THE TWO BARTLETS

Descriptions

From TVGuide.com:

The Presidential race clarifies on the day of the Iowa caucuses, as does Josh's relationship with Amy Gardner (Mary-Louise Parker). Meanwhile, Josh must make a call he'd rather not make to an old friend who's protesting Navy arms testing at Vieques, Puerto Rico; Toby and C.J. disagree about affirmative action; Donna tries to get out of jury duty; and Sam meets with a ufologist (Sam Lloyd) who tells him that most of the gold at Fort Knox has been replaced with something else.

From NBC:

While the President (Martin Sheen) and his staff ponder whether to counter a verbal assault on affirmative action by a fast-rising Republican presidential candidate, Josh (Bradley Whitford) must postpone his tropical vacation with a women's rights advocate (Mary-Louise Parker) to defuse a risky powderkeg on an island that serves as the Navy's firing range. When Josh rolls up his sleeves to remove protesters who have planted themselves in harm's way on the Puerto Rican island, he makes his first call to the cell phone of an old friend who's leading the group. Meanwhile, Sam (Rob Lowe) meets with an eccentric politician (Sam Lloyd) who believes that Ft. Knox is missing a fortune in gold bullion; a defiant C.J. (Allison Janney) debates with Toby (Richard Schiff) over the merits of affirmative action; and Donna (Janel Moloney) asks Josh to intercede and relieve her of pending jury duty.

From Warner Bros.:

Bartlet and his staff ponder whether or not to counter a fast-rising Republican presidential candidate's verbal assault on affirmative action. Josh must postpone his tropical vacation with women's rights advocate Amy Gardner (Mary-Louise Parker) in order to defuse a risky situation in Vieques, Puerto Rico, an area that serves as a U.S. Navy firing range. As he prepares to remove protesters who have put themselves in harm's way on the island, Josh telephones his longtime friend--who is leading the group. Meanwhile, Sam meets with an eccentric politician, Robert Engler (Sam Lloyd), who believes that Ft. Knox is missing a fortune in gold bullion; C.J. defiantly debates Toby over the merits of affirmative action; and Donna asks Josh to intercede and relieve her of pending jury duty.

Credits

Information Links

• The Supreme Court
• Safe Haven laws
• Hamlet
• Ophelia
• State of the Union
• the Stones at Wembley Stadium
• Honky Tonk Woman by the Rolling Stones - song lyrics
• Vieques
• Eastern Iowa Airport
• Freedom to Farm Act
• Four-H
• butter cow and butter Elvis - article
• butter Last Supper
• James and Peter
• Marcel Duchamp
• Dadaism
• University of Iowa
• Affirmative Action
• cloture motion - can be offered to end a debate after a certain amount of time
• Coast Guard
• Obi-Wan
• GI Bill
• William Henry Harrison
• History of Puerto Rico
• PTA
• U.S. House of Representatives
• Epcot
• UB40
• Non-Point Source Pollution
• U.S. Bullion Depository at Fort Knox, Kentucky
• Treasury Department
• Roosevelt and Truman
• "Papoose Lake Spacecraft taken from Roswell to Groom Lake in 1947 a little piece of land called Area 51 ... "
• Dungeons and Dragons
• Secretary of the Air Force
• ... "did an exhaustive search for records ..."
• Navy
• Dr. Jekyll and Uncle Fluffy
• "Quando dio vuole castigarci ci manda quello che desideriamo." -
  "When the gods wish to punish us they answer our prayers."
• OJ verdict
• Washington
• Air Force One
• Red, Red Wine by UB40 - song lyrics
• Samoan Fog Cutter or a Navy Grog
• Bacardi 451
• "My family signed the Declaration of Independence" - Bartlet - Dr. Josiah Bartlett
• Nobel Laureate [in Economics]

Media Quotes

"I do get into it with Aaron when I think the young aides are getting too cheeky. Even with Bill Clinton, who is fairly casual and young, not your father's president, there still is a line." - Dee Dee Myers

"High-Stakes TV"
By Karin Lipson and
Frank Lovece
February 27, 2000
New York Newsday

Things will get plenty stirred up in an upcoming emotionally charged episode when Toby slams the POTUS (President of the United States) for the way he's running his re-election campaign. "It's a very difficult confrontation that doesn't go very well because I get personal," previews the actor [Richard Schiff]. "That's all I really should say about it." 

"West Wing Star's Career Schiff"
by Jeanne Wolf with Michael Ausiello
January 30, 2002
TV Guide Online

The properties of discussion and education are entirely from the properties of drama. Which is why all I deal with when I sit down is intention and obstacle. Andi wants changes in a speech, it's very important to her. Toby doesn't want to make them, it's equally as important to him. The more personal the arguments become, the better. The less rational the discussion is, the better.

....

What I read was "Why do they keep make Toby say such asinine things? 'They'll like us when we win'? I'm not sure how much more of this I can take." I HATE making someone feel that way. People get different things from the show and like different epsiodes for different reasons I guess.

Posted at televisionwithoutpity.com Forum
By Aaron "Benjamin" Sorkin
February 11, 2002

... for instance, Press Secretary C.J. was talking to Presidential Conscience Tobey about affirmative action. When Tobey pressed C.J. for her views, she said she was the wrong Democrat to ask. She explained that her father had once been denied a job when someone else got it in an affirmative action decision. Tobey nodded and asked, "How's he doing?" C.J. said, lightly, "Fine."

In my version, C.J.'s father had suffered. He was an idealist who believed everyone has an equal shot at success in America, a public school teacher who wanted to help kids and was gifted in his work with them; now he saw a less qualified and implicitly less loving person elevated at his expense, and only because he was the wrong color. It left him shattered. The flag on which he'd stood had been pulled from under him, and he never fully regained his balance.

When Aaron wrote it, C.J.'s father was not a victim of government but a fellow doing fine. In part because that's how Aaron thinks about affirmative action, and it's his show. And in part perhaps because C.J.'s terse "he's fine" is dramatically interesting--a man is treated badly and he's fine. Life is strange."

"Break Out the Bubbly"
By Peggy Noonan
March 1, 2002
Wall Street Journal

"Bartlet is going to be running against Governor Robert Ritchie, of Florida, who's not the sharpest tool in the box but who's raised a lot of money and is very popular with the Republican Party," - Aaron Sorkin

"WEST WING WATCH: SNOOKERED BY BUSH"
By Tad Friend
March 4, 2002
The New Yorker

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