"Previously on the West Wing" spoken by C.J.
The internet press is running with a story that questions C.J.'s sexual orientation. C.J. refuses to put out a statement, which only makes the media press harder. The effects of MS are becoming more pronounced on President Bartlet and doctors warn that he will need to take a daily nap and cut down on reading. The President's budget is being held up by Senator Wilkinson who insists the President add a provision banning gay marriage. The President wants it off the budget, Josh and Toby are not successful getting the votes to combat Wilkinson's amendment. The Vice President refuses to help the administration, despite the fact he has a gay nephew. Toby confronts Wilkinson and finds that former Vice President John Hoynes may be behind the actions of Wilkinson. The President works a deal with Wilkinson directly. Meanwhile, Santos declares that he will run for President but only if Josh will run his campaign, and C.J. makes a defiant statement to reporters.
Summary
Opening
Act I
Act II
Act III
Act IV
- In Houston Santos tells his wife that Josh is trying to talk him into running for President. When he tells her that he told Josh no, she doesn't seem to think that ended it. Meanwhile, C.J. learns there is a report on the Internet that is questioning her sexual persuasion, but her main focus is a "budget headed for conference committee". Then they discover that a Senator that Will describes as planning to "sell flat globes" is going to be on the conference committee. Toby advises C.J. against putting out a statement denying the rumors that she is a lesbian,
- "Don't put out a statement.... It feels funny."
"You're going to have to be more articulate than that."
"It can't be a coincidence. Rumors about your sexuality on the same day the Republicans are shoving Wilkinson onto the budget conference committee...."
"I think you are drastically overestimating the political potency of my sex life."
"Not possible."
Later Annabeth describes what a statement might have to do, "You want to emphatically deny something you have no problem with and make it publically clear this is a private matter."
- Will is interviewing someone to whom he says,
- "I looked over your resume. I think we both know its an undersell. What I take to the Vice President is the knowledge you've gleaned over six years on the front lines. We can safely say, you've picked up a lot."
He is talking to Donna, who tells him, "I try to pay attention."
"I just want to make sure I'm not starting a turf war. I would hate to find the Deputy Chief of Staff at my door with a switch blade."
"You're not poaching me. I need to move on.... he'll find someone else to answer his phone."
"Well, we can use you. No question. And not as anybody's assistant." Donna has a new job.
- The President is having problems with his balance. The First Lady and C.J meet with his doctors to learn how his condition is now going to curtail what he can be asked to do. Elsewhere, Josh and Toby are off trying to save the Budget bill from an amendment against gay marriage. Toby goes to several people, first to Will to ask that the Vice President help. Will tells him,
- "The Vice President is pro-marriage."
"As are we all. I've been married almost twice to the same woman."
"That's unique," Will says but he isn't willing to have the Vice President get involved in the coming fight.
When trying to talk to a conservative Senator about the subject, the Senator asks him, "Toby, do you believe the Bible to be literally true?"
"Yes, sir. But I don't think either of us is smart enough to understand it."
- Just when Josh has given up on getting someone else in the Democratic field for President, Santos tells him,
- "I'm in if you're in with me."
Josh later tells Toby, "I kinda talked him into it. I think I got to go with him. I laid out a nine-point plan." Toby isn't encouraging, "You can't leave. We're not done here.... You're going to walk into the Oval Office and tell the President, you just found a better horse?"
- C.J. is not having it easy. She finds Leo in her old office going through files. He asks her,
- "How you holding up?"
"I'm feeling a little over-interpreted.... Am I wrong to want to set the record straight.... I'm a heterosexual --- and I don't know why I just said that except that as of this morning I'm... apparently. the most powerful lesbian on the planet when the fact of the matter is I'm... absolutely crazy about this particular man I just met and had two fabulous dinners with in the space of one week. A man who hasn't had the courtesy to call me today probably because he's simply of the undependable gender or, come to think of it, maybe he has even less of an idea of how to deal with my alleged and fictitious lesbianism than I do. So he'll just... drift away like the legion of other cowards for whom I spent my young life staring at the phone like an exquisite collie hoping for table scraps until I became successful and suddenly I started to scare them --- scare them with the very independence they required me to have, so that now I'm looking at some bad numbers, really rough stuff if you know what I'm talking about. But what was I suppose to do, turn down an opportunity to serve the President of the United States who I believe and adore? You just want to share it all with someone, you know?" Leo doesn't seem to know how to respond to this stream of consciousness.
On her way out, C.J. tells him, "I need you to stay, Leo. So, does the President."
- Josh asks Leo to join the Santos campaign, but Leo tells him,
- "I already found my guy."
Later Josh asks Toby, "What are you going to do when this is done?"
"Whatever I can to stave off the chaos, mayhem and self-interest that lies just beneath our civil disguise."
"So, not the private sector?"
"The money would have to be unbelievable."
- C.J.'s new guy does come through. And Josh walks into the Oval to tell the President he is leaving. And Donna opens a Russell for President office in New Hampshire. And Santos announces his candidacy with words about education and hope
- "Hope is real. In a time of global chaos and instability where our faiths collide, as often as our weapons, hope is real.... There is such a thing as false science, there is such a thing as false promises, I am sure I will have my share of false starts. But there is no such thing as false hope. There is only hope."
Trivia / Goofs
- Bartlet recites, "How body from spirit does slowly unwind/Until we are pure spirit at the end." This comes from the poem "Infirmity" by Theodore Roethke.
- We learn that Vice-President Robert Russell has a gay nephew.
- There are two fish in CJ's fishbowl.
- At the end of the episode, a plaque is seen on the President's desk - the plaque says: "O God, thy sea is so great, and my boat is so small." It is attributed to the "Prayer of Breton fishermen." President Kennedy had a similar plaque on his desk given to him by Admiral Hyman Rickover, who gave one like it to the commanding officer of each new Polaris submarine.
Quotes
- Will Bailey: (On Vice President Russell) He's not stupid.
Josh Lyman: Is that your bumper sticker?
- Toby Ziegler: I hate this issue. It's like walking around town holding a sick chicken.
Cast
Starring
- Stockard Channing as Abbey Bartlet
- Dulé Hill as Charlie Young
- Allison Janney as C.J. Cregg
- Joshua Malina as Will Bailey
- Mary McCormack as Kate Harper
- Janel Moloney as Donna Moss
- Richard Schiff as Toby Ziegler
- John Spencer as Leo McGarry
- Bradley Whitford as Josh Lyman
- with Jimmy Smits as Matthew Santos
- and Martin Sheen as President Jed Bartlet
Special Guest Stars
- Kristin Chenoweth as Annabeth Schott
- Gary Cole as Bob Russell
- Teri Polo as Helen Santos
- and Tim Matheson as John Hoynes
Guest Starring
- Reed Diamond as Dr. Mike Gordon
- Paul Collins as Senator Sam Wilkinson
- Cleo King as Marla Whorisky
- NiCole Robinson as Margaret Hooper
- Renée Estevez as Nancy
Co-Starring
- Mindy Seeger as Chris
- Ben Murray as Curtis Carruthers
- Ben Siegler as George
- DeVone Lawson Jr. as Physical Therapist
References
"The West Wing" Faith-Based Initiative (2005)