The West Wing s03e19 Episode Script

- Previously on The West Wing: - Seventeen schoolgirls died because they weren't wearing the proper clothing.
Am I outraged? That is Saudi Arabia, our partners in peace.
C.
J.
Cregg? Special Agent Simon Donovan.
Treasury Department, U.
S.
Secret Service.
You don't get to put a bomb in Iran! There are no other issues right now.
How can you be sure it's not a rogue thing? From how far away can you do this? - I respect a certain perimeter of privacy.
- What does that mean? - I don't need to see you naked.
- Okay.
- Welcome back.
- We are back.
- And it was a success.
- It was.
What'd you bring me? I brought you a collector's plate of a moose.
- I love moose.
- I know how you do.
Bonnie, you get a hat with a moose on it.
- You like a good hotel gift shop.
- I do.
What do they eat in Helsinki? - They eat moose.
- You ate a moose? No, I don't eat things where the cartoon character can talk and, you know, hatch a plan.
- Yeah.
I'm gonna go to bed.
I just came back for mail and messages.
Yeah.
Crane from UPI needs a call back tonight about Segal for Ways and Means.
Mrs.
Bartlet wants you to go over her remarks to the IBEW.
The whip's office called about one-minutes on the floor.
- What's this? - It's marked"personal.
" - You don't know who sent it? - There's no return address.
- Is it porn? - I don't know.
I'm tired, but if it's porn I mean, really good porn .
If my innocent joking is making you uncomfortable .
No, I'm hoping it's porn.
No! You understand? I'm driving myself home.
You wanna follow me in a chase car, that's fine.
But you have been annoying me for six days.
You annoyed me here, then you annoyed me in Finland.
You're quiet, you're polite, and you're there.
You're always there.
I can't shake you.
You followed me to Scandinavia and back.
- Well - Not the"aw, shucks" answer.
"Well, that's my job, ma'am.
" And don't call me"ma'am.
" Don't call me"Ms.
Cregg.
" This isn't a Western.
I'm required to call you"ma'am" or "Ms.
Cregg.
" Rules and regulations.
Okay.
Okay, Secret Agent Man, here's my rules and regulations: I'm getting in my convertible, and I'm gonna feel the wind in my hair and anyplace else I want.
You can look at my taillights.
- I'm not allowed to do that either.
- See you at home.
Okay.
There's no way you're letting me walk out the door so, what is it we're doing? - I'm sorry? - What's your plan for me? - I don't have a plan.
- You're gonna let me drive home? No.
I've got your spark plug.
- Is that what you meant? - You got my spark plug? And the battery.
Also the fuel pump, starter relay timing belt, the ignition fuse and, well, also the engine, I guess.
- Did you leave me anything? Wiper fluid.
You can clean your windshield.
- No, actually, you need the battery.
- Yeah.
C.
J.
, listen.
This just came in the mail.
- It's an opposition spot.
- What are you talking about? Honor, morality, truth.
Values we deserve in America 's house.
Throwing mud to cover up his failure.
Refusing to sign a Clean Campaign Pledge so he won 't have to defend his broken promises.
Jed Bartlet: What's he hiding from us now? - Who sent you this? - That's the thing.
- What? - I don't know.
- Good morning.
- My man.
- Yes.
- You came back to me.
- Just like I promised.
- I missed you.
- When did you miss me the most? - The nights.
- Of course.
- Did you bring me anything? I did.
- Where is it? - Should be in my office.
- Wow.
- Open it.
I'm just happy it's not moose.
What is it? Moose.
It's sauna-smoked moose meat nicely packaged in a burnt-pine box.
The hinges are made from handwoven Lapland ribbons.
- I missed you so much.
- Where am I supposed to be right now? The basement, office C.
Throwing mud to cover up his failure.
Refusing to sign a Clean Campaign Pledge so he won 't have to defend his broken promises.
Jed Bartlet: What's he hiding from us now? No"paid for by" tagline.
You've looked at it three times now, what are you thinking? If I wanted to sink the Bartlet campaign, this is exactly the ad I'd run.
- In May? - No.
But I would show it to the other side so they know not to hit me first.
- Every campaign has one.
- We didn't.
- Yes, we did.
- Yes, we did.
"Honor, truth, morality.
" It's an ad about MS.
Do we make one and keep it in a drawer? - I'll take care of it.
- Fine - Did you see this? - Last night.
- I'm gonna talk to the counsel's office.
- You think it goes to the FBI? If it was stolen, I don't want Sam to end up like a girlfriend of an indicted senator.
- Do you believe it was stolen? - No.
How can he be an accomplice then? - You wanna find out? - No.
- We shouldn't go to the FBI yet.
- Might be multi-jurisdictional.
- It probably crossed state - I'm saying no law enforcement.
It's gonna seem like we're trying to suck the FBI into investigating Ritchie, and the FBI works for us.
- He's got a point.
- And we're tainted.
- Just stick it in a drawer and forget it.
- No.
What are you suggesting? - I sit down with Kevin Kahn.
- No.
- No.
- Bruno? - Sorry? - What do you think about I sit down with Kevin Kahn? - No.
- Sam.
- He's a friend of mine.
- I don't care if he did your bris.
I don't trust Kevin Kahn, and I don't know what this is yet.
What is the danger? Where is the danger in my sitting down with Kevin and saying: "Someone sent this to us.
If it's you, we've got our own in a drawer.
If not, you've got a mole, and we want nothing to do with it.
" How do we lose? In court, in public, in the voting booth? There are only two things here.
Either somebody's trying to hurt us, or somebody's trying to help us.
Just so you know.
Would you talk to Leo? Yeah.
- I have a meeting.
- Apologize for the skyboxes.
- They weren't that bad.
- I was there.
- How was Helsinki? - Good.
Good.
I accidentally ate a moose.
Let me look at this again, okay? - Morning.
- Good morning.
I've got an idea for a new kind of awards show.
Tell your entertainment divisions about this.
At the moment the winner's name is called the four nominees who didn't win drop through a trap door right under their seats.
Am I crazy, or is that not good television? - Speaking of good television - Yes, I've been asked by Bruno Gianelli to apologize for the skyboxes.
We'll do better at the Garden.
What about spinners? Last time, you all staffed the president.
There was no one around during big speeches.
We have a better surrogate program.
Governors, big mayors.
Some of us will be available to you, and some of us will staff the president.
We come directly to you if we need more floor passes.
- Absolutely.
- We should really be talking about programming.
- We have to.
- Yes.
- And we have to call it programming.
Call it what you like.
We call it programming.
- The panels were a little dry last time.
- Two panels on deficit reduction.
Monday night we've got real people the president's met across the country reading planks from the platform.
Scott O'Leary's doing the keynote.
The Harlem Boys Choir sings the anthem.
Tuesday's Mrs.
Bartlet and Rev.
Lydell.
A panel with women senators on biomedical research, breast-cancer progress medical-privacy issues .
Look, a Dean Martin roast it ain't, but We're talking about cutting back on our coverage.
You only covered two hours a night last time.
How much more? We're talking about an hour.
- You can't do an hour a night? - That's the thing, you don't understand.
We're talking about an hour for each convention.
We cover acceptance speeches, that's it.
One of these times you guys are gonna say that, and it's gonna be true.
- How long is it? - Four or five hours.
You'll be fine.
- They do all the Henrys? - They take all the Henrys, do a thing and call it War of the Roses.
I'm told by those that saw it, it's spectacular.
Catholic Charities bought out a theater.
We're gonna go and make some money.
- It's fine except the part where we go.
- You know why? The Royal National Company's got the King Henrys up there and I'm still number one.
- I love it when you're like this.
Let me ask you something.
Which Plantagenet do I remind you of? You wanna, please? - Good morning.
- Good morning, sir.
We have reason to believe there'll be an attack on a U.
S.
military installation sometime in the next 48 hours.
We have a credible threat.
We just got done with Helsinki and the reactor.
- Yes, sir.
- How do we know? The NSA's been monitoring web sites of the Bahji cell operating out of Syria.
They've been looking for picture codes, and they intercepted cellular calls.
Sir, that tracks with what our advisors in Kazakhstan gave us this morning.
The Russians have a prisoner in Chechnya who verified it'll be military.
- Which are the most vulnerable? - The Navy's Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
Jaber Air Base, Kuwait.
Prince Sultan Air Base.
Incirlik.
- Seeb North Air Base.
- General? I'd like to order Force Protection Delta.
Keep nonessentials off and limit troop movement.
Admiral? Yeah.
Sir, I'd like all carriers and destroyers into harbor where we can give them water security.
So ordered.
I don't care if you know anything new or not I need updates every half-hour for the next 48 hours.
- Yes, sir.
- Thank you, Mr.
President.
Look, this is obviously a Do not eat the fruit.
This is obviously a negotiating position for you.
So, what is it you need? You want us to vote a member of the Rules Committee out every night? The secretary should eat a jellyfish? You know what, sir? Don't talk to me like I'm other people.
The four of us are news directors.
There isn't a day that we don't beg the person we work for to let us, for the love of Jesus Christ, do the news.
Is the Republican nominee Rob Ritchie? Yes.
Is his running mate Jeff Heston? Yes.
And that question is even less suspenseful when talking about the Democratic ticket.
Will there be anything of any force or consequence in the platform? No.
Will there be a floor fight over it? What does it matter? And you're huffed because the four of us are questioning the wisdom of presenting a four-day infomercial? In prime time under network news? Simulcast? We'll show the acceptance speeches and the balloons.
The balloons aren't news, but it's nice television.
- Morning.
- Morning.
This is Donovan, 7:02.
- I've got Flamingo.
- That code name's not going away, is it? - Thank you, Jamie.
Sleep well.
- Thank you.
- I'm going shopping at lunch.
- Sure.
- Where you going? - Does it matter? I'd like to let the manager know I'll be carrying a gun.
I'm taking my niece Hogan shopping for a dress for her junior prom.
Okay.
You're not gonna say Hogan is strange for a girl? - For a boy too, I guess.
- My older brothers are golf crazies.
Okay.
Well this is our first time out.
This is exciting.
We're not under the president's umbrella of protection so there are things I wanna tell you.
In a populated place, a department store, I always walk ahead of you.
I don't like more than five feet between us so if you ditch me, that's too far.
Also, it would give me no choice but to surround you with department-store security before you got to men's accessories.
You're a very recognizable woman.
If you're surrounded by security people are gonna point and stare.
- Anything else, Agent Sunshine? It's Special Agent Sunshine, but that couldn't matter less.
At the risk of being ungentlemanly, I can't carry bags.
- My hands have to be free.
- Plus, you're not my valet.
Yeah, but I'm still growing, and I got my eyes on the prize.
- Barneys on Connecticut at 12:30.
- I'm optimistic.
The stats of people being hurt while buying a prom dress are very encouraging.
- It's a junior prom.
- Then you're fine.
- Okay.
- I'll be around.
- Good morning.
- Hey.
Can I tell you about some early wires? There's a buzz in the UAW that That was a strange thing I just did.
I was telling him about shopping for a junior-prom dress.
Then he referred to the prom and I made a point of correcting him.
Why? I felt so unnatural while I was saying it.
You were uncomfortable with the image of someone old enough to be the aunt of someone going to the prom.
And you didn't wanna be charged for the extra year.
I'd say that was ridiculous, but I also referred to my older brothers.
- Yeah? - Isn't that what you do when you meet a guy and you're .
Never mind.
It was obviously some kind of left-brain hip check.
I'll take care of it.
- Okay, the United Auto Workers.
- Yes.
Talk to me about them.
- Josh? - Hey, Martha.
I'm sorry to bother you.
I know you have a million things to do.
- It's no problem.
- We have a record of your receiving a gift from the Finnish Office of Protocol.
Sauna-cured meat.
- Moose meat.
- Yeah.
Showed up on eBay.
- What are you talking about? - Well, you know that's a no-no, right? - Yeah.
I gave it to - Who? Nobody.
- Sorry, Martha.
I'll take care of it.
- Thank you.
You can get back to your real job.
The Washington Times is printing their annual list of assistants' salaries.
- Where do they get it? - The White House has to submit it to a sub-committee, and it traditionally gets leaked by the opposition party.
We were thinking that instead of giving the press a reason to write a story we won't bitch about our pay for a month so that we can deal with it the way it should be dealt with, with our bosses.
Okay, so no matter what it says tomorrow it's a privilege to serve our country.
- Try not to use those exact words.
- I wasn't here last year.
- The press cares what assistants say? - We're not assistants in this story.
We're White House staffers or prominent Democrats tied to the president.
- Got it.
- Thank you.
- Jo-Jo? - Good morning.
- Did you try the moose meat? - I didn't, and I'll tell you why.
- I'm saving it for a special - It's up to 180 bucks on eBay.
- EBay? Look - I don't understand.
- You can't sell - I gave it to an intern.
- You did? - I'm sorry.
I appreciated you giving it to me, but if I'm gonna eat a moose there has to be some kind of prize at the end.
Who's the intern? - Well, how about if I'd rather not say.
- Donna.
- Come on, I'll take care of it.
- Fire the intern.
- Hey.
- Hey.
- You want phone messages? - Yeah.
Daniel Harris, the deputy whip's office, Kevin Kahn, your father - Kevin? - Yeah.
- He just called? - Yeah.
Get him back.
I have Sam Seaborn returning for Mr.
Kahn.
Line four.
- Kevin.
- How you doing, Sam? - Fine.
- I hadn 't talked to you in a month.
- I wanted to check in.
- You're just calling? Yeah, I wanted to see if you wanted to get lunch.
You couldn't have called at a better time.
- One o'clock at Old Ebbitt, okay? - Make it Patrick's at 1.
- Ginger.
- Yeah? I have a lunch.
We're expanding the potential target list.
To include what? - Holy hell.
- Dover Air Force Base and Fort Myer.
How could they have the capability to strike a U.
S.
base? We're not sure, but we've processed calls through a VR program.
They identified Muhammed Sabeh, a Bahji cell leader.
Leo, he doesn't have a history of empty rhetoric.
- What would they be striking with? - The calls refer to smuggled weaponry.
We don't know what kind or the level of force.
Why those two? There are a couple dozen bases on the seaboard that are bigger.
- Why not the Carolinas? - That has us concerned.
What those bases have in common is their proximity to another military headquarters.
It's Henry V, 3 Henry VI and Henry Vlll.
- This is non-traditional Shakespeare.
- What does that mean? Sounds modern.
The director uses music, song and theatrical devices along the way.
Well, it doesn't sound bad.
Let me ask you something.
If Shakespeare wrote a play about me, how many parts would it be? Sir.
- Think about it.
- Yes, sir.
NSA has new cellular intercepts.
The list now includes Dover in Delaware and Fort Myer in Maryland.
And they're close to putting the White House on the list.
- What are we doing? - Combat Air Patrol's over D.
C.
And we've vectored aircraft away from the District.
Mr.
President, I want you to start getting yourself into a mental place where you can order an unidentified plane shot down.
We're sealing a one-mile perimeter.
Fitz is about to call and ask you to put the Coast Guard on alert for the Atlantic.
- Leaning on Arab intelligence sources? - They're not what they used to be.
- We're leaning on them? - Yes, sir.
- We have to talk about the bunker.
- I'm not going.
- Sir.
- I'm not going to the bunker.
Sends a terrible sign.
I'm sitting in this room.
- Ron and I have been through this.
- You haven't with me.
I'm trying to tell you, if the time comes, they're not gonna give you a choice.
You're telling me that the Secret Service my own bodyguards are gonna escort me to the bunker? Your feet may touch the ground a couple of times along the way, but I doubt it.
You said you didn't want taffeta, but what do you think? I think it's great except for the taffeta.
Do you like this? It's a little pink.
Aunt C.
J.
, stop looking at the Vera Wangs.
- Why? - Because they cost a month's salary.
But I'm the cool aunt, this is what I do.
Look at this.
Good gracious, black silk couture gown.
I'd have to be 5' 11" to look good in that.
As luck would have it, that's my height exactly.
- Go ahead.
- Thank you.
I'm just gonna take this one too.
What is it that you look for exactly? - You know it when you see it.
- What do you mean? Look this way.
Now look this way.
Now look this way.
Now look this way.
Now look at me.
What did you see? Over here, there was a mother with two kids.
Over here, there was a man in a coat, and I can't remember what else.
Over here was the checkout counter and there were people there, and I can't remember what else.
- Anything bother you? - No.
What about the guy in the coat? - What about him? - It's May.
Why is he wearing a coat? - I don't know.
- I don't know either.
But until one of us leaves the store, I'm gonna know where he is.
- So you're always looking.
- Yeah.
We're actually not supposed to talk that much.
Sorry.
So, what would it take for you to brandish your weapon? What? - I mean, excuse me? - What would it take right now for you to just reach in and brandish your weapon? Something pretty extraordinary.
How long have you been with the Secret Service? Well, I went to college basically on an Army scholarship which means after you get out, you serve a number of years.
I was with the Chicago P.
D.
for a few years and the Secret Service for the last nine.
- Have you ever brandished your weapon? - Yes.
Have you ever fired it? Yes.
- What? - I'm just trying to think of when in the last nine years an agent would've had to fire his gun.
Unless you You were at Rosslyn.
Well, you're a good guy.
- Sorry, am I not allowed to touch you? - No, it's okay.
Aunt C.
J.
, you won't believe this.
- What? - Hogan, we're gonna tell her another time, okay? - Okay.
- Is Simon bothering you? - No.
If he ever does, I want you to shriek at the top of your lungs, okay? Okay.
Hey, Stacy.
- Margaret.
- I thought Margaret was the girl who worked here before.
- I'm that girl.
I'm Margaret.
- You changed your hair.
- No.
Come on in.
Someone asked me to give this to you.
The CEQ is waiting for me down the hall.
Two precinct captains from lowa want jobs in Commerce.
- What do you think? - I don't care.
Andrew Jackson said,"If there's a job that can't be done by a Democrat let's abolish the job.
" - Okay.
C.
J.
says AP asked for his transcript and he said no.
- Why? - He took a semester of tap.
- Seriously.
- I don't know.
I'll ask him.
Thanks.
- And about the lowa thing? - It may not get an answer today, okay? I don't wanna give him too much.
When you say something like that, I buy canned goods.
- What's with this tape? - You don't wanna see it on television.
- What? - I said, you don't wanna see it on TV.
See you later.
- Mr.
Gianelli .
- You call me Bruno.
- You sounded funny on the phone.
- No, I was just surprised you called.
- Why? - I don't know.
What do you think of us having lunch or coffee once a month? We can be emissaries, maybe help keep things under control if it gets bad.
- Good idea.
- How about getting your candidate to sign the Clean Campaign Pledge.
- He's the president.
Yes, he is.
I apologize.
When was the last time we saw a genuine dialogue? - McKinley versus Bryan.
- Instead of the Cross of Gold speech - I'm sorry about the thing.
- What thing? - The open mike.
- I'm not talking about that.
- I think you are.
- Sam, it was not that big a deal.
- Most of us laughed about it.
- Really? Yeah.
Look, something's happened, and I wanna tell you about it.
What? Somebody made an attack ad and sent me a copy.
- Who's getting attacked? - The president.
- They sent it to you? - Yeah.
- This is,"Morality, truth" - Yeah.
- We've seen it.
- You've got a mole.
We don't need it.
We don't want it.
Thank you.
I'll get to the bottom of this.
Hello.
Hello.
It's wrong of you to make me fire the intern.
- I'll fire him.
- No.
- Why? - First of all, it was moose sausage not the prints to Los Alamos.
- This is the White House and not Williams-Sonoma.
- An intern makes nothing.
- He has to pay rent.
- He can't do it this way.
And I'll make that clear to him.
But he shouldn't be fired, and you know why? Twenty years ago, 75 percent of graduates from the Kennedy School took jobs in public service.
Last year it was a third.
- We need these people.
- All right.
- Look, when Martha Was it Martha? - Yes.
When she came to you and you thought it was me you wouldn't give her my name? - So let me - I said all right five minutes ago.
- I was underlining my point.
- Nicely done.
- Okay, I'm through.
- Excellent.
We could guarantee them a floor fight.
- Really? - A good one.
- For four nights? - Whatever.
- Okay.
- You got a better idea? What about corporate sponsorship? You think? Why do people foot the bill anyway? The Nabisco Democratic National Convention? - Better than professional wrestling.
- How much better? - I don't know.
- I wouldn't mind hitting people.
I could make it look real.
- This is ridiculous.
- I'm telling you, they are not really - I was in the room.
- They are not serious.
I was in the room.
He talks, and he wants to get these things off his chest.
But in the end, if we had Tiny Tim and Miss-What's-Her-Name doing roll call they would cover it like that.
So let's give them a little bit - There's - A little bit of what they want.
- Like what? - Well, me? I like animals that can do math.
- You wanna help? - I'm not that worried.
- I was in the room! - And? I don't believe it is possible that these four people got together and decided anything.
Wait.
How is it possible that they got together and decided something? I mean, how is it possible that they got together and agreed? - The penny drops.
- Bonnie? I still think it was about the skyboxes.
Get me David Wolczek at the Justice Department.
- Yeah? - The FBI says a Bahji communication was traced to Khaled Madani.
Which is one of 11 a.
k.
a.
's used by Abdul Al-Yossi.
This doesn't mean anything to me.
INS says Khaled Madani is still in this country on an expired visa.
- Where? - Bethesda.
About a half-hour ago, agents raided a duplex rented under his name.
No one there, but they found drawings and digital tape of the National Archives and the Supreme Court.
These were detailed drawings with exterior air vents and notations of the number of guards posted.
Are we able to take a guess at where and when now? No, sir.
What about Abdul Shareef? Isn't Shareef supposed to help us with intelligence out of Qumar? - He's not.
We should put the president on Marine One.
I don't think we should.
They've doubled the counter-assault on the surrounding buildings.
If it's me, I say the president's grounded till we know where Madani is.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, Mr.
President.
I'm not going to the bunker.
Some people won't go to the bunker, and when I get out I won't be able to tell them what to do, and I like doing that.
Get Abbey to New Hampshire, but I'm not going to the bunker.
If you say I have to, I'll walk across the alley with the chief justice and I'll hand John Hoynes my resignation.
When he's sworn in, I'm telling him to appoint me his vice president because I'm not going down to the bunker.
If the agents come, they come, but tell Ron to bring more than a couple of guys.
- Bruce? - Hey, Donna.
- You put it on eBay? - Somebody bought it.
- I can't believe it.
- What? Something from the White House? You know how embarrassing that is? - For who? - For me, for Josh, for the president everybody who works here, you.
- I don't work here.
More accurately I don't get paid here.
- I don't care.
My landlord does.
I file, copy, deliver, get coffee, get pizza, and I do it for free.
That's exactly what you signed up for.
You had to jump through hoops to get it.
- Were you lied to? - Doesn't matter.
That's all that matters.
You're like a college athlete justifying .
This is what you signed up for.
Now, you're not gonna be fired, but you are gonna be transferred.
- And you have to give me $210.
- Why? - I'm the one who got it off eBay.
- It's covering a check I wrote already.
I'm out $210 for free moose meat I didn't want in the first place? Sorry.
Go back to work.
- What? - This.
Sam's encouraging the president to sign the Clean Campaign Pledge.
- What the hell? - Then they talk about the tape.
- Is this all of them? - Yeah.
Excuse me.
We understand you have a counter offer.
Yeah.
You broadcast all four nights of the convention.
- Why? - The public owns the airwaves, not you.
You have a legal obligation to serve the public.
The public could care less about the nominating conventions.
- So why? - You have an FCC public obligation.
Show me a station that lost its license for not running public-interest programming.
- I can't.
- So why? If you don't, the Justice Department investigates you for antitrust violations.
- Antitrust violations? - A joint decision not to compete for the best convention programming.
- You're accusing us of conspiring to not show a money-losing program? Not me so much as the Justice Department.
Fifteen U.
S.
C.
, Section One: "Every contract, combination or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce is illegal.
Every person who shall engage in any combination" All right, we get it.
We all have lawyers that we'll have to talk to.
Yes.
No.
There won't be a horse race to cover either in New York or San Diego.
But we gave you the airwaves for free 70 years ago.
And 357 days a year you could say who's up, who's down, who won the West and lost the South.
But what's wrong with eight days, not every year, but every four years showing our leaders talking to us? Not part of what they said but what they said.
- And then the balloons.
- Like I said - You have to talk to lawyers.
- Yes.
Talk to the lawyers.
- What did I tell you? - About what? About not meeting with Kevin Kahn.
- He called me.
It was out of the blue.
- It was? We're good friends.
He wants to keep things civil.
He - He leaked it to the press.
- What? - Your lunch.
- You're wrong.
He leaked it to the press.
He's got you in favor of the pledge.
And you gave him the tape.
- I didn't - This is three, four, I don't know a dozen news cycles where we're playing politics and losing.
The pledge is their idea.
Any move we make on it, we lose.
Any move they make, they win.
I agree, this is bad.
- And I take full responsibility.
- This isn't bad, Sam.
Let me show you bad.
Throwing mud to cover up his failure.
Refusing to sign a Clean Campaign Pledge so he won 't have to defend his broken promises.
Jed Bartlet was for internal use only.
The Ritchie campaign reports that it had no part in production of the ad and does not know how the Bartlet camp obtained it.
- It alludes to President Bartlet's MS - Oh, God.
and also accuses him of campaign mudslinging a tactic the Ritchie camp has refused to embrace.
It's on free media.
Everywhere.
All day.
All night.
All free.
You got played, Sam.
And you forgot that all warfare is based on deception.
One of these times, you guys are gonna listen.
Or you're gonna find out what the crappy end of inauguration day feels like.
Although most Americans claimed to detest negative ad campaigns in the past they have often proven to be an effective tool in American politics.
In other news I can't believe you did that.
- I can't believe you did that! - Go to hell.
- What happened? - With the open mike? - It was a mistake! - Crap.
- You said you laughed.
- You think I laughed? - You said - You think I laughed? So that's what this is about? That's what this is about? You made a punch line out of my candidate.
Is it gonna happen again? I think it will.
- Yeah? - Yeah.
I think it will too.
Sir? You can send him in.
- They arrested him.
- Oakland, California.
The Coast Guard boarded and seized a 50-foot boat 200 yards off the Port of Oakland.
- What did they find onboard? - 5000 keys of ammonium nitrate and a gallon of diesel fuel.
- What was the target? - Fort Point.
- That wasn't on the list.
Well, it's military, which was consistent but decommissioned, which wasn't.
It's not a very valuable asset.
- Why'd they want it? - Because of what's above it.
The Golden Gate Bridge.
The fort fronts the anchorage and the suspension cable tie-downs.
- We didn't know anything.
- We knew enough.
I'm gonna ask this again, where the hell was Shareef? We're not entirely ready to answer that yet.
What do you mean? We've been getting a great deal of help from the Russians since Helsinki.
They've further interrogated the Chechnyan who gave us the target alert in the first place.
The prisoner says he worked with a Bahji operative who reported To who? Abdul Shareef.
Are you telling me the Qumari defense minister may have ordered an attack on the Golden Gate Bridge? We're not ready to say.
- We have a diplomatic relationship.
- Yes, sir.
He's coming here.
Shareef is coming here in, like, 10 days, isn't he? Yes, sir.
- Get ready to say.
- Yes, sir.
- Thank you.
- Thank you, Mr.
President.
This is Dawson, 8:09.
I've got Flamingo.
- Jamie, could you give us a second? - Yes, ma'am.
Come here.
- Me? - Yes.
What were you and Hogan talking about that you would tell me later? I was on Eagle's protection detail in Rosslyn.
- I didn't know that.
- No, it's just Thank you.
I'm sorry? I just said, thank you.
Okay.
Well, I should get going.
Have a good night.
Good night.