The West Wing s03e14 Episode Script
Hartsfield's Landing
Previously on The West Wing: Your father used to hit you, didn't he? He didn't like you.
- Why are we talking about this? - Maybe if you get enough votes win one more election, your father You have stepped way over the line, and any other president would have your ass on the sidewalk right now.
I'm not trying to get my father to like me.
Good, because it's never, never gonna happen.
- Look - We're done for the night.
I hate to put it this way, but we're done when I say we're done.
I think you could use some assistance right now.
- Welcome home.
- Mr.
President.
Give me two minutes.
- Thank you.
What'd I miss? - Any further follow-up after New Delhi? - Sorry? - Any follow-up after New Delhi? We spoke about Kashmir.
She assured me they're working towards a peaceful resolution.
We also had a spirited conversation about chess.
- Prime minister plays chess? - Chess was invented in India somewhere around 600 A.
D.
A gigantic chessboard was constructed at Fatehpur Sikri, which was the capital a long time ago and human figures were used as chess pieces and moved at the emperor's will.
What I like to call the good old days.
C.
J.
- C.
J.
? - Hey, Leo.
What's he doing? -"The History of Chess" by Josiah Bartlet.
- Get him in the car.
- What's going on? - Get the press back here too.
- What's going on? - China.
Okay.
and sandalwood.
And a lacquered classic Stanton in boxwood.
- Thank you, everybody.
- Thank you, Mr.
President.
Hey, don't forget, Hartsfield votes in three hours and 21 minutes.
We're gonna find out who the next president is.
I'm gonna give some of the chess sets as gifts.
Did you see them? - Leo needs you in the car.
- Did he say? China.
- Yeah? - Good evening, Mr.
President.
- What's going on? - Intel says Taiwan's getting ready to test-fire three Patriots.
- Where? A base on an island in the Pingdong region.
- What's China's reaction? - An acceleration of integrated military exercises.
-Big? - Yeah.
- How big? - Unprecedented.
Should we tell Taiwan not to test the missiles? -Sir? - No.
We could try, but they're not gonna go for it.
- They might.
- What are they asking for? They want us to put some hardware in the Taiwan Strait.
- Tonight? -Yes, sir.
I'm assuming Nancy and Fitzwallace and the chiefs - Everyone concurs, Mr.
President.
- You? Yes, sir.
We have a pretty good sense of the worst-case scenario? We end up sending the largest U.
S.
naval armada to Southeast Asia since the end of Vietnam.
- That sounds right.
Sir? - All right, we know the play.
- We're gonna assemble in the Sit Room.
She gave me these beautiful chess sets.
-The prime minister? - Yeah.
I'm on my way.
Let Fitzwallace know I'm gonna order the 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait.
-Yes, sir.
- Let's go.
Ten-hut! - Good evening.
- Good evening.
Good evening, Mr.
President.
Listen, they start voting in Hartsfield's Landing in about two and a half hours so this may end up being somebody else's problem.
The scale of the war games is unprecedented? It's a simulation of an invasion of the Penghu Islands.
It includes battle-stance intervention by foreign aircraft carriers.
- What's the Taiwanese reaction? - Armed forces are on heightened alert.
The war minister asked for an emergency meeting.
- What about equipment movement? - Keyhole shows 10 AH-1 W helicopters.
- Super Cobras? - On the tarmac at Ching Chuan Kang.
- The Nimitz? - About two hours away.
- The Independence? - Also two hours away.
What else can be moved in? There's a battle-carrier group, the Carl Vinson, on its way to the Arabian Gulf.
Let me backtrack a second.
What's C.
J.
facing in the press room right now? Xinhua's reporting the live-fire exercises.
Can the Carl Vinson make a detour into the South China Sea? - We think that's our next move.
- Sir? - That's our next move.
- After that? After our next move comes their next move.
- C.
J.
? - Katie.
Will the president ask the Taiwanese to hold off testing the Patriots? No.
It's important to remember that Patriot missiles are defensive equipment used only in the event of an attack.
But it's the testing that's provoking the Chinese war games.
I'm not in a position to say what's provoking the war games.
Chris? If the Chinese attack Taiwan we're obligated to defend them under the '79 Act? Actually, under the '79 Act, we agree to provide Taiwan with sufficient capability to defend itself, but we're getting way ahead.
There's a Pentagon briefing at 10 a.
m.
Will the president monitor the situation all night? He'll be monitoring the situation in the China Sea as well as Hartsfield's Landing.
Any of the new people not know about Hartsfield's Landing? Hartsfield's Landing is a town in New Hampshire, population 63.
While the rest of New Hampshire goes to the polls at 8 a.
M the 42 registered voters of Hartsfield vote at one minute past midnight or a little over two hours from now.
Hartsfield has predicted the winner in every presidential election since William Howard Taft who, by the way, founded the seventh-inning stretch wherein we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" written by Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer.
All part of the service at Claudia's House of Useless Knowledge.
- That's a full lid.
Thank you very much.
- Thanks, C.
J.
Albert von Tilzer? Ironically, neither of them had been to a major-league baseball game.
The other song they were famous for? - I didn't even know they were famous.
-"Shine On, Harvest Moon.
" Charlie.
- What are those? - I'm distributing chess sets.
I need the president's private schedule.
- Didn't you get one? - I need another.
- You gotta sign it out.
- I'm sorry? Sign it out and sign it back in.
It can't be photocopied or leave the building.
- What is this? - For the third time in two months a copy wound up in the press room.
I've gotta crack down.
- I've gotta sign it out? - And sign it back in.
- I'm the press secretary.
- You do a nice job.
- Give me the damn schedule.
- Sign it out and sign it back in.
The anal-retentive side of you is not gonna help you get girls.
I do okay.
Donna! - Donna! - Yeah? - You know - I was coming.
- You were taking your time.
- I don't have warp speed.
Do you remember Jennifer Flender the daughter of the mom and pop who had the tackle shop? Mackey and Roberta Flender.
The Flenders.
The daughter just e-mailed me and told me her parents are voting for Ritchie.
- Why is she e-mailing you? - She e-mails me.
- Why? - She's got a little crush on me.
You didn't sleep with her, did you? - She's 20 years old.
- Mackey has got guns and doesn't like northerners.
- He lives in New Hampshire.
It doesn't matter.
Mom and Pop are voting for Ritchie in Hartsfield's Landing.
- You gotta talk to them.
- What? - Two votes could be the margin.
- It's Hartsfield's Landing.
- I thought we were kidding with this.
- We're not.
- It's 42 votes.
- Cast at 12:01 and counted at 12:07.
The rest of New Hampshire doesn't come in until 9 p.
m.
That's 21 hours of the news having nothing to report but the winner in Hartsfield's Landing.
I want it to be us.
- You have to talk to the Benders.
- The Flenders.
Why me? They liked you.
They took you in, fed you.
- You make me sound pathetic.
- You were pathetic and the Fenders fed you.
- Flenders.
- See, you remember.
- There's a connection.
- Josh - Politics in New Hampshire is what? - Retail.
Thank you.
Get on the phone find out what their problem is and solve it.
- I can't get on this phone.
- Why? It's a government phone.
I can't use it to intimidate voters.
Sad but true.
Know what I'm thinking? - Yes.
- A cell phone, Lafayette Park and a coat.
- I'm taking yours.
- It's a good coat.
- I'm taking it.
- No problem.
Excuse me.
- Mr.
President, welcome back.
- Thank you.
How are you? I'm fine, sir.
I was just .
- Someone gave me this chess set.
- Yeah, it's from me.
- You're kidding? - No.
The prime minister gave me a few sets, and I wanted to give them as gifts.
- I'm really overwhelmed.
- The State of the Union was really something else.
- Thank you again, sir.
This one's a lotus set in hand-carved camel bone.
She told me it came from a descendent of Tansen.
You know who that was? - No.
- Greatest musician of his time.
- What time was that? - Sixteenth century.
He'd go to the human chess matches in the Mogul court of Emperor Akbar and that began the family obsession with the game.
- You wanna play? - You? - Yeah.
- I'll get killed.
- Why? - You're a grand wizard or a grand master.
- I'm none of those.
I'm just grand.
You're white, but don't ever touch me.
- I'm sorry, sir.
- I was kidding.
The Fibonacci opening.
Very interesting.
You're gonna mess with me the whole time, right? Yeah.
- So India went well.
- Yeah.
Standing ovation on the floor of the stock exchange.
The billion dollars from the Export-lmport Bank didn't hurt.
- I suppose.
- Three billion in foreign investment to the 44 billion China gets.
You're an American.
- Where would you put your money? - India.
- Why? - They're democratic English-speaking.
There's the rule of law, better sense of humor.
That's right.
You mind my asking how bad it's getting out there tonight? It's bad.
If Kashmir is the most dangerous place on Earth the second most dangerous is the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan's got 400,000 troops on high alert.
The size of China's war games is unprecedented.
Thought about asking Taiwan to call off the tests? - You think I should? - No, sir.
- Why not? - Because China's got 300 missiles pointed at Taiwan.
Why shouldn't they defend themselves? - That's right.
Plus, guess what.
- What? The Patriot tests aren't why China's showing its teeth.
- They're not? - No.
- Why are they? - You ready to come inside? Yes, sir.
Taiwan's gonna announce that they're holding their first free elections.
You're kidding.
Defend your queen.
- Mr.
Ambassador, please.
- Excuse me, please.
Sir, there is a purpose to this meeting.
Yes, you have discovered that calling us reckless is not working.
Taiwan is a geostrategic center for commerce.
It sits on an oil lane for Asia - Excuse me.
- Unnecessarily militarizing - Madam.
- Unnecessarily militarizing on such a large scale is, in fact, reckless.
Taiwan is a part of China and is not a protectorate of the United States.
And it is your actions that are an encroachment on Chinese sovereignty and interference in internal affairs.
Our battle-carrier groups are in international waters.
Are you claiming jurisdiction? - No.
- Then let's settle down.
- The Shanghai communiqué - Sir, l - The communiqué - Says that there is but one China and Taiwan is a part of China.
The U.
S.
government doesn't challenge that.
The U.
S.
is interested in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves.
A settlement that is not best facilitated by the U.
S.
selling arms to Taiwan.
That's not on the table in this meeting.
This year's arm sale was the biggest in a decade.
Four Kidd-class destroyers, - You approved the AMRAAMs.
- That's not on the table.
I've said what was to be said.
Taiwan's reunification with the mainland is the will of all Chinese people.
And just so we understand each other the moment that we see them testing their U.
S.
-built Patriots is the moment that you will see us testing our CSS-6 missiles.
- How'd it go? - They're not voting for us.
- Why? - Because the old Perrin Pulp Mill is still idle after five years.
- Why is it our fault? - Instead of protecting American jobs we're letting Canadian importers take their market share.
It's called free trade.
It's why the Flenders aren't voting for us.
Did you talk up our accomplishments? - I couldn't think of them.
- Donna.
They don't care.
They care about the market for away-from-home paper towels and tissue products.
- Can I give them a commitment? - A commitment? - Yes.
- No! You We're not making a trade commitment to the Flenders.
We're not for protectionism, and neither are the Republicans.
The president's been good for the economy overall.
- They say he's been bad.
- We're for affordable health care.
What's affordable if you lost your job at the mill? - The Flenders don't work at the mill.
- Nobody works in the mill.
All right.
If Canada's making cheaper pulp, New Hampshire has to diversify.
That's why the president's allocated $500 million for trade adjustment assistance.
Write this down.
That's why he tripled small-business start-up loans.
That's why he's balancing the budget.
Go.
- It's so warm in here.
- Go.
- Donna? - Yeah.
Have you seen my copy of the president's private schedule? - I don't think so.
- It's stamped"D-12.
" - I haven't seen it.
- Thanks.
- Hey, Charlie.
- Listen have you seen my copy of the president's private schedule? No.
I'm trying to retrace where I've been the last hour.
I was here.
I was in the mess.
I went back to my desk.
Excuse me.
- Hello.
- Chaz.
You wouldn't know where my copy of the private schedule is, would you? - Did you lose it? - I don't believe I did.
- Yet you don't have it.
- Odd.
- He'd like you for a moment.
- Thank you.
- Where is it? - How would I know? Where is it? I hope you didn't leave the building with it.
- Give it up, tiny.
- No.
Talk nicer to me.
When a reporter finds it, they're gonna come to me.
It's stamped"D-12," and you signed it out"D-12.
" And rules are rules.
- Funny.
- What? - I never told you it was D-12.
- How about that.
- Look - You'll find it in your filing cabinet under A, for"anal.
" I don't wanna know what he's gonna find, do you? No.
- Okay.
- Thank you, Mr.
President.
C.
J.
, I want you to leak it to two or three sources the USS Carl Vinson is gonna do a passing exercise with the Independence.
- We want South China media to pick it up.
- Sure.
Mr.
President? Can you see Toby a moment? Yeah.
Give us a minute, would you? I'll let you know when there's something new.
- Good evening.
Welcome back.
- Thanks.
Come on in.
I think this note was delivered to me by mistake.
- What's it say? -"Come play chess.
" No, that's for you.
- It says,"Sigmund, come play chess.
" - That was a joke.
Not so funny, huh? - That's a beautiful chess set.
- It's a gift for you.
- Really? - Yeah.
It's hand-carved.
It belonged to the prime minister's grandfather who used it to play with Lord Mountbatten.
- I'm surprised she gave it away.
- No, she didn't.
We just boosted it from the palace on the way out.
I've got some little bottles of shampoo and conditioner too.
Well, it's a beautiful gift, sir.
- Sit down.
- Wouldn't wanna take your time.
Come on, man, you were out of line.
I was a jackass.
Let's call a truce.
Well, I certainly apologize, sir.
Let's play chess.
Aren't you in the middle of a game with Sam? Yeah.
He's one, two, four, eight 12 moves away from checkmate.
- Twelve moves? Yeah.
You take white.
Lord Mountbatten used to play with this set? With Jawaharlal Nehru, where they came to an agreement over the necessity of India's independence.
- An appropriate topic for the evening.
- Taiwan's not gonna be our topic.
- The Evans gambit.
- There's no such thing.
Variation of the Giuoco-piano opening named after British sea captain W.
D.
Evans, who invented it in 1820.
- Don't tell me chess moves.
- I moved my pawn.
Well, it's as popular today as it was back then.
- What is? - I'm sorry? - What is our topic? - Re-election and the Bartlet psychosis.
Seems to me the last time we were here we didn't do well.
So we get right back on the horse.
I was out of line.
I really do apologize.
You apologized already.
So let's get back on the horse.
Neither one of us ride horses.
That makes it more likely that we'll learn something.
Sir? Sam says, "Bishop to queen's knight three.
" Excuse me.
Eleven moves.
Take your time.
See the whole board.
- Think happy thoughts - Sir.
Sure.
The Spanish brought chess to the court of Charlemagne in 760 A.
D.
"Charlemagne" is French for"Charles the Great.
" The Charles is a river in Boston.
- The Hudson River is not a river at all - I'm taking your rook.
Now, take your time.
- See the whole board.
- The Hudson isn't a river? It is in the Catskills, but once it gets to Manhattan, it's a tidal estuary.
It's deeper than the body of water it flows into.
Yeah.
You mind my asking how the meeting with the Chinese ambassador went? Well, how do you think it went? They said if Taiwan tests the Patriots, they'll start their exercises.
That's right, except they didn't call them Patriots.
What'd they call them? - U.
S.
-made Patriots.
- Right.
They want us to say we'll roll back our sale of arms to Taiwan.
- Good.
- We're not gonna stop arming Taiwan? - No.
- When they're trying to hold free elections.
- Right.
- Plus, it's the law.
We sell them the Orions.
We sell them the AMRAAMs.
- You gonna move? - Hang on.
Two carrier groups are headed to the Taiwan Strait.
- Move.
- The Carl Vinson in the South China Sea.
Beijing wants you to scale back the weapons.
You're not gonna do it.
Right.
I gotta go back to Toby in the other room.
He's trying a Balducci attack.
- How does it work? - See the whole board.
The Aegis destroyers.
- I'm going out for pizza.
Want any? - I'll go get it.
I wanna get some air.
We need three, I think.
- 45 minutes to Hartsfield's Landing.
- We're working the room.
- Good.
- It is absurd that 42 people have this power.
- I think it's nice.
- Do you? - I think it's democracy at its purest.
- They all gather - At a gas station.
It's not a gas station.
It's nice.
There's a registrar of voters.
The names are called in alphabetical order.
They put a folded piece of paper into a box.
See, this is the difference between you and me.
- You're a sap.
- Those 42 people are teaching us something about ourselves.
That freedom is the glory of God that democracy is its birthright and that our vote matters.
- You getting the pizza or? - Yeah.
I should call ahead.
- He Krazy Glued my phone.
- Who? Charlie.
Charlie Krazy Glued my phone.
Okay.
Okay.
Now we're playing for keeps.
- Josh.
- How'd it go? I told them about the trade adjustment.
They're not wild about the Canadian thing, but their real problem is tax policy.
They wanna go from an income tax to a sales tax.
Is this gonna end up with Mackey Flender as fed chair? - I'm telling you - Sales tax is regressive.
Poor people pay a higher percentage of their income Tell them we'll study it.
Is the president destroying the economy to save salmon? - No.
- I'm having a hard time convincing them.
- There's no salmon in New Hampshire.
- Mackey's sister Fran lives in Oregon.
We haven't made a decision on the salmon runs.
- Salmon restoration is important.
- Do you know what they're talking about? Am I the fish guy? Tell them we're looking into it.
They think the president's gonna privatize social security.
That's the other guys! He's not gonna privatize social security.
He'll privatize New Hampshire before he privatizes social security.
- We haven't ruled it out.
- We told Congress we'd be open.
- They'd really prefer if we ruled it out.
- Here.
Bartlet for New Hampshire.
It gives all the reasons why Bartlet's for New Hampshire.
The Flenders, everybody.
All 17 of them or whatever goes on.
Why are you wearing my coat? - It's warmer than my coat.
- Okay.
Go.
- Are we getting pizza? - It's on its way.
All right.
- What are you doing? - Trying to get pizza in an uncivilized world.
- It's not easy being you.
No.
Listen so I shouldn't sweat, right? There's a predetermined time for the carriers? You know what? Half of me wants to let them go.
Half of you always wants to let them go.
Everybody wants to.
They need 400,000 troops on high alert for thinking about holding an election.
missiles for thinking about an election.
You're gonna turn the carrier groups around, right? We'll see how the pizza turns out.
- Yeah? -Yeah, it's me.
I just wanna remind you that child- support collection 's up 37 percent.
- What? - Child-support collection's up 37 percent.
We're cracking down on deadbeat dads.
Tell them that.
- Okay.
-Leo was just here.
- Yeah? -He was talking about Taiwan.
He's saying 400,000 troops and a battery of Patriot missiles just to think about free elections.
He was on one of his things.
Okay.
Listen, I gotta call them.
We're running out of time.
Yeah, okay.
Let me tell you, you're really showing me something tonight.
A lot of spunk, a lot of pluck.
This game isn't all about size, you know? There's a little thing called heart, and you've got it.
You know what, old man? The very minute they swear in the next guy you and I are going round and round.
- Check.
How did you get good? I had a friend in school who taught me.
He was good.
He was ranked, 18 and under.
He was a really nice guy.
Everybody liked him.
- What was his name? - David Wheadon.
- Everybody had a crush on his sister.
- You still see him? He went to Princeton.
Christmas vacation he'd saved up to go to San Francisco.
He was on the wharf, and he saw a guy beating a woman up.
And he went in to stop it, and the guy stabbed him to death.
Well, he taught you well.
So you know I had this historic stretch of sleeplessness after our last meeting.
- I didn't know.
- It got so bad Leo brought in the guy from ATVA who worked with Josh.
- Isn't he a trauma specialist? - Yeah.
We know him and I figured he had to go to school for everything.
We brought him in at night.
- What did he say? - It was your fault.
He said you shouldn't bother me so much.
- I really am sorry about that.
- I'm kidding.
Yeah.
I forgot for a second that you're hilarious.
Let's say the Republicans nominate Ritchie.
- They will.
- First of all, let's stop for a moment and say,"Why?" They got serious guys in the field Kalmbach, Daniel, Weston.
Democrats had serious guys, and they nominated you.
That's true.
Check.
You think the strike against me is nobody likes the smartest kid in the class? Oh, I don't know, sir.
Being the smartest kid in the class is a pretty good pitch.
It's not a strike unless you watch it as it sails by.
- I don't do that.
Check.
- And I'm not a snob.
- I don't believe you are.
If a guy's a good neighbor, puts in a day if once in a while he laughs, he thinks about somebody else and if he can find compassion and tolerance, he's my brother.
I don't care if he didn't pass finger-painting.
What I can't stomach are people who try to convince people that the educated are soft, privileged and out to make them feel like they're less than.
"He may be educated, but I'm plainspoken just like you.
" Especially when we know that education can be the silver bullet for crime, poverty, unemployment, drugs, hatred - Who are you trying to convince? - I'm saying, I don't watch the pitch go by.
- Check.
- And if I do it's not because my father - Was an idiot.
Can we talk about? God! Can we talk about? Please, can we talk about my father with some respect? The man's gone.
Can we? He was my father.
He wasn't a Dickens character.
Yes, sir.
Mr.
President? Yeah.
Check.
Check.
Check.
I'll be back.
Don't cheat.
I know exactly where the pieces on the board are.
I know exactly where the pieces are on Sam's board.
I know exactly where the pieces still are on David Wheadon's.
Sir, the carriers are 35 minutes from the Strait now.
All right, you can bring the ambassador back now and get Beijing.
I'm sorry, sir, it's a formality, but I .
She needs the order.
The Aegis destroyers.
Yes, sir.
Just out of curiosity, what if that doesn't work? I don't know, but for sure we're gonna blame you.
Yes, sir.
What's going on? I don't know.
Toby keeps coming back at me with this .
I don't know.
He says I let the pitch go by.
- What pitch? - I soften.
I smooth myself out publicly.
It's not a put-on, by the way.
I'm honestly folksy.
- Yeah.
-"Yeah" what? -"Yeah" nothing.
- You agree with him? - I don't think you let the pitch go by.
- I don't.
I think you foul it off.
Yeah, well, he keeps coming back at me.
You invited him back this time, didn't you? All right.
So what are you doing? - Just playing some chess.
- Stay right there.
- Tommy, it's me.
- What happened? - She ran the card.
- It must be bent.
- Stay right there, please.
- I'm staying right here.
- Look Guys, it's me.
- The card says you're Charles Young.
- Yes.
- Okay.
Well, obviously, I'm not.
- Why do you have a card that's not yours? - Because - What's going on? Mr.
McGarry, this woman has a card that doesn't belong to her.
- What? - Charlie's getting me back - Stay where you are.
- Oh, my God.
- Sign her in with an appointment.
- An appointment? - Be in your office in 15 minutes.
- Can I move now? Roberta.
Roberta, those are all good points and valid areas of disagreement.
But what I don't understand What I don't understand is you guys were such fans of the president.
You loved him when he was governor.
You worked so hard for him when he was campaigning.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, he didn't lie.
No, he didn't lie, Mackey.
I'll tell you what else, he just accepted a Congressional censure, and I think it's He should be held to a higher standard.
He holds himself to a higher standard but sometimes he can't meet it, because presidents aren't kings.
He's an economist from New Hampshire.
It's time to get off your horse.
Donna.
- I'm out here in the middle of the night - Donna.
Hold on, please.
I've had it now too.
They're shocked, appalled, disappointed.
Really they're none of those things.
They just wish they were so never missing an opportunity to feel morally superior.
- What do you want me to do now? - Let them vote.
- What does that mean? - I came to tell you to let them vote.
Yeah, this is Josh Lyman.
We just wanna call and thank you again for all your work and remind you that the polls in Hartsfield's Landing open in 14 minutes.
You got the chains on the truck, Mackey? Okay.
Tell your sister in Oregon I'm gonna learn something about salmon.
Right now, all I know is that they're good on a bagel.
Good night.
Maybe they are morally superior.
Anyway, they get to vote.
It's freezing out here.
Abbey told me this story once.
She said you were at a party once where you were bending a guy's ear.
You were telling him that Ellie had mastered her multiplication tables and she was in third grade, reading at a fifth-grade level.
She loved books and she scored two goals for her soccer team.
And you were going on.
What made Abbey's story remarkable was that the party you were at was in Stockholm and the man you were talking to was King Gustav who two hours earlier had given you the Nobel Prize in economics.
I mean, my God, you'd just won the Nobel Prize and you wanted to talk to the king about Ellie's multiplication tables.
What's your point? You're a good father.
You don't have to act like it.
You're the president.
You don't have to act like it.
You're a good man.
You don't have to act like it.
You're not just folks.
You're not plainspoken.
Do not Do not Do not act like it.
I don't wanna be killed.
Then make this election about smart and not.
Make it about engaged and not.
Qualified and not.
Make it about a heavyweight.
You're a heavyweight.
And you've been holding me up for too many rounds.
Pick your king up.
We're not done playing yet.
- Hello.
- How you doing? You really wanna dance with me? Wouldn't it have been easier to respect the rules? - What are you doing here? - Leo told me to be here.
- Leo? - What the hell? - I devised a system - I wanted a copy of the - Each copy has a number - Marion the librarian was - No copy can leave - I decided to teach him - And could flaunt the rules! - And Krazy Glued my phone! I think it's fine that people blow off steam.
But now it's done, and it's time for one of you to be mature.
- Well, C.
J.
's more mature than I am.
- Hey! - Excuse me.
Leo? - Yeah.
Nancy McNally's calling for you.
Okay.
Well .
Okay, it's over.
That's that.
So how long do you usually make people your bitch? Depends.
Okay.
- Sorry.
I got tied up.
- No, it's fine.
Let's get back to it.
I looked something up while you were gone.
Eisenhower wanted to avoid sending ships to resupply Quemoy and Matsu because they'd be a mile from the Chinese army.
A private could Well, everybody was a private in Mao's army.
A private could fire on the ship, and that'd be it.
We'd be at war.
- Eisenhower wouldn't do it.
- No.
Why are you? - Look at the whole board.
- I am.
- You're not.
- I'm trying.
- Sam - Why put carriers in the Taiwan Strait? - Are they in the Taiwan Strait? - On their way.
Is that the same thing? How does this end? Sir? Like this.
Turn them around.
I'll make some calls and thank people.
- Yes, sir.
- Thank you, by the way.
You too.
I'd like to try it without looking at the note.
Okay.
China agrees to stand down the war games.
- Right.
- They agree to let Taiwan test Patriots.
- One Patriot.
- Yes.
We Please, I wanna be right about this.
We agree not to sell Taiwan the Aegis destroyers for a period of I don't know, five years.
- Ten years, but you got it.
Sir, the Aegis radar technology isn't something that I mean, what if Taiwan did fall to China? Now they have Plus, these ships cost something like $800 million apiece.
Four would eat up half of Taiwan's defense budget.
And so? You never were gonna sell them the destroyers.
But everybody wakes up alive in the morning and saves a little face.
I don't know how you .
I don't know the word.
I don't know how you do it.
You have a lot of help.
You listen to everybody.
And then you call the play.
Sam you're gonna run for president one day.
Don't be scared.
You can do it.
I believe in you.
That's checkmate.
two roads, no traffic lights, and town hall's a filing cabinet and a countertop in the town clerk's basement.
Hartsfield's Landing is where democracy begins for the world's only superpower.
It's 12:01 a.
m.
, and the registrar, who 's also the principal and only teacher at the Hartsfield School, calls the roll of voters.
-Claude Abernathy.
-Here.
Please step up and cast your vote.
Diana Abernathy.
-Here.
-Please step up and cast your vote.
-Barney Braddock.
-Here.
Please step up and cast your vote.
-Lillian Braddock.
-Here.
Lillian 's 18, everyone.
This is her first vote.
Please step up and cast your vote.
Congratulations, Lillian.
Lillian 's mom, Miriam Braddock, please step up and cast your vote.
- Why are we talking about this? - Maybe if you get enough votes win one more election, your father You have stepped way over the line, and any other president would have your ass on the sidewalk right now.
I'm not trying to get my father to like me.
Good, because it's never, never gonna happen.
- Look - We're done for the night.
I hate to put it this way, but we're done when I say we're done.
I think you could use some assistance right now.
- Welcome home.
- Mr.
President.
Give me two minutes.
- Thank you.
What'd I miss? - Any further follow-up after New Delhi? - Sorry? - Any follow-up after New Delhi? We spoke about Kashmir.
She assured me they're working towards a peaceful resolution.
We also had a spirited conversation about chess.
- Prime minister plays chess? - Chess was invented in India somewhere around 600 A.
D.
A gigantic chessboard was constructed at Fatehpur Sikri, which was the capital a long time ago and human figures were used as chess pieces and moved at the emperor's will.
What I like to call the good old days.
C.
J.
- C.
J.
? - Hey, Leo.
What's he doing? -"The History of Chess" by Josiah Bartlet.
- Get him in the car.
- What's going on? - Get the press back here too.
- What's going on? - China.
Okay.
and sandalwood.
And a lacquered classic Stanton in boxwood.
- Thank you, everybody.
- Thank you, Mr.
President.
Hey, don't forget, Hartsfield votes in three hours and 21 minutes.
We're gonna find out who the next president is.
I'm gonna give some of the chess sets as gifts.
Did you see them? - Leo needs you in the car.
- Did he say? China.
- Yeah? - Good evening, Mr.
President.
- What's going on? - Intel says Taiwan's getting ready to test-fire three Patriots.
- Where? A base on an island in the Pingdong region.
- What's China's reaction? - An acceleration of integrated military exercises.
-Big? - Yeah.
- How big? - Unprecedented.
Should we tell Taiwan not to test the missiles? -Sir? - No.
We could try, but they're not gonna go for it.
- They might.
- What are they asking for? They want us to put some hardware in the Taiwan Strait.
- Tonight? -Yes, sir.
I'm assuming Nancy and Fitzwallace and the chiefs - Everyone concurs, Mr.
President.
- You? Yes, sir.
We have a pretty good sense of the worst-case scenario? We end up sending the largest U.
S.
naval armada to Southeast Asia since the end of Vietnam.
- That sounds right.
Sir? - All right, we know the play.
- We're gonna assemble in the Sit Room.
She gave me these beautiful chess sets.
-The prime minister? - Yeah.
I'm on my way.
Let Fitzwallace know I'm gonna order the 7th Fleet into the Taiwan Strait.
-Yes, sir.
- Let's go.
Ten-hut! - Good evening.
- Good evening.
Good evening, Mr.
President.
Listen, they start voting in Hartsfield's Landing in about two and a half hours so this may end up being somebody else's problem.
The scale of the war games is unprecedented? It's a simulation of an invasion of the Penghu Islands.
It includes battle-stance intervention by foreign aircraft carriers.
- What's the Taiwanese reaction? - Armed forces are on heightened alert.
The war minister asked for an emergency meeting.
- What about equipment movement? - Keyhole shows 10 AH-1 W helicopters.
- Super Cobras? - On the tarmac at Ching Chuan Kang.
- The Nimitz? - About two hours away.
- The Independence? - Also two hours away.
What else can be moved in? There's a battle-carrier group, the Carl Vinson, on its way to the Arabian Gulf.
Let me backtrack a second.
What's C.
J.
facing in the press room right now? Xinhua's reporting the live-fire exercises.
Can the Carl Vinson make a detour into the South China Sea? - We think that's our next move.
- Sir? - That's our next move.
- After that? After our next move comes their next move.
- C.
J.
? - Katie.
Will the president ask the Taiwanese to hold off testing the Patriots? No.
It's important to remember that Patriot missiles are defensive equipment used only in the event of an attack.
But it's the testing that's provoking the Chinese war games.
I'm not in a position to say what's provoking the war games.
Chris? If the Chinese attack Taiwan we're obligated to defend them under the '79 Act? Actually, under the '79 Act, we agree to provide Taiwan with sufficient capability to defend itself, but we're getting way ahead.
There's a Pentagon briefing at 10 a.
m.
Will the president monitor the situation all night? He'll be monitoring the situation in the China Sea as well as Hartsfield's Landing.
Any of the new people not know about Hartsfield's Landing? Hartsfield's Landing is a town in New Hampshire, population 63.
While the rest of New Hampshire goes to the polls at 8 a.
M the 42 registered voters of Hartsfield vote at one minute past midnight or a little over two hours from now.
Hartsfield has predicted the winner in every presidential election since William Howard Taft who, by the way, founded the seventh-inning stretch wherein we sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" written by Jack Norworth and Albert von Tilzer.
All part of the service at Claudia's House of Useless Knowledge.
- That's a full lid.
Thank you very much.
- Thanks, C.
J.
Albert von Tilzer? Ironically, neither of them had been to a major-league baseball game.
The other song they were famous for? - I didn't even know they were famous.
-"Shine On, Harvest Moon.
" Charlie.
- What are those? - I'm distributing chess sets.
I need the president's private schedule.
- Didn't you get one? - I need another.
- You gotta sign it out.
- I'm sorry? Sign it out and sign it back in.
It can't be photocopied or leave the building.
- What is this? - For the third time in two months a copy wound up in the press room.
I've gotta crack down.
- I've gotta sign it out? - And sign it back in.
- I'm the press secretary.
- You do a nice job.
- Give me the damn schedule.
- Sign it out and sign it back in.
The anal-retentive side of you is not gonna help you get girls.
I do okay.
Donna! - Donna! - Yeah? - You know - I was coming.
- You were taking your time.
- I don't have warp speed.
Do you remember Jennifer Flender the daughter of the mom and pop who had the tackle shop? Mackey and Roberta Flender.
The Flenders.
The daughter just e-mailed me and told me her parents are voting for Ritchie.
- Why is she e-mailing you? - She e-mails me.
- Why? - She's got a little crush on me.
You didn't sleep with her, did you? - She's 20 years old.
- Mackey has got guns and doesn't like northerners.
- He lives in New Hampshire.
It doesn't matter.
Mom and Pop are voting for Ritchie in Hartsfield's Landing.
- You gotta talk to them.
- What? - Two votes could be the margin.
- It's Hartsfield's Landing.
- I thought we were kidding with this.
- We're not.
- It's 42 votes.
- Cast at 12:01 and counted at 12:07.
The rest of New Hampshire doesn't come in until 9 p.
m.
That's 21 hours of the news having nothing to report but the winner in Hartsfield's Landing.
I want it to be us.
- You have to talk to the Benders.
- The Flenders.
Why me? They liked you.
They took you in, fed you.
- You make me sound pathetic.
- You were pathetic and the Fenders fed you.
- Flenders.
- See, you remember.
- There's a connection.
- Josh - Politics in New Hampshire is what? - Retail.
Thank you.
Get on the phone find out what their problem is and solve it.
- I can't get on this phone.
- Why? It's a government phone.
I can't use it to intimidate voters.
Sad but true.
Know what I'm thinking? - Yes.
- A cell phone, Lafayette Park and a coat.
- I'm taking yours.
- It's a good coat.
- I'm taking it.
- No problem.
Excuse me.
- Mr.
President, welcome back.
- Thank you.
How are you? I'm fine, sir.
I was just .
- Someone gave me this chess set.
- Yeah, it's from me.
- You're kidding? - No.
The prime minister gave me a few sets, and I wanted to give them as gifts.
- I'm really overwhelmed.
- The State of the Union was really something else.
- Thank you again, sir.
This one's a lotus set in hand-carved camel bone.
She told me it came from a descendent of Tansen.
You know who that was? - No.
- Greatest musician of his time.
- What time was that? - Sixteenth century.
He'd go to the human chess matches in the Mogul court of Emperor Akbar and that began the family obsession with the game.
- You wanna play? - You? - Yeah.
- I'll get killed.
- Why? - You're a grand wizard or a grand master.
- I'm none of those.
I'm just grand.
You're white, but don't ever touch me.
- I'm sorry, sir.
- I was kidding.
The Fibonacci opening.
Very interesting.
You're gonna mess with me the whole time, right? Yeah.
- So India went well.
- Yeah.
Standing ovation on the floor of the stock exchange.
The billion dollars from the Export-lmport Bank didn't hurt.
- I suppose.
- Three billion in foreign investment to the 44 billion China gets.
You're an American.
- Where would you put your money? - India.
- Why? - They're democratic English-speaking.
There's the rule of law, better sense of humor.
That's right.
You mind my asking how bad it's getting out there tonight? It's bad.
If Kashmir is the most dangerous place on Earth the second most dangerous is the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan's got 400,000 troops on high alert.
The size of China's war games is unprecedented.
Thought about asking Taiwan to call off the tests? - You think I should? - No, sir.
- Why not? - Because China's got 300 missiles pointed at Taiwan.
Why shouldn't they defend themselves? - That's right.
Plus, guess what.
- What? The Patriot tests aren't why China's showing its teeth.
- They're not? - No.
- Why are they? - You ready to come inside? Yes, sir.
Taiwan's gonna announce that they're holding their first free elections.
You're kidding.
Defend your queen.
- Mr.
Ambassador, please.
- Excuse me, please.
Sir, there is a purpose to this meeting.
Yes, you have discovered that calling us reckless is not working.
Taiwan is a geostrategic center for commerce.
It sits on an oil lane for Asia - Excuse me.
- Unnecessarily militarizing - Madam.
- Unnecessarily militarizing on such a large scale is, in fact, reckless.
Taiwan is a part of China and is not a protectorate of the United States.
And it is your actions that are an encroachment on Chinese sovereignty and interference in internal affairs.
Our battle-carrier groups are in international waters.
Are you claiming jurisdiction? - No.
- Then let's settle down.
- The Shanghai communiqué - Sir, l - The communiqué - Says that there is but one China and Taiwan is a part of China.
The U.
S.
government doesn't challenge that.
The U.
S.
is interested in a peaceful settlement of the Taiwan question by the Chinese themselves.
A settlement that is not best facilitated by the U.
S.
selling arms to Taiwan.
That's not on the table in this meeting.
This year's arm sale was the biggest in a decade.
Four Kidd-class destroyers, - You approved the AMRAAMs.
- That's not on the table.
I've said what was to be said.
Taiwan's reunification with the mainland is the will of all Chinese people.
And just so we understand each other the moment that we see them testing their U.
S.
-built Patriots is the moment that you will see us testing our CSS-6 missiles.
- How'd it go? - They're not voting for us.
- Why? - Because the old Perrin Pulp Mill is still idle after five years.
- Why is it our fault? - Instead of protecting American jobs we're letting Canadian importers take their market share.
It's called free trade.
It's why the Flenders aren't voting for us.
Did you talk up our accomplishments? - I couldn't think of them.
- Donna.
They don't care.
They care about the market for away-from-home paper towels and tissue products.
- Can I give them a commitment? - A commitment? - Yes.
- No! You We're not making a trade commitment to the Flenders.
We're not for protectionism, and neither are the Republicans.
The president's been good for the economy overall.
- They say he's been bad.
- We're for affordable health care.
What's affordable if you lost your job at the mill? - The Flenders don't work at the mill.
- Nobody works in the mill.
All right.
If Canada's making cheaper pulp, New Hampshire has to diversify.
That's why the president's allocated $500 million for trade adjustment assistance.
Write this down.
That's why he tripled small-business start-up loans.
That's why he's balancing the budget.
Go.
- It's so warm in here.
- Go.
- Donna? - Yeah.
Have you seen my copy of the president's private schedule? - I don't think so.
- It's stamped"D-12.
" - I haven't seen it.
- Thanks.
- Hey, Charlie.
- Listen have you seen my copy of the president's private schedule? No.
I'm trying to retrace where I've been the last hour.
I was here.
I was in the mess.
I went back to my desk.
Excuse me.
- Hello.
- Chaz.
You wouldn't know where my copy of the private schedule is, would you? - Did you lose it? - I don't believe I did.
- Yet you don't have it.
- Odd.
- He'd like you for a moment.
- Thank you.
- Where is it? - How would I know? Where is it? I hope you didn't leave the building with it.
- Give it up, tiny.
- No.
Talk nicer to me.
When a reporter finds it, they're gonna come to me.
It's stamped"D-12," and you signed it out"D-12.
" And rules are rules.
- Funny.
- What? - I never told you it was D-12.
- How about that.
- Look - You'll find it in your filing cabinet under A, for"anal.
" I don't wanna know what he's gonna find, do you? No.
- Okay.
- Thank you, Mr.
President.
C.
J.
, I want you to leak it to two or three sources the USS Carl Vinson is gonna do a passing exercise with the Independence.
- We want South China media to pick it up.
- Sure.
Mr.
President? Can you see Toby a moment? Yeah.
Give us a minute, would you? I'll let you know when there's something new.
- Good evening.
Welcome back.
- Thanks.
Come on in.
I think this note was delivered to me by mistake.
- What's it say? -"Come play chess.
" No, that's for you.
- It says,"Sigmund, come play chess.
" - That was a joke.
Not so funny, huh? - That's a beautiful chess set.
- It's a gift for you.
- Really? - Yeah.
It's hand-carved.
It belonged to the prime minister's grandfather who used it to play with Lord Mountbatten.
- I'm surprised she gave it away.
- No, she didn't.
We just boosted it from the palace on the way out.
I've got some little bottles of shampoo and conditioner too.
Well, it's a beautiful gift, sir.
- Sit down.
- Wouldn't wanna take your time.
Come on, man, you were out of line.
I was a jackass.
Let's call a truce.
Well, I certainly apologize, sir.
Let's play chess.
Aren't you in the middle of a game with Sam? Yeah.
He's one, two, four, eight 12 moves away from checkmate.
- Twelve moves? Yeah.
You take white.
Lord Mountbatten used to play with this set? With Jawaharlal Nehru, where they came to an agreement over the necessity of India's independence.
- An appropriate topic for the evening.
- Taiwan's not gonna be our topic.
- The Evans gambit.
- There's no such thing.
Variation of the Giuoco-piano opening named after British sea captain W.
D.
Evans, who invented it in 1820.
- Don't tell me chess moves.
- I moved my pawn.
Well, it's as popular today as it was back then.
- What is? - I'm sorry? - What is our topic? - Re-election and the Bartlet psychosis.
Seems to me the last time we were here we didn't do well.
So we get right back on the horse.
I was out of line.
I really do apologize.
You apologized already.
So let's get back on the horse.
Neither one of us ride horses.
That makes it more likely that we'll learn something.
Sir? Sam says, "Bishop to queen's knight three.
" Excuse me.
Eleven moves.
Take your time.
See the whole board.
- Think happy thoughts - Sir.
Sure.
The Spanish brought chess to the court of Charlemagne in 760 A.
D.
"Charlemagne" is French for"Charles the Great.
" The Charles is a river in Boston.
- The Hudson River is not a river at all - I'm taking your rook.
Now, take your time.
- See the whole board.
- The Hudson isn't a river? It is in the Catskills, but once it gets to Manhattan, it's a tidal estuary.
It's deeper than the body of water it flows into.
Yeah.
You mind my asking how the meeting with the Chinese ambassador went? Well, how do you think it went? They said if Taiwan tests the Patriots, they'll start their exercises.
That's right, except they didn't call them Patriots.
What'd they call them? - U.
S.
-made Patriots.
- Right.
They want us to say we'll roll back our sale of arms to Taiwan.
- Good.
- We're not gonna stop arming Taiwan? - No.
- When they're trying to hold free elections.
- Right.
- Plus, it's the law.
We sell them the Orions.
We sell them the AMRAAMs.
- You gonna move? - Hang on.
Two carrier groups are headed to the Taiwan Strait.
- Move.
- The Carl Vinson in the South China Sea.
Beijing wants you to scale back the weapons.
You're not gonna do it.
Right.
I gotta go back to Toby in the other room.
He's trying a Balducci attack.
- How does it work? - See the whole board.
The Aegis destroyers.
- I'm going out for pizza.
Want any? - I'll go get it.
I wanna get some air.
We need three, I think.
- 45 minutes to Hartsfield's Landing.
- We're working the room.
- Good.
- It is absurd that 42 people have this power.
- I think it's nice.
- Do you? - I think it's democracy at its purest.
- They all gather - At a gas station.
It's not a gas station.
It's nice.
There's a registrar of voters.
The names are called in alphabetical order.
They put a folded piece of paper into a box.
See, this is the difference between you and me.
- You're a sap.
- Those 42 people are teaching us something about ourselves.
That freedom is the glory of God that democracy is its birthright and that our vote matters.
- You getting the pizza or? - Yeah.
I should call ahead.
- He Krazy Glued my phone.
- Who? Charlie.
Charlie Krazy Glued my phone.
Okay.
Okay.
Now we're playing for keeps.
- Josh.
- How'd it go? I told them about the trade adjustment.
They're not wild about the Canadian thing, but their real problem is tax policy.
They wanna go from an income tax to a sales tax.
Is this gonna end up with Mackey Flender as fed chair? - I'm telling you - Sales tax is regressive.
Poor people pay a higher percentage of their income Tell them we'll study it.
Is the president destroying the economy to save salmon? - No.
- I'm having a hard time convincing them.
- There's no salmon in New Hampshire.
- Mackey's sister Fran lives in Oregon.
We haven't made a decision on the salmon runs.
- Salmon restoration is important.
- Do you know what they're talking about? Am I the fish guy? Tell them we're looking into it.
They think the president's gonna privatize social security.
That's the other guys! He's not gonna privatize social security.
He'll privatize New Hampshire before he privatizes social security.
- We haven't ruled it out.
- We told Congress we'd be open.
- They'd really prefer if we ruled it out.
- Here.
Bartlet for New Hampshire.
It gives all the reasons why Bartlet's for New Hampshire.
The Flenders, everybody.
All 17 of them or whatever goes on.
Why are you wearing my coat? - It's warmer than my coat.
- Okay.
Go.
- Are we getting pizza? - It's on its way.
All right.
- What are you doing? - Trying to get pizza in an uncivilized world.
- It's not easy being you.
No.
Listen so I shouldn't sweat, right? There's a predetermined time for the carriers? You know what? Half of me wants to let them go.
Half of you always wants to let them go.
Everybody wants to.
They need 400,000 troops on high alert for thinking about holding an election.
missiles for thinking about an election.
You're gonna turn the carrier groups around, right? We'll see how the pizza turns out.
- Yeah? -Yeah, it's me.
I just wanna remind you that child- support collection 's up 37 percent.
- What? - Child-support collection's up 37 percent.
We're cracking down on deadbeat dads.
Tell them that.
- Okay.
-Leo was just here.
- Yeah? -He was talking about Taiwan.
He's saying 400,000 troops and a battery of Patriot missiles just to think about free elections.
He was on one of his things.
Okay.
Listen, I gotta call them.
We're running out of time.
Yeah, okay.
Let me tell you, you're really showing me something tonight.
A lot of spunk, a lot of pluck.
This game isn't all about size, you know? There's a little thing called heart, and you've got it.
You know what, old man? The very minute they swear in the next guy you and I are going round and round.
- Check.
How did you get good? I had a friend in school who taught me.
He was good.
He was ranked, 18 and under.
He was a really nice guy.
Everybody liked him.
- What was his name? - David Wheadon.
- Everybody had a crush on his sister.
- You still see him? He went to Princeton.
Christmas vacation he'd saved up to go to San Francisco.
He was on the wharf, and he saw a guy beating a woman up.
And he went in to stop it, and the guy stabbed him to death.
Well, he taught you well.
So you know I had this historic stretch of sleeplessness after our last meeting.
- I didn't know.
- It got so bad Leo brought in the guy from ATVA who worked with Josh.
- Isn't he a trauma specialist? - Yeah.
We know him and I figured he had to go to school for everything.
We brought him in at night.
- What did he say? - It was your fault.
He said you shouldn't bother me so much.
- I really am sorry about that.
- I'm kidding.
Yeah.
I forgot for a second that you're hilarious.
Let's say the Republicans nominate Ritchie.
- They will.
- First of all, let's stop for a moment and say,"Why?" They got serious guys in the field Kalmbach, Daniel, Weston.
Democrats had serious guys, and they nominated you.
That's true.
Check.
You think the strike against me is nobody likes the smartest kid in the class? Oh, I don't know, sir.
Being the smartest kid in the class is a pretty good pitch.
It's not a strike unless you watch it as it sails by.
- I don't do that.
Check.
- And I'm not a snob.
- I don't believe you are.
If a guy's a good neighbor, puts in a day if once in a while he laughs, he thinks about somebody else and if he can find compassion and tolerance, he's my brother.
I don't care if he didn't pass finger-painting.
What I can't stomach are people who try to convince people that the educated are soft, privileged and out to make them feel like they're less than.
"He may be educated, but I'm plainspoken just like you.
" Especially when we know that education can be the silver bullet for crime, poverty, unemployment, drugs, hatred - Who are you trying to convince? - I'm saying, I don't watch the pitch go by.
- Check.
- And if I do it's not because my father - Was an idiot.
Can we talk about? God! Can we talk about? Please, can we talk about my father with some respect? The man's gone.
Can we? He was my father.
He wasn't a Dickens character.
Yes, sir.
Mr.
President? Yeah.
Check.
Check.
Check.
I'll be back.
Don't cheat.
I know exactly where the pieces on the board are.
I know exactly where the pieces are on Sam's board.
I know exactly where the pieces still are on David Wheadon's.
Sir, the carriers are 35 minutes from the Strait now.
All right, you can bring the ambassador back now and get Beijing.
I'm sorry, sir, it's a formality, but I .
She needs the order.
The Aegis destroyers.
Yes, sir.
Just out of curiosity, what if that doesn't work? I don't know, but for sure we're gonna blame you.
Yes, sir.
What's going on? I don't know.
Toby keeps coming back at me with this .
I don't know.
He says I let the pitch go by.
- What pitch? - I soften.
I smooth myself out publicly.
It's not a put-on, by the way.
I'm honestly folksy.
- Yeah.
-"Yeah" what? -"Yeah" nothing.
- You agree with him? - I don't think you let the pitch go by.
- I don't.
I think you foul it off.
Yeah, well, he keeps coming back at me.
You invited him back this time, didn't you? All right.
So what are you doing? - Just playing some chess.
- Stay right there.
- Tommy, it's me.
- What happened? - She ran the card.
- It must be bent.
- Stay right there, please.
- I'm staying right here.
- Look Guys, it's me.
- The card says you're Charles Young.
- Yes.
- Okay.
Well, obviously, I'm not.
- Why do you have a card that's not yours? - Because - What's going on? Mr.
McGarry, this woman has a card that doesn't belong to her.
- What? - Charlie's getting me back - Stay where you are.
- Oh, my God.
- Sign her in with an appointment.
- An appointment? - Be in your office in 15 minutes.
- Can I move now? Roberta.
Roberta, those are all good points and valid areas of disagreement.
But what I don't understand What I don't understand is you guys were such fans of the president.
You loved him when he was governor.
You worked so hard for him when he was campaigning.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Well, he didn't lie.
No, he didn't lie, Mackey.
I'll tell you what else, he just accepted a Congressional censure, and I think it's He should be held to a higher standard.
He holds himself to a higher standard but sometimes he can't meet it, because presidents aren't kings.
He's an economist from New Hampshire.
It's time to get off your horse.
Donna.
- I'm out here in the middle of the night - Donna.
Hold on, please.
I've had it now too.
They're shocked, appalled, disappointed.
Really they're none of those things.
They just wish they were so never missing an opportunity to feel morally superior.
- What do you want me to do now? - Let them vote.
- What does that mean? - I came to tell you to let them vote.
Yeah, this is Josh Lyman.
We just wanna call and thank you again for all your work and remind you that the polls in Hartsfield's Landing open in 14 minutes.
You got the chains on the truck, Mackey? Okay.
Tell your sister in Oregon I'm gonna learn something about salmon.
Right now, all I know is that they're good on a bagel.
Good night.
Maybe they are morally superior.
Anyway, they get to vote.
It's freezing out here.
Abbey told me this story once.
She said you were at a party once where you were bending a guy's ear.
You were telling him that Ellie had mastered her multiplication tables and she was in third grade, reading at a fifth-grade level.
She loved books and she scored two goals for her soccer team.
And you were going on.
What made Abbey's story remarkable was that the party you were at was in Stockholm and the man you were talking to was King Gustav who two hours earlier had given you the Nobel Prize in economics.
I mean, my God, you'd just won the Nobel Prize and you wanted to talk to the king about Ellie's multiplication tables.
What's your point? You're a good father.
You don't have to act like it.
You're the president.
You don't have to act like it.
You're a good man.
You don't have to act like it.
You're not just folks.
You're not plainspoken.
Do not Do not Do not act like it.
I don't wanna be killed.
Then make this election about smart and not.
Make it about engaged and not.
Qualified and not.
Make it about a heavyweight.
You're a heavyweight.
And you've been holding me up for too many rounds.
Pick your king up.
We're not done playing yet.
- Hello.
- How you doing? You really wanna dance with me? Wouldn't it have been easier to respect the rules? - What are you doing here? - Leo told me to be here.
- Leo? - What the hell? - I devised a system - I wanted a copy of the - Each copy has a number - Marion the librarian was - No copy can leave - I decided to teach him - And could flaunt the rules! - And Krazy Glued my phone! I think it's fine that people blow off steam.
But now it's done, and it's time for one of you to be mature.
- Well, C.
J.
's more mature than I am.
- Hey! - Excuse me.
Leo? - Yeah.
Nancy McNally's calling for you.
Okay.
Well .
Okay, it's over.
That's that.
So how long do you usually make people your bitch? Depends.
Okay.
- Sorry.
I got tied up.
- No, it's fine.
Let's get back to it.
I looked something up while you were gone.
Eisenhower wanted to avoid sending ships to resupply Quemoy and Matsu because they'd be a mile from the Chinese army.
A private could Well, everybody was a private in Mao's army.
A private could fire on the ship, and that'd be it.
We'd be at war.
- Eisenhower wouldn't do it.
- No.
Why are you? - Look at the whole board.
- I am.
- You're not.
- I'm trying.
- Sam - Why put carriers in the Taiwan Strait? - Are they in the Taiwan Strait? - On their way.
Is that the same thing? How does this end? Sir? Like this.
Turn them around.
I'll make some calls and thank people.
- Yes, sir.
- Thank you, by the way.
You too.
I'd like to try it without looking at the note.
Okay.
China agrees to stand down the war games.
- Right.
- They agree to let Taiwan test Patriots.
- One Patriot.
- Yes.
We Please, I wanna be right about this.
We agree not to sell Taiwan the Aegis destroyers for a period of I don't know, five years.
- Ten years, but you got it.
Sir, the Aegis radar technology isn't something that I mean, what if Taiwan did fall to China? Now they have Plus, these ships cost something like $800 million apiece.
Four would eat up half of Taiwan's defense budget.
And so? You never were gonna sell them the destroyers.
But everybody wakes up alive in the morning and saves a little face.
I don't know how you .
I don't know the word.
I don't know how you do it.
You have a lot of help.
You listen to everybody.
And then you call the play.
Sam you're gonna run for president one day.
Don't be scared.
You can do it.
I believe in you.
That's checkmate.
two roads, no traffic lights, and town hall's a filing cabinet and a countertop in the town clerk's basement.
Hartsfield's Landing is where democracy begins for the world's only superpower.
It's 12:01 a.
m.
, and the registrar, who 's also the principal and only teacher at the Hartsfield School, calls the roll of voters.
-Claude Abernathy.
-Here.
Please step up and cast your vote.
Diana Abernathy.
-Here.
-Please step up and cast your vote.
-Barney Braddock.
-Here.
Please step up and cast your vote.
-Lillian Braddock.
-Here.
Lillian 's 18, everyone.
This is her first vote.
Please step up and cast your vote.
Congratulations, Lillian.
Lillian 's mom, Miriam Braddock, please step up and cast your vote.