Listen up. Our ground game isn't working; we're gonna put the ball in the air. If we're gonna walk into walls, I want us running into them full-speed.
Well, you can start by telling the Hill the President's named his nominees to the FEC. And we're gonna lose some of these battles. And we might even lose the White House. But we're not going to be threatened by issues: we're going to put 'em front and center. We're gonna raise raise the level of public debate in this country, and let that be our legacy. That sound alright to you Josh?
I serve at the pleasure of the President of the United States.
CJI serve at the pleasure of the President.
I serve at the pleasure of President Bartlet.
I serve at the pleasure of the President.
CJ, I'm not staying in the penalty box forever. I have covered the White House for eight years and I've done it with the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, and the Dallas Morning News! And I'm telling you you can't mess me around like this!
C.J.
Danny, I just gotta tell you, that was - seriously - that was a turn-on when you said that, though I don't know why you decided to be your most haughty on the Dallas Morning News in that sentence.
C.J.
Danny, I don't even want to hear it. I did exactly the right thing. Your nose is bent out of joint, and I don't give a damn.
You looked at me point-blank and told me you were looking at a diplomatic...
C.J.
Danny...
You looked at me and told me...
C.J.
What did you think I was going to do, Danny? Give you longitude and latitude? Did you think I was going to fork over the radio frequency that we're transmitting on?
You didn't have to answer the question.
C.J.
I did!
You could have said, "Danny, we're not ruling anything in or out, and I'm not going to let you take me down that path" and we would have been done with it.
C.J.
Danny, if by standing up and lying, I misdirected Iraqi intelligence for even half a beat, then it was absolutely worth it. That's a no-brainer. And if I didn't, it was certainly worth trying. There were only 50 people in the world who can't understand why I lied this morning, and they all work in the White House pressroom. I'm sleeping fine tonight.
You didn't have to call on me. Every hand shot up, everybody's hand shot up, everybody was going to ask the same question, you knew what your answer was going to be, and you called on me.
C.J.
Well, yes, I did.
And you wouldn't have rather done that to a journalist that's been less supportive of this administration than I have?
C.J.
No, I chose you.
C.J., I'm not staying in the penalty box forever. I have covered the White House for eight years and I've done it with the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time Magazine, and the Dallas Morning News! And I'm telling you you can't mess me around like this!
C.J.
Danny, I just gotta tell you, that was - seriously - that was a turn-on when you said that, though I don't know why you decided to be your most haughty on the Dallas Morning News in that sentence.
C.J.
We're confirming now that a suspect is in custody, and is being questioned by federal law enforcement . At this time, we cannot, we are not releasing any information whatsoever about the suspect.
Can you tell us anything, his name, where he's from, his ethnicity, if you guys suspect a motive?
C.J.
Yes, Steve, I can tell you those things, because when I said that we weren't releasing any information whatsoever, I meant except his name, his address, his ethnicity, and what we think his motives are.
[asking why C.J is going on the Portland Trip] Are you being punished?
C.J.
I'm not being punished. I'm going on the trip.
If the whole bus goes off the record, will you tell us why you're going on the trip?
C.J.
[hesitating] I made fun of Notre Dame. [the journalists collectively groaned] Usually I get away with it.
They're playing Michigan tomorrow.
C.J.
I know that now.
You can't do that when they're playing Michigan.
C.J.
Every time we come up on a holiday, you guys check out like seniors who are done with finals.
We are writing a very important Thanksgiving proclamation.
And possibly a new action-adventure series.
Nobody here has checked out...
[Josh enters]
Hey, I was just flipping a nickel in my office. Sixteen times in a row, it came out tails.
Sam's gonna make some changes.
Are you going to clear them with me?
Probably not. [to the recorder] Write this. Eleven months ago, a 1,200-pound spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Eighteen hours ago...18 hours, do I have that right? It's going to be noon Eastern time.
CJ
Yep.
Eighteen hours ago, it landed on the planet Mars. You, me, and 60,000 of your fellow students across the country, along with astroscientists and engineers from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California, NASA Houston, and right here at the White House are going to be to the first to see what it sees, and to chronicle the extraordinary voyage of an unmanned ship called 'Galileo V.'
[to C.J.] He said it right.
You're from NASA Public Affairs?
You mind if I give it a polish?
No, it's great. You mind if I change it?
I'd prefer if you didn't.
The Public Affairs has cleared the text. If it's gonna be changed, I'd prefer that the President change it.
See, that's kind of what he pays me to do, so...
Look, I don't want to step on your toes. You don't want to step on mine. We're both writers.
Yes, I suppose, if you broaden the definition to those who can't spell.
...
[reads] "Good morning! I'm speaking to you live from the West Wing of the White House. Today we have a very unique opportunity to take part live in an extremely historic event which..." Whoa, boy...
[waves and smiles] How you doing, Mr. President?
I did, sir. I'm Scott Tate from NASA Public Affairs.
[gets up and shakes his hand] Scott. "Unique" means "one of a kind." Something can't be very unique, nor can it be extremely historic.
C.J.
While we're at it, do we have to use the word "live" twice in the first two sentences like we just cracked the technology?
C.J.
We're also broadcasting in living color, right?
Sam's gonna make some changes.
Are you going to clear them with me?
Probably not. [to the recorder] Write this. Eleven months ago, a 1,200-pound spacecraft blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Eighteen hours ago...18 hours, do I have that right? It's going to be noon Eastern time.
C.J.
Yep.
Eighteen hours ago, it landed on the planet Mars. You, me, and 60,000 of your fellow students across the country, along with astroscientists and engineers from the Jet Propulsion Lab in Southern California, NASA Houston, and right here at the White House are going to be to the first to see what it sees, and to chronicle the extraordinary voyage of an unmanned ship called 'Galileo V.'
[to C.J.] He said it right.
It's a private poll. The press doesn't have access to it... The only way they'd know what questions were being asked is if they were actually called by one of the pollsters and... Oh my god!
C.J.
Yes.
A reporter got called by one of the pollsters?
Wow. What are the chances of that?
The chances of that are astronomical.
We can calculate it. They sample 800 respondents...
C.J.
Would the two of you stop being amazed by the mathematics!
They have bathrobes at the gym?
C.J.
In the women's locker room.
CJ
Yeah.
Now, that's outrageous. There's a thousand men working here and fifty women...
CJ
Yeah, and it's the bathrobes that's outrageous.
The West Wing · 913 quotes
