what she was gonna say. You knew she was right. You knew there was nothing you could do about it. You guys are stuck in the mud, around here, and none of it is the fault of the press. I know you’re frustrated. But it ain’t nothing compared to the frustration of the people who voted for you, so don’t come in here and question my -- 'We’ll have a comment for you by the end of the day?' When I want the White House to comment on a story of mine, I’ll ask for it, CJ."
Is that the longest speech Danny has until "Institutional Memory?" Probably.

Sam's still being righteous about gays in the military, by the way. Just in case you were wondering.

MARGARET: IT support is now accusing me of being a hacker. They’re accusing me of spamming or smurfing. They asked me if I was running a Trojan horse. I said no, I -- I was simply informing the others that the calorie count in the raisin muffin was wrong. And it is, Toby. You don’t believe me? You should take one of those muffins and you know, take it down to the lab.
TOBY: I’ll do that.
MARGARET: Will you?
TOBY: Get me a muffin. Be careful not to handle it yourself. You want to use gloves. Slip it to me in a plastic bag. I’ll send it off to the lab.

Margaret realizes she's being mocked. Toby + Margaret = Love.

Leo is upset because new polling is out indicating that Bartlet's approval rating is 42%. Dude, Bush would kill for a 42% approval rating right now! Buck up, little camper!

Then CJ comes in and tells him she gave Bartlet a copy of Mandy's memo. Yeah, that's going to go over well. Sigh.

Then Josh comes in and tells him that he's prepared to go balls to the wall on the FEC thing, but Leo tells him it doesn't matter, Bartlet won't go for it anyway. Sigh.

Then Sam comes in and tells him that he just had the same meeting he's always had about gays in the military. Sigh. Are you sensing a theme yet? ARE YOU?

So Leo is in the greatest mood ever when he goes to see Jed. Okay, not so much. He promptly accuses Jed of being the one who drives Leo to safe ground, not the other way around.

Jed gets pissed.
BARTLET: Leo, if I ever told you to get aggressive about campaign finance or gays in the military, you would tell me, “Don’t run too fast or go too far.”
LEO: If you ever told me to get aggressive about anything, I’d say I serve at the pleasure of the President. But we’ll never know, sir, because I don’t think you’re ever gonna say it.
(Again, the slash writes itself.)

LEO: You want to see me orchestrate this right now? You want to see me mobilize these people? These people who would walk into fire if you told them to. These people who showed up to lead. These people who showed up to fight. [points at Charlie] That guy gets death threats because he’s black and he dates your daughter. He was warned, “Do not show up to this place. Your life will be in danger.” He said, “To hell with that, I’m going anyway.” You said, “No.” Prudent, or not prudent, this 21-year old for $600 a week says, “I’m going where I want to because a man stands up.” Everyone’s waiting for you. I don’t know how much longer.
BARTLET: I don’t want to feel like this anymore.
LEO: You don’t have to.
BARTLET: I don’t want to go to sleep like this.
LEO: You don’t have to.
BARTLET: I want to speak.
LEO: Say it out loud. Say it to me.
BARTLET: This is more important than re-election. I want to speak now.
LEO: Say it again.
BARTLET: This is more important than re-election. I want to speak now.
LEO: Now we’re in business!

"How did I get dragged into this? Man, I hate it when Dad and Dad fight."

Leo has nice handwriting.

Rallying the troops.
LEO: Listen up. Our ground game isn’t working. If we want to walk into walls, I want us running into them full speed.
JOSH: What are you saying?
LEO: Well, you can start by telling the Hill the President has named his nominees for the FEC. And we’re gonna lose some of these battles, and we might even lose the White House, but we’re not gonna be threatened by issues. We’re gonna put them front and center. We’re gonna raise the level of public debate in this country, and let that be our legacy. That sound all right to you, Josh?