I noticed the same thing: Bartlet signed first. It probably should have been the other way around. But evidently everyone present, including an associate justice, regarded the signings as contemporaneous and the transfer of power as lawful.
Scout said, "Has John Goodman gotten larger? I mean, I know he’s always been a hefty man, but when he walked in, I thought, “Woah!” He seems larger than he was in the Roseanne days. "
I said the same thing. He’s a huge dude. I’d hate to be on his bad side. But I think he’s a great actor. He can handle this part. I think next season is going to be great.
My point exactly.
I was thinking about this episode driving in to work this morning. It’s sort of like watching all of the pieces of the puzzle fall in place. This explains why they had to get rid of the Veep, or else it would have just been Hoynes in succession and then where’s the drama. Sure it’s a bit of a stretch, but tv and cinema are both about some suspension of disbelief. How did the van escape the net to get to Dover, for instance?
I loved Toby in this episode. His talk with his children was great. I got a little misty when I realized they had named her Molly (a second or two before he said it). I think Huck is a cute boy’s name, although I’m not wild about Huckleberry. Given Andi’s defiant nature, it’s not surprising. I liked when the Prez and Leo talked on the steps. That was real.
I liked the big entrance by Goodman (what was his character’s name). I’d love to see them not make his character a caricature of the evil Republican. Please show his good side and his redeeming qualities. Sure, they set him up as a hardass when he said he would have ordered down the plane, even with his mother in it, but in our post 9/11 world that’s hardly a surprising stance. All real politicians are at least a little Machivellian, so I won’t mind that, but please don’t make him one dimensional.
Can he nominate a VP and try to push a Republican into the Vice Presidency? I know that back when they used to have the runner up in the General Election become VP, so it’s not unprecedented. I know it would look like a coup, but if they then hand back the Presidency it just looks like partisan politics.
And it made me wonder what would happen in real life if one of the Bush girls got nabbed by al Qaeda? This plus a Cheney heart attack really doesn’t put this that far beyond the realm of the possible, although IRL the Speaker is also a member of the GOP.
And where was Chandler Bing during all of this?
But you would need the Veep and the Cabinet to declare him unfit for duty. Bartlett’s own cabinet is not going to do that to him. If the GOP Congress got to decide, it might be another matter. Of course, if they’re willing to truly get ridiculous, they could have the congress try to appoint a new (GOP) veep and establish another body to decide whether the Prez was fit for duty, then use them to keep him out for good. Let’s pray things don’t get that stupid.
Count me in the nervous-about-next-year camp. I think there’s a lot of potential for Goodman to play a heel rather than just a cantankerous member of the opposition party.
What I was thinking the entire time was this-what’s to stop the Acting President from giving the ol’ heave-ho to the West Wing staff and the Cabinet? The President must have unilateral control over his own staff, and I would guess that it’s almost as uncontested over his Cabinet. I don’t know that for sure and haven’t looked up how the hiring and firing of the Cabinet works, but it sure seems that as part of the Exec branch, the President would have final say over who stays or goes.
I actually thought it would’ve been more dramatic had the Cabinet, even a single member, refused to give their consent to his stepping down. Like the Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs refuses to let the Republicans take power.
Between West Wing and 24, I have learned more about the 25th Ammendment than I did throughout school!
Even though Sorkin is (sadly) no longer going to be writing for the show, my guess is that there is a “bible”, like on soap operas, that outlines the basic plot for the season.
With half-way decent writers, it shouldn’t be a problem to keep up the good work - the characters have all been fleshed out, so the real work has already been done.
I thought it was a good episode and, as far as the plot being a little over-the-top - well, if it weren’t, the show might as well be called CSpan.
And to show how unpredictable this show is - I would not be at all surprised if they actually allow the character of Zoey to be killed off. Think of how that will affect the characters next season.
A really pissed off, ain’t-got-nothing-to-lose-now Democratic President…
Yes, the Acting President can nominate a new Vice President. The Republicans control both houses, in the West Wing world as in real life, so presumably they would confirm a Republican nominee. But a new Vice President would then become the Acting President and displace the former Speaker:
The Cabinet officers, like the staff, serve at the President’s pleasure. So yes, the Acting President could fire any or all of them. But in a way, the Acting President is also serving at President Bartlet’s sufferance, and so won’t be looking for ways of provoking Bartlet into reclaiming the office. And an important issue in the transition is demonstrating to the public and the world the United States government’s continuity and steadiness, which are not served if the Acting President (whose character’s name escapes me) induces political convulsions like replacing key staff or administration leaders.
You mean something like a Tenure in Office Act?
Let’s also remember, the President can resume power any time he wants. The second President Goodman handed Donna walking papers or sent the HUD secretary packing, much less tried to get anyone put through the congressional approval process (which takes a long time even if the nominee is a lock), Bartlett would be back.
Did anyone else, during the cabinet vote, hear President Bartlett say, “The Secretary of Health and Education?” I distinctly heard this, and read it on the closed captioning.
Apparently in the WW universe the two departments were merged (or it’s happened in our universe and I missed it).
Personally, I don’t think that Acting President Walken is going to try any funny stuff, like appointing a Republican VP or trying to dismiss the Cabinet. Why? Because he wants to be elected President in the next general election, so why enact a coup when he has the golden opportunity to seem like a level-headed, non-partisan hero in times of trouble? Really, it’s his big chance to seem like a swell guy with a cool head in a crisis. If he goes mucking about with non-crisis-related activities, he’s shooting himself in the foot.
This is not to say that he won’t be a royal pain in the ass to all the Bartlet staffers, but then, John Goodman plays a great pain in the ass. I look forward to the sparks flying next season.
But let me ask you guys this question that was bugging not only me but Nancy McNally as well: how exactly was this kidnapping orchestrated? It seems to hang on a number of odd coincidences. Is Jean-Paul in on it? If so, I expect great suffering to be visited upon him, but it sort of seems unlikely that he’d be quite that stupid. I mean, he took the drug too, and he passed out, which is not exactly a clean getaway.
For the moment I’m assuming that he’s not part of the plot; so how did the kidnappers know that she would be dosed? That seems like a bit of serendipity for the kidnappers. Also, how did they know she’d get to the bathroom and not pass out right at the table in the middle of the club? Was the whole GHB thing a happy accident for the villains, who were planning on nabbing her in the bathroom no matter what?
Yes, I suppose most of these questions will have to wait until the season premiere, but I thought I’d post them on the off chance that someone here had some ideas.
The Tenure of Office Act, passed after the assassination of President Lincoln and over the veto of President Andrew Johnson on March 2, 1867, provided that all federal officials whose appointment required Senate confirmation could not be removed without the consent of the Senate.
This act was an effort on congress’s part to keep President Johnson from firing Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, who was trying to act as President behind Johnson’s back.
Johnson tried to fire him anyway and congress retaliated by trying to impeach him and in article one of the articles of impeachment, (there were a total of 11 including one charging him with public drunkenness) it stated that he had violated the law by attempting to fire Stanton.
It failed, by one vote, and the act was finally repealed in 1928.
Just goes to show that not much has changed in a 130 years (think the Clinton impeachment)
For more info on the impeachment of Johnson go to:
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/impeach/impeachmt.htm
Gah! Tape… didn’t… wrong… channel!!! Agh! Some annoying tenor… singing… no West Wing! None! Not one scene! Noooooo!!!
Please… anybody… tape? Will work for tape? Pleeeeeease?
I have it on tape, along with tonight’s NBC lineup.
I just want to say, I love The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn more than maybe any other work of prose in the English language, and I still can’t imagine what posessed Toby to do that to his own child.
I was kinda disappointed with how it ended. I thought Goodman overacted (especially with the “Mr. President, you’re excused.” line) and they were vague on how long he would be holding the office. Was it prepared for days? Weeks? Months?
And I found the storyline to be especially improbable. They went from the mostly politics, some personality type storyline to a mostly personality, vaguely political storyline.
I hope this was just a “lets try something new for this episode” and doesn’t persist.
Maybe in our world, but in the world of The West Wing, that attack didn’t happen (so I presume they still have an intact World Trade Center).
(By the way, what year is it in the world of that show? 2001 or 2005?)
The Speaker (now Acting President) already has a leg up on our current real-life President in that he was able to give a concise, coherent off-the-cuff description of the political events leading to World War One. I doubt if GWB can do that.
I believe in * The West Wing* world (a phrase this formerly speech-impeded girl would not like to say three times fast), that presidential elections are held two years off from the real world, so Bartlett was re-elected in 2002, but the series takes place in real time, more or less (Zoey graduated in May of 2003, just like many Dopers).
And although they never identified exactly what happened, there was a major terrorist attack on the show, so the heightened security/paranoia is reasonable to the storyline.
As for GWB knowing the lead-up to WWI–I just hope he hasn’t given all of us the lead-up to WWIII.