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John Spencer as Leo McGarry, White House Chief of Staff
(with Teddy Roosevelt)
NBC Photo: Michael O'Neill
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Written by: Debora Cahn, Directed by: Alex Graves
- Takes Place: After the New Hampshire primary election
- Broadcast: February 23, 2005
- Query: What was the music playing at the reception?
- While the Santos campaign celebrates, C.J. complains to Leo,
- "This lack of Josh is becoming a problem."
"You thinking about a replacement?"
"I've been working on the assumption that we'd get him back. Never thought Santos would hang on this long."
"Nineteen percent in New Hampshire. Maybe he's a contender?"
C.J.'s problem is that she is dealing with three groups fighting over every last drop of the Colorado river. Leo asks who is representing the first group, and C.J. says, "Cliff Calley."
"No wonder you want flank support...."
"He de-pantsed us on the clean air bill singlehandedly."
- We keep going back and forth to Toby and a woman in a bar. Toby has just buried his astronaut brother and he is feeling more introspective than usual.
- "Sometimes I think, what if I were at UNICEF or United Way pulling together the AIDS fight or back in New York turning the public school system around, would that be a more effective use of my 24 hours. Not this. Not pushing on the ocean."
- The meeting with Cliff (who is now a lobbyist) doesn't go well. He doesn't like their water proposal.
- "It's a Band-Aid that will give the federal government permission to ignore drought conditions in eleven states for another five years." He goes on to detail why the plan doesn't have a prayer.
Later Leo tells C.J. (who found Cliff extremely annoying), "You ought to have a conversation with him. I'm happy picking up the loose ends but Josh left a big hole in this place. Maybe he's coming back. Maybe he isn't."
"You want me to hire Cliff Calley?"
"He knows the hill, he knows what he's talking about."
"You're talking about a guy who used to work for Congressional Republicans."
"I'm talking about a guy who shut down an investigation into my substance abuse history because he thought maybe we should be governing the country. It's a Republican Congress. Not the worst thing in the world to have someone with relationships on both sides of the aisle."
"No. He's the wrong choice. And he's irritating. And he's obnoxious."
"That's worked for us in the past." On cue Josh insists on seeing C.J. and Leo. And, when asked, he give C.J. the same analysis of the water proposal that Cliff had given her.
- Joah learns that Toby's brother has just died and he goes to see him. Toby doesn't want to talk about his brother and ends up telling Josh how much trouble he has left the West Wing staff in by "walking away". Later Donna points out to Josh that Senator Rafferty who is just entering the race is using a health plan that is striking similar to one that Josh talked Bartlet and Toby out of before their first campaign. Josh asks Toby,
- "Does it bother you that someone's stealing your stuff? Does that trouble you at all?"
"It doesn't."
"It would. You're not a good sharer. The only way it doesn't bother you is if you handed it to him yourself." They have an argument about what is happening with the campaigns. Toby is deeply upset by his brother's death (more deeply than we yet know) and Josh is stretched thin and has been yelling at people all day. He finally tells Toby, "You are a selfish petty ---"
"Get out."
"---waste of the oxygen in the air that useful people could be ---"
"GET OUT!"
"You get out you selfish son-of=a-bitch," at which Josh throws all the paper he has in his hand (the text of Senator Rafferty's plan) at him. Toby throws the papers back, again demanding at the top of his lungs, "GET OUT!"
Josh turns back and when Toby walks forward, Josh runs at him and they wrestle a bit and Toby ends up with a scratch on his cheek. C.J. hears about the confrontation and goes to talk to Toby. And he tells her what he hasn't told anyone else: that David didn't die of cancer but committed suicide after he was diagnosed. "He could've had years. But instead... He just dropped everything and walked away."
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#616 "Drought Conditions"
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