“In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I” · Season 2
In this episode: Josiah Bartlet (5), Leo McGarry (2), Toby Ziegler (1), Zoey Bartlet (1), Ron Butterfield (1)
[on operating table] It didn't hit anything, they're just gonna look around and make sure.
Are you in a lot of pain?
No...
Are you lying?
Yeah, cause I want these guys to tell reporters that I was brave and joking around.
You are brave. You were so good tonight, Dad.
What about our people?
: CJ hit her head on the ground, but other than that.
Get the cabinet together, and the security council. Tell Jerome to suspend trading on the stock exchange...do we know who the shooters were?
[shaking his head] No.
I'm gonna be under anesthesia for a couple hours.
It'll be fine.
You know what I'm talking about, right?
I'll talk to Abbey.
[grabbing Leo's arm] Sir, it's time.
Hey, come here. [Leo leans in toward the President and turns his head. Jed plants a reassuring kiss on Leo's cheek.] It's okay.
I'll see you in a few hours Mr. President.
[flashback]
You've been a... um, uh, what did you call it?
Professional political operative.
You've been one your whole life.
Well, there was a while back there when I was in elementary school.
[laughs] You any good?
[long pause] I'm very good at it.
What's your record?
My record?
How many elections have you won?
Altogether?
[The woman nods]
Including city council, two Congressional elections, a senate race, a Gubernatorial campaign, and a national campaign? [long pause] None.
None of them?
You gotta be impressed with my consistency.
[flashback]
Governor Bartlet, when you were a member of Congress, you voted against the New England Dairy Farming Compact. That vote hurt me sir. I'm a businessman. That vote hurt me to the tune of maybe, 10 cents a gallon. I voted for you three times for Congress. I voted for you twice for Governor. And I'm here sir, and I'd like to ask you for an explanation.
[pause] Yeah, I screwed you on that one.
I'm sorry?
I screwed you. You got hosed.
Sir, I...
And not just you. A lot of my constituents. I put the hammer to farms in Concord, Salem, Laconia, and Pelham. You guys got rogered but good. Today, for the first time in history, one in five Americans living in poverty are children. One in five children live in the most abject, dangerous, hopeless, backbreaking, gut wrenching, poverty, one in five, and they're children. If fidelity to freedom and democracy is the code of our civic religion then surely, the code of our humanity is faithful service to that unwritten commandment that says 'We shall give our children better than we ourselves received.' I voted against the bill 'cause I didn't want it to be hard for people to buy milk. I stopped some money from flowing into your pocket. If that angers you, if you resent me, I completely respect that. But if you expect anything different from the President of the United States, I suggest you vote for somebody else. Thanks very much. Hope you enjoyed the chicken.
[flashback]
Why are you doing this? You're a player. You're bigger in the party than I am. Hoynes would probably make you National Chairman. Leo, tell me this isn't one of the twelve steps.
That's what it is. Right after admitting that we are powerless over alcohol and a higher power can restore us to sanity. That's where you come in.
Leo...
Because I'm tired of it! Year, after year, after year of having to choose between the lesser of who cares? Of trying to get myself excited over a candidate who can speak in complete sentences. Of setting the bar so low, I can hardly look at it. They say a good man can't get elected president. I don't believe that, do you?
And you think I'm that man?
Yes.
Doesn't it matter that I'm not as sure?
Nah. 'Act as if ye have faith and faith shall be given to you.' Put another way: 'Fake it until you make it.'
[the President's motorcade races away from an assassination attempt]
Is anybody dead back there?
We don't know. We don't think so.
[seeing a bloodstained cloth wrapped around Agent Butterfield's right hand] What happened to your hand?
I got hit.
Oh, God. [to the driver] Coop, turn around! We've gotta go to a hospital!
No. We're going to the White House.
We're going to a hospital! Let's go!
I have to put you inside the White House, Mr. President! This isn't something we discuss.
This isn't-! [angrily] My daughter is throwing up on the floor of car behind us! You're losing blood by the liter, not to mention God knows how many broken bones you've got in your hand! [blood begins to leak from the corner of his mouth] But let's make sure that I'm tucked in bed before we-
Mr. President! [quickly checks the President's head and upper body for signs of injury, finding blood when he reaches the President's stomach; turning to the driver] GW! Blue, blue, blue!
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The West Wing pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
