"Previously on the West Wing:" "I had to take the summit away from Josh." "Yeah." "Governor Baker, welcome." "Baker's running, right?" "Yeah." "And he'll have it wrapped up by Super Tuesday." "So, how are your numbers in Iowa?" "Iowa and New Hampshire look very good." "I get why you're so worried about Baker, but why not about Hoynes?" "I'm running for President." "I want you to run my campaign." "Russell is on his way to being the nominee, and, God willing, our next president." "So get on board or get out of my way." "You're too good at this." "You can't just walk away." "Watch me." "He's a Republican!" "Not a real Republican;" "he's a California Republican." "Are we really saying that there isn't a single Democrat..." "President thinks Arnold Vinick is perfect for U.N. Ambassador." "It's your job to feel him out, see if he'd be up for it." "Thank you." "Aw, thanks." "We can't tell you what an honor it's been to be here." "To actually work here in the White House." "I want to thank our new best friend, Zoey Bartlet, the First Daughter." "I'm not the First Daughter." "Well, I thought..." "Oh, okay." "Zoey Bartlet, the third daughter of the First Family." "Come on, guys." "One more trick." "You are just spoiled rotten, aren't you, Zoey." "Just one?" " Please?" " Please." "Well, you certainly deserve another trick." "Teller." "A simple red handkerchief." "I love that trick." "So simple." "There is nothing like a vanish." "So pure." "But what does it mean?" "I know what you're thinking-- a magic trick, a simple vanish, can have no meaning whatsoever." "But what if, instead of using that handkerchief, a meaningless piece of cloth, we were to use a piece of cloth that was nothing but meaning?" "What if the piece of cloth we chose was the flag of the United States of America?" "'Cause, you know, with this flag on stage, there's a lot to think about." "Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam, in full glory reflected it shines in the stream," "does the Star Spangled Banner, O long may it wave, o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave." "And what if, instead of using that meaningless piece of construction paper, we were to use a piece of paper that means more to us than any other piece of paper in the world--the Bill of Rights." "The first ten amendments to the Constitution." "Including my favorite amendment, the First Amendment." "It's the one that guarantees, not just everybody in this room, but every single person in the United States-- every citizen, every visitor, every magician" "freedom of speech." "It's the one that says, if we want to add a little bit of, uh, spontaneous combustion to our simple vanish, we can do that." "We can take a... some tinder and a very eccentric magic wand, and we can do this..." "And it's okay." "'Cause even though the flag is gone, the Bill of Rights remain." "Did they just burn an American flag in the White House?" "Okay, here's the latest updated schedule for the China Summit." "You guys, I'm just going to run through the highlights real quick." "The President leaves Andrews this afternoon at 2:15 p.m." "with a stop in Louisiana, before departing tonight from New Orleans for the flight to Beijing." "Any indication when the President is going to appoint a new U.N. ambassador?" "The First Lady will complete her visit to India tomorrow and arrive in Beijing in time for the state dinner on Thursday night." "How long is the President gonna leave the U.N. post vacant?" "Not as long as I'm gonna ignore questions about anything other than the China trip." "In the New Orleans stop later today, the President will meet with shrimp fisherman and shrimp packers..." " Shrimpers." " What?" "They're called shrimpers, Annabeth, not shrimp fishermen." "In New Orleans, the President will meet with representatives of the shrimp industry about their request to invoke anti-dumping sanctions against imported Chinese shrimp." "Here's the statement on human rights that you and President Lian will put out at the end of the first day of meetings." " Not a word about Tibet?" " Tibet's in there." "We just couldn't use the word Tibet." "Okay, show me where you think the Tibet sentence is here?" "Mr. President, what you say in the room is entirely up to you." "What we say afterward in the joint statement is not." "I'm gonna hammer them on Tibet in the room." "And they're gonna hammer you about Indian reservations." "Indian reservations weren't my idea." "I'm sure they'll understand." "I'm just saying the Department of Transportation has a lot on its plate right now." "Mr. Secretary, you've got transportation on your plate." "That's all." "Look, Josh, the truth is I assumed you were going on the China trip and that we would have another week to do our homework." "This is more important than China trip." "This is the budget of the United States of America we're talking about." "You're the only department who hasn't submitted a budget proposal yet." "I can't ask OMB to put together a complete budget estimate until I got..." "I'll be back." "Senator Vinick's confirmed for 11:15, which means we have to move your OMB meeting to, like, now." "Give me a minute." "And you've got that other thing after wheels-up." " What thing?" " Me." "Oh, right, sure." "Hey... you're back." "Nah, I just have to sort out some files I left in my office." "Can't Margaret send them to your house?" "Be a federal crime if she did." "Your-eyes-only kind of thing?" "Yeah." "You hear about this Vinick thing?" "President ran it by me yesterday." "I can't believe it." "Vinick's been investigating us for seven years nonstop, and we're offering him a job?" "Sure, we've had some run-ins with him, but..." "Some run-ins?" "!" "He has always supported the President on foreign policy." " Hey, sweetie." " Hey, boss." "Let me tell C.J. you're here." "Don't bother her." "Just set me up somewhere with those files and I'll stay out of everyone's way." "I moved them over to C.J.'s old office." " Shredder?" " Engine's running." "And this is the statement on regional security that you and President Lian will put out at the end of the last day." "The last day shouldn't be about regional security." "It should just be about North Korea." "They're only willing to discuss North Korea in the context of other regional..." "Don't they understand that North Korea is their regional security problem?" "Fix that and we've saved half the world." "I've made it very clear to them how much you want to talk about it." "Tell the Chinese if they talk to me about North Korea, they don't have to talk to me about anything else." "Mr. President, our agenda with China is now as long and complex as it is with any other country in the world." "I know." "To narrow a summit to this one issue..." "I know." "I know." "We can talk about the rest of this stuff on the plane." "Mr. President, I think we should cover as much as we can with the staff here before..." "We got 20 hours to kill in the air over the next two days." "We got an election coming up and we're actually saying there's no Democrat who can represent us at the U.N.?" "The President wants Arnold Vinick." "Was Vinick your recommendation?" "I've known the guy 30 years and I don't know anyone better for the job." "Sorry, I'm..." "I'm having some trouble imagining Arnie Vinick as a diplomat." "U.N. could use some tough love these days." "The President wanted to ask him himself, but you don't want to put them alone in the room until we know Vinick will say yes." "If he plays hard to get, I'm out of there." "I'm not begging a Republican." "If he says yes, he won't be investigating us anymore." "We doing this just to get him off our backs?" "No." "The President thinks he's the best we can get." "I'm just trying to give you your motivation." "I think we're all anxious about the subjects because you're insisting on being alone in the room with the Chinese leaders." "Yeah." "You want to be in the room too?" "I do not." "But I think C.J. and Kate and the Secretary..." "I don't want to fly all the way to China just to participate in another phony ritual of putting out these joint statements on what we already agreed to before the trip." "After the controversy about the Taiwanese flag, we're lucky they didn't cancel the..." "This is my last China summit." "It's my last chance." "I want to walk into that room and show the Chinese that they are not dealing with some staff-dependent puppet." "I want them to see that I'm ready to get some real work done right there in the room." "Progress isn't good enough for me now;" "I want to get something done." "You like shrimp, don't you?" "I love it." "You might be interested to know how much of the shrimp sold in the U.S. actually comes from China." "Nice." "Okay, go ahead." "Uh, yes, sir." "Well, one of the most difficult trade issues on the agenda this time is shrimp." "Shrimp." "And on the last day of the summit, the agenda will be the security of the region." "Does that include North Korea?" "Yes, it does." "So can we expect to hear something..." "Walter, just let me get through the return trip itinerary and we're done." "Annabeth, is it true that Penn and Teller burned an American flag in the White House last night?" "How many times do I have to tell you I'm not taking questions?" "Did they warn anybody that they were going to burn a flag?" "Who invited Penn and Teller to the White House?" "Penn and Teller were invited to perform at a private party last night in the East Room." "Because it was a private party, the White House has no further comment." " Did you have a list...?" " Walter, as I said..." "Mark, I'm not taking questions." " You just did." " Well, I'm not taking any more." "Even if we make significant progress in tariffs and quotas and state-sponsored industries, if they don't budge on the currency issue, then we might not actually be able to achieve any real gains..." ""State has confirmed that China has just released" ""Wen Jong as a goodwill gesture" ""on the eve of the President's arrival." ""The dissident had been jailed for six-and-a-half years on charges..."" "Congratulations, Mr. President." "They always give us one before a summit." "Wen Jong is not just any dissident." "We need to draft a statement right now." " Hey, Milly." " Hi, C.J." "Madame Surgeon General, the briefing book on public health in China is maybe just a touch too technical for someone who almost flunked organic chemistry." "What'd you get, a B?" "B-plus, as I recall." "Well, I don't remember any of it." "Are your bags packed?" "Excuse me?" "I need a seminar from you on the plane about SARS and AIDS in China." "No punch line?" "Wheels up at what, C.J.?" "2:15, but we're already 20 minutes behind, so..." "So you've got plenty of time to pack." "Yes, sir." "Leonard, go ahead." " Stanley." " Okay." "As I was saying, since the Chinese currency remains pegged..." "The Penn and Teller thing leaked." "Big surprise." "I got hit with it when I was giving them the China schedule." "How did the "private party" line go over?" "Like a lead balloon." "Told ya." "The President's not gonna let us say anything else." "They want to know who invited Penn and Teller." "They want to know who was here." "And they want to know if the President was here." "Right." "I knew it was gonna leak the second it happened." "The second what happened?" "Hmm?" "It was a magic trick." "How do we know what they have done?" "Are you saying maybe they didn't really burn it?" "Doesn't matter." "People saw them do it." "Maybe they burned a flag, maybe they just pretended to burn a flag." "Okay." "Annabeth, get" "Penn and Teller to make a statement saying they didn't really burn the flag and we're done." "I don't want flag questions chasing us all the way to China." "And so we commend the Chinese government for releasing Wen Jong, but we hope that other..." "Commend is too strong a word, isn't it?" "How about encouraged?" "We were encouraged by the Chinese government." "Yeah, that's better." "We need a couple of signatures." "We need to get that statement out before we get on the plane." "Should we talk about who the Chinese government should release next?" "No, we should focus on what we won today." "So, just a general line then about what we hope they do in the future?" "Right." "And we need to tie it into the summit." "Something about how this shows that the Chinese are ready for real negotiations on all of the issues on our agenda." "Let me take another look at that." "We should check with the state." "I don't want to have* any statement reffering to the summet." "So, we're going to get Penn and Teller to put out a statement explaining that they didn't really burn a flag in the White House." "What?" "And ruin a perfectly good segment of Crossfire tonight?" "I'm sorry;" "I didn't realize you want every question in the China summit press conference to be about flag burning in the White House." "You want to see any of these Christmas party invitations" "I'm declining for you?" "Only the ones you're accepting, which I hope are none." "So far." "Are wheels up yet?" "In four minutes." "So that's like what, 50 minutes behind schedule?" "Forty-eight." "Okay, so you owe me..." "No, no, no." "You bet 45 or under and I..." "I never bet 45 or under, not on a foreign trip." "You really want to become a pathological liar over three bucks?" "I'm late for Vinick." "Not anymore, you're not." "Did he cancel?" "No, I just rescheduled it for you." "This better be good." "Vinick's scheduler was fine with it." "Did it occur to you that I might have a problem with it?" "She said later would actually be better for the Senator." "He won't be rushed." "Uh-huh." "So?" "So, Charlie needs you." "Charlie?" "Well, obviously, that means it's a C.J. thing." "He's been passing along stuff for her since she's been, you know, on the road." "You can say China trip." "Every time you say "on the road,"" "it screams trying to avoid saying "China trip."" "Me avoid saying something to you?" "Let's get two things straight:" "First, I'm fine not going on the China trip." "Picking a U.N. ambassador is no small thing." "You didn't pick him." "And second, only I can decide to reschedule Vinick, not you and Charlie." "Okay, to keep your fragile ego intact," "I've been trying to avoid using the phrase" ""direct order from C.J."" "I'll take your coat." "C.J., I think we've used about enough presidential time talking about a kid's birthday party." "What else you got, Kate?" "Did they really burn the flag?" "I don't know." "I was in bed five minutes after Zoey blew out the candles." "I have a draft statement for you to look at." "We really should get a statement out before we land in New Orleans." ""While I do not condone flag burning..."" "blah, blah, blah..." ""I was not present when..." blah, blah, blah..." "It's too long." " Let me work on that." " No." "Let me." "It was a private party." " I'll stress that." " No, that's it." "That's my statement." ""It was a private party."" "Period." "Not another word." " It was in the White House." " Underline private." "It wasn't in the residence." "It was in the East Room." "There were at least 50 people there-- we can't just..." "I'm not letting anyone drag me into a national shouting match about what happened at my daughter's birthday party." "Landing in New Orleans in 20 minutes." "Thank you." "Go ahead Kate." "Just so you know, I'm not comfortable with this." "C.J. wanted to call you directly, but she got pulled into a thing." " On the plane." " It's not just you." "She's already had me on the phone with half the Cabinet." "She just can't make every phone call herself." "Right." "Anyway, she wants you to help out on the flag burning thing." "Instead of getting us a U.N. ambassador?" "Not instead of, just before." "27 Congressmen signed this letter demanding the President explain what happened." "The story's all over cable news." "C.J.'s afraid it's gonna drown out coverage of the China trip." "She needs you to..." "Put out the fire?" "She actually say "put out the fire"?" "Tell me she said "put out the fire."" "We're already buried in calls from all the usual suspects plus Entertainment Tonight," "Access Hollywood, Daily Variety, Hollywood Reporter," "Magicians' Monthly..." "Okay, okay." "Why don't you track down Penn and Teller and get them on the phone with me." "Them?" "Teller doesn't speak." "That's just an act." "Penn told me Teller doesn't speak." "You've talked to Penn?" "Yeah, right before you came in." "They'll be here in a couple of hours." "Sounded pretty cooperative on the phone." "Okay, who are we kidding?" "You don't need me on this thing." "Hey, just wanted to give you a heads-up on the Vice President's statement about the flag burning." "He wants to get it out this afternoon." ""When I was in Congress," "I led the fight "for a Constitutional Amendment to ban flag burning." ""This obscene stunt once again points out the urgent need for a Constitutional..."" "Can the guy open his mouth without pandering?" "Let me know when Penn and Teller show up." "You've got to understand my position..." "Donna, where's the OMB report on the HHS budget?" "Where the OMB reports always are:" "in the stack beside the thing." "Right." "Oh, and the, uh...supplements?" "They're in the supplementary stack beside the other thing." "Okay, I'm done helping you ignore Will." "So, how would you suggest the Vice President handle a flag burning in the White House?" "What would you tell him?" "I would tell him to shut up!" "I would tell him to show a little loyalty to the President and his family." "But then I'd have to explain to him what loyalty is, wouldn't I?" "Do you have time to do that now?" "He shook a few too many hands in New Orleans, but the pilot says we can make up some of the lost time in the air." "Yes, China is definitely dumping shrimp in the U.S." "at below-cost prices, but so is Vietnam." "So, if we threaten to bring a WTO case against China, then we have to threaten Vietnam, too." "And, obviously, the U.S. threatening Vietnam could wake up a lot of sleeping dogs." "How much of our shrimp comes from China and Vietnam?" "25 percent." "There's no way that our domestic industry could replace that much of the supply." "And it would only make it easier for Brazil to increase their market share." "But I just told those guys in New Orleans that I would do something." "You will do something." "You'll raise the issue with the Chinese." "You know, Teddy, no one outside of the State Department thinks that raising the issue and doing something are the same." "I was a cosponsor of the flag burning amendment every time we brought it to a vote in the House." "Big difference between being a Congressman and being Vice President." "I know, but I've got a lot of history with this subject." "Exit polls always showed that voters didn't know much about me, but the one thing that they did know was that Bob Russell was against flag burning." "That's in one Congressional district in Colorado." "Now you have to define yourself nationally." "Do you really want to start with flag burning?" "I gotta say something." "It's the story of the day." "China summit is the story of the day!" "If you don't have something to say about U.S. relations with the biggest country in the world, why are you running for president?" "Voters understand loyalty." "They're not expecting you to take a shot at the President on something that happened at his daughter's birthday party." "Eric Baker is going to New Hampshire today to announce his candidacy." "You know the press is gonna ask him about this." "If Baker makes a statement about this..." "If?" "!" "Baker has to jump on this." "He needs to move to the right on something." "This is perfect for him." "So what?" "You think that helps either one of you get the Democratic nomination?" "It's never too early to think about where I gotta be in the general." "Mr. Vice President, have you seen Baker's numbers?" "That's why I can't miss any opportunity, like this flag thing." "Baker's at 32, you're at 19," "Hoynes and everyone else are in single digits." "You're not gonna catch up to Baker with flag burning." "Baker's just a governor." "He's got to jump at every issue to get coverage outside of Pennsylvania." "You're Vice President of the United States." "You can't go chasing every little controversy that comes along." "You can't let Baker dictate your agenda." "You pick your spots carefully, every speech you give would be treated as breaking news on CNN." "I need you to pick those spots for me." "Will here's been telling me for awhile that you're the guy to run this campaign, now I can see why." "They're ready for you now." "He's not stupid." "That your bumper sticker?" "He was smart enough to take your advice." " That was a setup." " No, it wasn't." "He really did want to put out that statement." "I couldn't talk him out of it." "Once I heard your take on it, it seemed like the perfect time to put you two together." "This is a write-your-own-ticket offer." "You'd have complete control." "You don't want to run it?" "I've never done a national campaign." "It wouldn't be fair to him." "Baker's gonna chew him up in the debates." "Even Hoynes'll run rings around him on the issues." "Sure, Baker's gonna be the front-runner, but the VP is gonna be the only guy with enough money to hang in there against Baker." " What about Hoynes?" " Damaged goods." "So, you think it's a two-man race by the time you get to Super Tuesday?" "Right." "And Baker's not gonna play well in the South." "I heard Hoynes made you an offer." "Has Baker called you?" "Bruno runs Baker's campaigns." "Bob Russell might be the next President of the United States." "You get in now, you can make him the candidate you want him to be." "After that, we make him the President we need him to be." "Where's Vinick's office?" "Dirksen 464." "Thanks." "Got Penn and Teller's statement." "Let's see." "You're not gonna love it." "So, how about a few minutes after you get back from the Vinick meeting?" "For what?" "For me." "For that talk we were gonna have about..." ""The Supreme Court has ruled "that we can do whatever we want with the flag, and the Founding Fathers obviously intended..."" "Are they still here?" "Juggling identical objects, identical weights, is pretty easy with about, you know, about five years practice, but juggling different weights, different shapes, stuff you've just picked off people's desks, stuff you couldn't possibly have practiced with," "that's when it gets a little bit tricky." " That's amazing!" " Thanks a lot." "This statement does me absolutely no good." "I need you guys to give me a statement saying exactly what you did last night--preferably that you did not burn a flag." "And if you did actually burn a flag," "I need you to admit it, and emphasize that you did not clear your act with anyone in the White House before you performed and had you done so, you now realize you would have been explicitly forbidden to burn a flag in the White House," "and you now deeply regret the controversy you have provoked and apologize to the President and his family for treating his home with such disrespect." "Hi, I'm Penn Jillette." "This is Teller." "Hi." "Josh Lyman." "How you doing?" "He doesn't talk." "Doesn't talk like Harpo Marx or really doesn't talk?" "What's the difference?" "Okay, how did you do the flag trick?" "We're not going to tell you that." "Fine." "So if Annabeth goes out there and says that you did not burn a flag last night, no one can refute that." "Except the hundred people who saw them burn a flag or think that's what they saw." "You tell me, Charlie, did we burn a flag, or did we just vanish a flag in a patriotic flash of fireworks?" "Don't know." "What's the difference?" "There's a big difference politically." "Why?" "I mean, what if we burned a flag, not in protest, but in celebration of the very freedoms that allow us to burn a flag, the freedoms that everyone who has ever worked in this magnificent building has pledged to preserve and protect?" " Did you go to law school?" " No." "Clown school." "Let's find a compromise on shrimp that I can ask the Chinese to offer Vietnam without our fingerprints on it." "Something that nudges both of them closer to fair price levels." "Okay, everyone, the President has a phone call to make." "What was all that about?" " You okay?" " I'm fine." "You're not eating." "I'm not that hungry." "You said you were hungry when you were ordering." "Don't worry, I'll eat." "But thanks for getting rid of them." "16 more hours of that would be a bit much." "Send Milly in, would you?" "I don't need to talk shop with her." "Yes, sir." "The Senator will see you now." "Mr. Chairman." "Shine your own shoes, Josh?" "No, I can't say that I do." "My father used to say you can't trust a man who doesn't shine his own shoes." "Does anybody shine those things?" "Not really, no." "How many guys left in this town shine their own shoes?" "Not a lot." "None." "Is that how many you trust?" "That's exactly how many I trust." " Mr. Chairman, the President..." " I know what you're thinking:" "must be lonely being this mean old guy who doesn't trust anyone." "Well, I trust my brother, my four children, my nine grandchildren, and my dog." "I suspect that's more than you trust, now, isn't it?" "Yeah." "The Founding Fathers didn't set up a government based on trust." "They could've designed a government based on trust in our ability to govern fairly, but they knew that power corrupts, so they invented checks and balances." "That was genius." "The Founding Fathers did not want me to trust you, and they did not want you to trust me." "Well, they must be very proud of us." "Have a seat." "We're still negotiating Christmas." "Tommy wants to go on an archeological dig with some heathen professor of his, and Cleo's doing Christmas with her dad this year." "Then you're doing Christmas with your goddaughter and her family." "I can't afford another Bartlet Christmas on this government salary." "Way too many presents." "Milly, I can't move my hands." "Ever happen before?" "It's usually one or the other." " Never both." " No." "You feel that?" "No." "Anything?" "No." "You want me to bring in the flight doctor?" "Not unless it gets worse." "Well, I guess I'm going to have to feed you then, aren't I?" "Every White House forgets about checks and balances." "You guys are no different." "Checks are fine, it's the witch-hunts I got a problem with." "You need cordovan for those." "Pick up a brush." "You're not leaving this room with shoes like that." "Here's another check you won't like:" "I'm going to hold another hearing on your man Margudian." "Taking a Marine helicopter to play golf in Florida." "Come on, that was over a year ago-- we fired the guy." "No, this was another incident a year before that one." "You really think the American people care about this?" "Hope not." "But I got a dozen members of my committee who do." "Or think it's a good way to get on TV." "You think I like investigating high school stuff like this?" "Fooled me." "Have I ever campaigned saying I was going to be the best investigator in the Senate?" "Of course not." "This isn't what I came here to do." "I'm here to make this a better government, to make this a better country." "And I just wish you guys would stop serving up these goofy things for us to investigate." "We've run a pretty tight ship lately." "Yes, you have." "Which is why they had to reach back a couple of years to find something new to yell about." "But just do me a big favor, will ya?" "No more flag burnings in the White House." "I've had four nuts demand hearings on that one already." "So?" "So, I told them that the United States Senate does not investigate what happens at kids' birthday parties." "Not as long as I have anything to say about it." "Have you decided if you're going to run for another term?" "Yep." "Flying home tonight, making my announcement tomorrow." "Why?" "You want to make me a retirement offer?" "Yeah, I happen to have one on me." "What have you got?" "Help the Presient make the world a better place." "U.N." "That's tempting." "That's very tempting." "But that's not the job I want." "Well, the President didn't send me with a menu of jobs, just this one." "The President can't give me the job I want." "Which one?" "His." " You're running?" " Starting tomorrow." "You missed a spot on the heel." "The only thing to do is let him rest." "He could feel fine by the time he gets off the plane." "Or he could get worse." "Well, if this is as bad as it gets, no one will notice a thing." "Except when he has to shake hands." "Which he's going to have to do about 200 times before lunch tomorrow." "Be good to keep the hand-shaking to a minimum." "We should cancel the first reception." "You know how many weeks the protocol officers spent on that one?" "The public events are the only ones the Chinese really care about." "If the President of the United States can't publicly shake hands with another head of state..." "It'd sure kill the flag-burning story." "Could we get Abbey on the phone?" "Yeah." "Who else should we call?" "Well, for an MS patient, this is the equivalent of a headache." "I mean, who would you want us to call if you had a headache?" "Okay, let's just keep this on the plane for now." "Thought you'd be long gone." "More junk here than I thought." "Shouldn't you still be, you know, taking it easy." "I think a two hour nap qualifies as taking it easy." " Did you hook Vinick?" " Not exactly." "He's going to run for another term." "I don't know much about heart stuff, but aren't you supposed to..." "I-I-I... maybe we shouldn't..." "Don't worry, you're not going to shock me into my grave." "He's running for President." "He announces tomorrow." "President?" "!" "I don't see how he gets the nomination." "I mean, what's he going to run on, tax cuts and more tax cuts?" "Every Republican candidate will be for tax cuts." "Then what?" "Flip-flop on abortion?" "He's against late-term abortion." "That's not good enough for the Republican base." "He's got a lot of California money behind him." "Even if he raises twice as..." "Sorry, but Eric Baker's live on MSNBC right now." "Says he's not running." "And so, I have decided for family reasons that this is not that time." "This is the time that I can keep my commitment to the people of Pennsylvania to be a full-time governor and the commitment to my family to be a full-time father." "Family reasons?" "Unbelievable." "Well, I never decided to get into the presidential race, so I can't see how you can say I dropped out of it." "How lucky can we get?" "You're never going to get luckier than this." "Milly says you should use the flight to rest." "No more meetings." "Thanks." "We're not going to interrupt you for anything." "Fine by me." "Excuse me, Mr. President," "Baker just dropped out." " Baker's not running?" "!" " Toby..." "It looks like our very own Bob Russell is the new front-runner for the Democratic nomination." "Toby, please." "Mr. President, this is exactly what we're not going to do." "You need to rest, so we're not going to bring you anything you don't need to know immediately." "But we mean real rest, not studying briefing books." "Are you going to watch me rest?" " If I have to." " Get out of here." "Family reasons." "Go figure." "He's close to Vinick, you know." "No, I didn't know." "Yeah." "Baker was on the Judiciary Committee staff back when Vinick was a freshman senator." "They've been tight ever since." "So what?" "Since when have you seen friendship trump ambition in politics?" "Maybe Baker figures the Democratic nomination's not worth winning this time, if he has to go against Vinick in the general." "But there's no way Vinick's getting the nomination." "He's not conservative enough." "I'm just saying Baker's not sitting this out for family reasons." "Could be Vinick, could be something else." "Who's our front-runner with Baker out?" "Run a poll without Baker in it and Russell's going to go sky high." "Hoynes will pop, too." "Russell or Hoynes gets our nomination." "Who gets the Republican nomination?" "It's wide open." "They've been out of power for eight years and they're desperate." "Probably why Vinick figures he has a shot." "You're serious?" "Ever see Arnie Vinick campaign, up close?" "He'll go into those high school gymnasiums in Iowa and New Hampshire and blow them all away." "Shake every hand in the joint, kiss every baby, hug every widow on Social Security," "and sound smarter and more honest than any Republican they've ever seen-- because he is." "He could win in the early states, go into the South with some momentum, then... who knows what happens?" "Republican who wins California wipes us out in the Electoral College." "Right." "He's not getting the nomination." "If he does, we've got no one who can beat him." "...and so, I have returned to the place where my career in public service began-- right here at City Hall" "to announce my candidacy to be the next President of the United States." "And I ask you..." "I ask all of you who have been with me from the beginning to set out with me today from this valley on this new quest, to help me bring the promise and the opportunity of America to all Americans." "Senator Vinick, do you think you're conservative enough to get the Republican nomination?" "I think I'm Republican enough." "Been a lifelong Republican, always been loyal to the party, always will." "Do you think President Bartlet should investigate whether a flag was burned in the White House?" "No." "I accept the President's statement that it was a private party." "I don't think we need to hear any more about it." "But don't the people Are you watching?" "The people have a right to know the President's position on the issues, but they don't have the right to know what happens at his daughter's birthday party." "But if they burned a flag in the white..." "Hey, I think this is a perfect demonstration of what the President is flying halfway around the world right now to try to teach the Chinese government-- the meaning of freedom." "It's a good thing the magicians didn't try this trick in Tianamen Square with a Chinese flag wrapped in the Chinese Bill of Rights because there is no Chinese Bill of Rights." "Senator, Senator..." "Thank you." "Thank you." "You have a year to talk me out of voting for him." " We've got a situation." " What?" "South Korea." "I thought you were going to let me rest." "I'm so sorry, sir." "State just got a heads-up from the IAEA that they're going to report tomorrow that the South Korean government has admitted to conducting an experiment to enrich uranium." "South Korea is not releasing any details." "We need you to get on the phone and get the president to come clean." "We can't ask China to help stop North Korean nuclear experiments if the South is doing it, too." "Get us a secure line with the South Korean president." "C.J." "Hold it." "Sir?" "I can't move." "Progressive paralysis." "He had trouble with his hands, now it's both legs and his right arm." "So much for being staff-dependent in China." "Fairbanks is closer, but Anchorage is better for a 747." "I've got better doctors up here than I'd get down there." "Mr. President, we can't take the chance that..." "Let's not pretend we didn't know this was going to happen." "No, Mr. President, I didn't know." "I mean, we always knew it was going to happen someday." "I'm ready for it." "You better be, too." "Mr. President, we can't land in China with..." "This plane is going to China." "That's a direct order from your Commander in Chief." "Okay, we're going to need to clear the room for some tests." "Got some new numbers." "Tracking poll has us up 16 points with Baker out of the race." "Hoynes is up, too." "Yeah, but we picked up a lot more." "Russell's the man to beat now." "Yeah." "Listen, we have a breakfast tomorrow with senior campaign staff." "Why don't you drop by?" "Doesn't commit you to anything." "You can just be a fly on the wall, if you want." "See how it feels." "No, thanks." "This isn't a Broadway show, Josh." "We don't just close it down after a successful eight-year run." "You have to care who's going to sit in that chair after Jed Bartlet is gone." "I do." "That's why I don't want Bob Russell to be President." "We just have to hope the doctors will talk some sense into him and get this plane turned around." "We turn this plane around, and that's the end of his presidency." "We'd be saying he can't do the job anymore." "No, we'd just be saying he's sick, we'll go back to China as soon as he's up to it." "We might as well just say, "He's a part-time president." "He can only do the job when he feels up to it!"" "You really think there's any chance he's going to let you turn this plane around?" "If we cancel, the Chinese might not believe us." "They'll think we're canceling because the South Koreans got caught working on nuclear weapons." "We gotta do full disclosure on this." "Milly should do a full briefing with the press-- all the medical facts-- right here on this plane." "Just as soon as we know what..." "He knew." "Huh?" "That's why the Surgeon General is on the flight." "He wanted her here to do the briefing." "He knew he was having problems, he knew this might happen." "We're three hours from Beijing." "If we turn around, we're going to have to refuel." "Maybe we should let the cockpit start checking their options." "Yeah, okay." "He wants to see you." "All of you." "Not there-- in the infirmery." "I just got off the phone with President Wang South Korea." "He insists he didn't know anything about the nuclear experiment." "Said it was just a couple of curious young scientists and they only enriched about two-tenths of a gram of uranium." "That's not nearly enough for weapons grade enrichment, is it?" "Uh, no, it's not, sir." "Weapons grade would have to be at least 90 percent higher than that." "Okay." "Wang says they're cooperating fully with the IAEA inspectors, and he's ordered these young scientists to participate in a joint press conference with the inspectors tomorrow, and then he's gonna fire their asses." "That's not going to make North Korea feel much better." "I know, but it's a start." "C.J., we've got to set up a quick press briefing for the gang in the back of the plane right away." "Mr. President, are you, um..." "My left hand is back." "I still have no feeling in my legs and my right arm is in no shape to be shaking hands in China." "Gotta remember to tell the protocol officer that." "Are you in pain?" "I'm fine as long as I don't attempt any superhuman feat like, say, writing my name." "Okay, let's get started." "Think anyone's gonna ask about that flag-burning thing now?" "All right, look, when we get out there," "I'll lead off with the MS thing, then go to the South Korea story." "I'll leave it to you, Milly, to get into any medical details if anyone has any questions about that." "Oh, I think they might have a few hundred." "I'm just going to tell them that the President of the United States will be working from a wheelchair again." "Again?" "F.D.R." "Do I really have to remind those kids that Roosevelt fought World War II from a wheelchair?" " Yeah, but..." " But he died in office." "Okay, I'll skip the Roosevelt bit." "Bring that thing over here, would you?" "How much you want to bet" "I can get them to ask me a question about South Korea?" "How much you got?" "Sorry to wake you up, but the President has an announcement to make." "No." "I'll take it from here." "Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States."