"Previously, on The West Wing..." "Prime Minister Zahabi, Chairman Farad and President Bartlett will hold a joint press conference to describe a tentative accord that's been reached between the parties." "Barracks Security found Leo in the woods at Camp David." "They think it's a massive heart attack." "You've got to keep him out of that job." "He'll kill himself for you if you don't." "There's something I need you to do for me." " What's that?" " Jump off a cliff." "Morning, ma'am." "Staff Sergeant Keltie." "This is Sergeant Wolitzer." " Is everything all right?" " Sure is." "May we?" " It's 5:30." " 5:26 on mine." "I'm going to use this chair here." "We couldn't do this at my office?" "According to our logs, you usually exit the building here..." "Right." "All right." "You may find it's easier to head out the West Gate now." "It's closer for your parking." "You're going to have to time that, but in the event of a situation, we'll need you to exit here." " Ms. Cregg..." " I'm listening." " What kind of situation?" " A nuclear attack." "Are we expecting one?" "Well, any attack, but nuclear's going to top the list." "So, you'll exit here directly to Marine One." "You'll sit at S5, behind the President, to the left of the NSA, and they'll evacuate you to your secure location." "Okay." "If there's a situation, and you're home, we'll ask that you make your way with all due haste to this field off Denville Road." "It's about a mile to the south." " A field?" " A pasture, more like." "I'll be standing with cows?" "A couple horses, and they'll scoot one way soon as the copter shows." "Won't be more than three minutes from code call to liftoff." "Excuse me." " Morning." " No." "Sorry." "Agents DeCastro and Shay-- they will be..." "I do not need a Secret Service detail." "They'll give you a wide berth." "Could we please discuss this?" "Not really." "Have you got a spare room or a basement or something?" "They're going to need a place to sleep." " You're not waiting, right?" " I just knocked." "You okay?" "In the event of emergency," "I stand in a field with a cow and wait to be airlifted." " Hey." " Morning, sir." " There she is." " Good morning, Mr. President." " You excited?" " Absolutely." "Berlin's your first call." "They're angling for a piece of the Baltic shipping deal." "We can't make it happen." "Look at that." "Hit the ground running." "I won't be in the security briefing." "I've got paperwork with the CIA, but NSC will get me up to speed." "Sky's falling; damage estimate to follow." "Yes, sir." "You're going to be great at this." "Thank you, Mr. President." "She's going to be great." " Is she nervous?" " No, she looks fine." "Well, that's good." "I'd be apoplectic." "Let's keep it light today." "Anything you can, hold till next week." "Already on it." "Check the hospital." "See if Leo's up to a phone call." "This is Ellroy." "He brings the briefing books." "You guys are going to be friends." " These are this week's?" " These are today's." "Ready?" "I told Josh to be there in case you need backup." "He probably forgot." "I don't need any backup." "Just try to keep tight rein." "I'm not the story, Leo's not the story..." "I know." "Camp David's the story." "Stop worrying." "Give me that." "Good morning." "Good morning." "This will be my last briefing as White House Press Secretary." "Toby Ziegler will be filling in until the President names a replacement." "I'll ask you to please be kind to him, and if you can't be kind, at least speak slowly." "These past six years working for this exceptional group of journalists..." "I'm sorry, uh... thank you." "Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States." "Thank you." "After bypass surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital 36 hours ago," "I'm relieved to announce that Leo McGarry is in stable condition and headed for a full recovery." "Though he will always be a very valuable part of this administration, he will not be returning to his post." "I am therefore pleased and terribly proud to announce that, effective immediately, the position of White House Chief of Staff will be filled by Claudia Jean Cregg." "Congratulations." " Marburg fever." " It's a virus?" "Six cases so far." "A.P. heard it on the ground in Ecuador." "You're telling her this as Press Secretary or Chief of Staff?" "I think both." "We'll have something by the end of the day-- ask A.P. to wait." " That was Press Secretary." " Yes." "Call CDC, Immigration, DOH, give them what you have." "Set up a conference call for me." "Great." "C.J., do you want me in?" "I'm not sure where to sit." "Oh, God, right." " Toby's going to need you." " That's fine." "Just for the next couple of days." "Wow!" "People shouldn't be sending me flowers." "They're for Leo." "I'm sorry about the stuff." "I'll..." "Don't worry about it." "You need coffee or anything?" "I'm fine." "Let's do it." "CIA briefer's on his way." "Security will be by for a palm print and an eye scan." "President's got Treasury in 10 minutes." "You're on the call." "EPA's waiting for feedback on the Clean Air mark-up." "Armed Forces is coming to talk about a budget boost for the peacekeeping tour because they forgot to factor in food for the troops." " And this gets us to..." " 8:45." "NATO's expressing reluctance to contribute troops to the peacekeeping effort." "The Secretary General of NATO..." "The President is speaking with him-- the Secretary General of, uh, NATO-- this afternoon." "There's verbal support, and there's boots on the ground." "I'm not commenting on a... on a negotiation before it happens." "Can we do this without them?" "I'm not commenting." "If NATO's out, would President reconsider U.N. peacekeepers?" "I do not have an answer." "Can you point us toward a subject you're commenting on?" "Can you find out where Counsel put the DOD analysis?" "Will C.J. Cregg's role be the same as Leo McGarry's?" "Title, parking spot, gym membership." "She's not coming into this with national security experience." "The President has a flock of-of national security professionals prepared to address his questions and the Chief of Staff's." "But we're about to stage a military action..." "Yeah, a military incursion into the most entrenched conflict on the planet." "C.J. Cregg's not the only one working without a net." "Oh!" "Oh, no, no." "He has every confidence..." "You just said nobody has experience with this kind of military incursion." "The Pentagon has experience as do the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the NSC, but in the event they all lose their way, the President can always send C.J. Creg to Ramallah to swat at suicide bombers with her purse." "That's her foreign policy portfolio?" "Oh, good lord." "My purse?" "!" "Page Carol, get him the hell out of there!" "Who has the quote?" "I got "The President can send C.J. Cregg to Ramallah to swat at suicide bombers with her purse."" "You don't have to brief." "You're better with the written material." "We can flood 'em with press releases." "How'd it go?" "Fine." "Missed it." "Well, there'll be others." "I'm thinking about the substance abuse initiative, and what do you say we send C.J. to Compton, have her swat at drug lords with her purse?" "It was an ambush." "They love an opportunity like this." "If they could dance around me with a pick's head on a pike, they would." "How's it going?" "Well." "Well." "Ed called me, wants to know of you is interested in a conversation." " From the Policy Institute?" " It's a job offer." "I've gotten five of these already today." "Job offers?" "It's gonna be that kind of day." "She's doing okay?" "She's fine." "She's a pro." "Like a ninja with a Prada clutch." " Men of valor." " It was an ambush." "I say we move past it." "I've never seen you sling anything but a briefcase over your arm..." "Don't mention it." "...loaded with 30 pounds of legislative detritus, not your lipstick or your hankie..." "Jump right over it." "I'm just putting" " I'm gonna put it back..." "Shut up." "Okay." "Hey, how's he doing?" "Leo?" "Awake and cranky." "Sounds about right." " You started Senior Staff?" " I guess we did." "Why don't we..." "Go ahead and sit." "The intel estimates, did you" "I'm sure I didn't." "Leo likes to glance at the top sheets before Senior Staff circle anything he's got questions about." "That way NSC can pull material for the afternoon briefing." "We can wait." "Go ahead." "Okay." "We'll set aside some extra time." "Thank you." "We also try and cover the lunch order before Senior Staff." "Leo likes a roast turkey sandwich." " That's fine." " Mayo?" "Please tell me we can talk about this later." " Hi." "Press Secretaries." " Can I apologize again?" "No, but let's move finding my replacement from priority three to priority one." "Yeah." "Short list by the end of the day, four or five good choices." "And D triple C's coming in to talk about the election." "Vulnerable seats?" "Josh, get an overview and then sit down with Will..." "I'll do it." "It's gonna be Merridy." " Josh can do it." " Merridy hates him." "Excuse me?" "Toby, Josh is gonna meet with D triple C and then sit with Will." "There's gonna be fund-raising trips in this for the VP." "Get to me sooner rather than later." "Our campaign office has him double booked already." " Toby, Marburg virus." " Not that I know of." "There's an outbreak in Ecuador." "CDC's setting up a border screening plan." "Try and make sure we don't seem pannicked." "Yeah." "And let me say what would have been best articulated an hour ago:" "The peacekeeping plan is still vulnerable;" "this place needs to reek of confidence." "Maybe we best avoid any further implications that the President's in over his head." "Working without a net." "I think that's it." "We're all working without a net today, thanks." "C.J.?" "Wow, this is hard." "I couldn't be happier you got this gig." "But I think it's, it's just time for me to go." "Six years is, uh..." "I just think it's time for me to move on." "This is my letter of resignation to the President." "I don't want to pile on... but working for one of my closest friends is," "I think, not gonna bring out my best." " Josh..." " Wow." "You can't..." "I'm sorry to barge in..." "Mr. President, can I have just a minute?" "I'll make this quick." "I don't know if I'm comfortable working this closely with a woman." "Maybe it's time for me to call it a day." "Give the VP a chance to steer the ship." "Oh..." "You're weak." "You have a weak will." "You should have held it, see if she pulled out the Continuity of Government plan." "He cracked up at the mere suggestion of the VP." "I had a whole thing on spending time with my kids, I went up." "You are bad, bad men." "In the service of a vengeful god." "On behalf of the Vice President, and myself, and every man who's ever had a Wonder Woman fantasy, it's a bright day." "Get out." "Margaret, we behind yet?" "Very." "Toby." "We need a list of Press Secretary candidates." "Pull some resumes." "This is the list." "These are the resumes." "You always do that?" "C.J. keeps an "In Case I Get Hit By a Bus" file." "You've got appointments today with the obvious top choices" "Spokesmen from State, Interior..." " I got to..." " This is gonna be a nightmare." "Here, I'll help." "Let me see." "Haffley's in your office." "Time." "Time." "Ooh." "Here." "Donna'll help." "Nice briefing." " C.J." " Thank you." "That was something-- everybody pretending to resign." "Bless their cotton socks." "But you know I'm actually leaving, right?" "I mean, Leo's going to be doing something, and it's a long time I've worked for him, and I just can't imagine..." " Margaret." " Sure." "Sorry." "Mr. Roman Mindeli from the Republic of Georgia in the Roosevelt Room." " Good morning." " Thank you." "Good morning to you." "Oh." "You okay there?" "Would be better on left hand." " Important documents." " Of course." "I wanted to speak with Mr. McGarry." "This is gift I bring for him." "Saperavi, from my own vines." "You're a wine maker?" "Former Economic Advisor to Georgia President Rustaveli." "You want taste?" "Oh, no, it's a little early, I..." "Did Josh Lyman put you up to this?" "President Rustaveli send me with important offer, but I wish to speak it with Mr. McGarry." "Sadly, Mr. McGarry's been ill, so I'm afraid you're going to have to speak it with me." "Most top secret." "President Rustaveli wants to offer United States gift of... uranium." "Highly enriched." " To your government." " Uranium?" "Like to make bombs?" "We do not wish to make bombs." "We give to you, you make what you want." "Can you excuse me just one moment?" "Yes." "I open this, show you maps." "That's great." "Is this a thing, like the two-weeks notice gang?" "Hey." "Inspector Clouseau in there-- was that your idea?" "What?" "You and Toby didn't send a guy with a comb-over to offer me..." "Did he proposition you?" "No, you lummox." "He tried to give me his collection of highly enriched..." "What?" "Oh, my God." "This is happening." "What?" "Margaret, get the National Security Advisor right away." "Is there a problem?" "I've got an emissary from the Republic of Georgia offering me a load of weapons-grade uranium." "I'm gonna go with yes." "300 kilograms of weapons-grade uranium in a research reactor the Soviets left behind when they pulled out." "That's... what?" "Enough for ten, maybe 15 bombs." "Margaret, I need a meeting with the Secretaries of State, Energy," "Defense, the JCS, and CIA, first thing tomorrow." "You'll brief everybody?" "We tried to take this stuff off their hands in '92;" "they didn't want to part with it." "Because?" "Figured if things got rough, they could always build a nuke." "Well, they're not building anything." "It's just sitting there behind what he's describing as an excellent padlock." "It's a miracle nobody's boosted it yet." "The Russians don't guard this stuff?" "They gave 'em the padlock." "Yeah?" "Thank you." "Mindeli's been over at the Iranian Embassy twice in the last three days." "We are not the only ones who got this offer." "Margaret!" "That meeting's got to be today." "Hi, come on in." "I'm Donna Moss." "This is Toby Ziegler." "You're Dan, right?" "From State?" "Yes, uh, Dan Edmunds." "Thanks for coming in." "Well, good to meet you." "You want me up here?" "That'd be great." "Toby's gonna ask you a few questions." "Just pretend he's 150 reporters." "The U.N. seems to have ruled out sending troops to help us with the peacekeeping." "What's the Administration gonna do?" "Well, obviously, the North Atlantic Council has made and will continue to make determinations in regard to burden-sharing, and a great many factors weigh upon those determinations." "It would be premature to prejudge what the Council-- in its deliberative fashion and fully appropriate to its role as a deliberative body-- may or may not have predetermined out of any zeal to ascertain the precise nature of those deliberations." "Oh, this is gonna be a long day." "We need to do schedule." "I was just coming to see the President." "You know you have a door in your office." "Let me see." "Looks good." "The Chief of Staff clears every item on the President's schedule." "The Chief of Staff knows what will happen in every meeting, and gets most of the information the President will get in the meeting before the President gets it." "In that case, get me briefed on this one, and this." "Push the 1:45 to next week, and this shouldn't even exist." "Cancel it." " Fiderer." " Better." "Secretary of Defense for the President, unscheduled." "The Chief of Staff clears every unscheduled phone call." "You know what the call's about?" "Ask him what it's..." "Mr. Secretary, may I ask what it's in reference to?" "Tell him the President's unavailable, but he should call my office, let me know what it's about." "Thanks for..." "Just today." "Tomorrow you're on your own." "Mr. Secretary, he's on a call right now." "Can I direct you to the Chief of Staff?" " Mr. President?" " That's what they tell me." "We've been approached by the Republic of Georgia." "They're looking to unload some highly-enriched uranium." "We may need to stage an emergency extraction." "There's some concern it could wind up in Iran." "That's worth avoiding." "We're briefing the agencies." "I hope to have options for you by the end of the day." " Mr. President?" " Yeah." "They're ready for you in the Cabinet Room." "Thank you." "You putting together a tiger team?" "Uh, I'm not quite sure what that is." "Four, five agencies on one project, particularly something this complicated." "They'll pass it around like a hot potato." "14 months from now, we'll wake up having accomplished absolutely nothing." "You're gonna have to spearhead the project yourself." "Sure, I'll..." "Tiger team." "Grrr." " What was that?" " Nothing." "He could work with Chuck Horowitz." "Hell, he could replace Chuck Horowitz." "Guys..." "The D Triple C's a great place to work, Josh." "We could really use you." "I'm not looking." "You already got something lined up?" "I'm staying at the White House." "Wow." "Gosh." "Working for C.J." "Okay, let's talk about the..." "Really, anything else." "Coffee?" "No." "Thanks and adulations for all the help at the midterms last year." " You guys were fantastic." " Our pleasure." "We're looking at next year." "Latest count was seven Members of Congress retiring." " And we've 12..." " Maybe 13 vulnerable incumbents." "We got the Presidential race pulling the spotlight." "And the money." "So we want to make sure we're not neglecting these seats." "Republicans certainly won't be." "Why is Matthew Santos dropping out?" "He's done." "He's not done." "He's 42." "We just got him on Ways and Means, for God's sake." "He says that he's had enough." "No, he hasn't." "I'll talk to him." "Who else?" "Uh, Wexler in Connecticut's retiring." "Hey, you're from there." "You could run for his seat." "I have a job." "Can I get in there?" "You know you have your own door..." "I'll be quick." "He's talking with the Secretary of Defense." "Hutchinson's in the Oval?" "He walked the President back from the Cabinet meeting." " Weren't you in there?" " I got pulled out." "Hutchinson doesn't have a meeting." "They walked in." "I thought about taking him down, but it seemed excessive." "Margaret, did the Secretary of Defense call for me?" "It's C.J." "He didn't?" " Get him out of there." " Really?" "Pull the President, take him to the Mural Room, tell him he's late for his 1:15." " He doesn't have a 1:15." " Make one up." "Excuse me, Mr. President...?" " Secretary Hutchinson?" " Congratulations." " Woman of the hour." " Thank you." "I wanted to catch you in the Cabinet Room." "You're gonna do a fantastic job." "Thank you." "I know the President had to run and you were speaking." "Is there anything I can help you with?" "No." "This Georgian project could be tricky, but we'll cover it in the meeting." "See you in a few." "How come Matt Santos doesn't want to run again?" "What makes a man seek public office, Josh?" "What makes a man abjure the comforts of a private life?" "Here we go." "The decadence, really, of simple bread-winning for the Athenian wrestling mat that is the forum politic?" "Hey." "Why doesn't Matt Santos want to run again?" "'Cause he's a tool." "We just got him onto Ways and Means." "They love him in Houston." "Maybe he wants to run for governor." "He could come back here and run for the big chair." " Are you high?" " People like him-  ex-Marine..." " He's not running for... no." "I'm talking to him." "D triple C wants help on 19 races." "Yours are the ones with the stars." "The VP's gonna be fund-raising for himself." "I'm just not sure we can double dip in all these places." "I think it falls under the category of" ""people scratching other people's backs."" "Indeed." "It's first priority." " For the day?" " For 1:45." "300 pages on snowmobiles?" "The President's got lunch with Interior tomorrow." "Yellowstone's gonna come up." "And there's no one else in the building that can position us?" "Toby and the Policy shop are split." "All right, give me the rest of..." "We've now talked through the snowmobile window." "You have to leave." " Where am I going?" " The Georgian thing." "Where's the nonproliferation...?" "I have it." "And the uranium repatriation study?" "You rely have to start walking now." " It's downstairs?" " At DOD's request." "WHO faxed preliminary plans for the Marburg virus." "It's... this is... they're asking for 18 million worth of emergency aid." "It doesn't say how they me up with that number." "Does HHS know they're calling it a global health alert?" "I'll call them." "Ma'am?" "This way, ma'am." "Ten-hut." "Anybody run this by the Russians?" "The Georgians don't want to go to the Russians." "They left the damn uranium there in the first place." "The Russians can't secure it." "Their facilities are a joke." "It's got to come here." " Who's going to pay for it?" " Excellent question." "Department of Energy's tapped out." "Mr. Secretary, we're all tapped out." "It's probably not just enriched uranium." "I bet there's a load of spent fuel along with it." "Nuclear waste." "And leaking, likely as not." "We may be looking at a massive biohazard clean-up." "Which costs?" "Extraction may be $5 million." "Cleanup's easily 20." "Besides which, we take foreign-owned nuclear material and dump it in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, every environmental group..." "We can't let this go public." "It'll get out; you're going to have a P.R. nightmare on your hands." "Isn't the larger P.R. crisis one wherein al Qaeda steals the stuff and we have to admit it wasn't under our control because we were too cheap to go get it?" "You got a congressional appropriation I don't know about?" "Who pays?" "He called it a gift, didn't he-- your friend?" "Are we considering leaving a stash of uranium unprotected because we can't scrape up 25 million bucks?" "I'm considering this the tip of a very large iceberg." "Maybe we can look into helping the Russians secure it." "The President isn't interested in bringing this to the Russians." " He's not?" " Figure out something else." "I didn't get a copy of the site analysis." "Have we run an independent test on this material?" "Um, I'm not..." "This just walked in the door." "Before we deploy a fleet of C-5s with an extraction team, be nice to know we're not buying a lump of clay." "We'll test it." "Get the President your report on domestic storage capacity." "Hang on;" "I'm not sure we're ready to..." "He asked me for it." "We done?" "Mr. President." "What do we have on domestic nuclear storage facilities?" "I'll get you Energy's quarterly." "Sir, we may be able to get the Russians to help..." "Hutchinson wants to keep the Russians out of it." "He said we don't even know if it's actually uranium." "Can you get some documentation they aren't trying to sell us the Brooklyn Bridge?" "We're looking into that." "You know I asked for the breakdown on domestic facilities this morning." "I've got it;" "I just wanted to look it over..." "I didn't get a copy." "You sure Margaret and Charlie are keeping your papers flowing?" "Yes, sir." "Sir, your conversation with the Secretary of Defense..." "We didn't talk that much." "Charlie high-tailed me into a meeting with an empty chair." "I know it's going to be bumpy until you're settled in, but I just want to make sure things aren't getting lost in the shuffle." " Of course." " Thank you." "Sources say NATO's reluctant to contribute troops to the peacekeeping mission in the Middle East." "How's the President going to address that?" "The President was aware when he drafted the peacekeeping agreement that the international community wasn't going to jump in like a pack of eager lemmings." "You're saying it's a suicide mission?" "Not necessarily." "The Lemmings die at the end of the story." "Sources say NATO's reluctant to contribute troops to the peacekeeping mission in the Middle East." "How's the President going to address that?" "Joanne, marry me." "Make me the happiest man in the world!" "NATO has historically shown reluctance to commit troops as a body." "Individual member nations..." "Sorry, um, we can't hear you back here." "NATO has already agreed to..." "Thanks." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Thank you." "NATO doesn't seem to want to pitch in troops to the peacekeeping mission." "The President asked for NATO troups largely as a courtesy." "What we really need from our allies is financial support, logistical support, tactical aid, all of which they've enthusiastically pledged." "We don't need their troops?" "The President doesn't want to present the impression that we're strong arming the region with an onslaught of European forces marching into Jerusalem under an American flag." "This is a process that will be executed by the Palestinian and Israeli governments." "We're just there to help out." "What if it turns out to be a bigger job?" "It won't." "The President knows actly what he's getting into, and he crafted a mission he knew could succeed." "And it will." "The Governor of Tennessee called. "Georgian Package-- absolutely not."" "How did he..." "Who the hell leaked it?" "I cannot have a leak right now." "Get the Governor on the phone, please, quickly." "Margaret!" "Once I'm done with him, Nancy McNally needs to call the governor and reiterate that he has to keep a lit on this and so does State,..." "And have Charlie put it on the President's schedule for tomorrow." "We got a guy." " What kind of..." " A Press Secretary." "He's smart, he's articulate, and you can hear him which is more of an issue than one might have thought." "And he was like the Great Wall of China up there around the President, it was..." "I thought we were going to look at a short list." "Governor of Tennessee on one." "Mr. Governor." "Thank you, sir." "I understand you heard..." "The Secretary of Energy?" "!" "This is the guy we're done." "We're not done." "I'd like a list." "Three to five names." "Unfortunately, sir, his decision to share that information was premature." "The President would appreciate it if you did not go public with this." "No, I'm going to have to insist." "Josh Lyman for the Congressman." "We're not in the dream-making business." "Why not a cap that says punitive damages stop at $5 million?" "Because in the most cases..." "You invest that money, it's a good life." "For a kid who is paralyzed when he was two?" "It's giving insurers the kind of immunity that nobody gets-- not auto makers, chemical companies, not me if I mow you down in my car." "A distinct possibility, I'm told." "It's a societal disincentive." "Run a system into the ground, it's a societal disaster." "Josh!" "Are we running the HMO system into the ground?" "HMOs pulled down 8.8 billion in profit last year." "We're not running them into anything." "So that brings us back to the Republicans are greedy bastards." "Profit's a red herring." "And what if the Republicans on the committee aren't worried about protecting profit." "What if they know the companies will do that on their own by boosting premiums and letting cosoar through the roof in an industry that was created to cut the price of health care ?" "Then I have to have lunch with Joel Haig again." "And watch him put ketchup on his mashed potatoes." "Bipartisan's a bust, my friends." "Come on in, Josh." "Patients' Bill of Rights?" "The final shudder and gasp of a dying piece of legislation." "Then bring it back next term." "I'm not gonna get like 5 minutes of small talk first, you're not gonna ask me about my kids?" "How are your kids?" " They don't recognize me." " One more time..." ""Who's that guy hugging Mommy?"" "We'll take care of your fund-raising." "We got committee chairmanships opening up." "We can talk about what you're interested in..." "It's not going to happen." "Congressman, you're a strong presence on the floor, your staff's on fire, how can you walk away from this?" "Who champions the Patients' Bill of Rights if you're out of here?" "You." "I'm happy to help, but you're the one who's got to put his name on the bill." "When I was Mayor of Houston, we opened up eight neighborhood health clinics." "Each one sees 200 patients a day." "I'm going to go home and open up 20 more." "That's not a health care agenda, Josh, that's health care." "It's appealing." "As I'm sure is the governor's mansion." "You think I'm going home to run for another office?" "I'm getting out of the business." "What about your 20 clinics?" "Privately funded." "That's all we got left." "There's never going to be a Patients' Bill of Rights;" "Congress won't do it." "Or they'll spend five years wrangling over minutiae and come up with a toothless plan." "A toothless national plan is not an inconsiderable force." "And a little wrangling?" "That's the fun part." "Oh, that how you have fun." "That's why you're here, and I'm going home to Texas." "I hear C.J. Cregg got Chief of Staff." "That's got to be a blow." "It's fine, really." "Everybody likes the look of the next rung up the ladder, but you know what?" "You couldn't do the kind of politicking you do behind Leo McGarry's desk." "You'd be making sure the trains run on time." "They need you;" "you love that... fight, and you're good at it." "I don't love it." "Yeah." "Go on, get out of my office." "Go out there and do what you were born to do." "You're screwing the party a little bit here." "It's not like we got a lot of bench strength in Texas." "I know... and I'm sorry about that." "Ronna!" "Get Mr. Lyman a copy of the talking points." "On?" "Patients' Bill of Rights!" "I fed her this morning." "We're not in Kansas anymore, Gail." "Greg Brock's writing an "Is the administration in over its head" story." "About the peacekeeping mission?" "He's trying to get face time with General Alexander." " Where'd he...?" " Rumors." "Speculation." " Toby's briefing." " First day's tough." " Is Toby in his office?" " I think so, I'll check." "Traditionally we call people and they come to you." "No." "Toby.That's the wrong file." "You want a magazine?" "No." "That's the "not enough experience" file." "Yes, indeed." "We have people with more..." "We've got a guy who's a *** of bulletproof glass, who is willing to throw himself in front of the Press Corps like the lone man facing down the tanks in Tiananmen Square." "Bring in these four tomorrow." "You don't think that's a waste of time?" "Yes." "It is a colossal waste of time." "These four." "Talk to Greg Brock, get him to hold the story." "He has nothing." "Then he'll run nothing next week." "I misspoke, okay?" "No one thinks you can't handle foreign policy." "We all think it." "Had you thought any differently, it would have been" ""She's been involved in foreign policy decisions for five years,"" "not "She'll bounce every question to somebody at NSC."" "It never crossed your mind to reject the premise of the statement." "So I'm a lousy public speaker." "Talk to Brock." "This thing runs tomorrow, it's two graphs on page ten." "We make him wait a week, it's top left page one." "It wasn't a suggestion." "It was what." "An order?" "It's almost 8:00, you should get out of here." "I'll be back." "Where are you going? I don't think this is gonna work out." "Lord." "I never wanted a double vodka at 9:00 a.m. until this week." "They say the first step is admitting you have a problem." "Margaret." "Sit." "I have a problem." "Wow." "I'm not sure I'm the right person..." "Hutchinson's a son of a bitch." "Is that just me or...?" "No." "How did Leo deal with him?" "Leo always talked to Tim Crawford first." "He's Chief of Staff at DOD." "How about Secretary of Energy?" "Leo's first calls were always sub-cabinet." "Secretaries have agendas, policy wonks have information." "Right." "How many policy wonks work for me?" "A bunch." "Secretary of State." "Secretary of Defense." "Secretary of Energy." "All fans of non-proliferation." "All doing everything they can to keep their hands off this." "They're the "no" team, you're the "yes" team." "Where's Toby?" "He had a..." "I don't know." "I need a viable plan for funding an emergency uranium extraction from sunny Tbilisi." "Keep in mind we need to secure it, contain it, transport it, and bury it in a manner that will shelter it for upwards of 30,000 years." "Resist the temptation to rely on the Emergency Nonproliferation Fund." "Apparently we've already spent it." "I'm just saying." "You knew these four were underqualified when you called them in." "He mispronounced New York." "God help me." "Come on in." " Is this...?" " Yup, right place." "You're Annabeth Scott?" " Schott." " What?" "Schott." "Bang bang." "Oh, there's an "H." I didn't see it." "She didn't see it." "Go ahead and stand behind the podium there." "It's fun." " Up there?" " Yeah." "Oh, I'm not going up there." " Sweet Lord in heaven." " Why would I do that?" "Much of the job is, you know, briefing the press." " For a deputy?" " Deputy what?" "Are you the gal I talked to on the phone?" "Thank you so much for coming in, but we're going to move on to somebody who has a clearer understanding of the position." "You're hiring a Press Secretary?" "Do something." "To be Press Secretary?" "Yes." "C.J. Cregg, former White House Press Secretary, has been promoted, big day, all over the news." "You should go home and watch." "I've seen the news." ""The President's fixing to send C.J. Cregg to Ramallah to swat at suicide bombers with her purse."" "That's gotta be some purse." "I never said "fixing."" "Why on earth would you try and hire a new Press Secretary with C.J. Cregg only ten minutes out of the job?" "Does somebody not talk to these people?" "Didn't anybody tell you why you were coming in?" "Deputy Press Secretary for Media Relations." "I sent in my resume six months ago." "They were looking for somebody to replace Tim Waters." "He used to prep for the morning shows." " Yes." " He was irritating." "He saved your tail on more than one occasion." "Okay..." "Did you ever replace him?" "Because I'd be a fine choice." "If you're very nice, I'm going to get a dress Marine to walk you out." "You don't want a new Press Secretary, not yet." "Anyone who tries to stand in C.J. Cregg's shoes will be eaten alive." "And who exactly do you think is going to brief the press?" "You." "You need someone from inside the Administration to get you through the transition period." "Don't make a face, you were good." "I saw it." "He really wasn't." "You need a little grooming, but I can take care of that." "And I'll help you find a new Press Secretary." "Do a real search, not some 24-hour emergency rescue mission." "Who's this administration's most vocal and effective critic?" "Taylor Reid." "When I found him he was a bartender with half a novel." "He had what you have." "What's that?" "A watchable quality." "Short list." "Two." "A shorter list than we had discussed." "Alan Zwick, who you brought me before..." "Because he was good." " He has no soul." " Of course he sounded good." "The man would front for the Gotti Family if you asked him to." "And Annabeth Schott?" "The little pixie from the Taylor Reid Show?" "I don't think we should hire either one of them." " I think I should do it." " Do what?" "Brief the press." "I have a quality." "Look, not forever, for a few weeks, until we find somebody, but we do a real search, not in one day, and hopefully not with me sitting in there and listening to them." "This is remarkably well thought out." "She came up with it" " Marybeth." "Annabeth." "She said we were rushing this and she's right." "We put a fresh face up there this week, they'll be ground beef by sundown." "She's selling herself as your follow-up act?" "No, she wanted some Media Relations gig." "She's irrelevant." " The fact is, I could..." " She wants Tim Waters' job?" "And she wants to conduct the search for your replacement, again, not the point." "It's not a bad idea." "It is, actually, can we focus on..." "On you as spokesman for the Ship of Fools?" "It's a dream come true." "The deputies can handle most of it," "I'll just do the high profile stuff." "Like this morning." "Yeah." "No." "Slightly better." "Did you talk to Greg Brock?" "He's not holding the story." "Don't give me the face." "This is..." "I don't know how this is gonna work, Toby, I really don't." "You're not his story." "We're unprepared is the story, and it's not coming from here, it's coming from DOD." "What are you talking about?" "Graham Bradley told him they low-balled the troop estimates, we can't do it with 18,000 men." "DOD's trying to bury the real numbers cause they know they can't get that kind of money from Congress." "DOD's in over their heads." " I love you." "Desperately." " I know." "They low-balled the estimates." "Hutchinson's trying to railroad the Georgia Project because he can't afford it." "I could be good at briefing." "That's debatable." "Bring her in to do the search." "Put her in Media Relations." "I don't think that part's a good idea." "She'll be helpful to you, and you... if you want to brief, you should brief." "You know why?" "Because I trust you." "And you most certainly have a quality." "I'm watchable." "I need the Secretaries of State, Energy, Defense," "Nancy, the JCS, and CIA in the Sit Room right away." "Not the Sit Room, my office." "This office." "Here." "I need to speak with him." "Come here." "Right." "Come in." "Good afternoon, Mr. President." " How ya doing?" " Fandabtastic." "You got the Energy quarterly?" "I got it right here." "Thank you." "I'd like it back." "How 'bout you get your own copy?" "We're not ready to assess domestic nuclear storage facilities, sir." "The team hasn't evaluated all the options and I haven't presented you with complete information." "You don't think this is a good start?" "I think it's you doing my job for me." "You're looking at this based on DOD's call." "Their perspective is valid, but it's only one perspective, and until we've gathered all the others, if you need something to read," "I recommend the new Benjamin Franklin bio." "It's a real page-turner." "Thank you, Mr. President." "What was that?" "I just got spanked." "Mmm." "Sorry I missed it." " She still nervous?" " I don't think so, no." " They're in there." " Great." "You're an odd woman and I've never quite understood you, but you're extremely capable, and you run this office like a Swiss watch, and you're tall, which is reassuring." "Leo may need you, and if he does, that's okay, but if he's willing to part with you, I hope you'll stay." "Thanks for coming in." "These are tentative figures for the extraction." "We need to re-jigger the numbers on flight support, but it shouldn't change the bottom line all that much." "I'd like to sit with the President and..." "Recommendations on the project will flow through this office and I will keep the President up to speed." "Let's look at the breakdown." "I'm sure this is all well thought out..." "Thank you." "...but the only viable option right now..." "Mr. Secretary." "...is to secure the material where it is..." "Mr. Secretary." "...because operationally and financially, we don't have the resources..." "Miles." "We will find the money." "You will not." "Though DOD will likely be saddled with most of the operational responsibility, you will not be saddled with the cost." "You're about to send 18,000 troops into the Middle East, and we can safely assume that's just the beginning." "You're overextended, we'll find the money elsewhere." "Let's look at the breakdown on page three." "C.J. wants us upstairs." "I had a great meeting with Matt Santos." "Good." "What do you think about the Patients' Bill of Rights?" "Lead balloon." "Maybe." "I don't know." "I'm gonna take a look at it again." "So he's keeping his seat?" "No, he's screwing us." "That's your idea of a good meeting?" "Yeah." "Look what the elves have done." " Hey." " Hey." "C.J. wanted to be here but she just got pulled in." "Staff's on their way." "She wanted me to give this to you." ""JT." "Nothing without you."" "Hey." "Thanks." " Who did this?" " The boss." "Good evening, Mr. President." "Hey." "How'd it go with the tiger team?" "We took a vote and elected not to call it a tiger team." "Beyond that, I think we've isolated the funding." "There's still some concern about the political fallout if we bring foreign nuclear material onto American soil." "EPA?" "An environmental impact study could take over a year." "We don't have that kind of time." "We're thinking about going to the British, see if they'll help out." "We talked about non-proliferation at the G-8 last year." "They said they were willing to get more involved." "Great." "I'll schedule a call for you and the Prime Minister tomorrow." "C.J." "You're Chief of Staff." "You can make the call." "Right." "Thank you, sir." "Margaret?" "Would you please set up a call first thing tomorrow morning with the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?" "Sure." "Who's going to be on the call?" "Me."