>>I just figured they were all a little drunk.<<
Yup, that’s another staple of fan fiction. 
I’m pretty sure I read somewhere or saw a preview that said Josh and Donna would get together at some point this season. I hope they do just to get it over with…they are my 2 LEAST favorite characters on the show.
I don’t know that I have two least favorite regular characters on the show. I do know that Donna wouldn’t be one of them if I did. Josh seems inconsistently written occasionally (ouch, that sentence is painful). Maybe Josh and Abby?
For the record, though, I imagine they are going to get together and it’s going to totally ruin the enjoyment I get from their interactions.
Since I started watching in season 2 I’ve prayed to whatever force fills in for us athiests that Donna and Josh would not get together. Not only is in a wholly inappropriate relationship, I really fear the show will suffer.
Then, along came my beloved Mary-Louise Parker. SHE and Josh made a great couple, and I got to see her on a semi-regular basis.
No she appears to have vanished like a dream, and the creators are seriously pushing Josh and Donna to shove the show into the shark tank. Hopefully they’ll have a one-nighter and come to their senses.
That being said, Donna DID look stunning tonight, and I noticed in earlier episodes this season (why it took me so long I’ll never know) she has a truly outstandingly attractive backside.
Anyway, if a president ever declared anything like the Bartlett Doctrine, I’m afraid I’d have to pull an Alec Baldwin and stick to it. I’m a Jeffersonian anarchist, and believe 100 percent in the doctrine of free trade with all nations and entangling alliances with none. I’m not opposed to the US aiding volunteer organizations (humanitarian AND military) that want to intercede in another country’s conflicts, but I’m opposed to a) a standing military in the first place and b) using that military in any cause except the direct defense of the US.
I have to admit a secret perversion in that I love the West Wing, though. It ties with 24 as my favorite show because the characters and writing are so incredibly sharp and I have a shameful love of well-crafted political rhetoric. If the show ever comes out on DVD, I hope they have Sheen film some of the legendary Bartlett speeches. It’s a peeve of mine that they show all these occasions of getting ready for important speeches but rarely show more than 10 seconds of an actual speech.
If Bartlett were actually shown speaking publicly a little more often, maybe real world political speechwriters could take a cue and put something that is not compromising and dull into the mouth of a politician.
The scene during the campaign when Bartlett took a handoff line from Sam (“Joy cometh in the morning”) and turned it into a flowing and cogent speech in front of the educational association he was addressing nearly moved me to tears. I only wish a real world politician could be so well versed in rhetoric.
Jesus. Thinking back, it seems to me we haven’t had a really good national political speech since “Checkers”, which predates me by many years. I’d like to see one come across in my lifetime.
Back to the show, I thought the exchange between CJ and Danny was outstanding. As an ex-reporter, I understand how such things happen, and they nailed with extreme plausibility.
Abby?? You don’t mean the First Lady, do you? :eek:
Well, yes I do, but in my defense I was really struggling to find any regular character that gets on my nerves. I don’t dislike Abby, she just sometimes comes off as kind of strident to me.
The other problem is that I honestly love most of the cast as written. Especially Toby, CJ, and Charlie from the regular cast and Fitz and Nancy from the irregulars.
Yeah, and where are Fitz and Nancy when these foreign policy revisions are being made? And shouldn’t the Vice-President be present for the State of the Union? And did Lily Tomlin join the regular cast or not? I understand wanting to spotlight the main cast, but the omissions were obvious by the holes they left. Bringing Josh and Donna together this way is painful. Let’s recap. Donna has torrid three-month love affair. She is devastated when her love is transferred without notice in an internal squabble. She is ready to risk her job over him. Ten minutes later Josh shows up in the street drunk, throws snowballs at her window, and she falls in love with him. Horrible Movie Moment #334. And the ending. The President and his entire senior staff leave the Inaugural Ball in a group without notice, and instead of 500 people in formal wear fleeing in panic to the phones, they begin dancing before the President has even left the room.
[understatement]I was disappointed by this episode compared to the great lead-in from last week.[/understatement*
Presidents go from Ball to Ball (there are many) on Inauguration Day. I believe this was even alluded to in the episode, so I wouldn’t think his departure would send people running.
The Inauguration, not the State of the Union message. But you’re right, the Vice-President is usually there (only one exception in American history, more than a century and a half ago). So is the Chief Justice, whom we also do not see. They are presumably standing outside on the platform.
What bothered me was the Inauguration being held on Sunday. Inauguration Day (nowadays the 20th of January) does sometimes fall on Sunday. But whenever it does, the oath is administered in a private ceremony on Sunday and the public ceremony is held on Monday. (The exception is Zachary Taylor, who didn’t bother with the private ceremony on Sunday, giving rise to the notion that Senate president pro tem David Rice Atchison served as president from Sunday noon until Taylor was sworn in on Monday. See http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a1_133.html.)
Yes, of course, Inauguration. Blush. Sorry to confuse recent real-life events with television.
I also wondered about the Sunday inauguration, precisely because of the Atchison affair, but just couldn’t remember whether they’ve given up on the Presidential Blue Law.
censored, my point was that in the normal course of events, the President and First Lady would be seen off from one ball to another by those attending. He would not stride through them unacknowledged and unacknowledging with his entire senior staff. All those with Washington antennae, probably half the crowd, would have been struck as if by lightning at the sight.