# That one scene from West Wing.. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896 "2005-04-12T01:34:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/1 "2005-04-12T01:34:47Z")
You know, the scene where Bartlett give the rhetorical backhand to the Dr. Laura lookalike. Does anyone know where I can get a transcript of that scene? Or maybe post it here, provided that is legal. I love that scene. ---
**Author:** ![Hoops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hoops/32/6408_2.png) [@Hoops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hoops)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/2 "2005-04-12T01:49:32Z")
Apparently, this originated online (the authorship is not clear) and was circulated via email. The writers of the West Wing subsequently used it as the inspiration for Bartlet’s encounter with the Dr. Laura-type character. So saith [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/politics/religion/drlaura.asp), who has the original document on line, but not the specific version used in The West Wing. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/3 "2005-04-12T01:53:37Z")
I could give you from memory… Are you a medical doctor? No? How about a psychologist, therapist, or doctor of philosophy? No? Because I think some of your listeners are under the impression that you are. I really admire your principled stand on homosexuality. Is it your contention that homosexuality is an abomination? Because according to the same scripture, so is shaving and working on the Sabbath. And could you give me some advice about something? I’ve been considering selling my daughter into slavery. Could you help me go about that? And while we’re at it, I want to stone my wife to death for wearing garments of different kinds of thread woven together. That’d be all right with you, wouldn’t it? And by the way, “Doctor,” in this house, when I stand, _nobody_ sits down. (To Toby) _That_ is how I talk to my opponents. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/4 "2005-04-12T01:56:41Z")
Actually, the end was more like: “Toby” “Mr. President” “That’s how I beat him.” In reference to an earlier conversation between Bartlet and Toby, discussing someone who was running for some local political office in Bartlet’s hometown. Bartlet had beaten him for some post, and Toby asked how he had accomplished it, but Bartlet couldn’t remember. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/5 "2005-04-12T02:06:43Z")
You left out the part about Leo working on the sabbath and touching the skin of a pig. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![malkabat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/46a35a/32.png) [@malkabat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/malkabat)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/6 "2005-04-12T11:59:34Z")
[Here’s](http://www.colorbat.com/barlett_speech.htm) a transcription that inexplicably leaves out “That’s how I beat him” but includes Sam’s pilfering of a crab puff. Unless the Bartlet-Toby exchange happens after they leave the room… ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/7 "2005-04-12T12:24:29Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Are you a medical doctor? No? How about a psychologist, therapist, or doctor of philosophy? Don’t know about that _West Wing_ character, but Dr. Laura has a doctorate in physiology, which is the science behind medical practice; a Nobel Prize is given in “Physiology and Medicine”. She also was a licensed family therapist. Bartlett’s rudeness in that scene totally turned me off to his character. You do not treat your guests that way, even if you disagree with them politically. ---
**Author:** ![Sean\_Factotum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Sean\_Factotum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sean_Factotum)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/8 "2005-04-12T12:27:46Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > You know, the scene where Bartlett give the rhetorical backhand to the Dr. Laura lookalike. Does anyone know where I can get a transcript of that scene? Or maybe post it here, provided that is legal. > > I love that scene. The episode was from the 2nd season, and it’s titled “The Midterms”. [Try this like](http://communicationsoffice.tripod.com/2-03.txt), towards the end. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/9 "2005-04-12T12:44:05Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Bartlett’s rudeness in that scene totally turned me off to his character. You do not treat your guests that way, even if you disagree with them politically. She didn’t stand when he entered the room. His rudeness was mild compared to hers. ---
**Author:** ![TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tellmei_mnotcrazy/32/3419_2.png) [@TellMeI\_mNotCrazy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TellMeI_mNotCrazy)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/10 "2005-04-12T13:44:03Z")
> [@malkabat](#): > > [Here’s](http://www.colorbat.com/barlett_speech.htm) a transcription that inexplicably leaves out “That’s how I beat him” but includes Sam’s pilfering of a crab puff. Unless the Bartlet-Toby exchange happens after they leave the room… Nope, the Toby-Bartlet exchange definitely took place right there. Maybe because it wouldn’t have made much sense without the earlier context, they left it out? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/11 "2005-04-12T14:23:24Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > She didn’t stand when he entered the room. His rudeness was mild compared to hers. One of the prime rules of good manners is that pointing out someone’s breach of etiquette, especially in public, is bad manners in itself. When you are the host and the person is your guest, it’s _especially_ bad manners. She may not have known to stand when the president enters the room (normally, a woman is not required to stand when a man enters). But _he_ certainly knew you don’t act rude to your guest before a group of people. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/12 "2005-04-12T14:34:18Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > One of the prime rules of good manners is that pointing out someone’s breach of etiquette, especially in public, is bad manners in itself. That bothered me. I like the Bartlett character, but I can’t help but wonder why she wouldn’t respond herself. “But what if I am ignorant of the custom, or ill Mr. President? Or if I simply can’t stand you and the immoral liberality you stand for? Will the Secret Service drag me to my feet?” ---
**Author:** ![Jenny\_Haniver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Jenny\_Haniver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenny_Haniver)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/13 "2005-04-12T14:38:01Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > She may not have known to stand when the president enters the room (normally, a woman is not required to stand when a man enters). I’ve never met the President. I have no expectation of ever being invited to the White House unless I sign up for the tour. I don’t even like the current President that much, but by gum, if he comes into a room I’m in, I know I would stand. Even if I hadn’t thought about it beforehand, when I noticed everyone else standing, I would stand. And I’m quite sure you don’t get invited to the White House cocktail party without getting a rundown on the etiquette expected of you. I think the transcript is wrong to say that “Jacobs sees that, in fact, the president is standing and she is the only one in the room sitting.” She knew what she was doing, and was clearly sending a message by _not_ standing. I say kudos to President Bartlett for not putting up with her childish, passive-aggressive display of her lack of respect for him. If she was happy enough to come to his party and lap up the attention and free crab puffs, she should have sucked it up and been civil when he showed up, no matter what her personal feelings for him might have been. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/14 "2005-04-12T14:53:23Z")
> [@Jenny Haniver](#): > > And I’m quite sure you don’t get invited to the White House cocktail party without getting a rundown on the etiquette expected of you. I know someone who used to serve in the president’s cabinet. There is no “etiquette briefing” for cocktail parties or dinners. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/15 "2005-04-12T15:22:37Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I know someone who used to serve in the president’s cabinet. There is no “etiquette briefing” for cocktail parties or dinners. Thats not very nice. Why would the president keep someone locked in his cabinet? Talk about a breach of etiquette. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/16 "2005-04-12T17:34:39Z")
If she was so hated, why was she invited to the party in the first place? I think one of the major rules of the WW is if the press are present, screen the guests for embarrassing backgrounds. Laura Dern played a poet who was going to confront Bartlet about his stance on landmines until Toby talked her down. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2005, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-one-scene-from-west-wing/298896/17 "2005-04-12T19:19:43Z")
> [@ivylass](#): > > If she was so hated, why was she invited to the party in the first place? I think one of the major rules of the WW is if the press are present, screen the guests for embarrassing backgrounds. Laura Dern played a poet who was going to confront Bartlet about his stance on landmines until Toby talked her down. She _was_ “the press”.