Babish's "Bring it on" strategy is actually very smart. By the president not making any effort to dodge or cover up anything, those coming after him will have nothing to use, the president will appear cooperative and the harder they press they'll just look like a bunch of jerks picking on a sick man.
@@BuzzLightyear9999 not really... Look, tim, I dont care or know what you feel about the matter but if Biden was found fucking anyone while president ,right now, who isnt jill biden I wouldnt care, I couldnt care hes been so much a gift to republicans in caving to all their demands before even beginning an attmept. obama 2.0 and also naive. Him getting laid means hes able to not have his heart blow up and he still has basic sexual function which requires some brain and body elements.
The West Wing really had an amazing way of bringing out some of the most incredible performances by actors/actresses. One of Oliver Platt's best if not the best performance of his career.
Bartlett: "Bring it On" Goosebumps, even in this short clip. I know Martin Sheen has been in a number of iconic roles and is rightly lauded as star of the big screen but in my opinion this was the role he was born for. The way he conveys what a proud man Jed Bartlett is but that he is willing to take advice from good people when necessary is masterful.
Man, every time I watch Two Cathedrals, I always wonder "wait, did they actually set that up before?" and realize that once again I forgot to look out for it beforehand. Good catch!
The answer should always be "that depends". You cannot ever promise to do exactly what somebody tells you to do, even your lawyer. You always have to do what is right.
Yup, he had to drag Bartlet and his staff kicking and screaming through the whole thing to get them through it. I don't even think they ever thanked him for it.
@@timothyjames6412 : either you trust your lawyer or you do not. Having a "hedge" with a "that depends" concludes that you do not. In that case, best of luck, find another lawyer who tolerates that. Babich would not.
@@paulcolburn3855 any lawyer who would walk just because the client expresses some attachment to integrity, and who won't tolerate the client asking some questions about what exactly "that depends" entails, will, I hope, quickly find himself out of work. And I have enough faith in our country to believe such a scoundrel would never become White House Counsel (with the likely exception of the Trump administration).
I think the Lady Macbeth reference was rather appropriate. She is a doctor and treated her husband medically in secret for his MS and signed her daughters Georgetown application knowing she left off her father's disease. She has the blood on her hands. Out out damn spot!
@@retroguy9494 Barlet brought this on himself. He should have been honest with the American public as well as his staff. Hell, he didn't even tell Leo until an MS attack rendered him unable to function as president for a brief time. None of his staff knew. Only him and his wife.
@@blastermasterguy Oh, I agree! Just as JFK should have told the American public about his Addison's disease and all his other health issues which required him to take all those pills and have all those injections! The guy probably walked around high half the time. Funny how art imitates real life, isn't it?
@@blastermasterguy And that Press was complicit in hiding Roosevelt's polio disability from the public. They agreed to only photo graph him in situations that didn't expose his disability.
@@longshot7601 Oh, if its flamboyant you want, none of them come close to Lord John Marbury. I used to LOVE the way he would say "Abigail your brrrrrrrreasts are MAGNIFICENT!"
They never WENT to court. There were congressional hearings. In the end Lady Macbeth agreed to voluntarily surrender her medical license for a period of time.
@@jdgindustries2734 True but then they would have to add another character. Because presidents and their spouses as a general rule don't GO to court while the president is in office.
@@retroguy9494 I'd argue that is more common than we think... We just don't see it because it's just the lawyer in the court. I could be wrong, but that's my intuition.
My love of the movie "Chef," strange as it may seem, brought me here. I remember this scene and Oliver's character. He is a master of making an ensemble part into the acting equivalent of a jazz solo. I love this guy.
Ethics !!! You can't conceal, ignore, or moderate the truth. When anyone makes mistakes, the US public is usually willing to forgive when candor is offered in a timely fashion. But, through history, the biggest problems happen when a cover-up is attempted.
Yup, Barlet should have told the American public he was suffering from MS and then gracefully dropped out of the race do to being medically unfit as president. Politicians seem to have trouble with telling the truth.
I know it has become a cliche and you would think at this point people would have gotten the point but it is still the case over and over that "it is not the crime it's the cover-up."
Through a remarkable set of circumstances I once was in a place to have dinner with Martin Sheen. I didn’t quite know what to say and perhaps it was clumsy, but I thanked him for bringing at least two characters to life who have deeply inspired me. One was Carl Fox, the ethical conscience of the movie Wall Street and the other, President Josiah “Jed” Bartlett of The West Wing.
2:02 - "If you invoke Executive Privilege one time, I'm gone." Contrast this with "The direct witnesses can't testify because of executive priviledge, and therefore prosecutors have no direct witness testimony, and therefore the Senate votes not guilty." Bring on the truth vs. blatent coverup. Honor vs. cowardice.
Except of course that Bartlett is a fictional character. I'm not an American, and I definitely believe that Trump violated, and trampled upon, just about any standard of decency. But I'm curious: has any actual American President (or any President/Prime Minister etc., anywhere in the world) responded in this "bring it on" fashion, when faced with such a challenge? Maybe the answer is "yes", I wouldn't know. But somehow, I suspect that the answer is no. (I don't just mean using the rhetoric of "bring it on" -- I'm sure several did; but actually following through on that rhetoric).
The Russian collusion hoax was all a hoax, all of it. He allowed the investigation go wherever it wanted to go. And it didn't matter because he knew he was innocent.
@@paulcolburn3855 The investigation opened and proceeded by protocol, and Trump violated the law to obstruct the investigation plenty of times. "Hoax" is a lie, and justice demanded Trump's impeachment from his first felony act. If we'd stopped it when it was only procedural felonies, it wouldn't have progressed to inciting a coup attempt.
@@BradyPostma The President never obstructed the investigation. Why would he? After all, he knew the investigation would vindicate him which it did. The rest of what you write, is hooey.
@@paulcolburn3855 The second half of the Mueller Report detailed a dozen times Trump obstructed the investigation. Why would he? Because he had things to hide... like the dozens of criminal charges, including of his administration officials, that came out of that investigation. By why pay attention to investigators and the law when you have the word of the accused? No one who was guilty could possibly claim to be innocent, right?
In today's political climate, Bartlet would be gone by the end of the week. Today the strategy would be "Lie, delay, stonewall, attack, admit nothing, accuse your accusers."
@@realityitis4 It's not bad if the "Liberal Crap" is well intentioned to actually help the U.S. or more importantly the People of the U.S., but to line pockets and tear the country down is not liberalism, but communism in disguise.
This is why I love the previous episode someone's comin to emergency, someone's going to jail in the same season. Not many people realise it but a ton of what Sam went through in that episode Is foreshadowing this. And right at the end of this scene, that little flair of don henley was an allusion. Brilliant.
There was a great little moment that went with the story arc here. Oliver asks the First Lady, "do you know what time it is?" She gives him the time and he says, "stop doing that." She doesn't get what he is saying. He says, "stop answering questions that you aren't being asked." He asks her again if she knows what time it is. She simply says, "yes."
Exactly ... A decade ago, I was caught in a tangled legal Web that, although some of it was of my own making, much of it had to do with the failings of a beauocracy, and monumental miss-managment, and bad advice. The legal advice was that, if I had pled guilty, then I would get a lesser sentence; _however_ that meant letting that moronic beauocracy that led me to that mess, off the hook. The alternative was to plead not guilty, meaning there was room for a fair legal fight, even though the consequences of that failing, would have been much, much, worse. Every one whom knew my situation in any detail told me to plead guilty, because all they saw was a losing fight: no way, they, and even my own mum, thought I could win, because. But I went with my first instincts: plead not guilty, because, inwardly, I knew, I had been screwed over. Even the therapist I was seeing at the time, saw straight through that mess, and she was amongst the few whom thought I hadn't lost my mind. Turns out, my instinct was right. Those whom fought that legal battle for me, demanded a full, and complete, disclosure of whom spoke to me about what, and when. Given the poor record keeping, that would've taken weeks, if not months, on a case that already had taken months to get to the appropriate court. So, the government department involved was given a stark choice, especially by the Judge: either they comply with that order by my defence (which they couldn't ignore), or, if they were unwilling, or, especially unable, to spend way more on the case than what I was accused of, then that would've only meant one thing: forcing the Judge to fully aquit me of all charges, based on that unwillingness to present said evidence which, in any case, would've made them to appear in a bad light, not only because of poor record keeping, but all manner of bad practices. Worse, given I was a person with disabilities, had it gone to a full jury trial --- as it would've done --- the chances of a successful prosecution would've gotten slimmer, despite what they thought they had. So, to the dismay of my detractors, even my mum, I ran with not guilty ... ... and, as predicted, the case simply fell apart because of the prosecution unwillingness to present a full disclosure, as that would have meant not only a huge amount of effort on their part, but also meant disclosing the huge inadequacies involved. The Judge warned them what non-disclosure meant, but they still refuse ... In short, full acquittal, on all charges. Yes, the overpayment had to be paid back, but that was the least worst of all the things that could've happened. That's when I knew: if a lawyer is on top of their game, usually it does end in an acquittal, especially when it's clear the other side is unable to produce decent evidence before the court ... So often, taken the fight to the opposition --- the best defence is a strong offence --- works ... especially when they (your defence lawyer) hits them what they know is the weakest link in the evidence is, or --- as in this case --- Babbish knew that if the Special Prosecutor was anything other than slow, steadfast, methodical, and well-respected, and -regarded on both sides of the Aisle in both Houses of Congress, but rather seen as a partisan hack, foaming at the mouth to take a chuck out of Bartlett, the more likely he (Bartlett) would get off lightly, especially as if he came off as being the calm, rational, and sane one ... I could go into real world examples where Presidential Impeachments where bound to fail (aside from Nixon, but he jumped off before it got to that stage), but that will require a separate, even longer, comment, than this one ...
JED When? MRS. LANDINGHAM Just then. You stuck your hands in your pocket. You looked away and smiled. He nervously takes his hands out of his pockets. MRS. LANDINGHAM That means you made up your mind. JED That doesn't mean anything. MRS. LANDINGHAM Yes it does. JED I stuck my hands in my pockets! MRS. LANDINGHAM [smiles] And looked away, and smiled. We're in.
Great catch, never even noticed it before. Great thing about a 2nd run through this show is spotting all the masterful foreshadowing and things you miss the first time around.
God how would it be!!!!! to have a president STAND up and DEFEND his record on the FACTS rather than obfuscate, delay, deny, collude, collaborate, and windge!
Reminder: When you hire a professional to provide services--law, accounting, marketing, healthcare, etc--remember that they know wtf they're doing because they do it all the time. You don't. Sit down, shut up, and let people do their jobs.
how a REAL president handles making a mistake and being investigated. and i LOVE his scene with Charlie, pounding it in 'you will NOT lie for me'. I understand that he is not Bartlet, but I would vote for Sheen for POTUS right now because god DAMN can he act the part
"I'm afraid it can't 'depends', sir." And there, right there, is a man of integrity. He's about to wade through one of the hardest, crappiest, most dangerous tasks in his life, one that will define his career and his legacy if he screws it up just a little, and he has to tell the President to not only abide by his integrity, but also to trust him based on nothing.
2:27 - the same four chords that the synth plays at the beginning of New York Minute. This is Snuffy Walden suggesting to us that "somebody's going to jail".
Whats really amazing about this is how Babish wants the Right, with an R in the biggest font possible to spearhead this investigation if it came down to it. He literally wanted this seamless and give every possible reason not to have a single loose end the opposing party could find. This is what made this show so good, moments like this. "If you invoke executive privilege one time, Im gone".
Bartlett had to have confidence in Babish after this. Babish wouldn't waste his or the presidents time with a lost cause. He knew he could save the presidency, it would be uncomfortable but he could do it. Thats essentially what he's telling Bartlett here.
oliver babbish is more than surely inspired in the lawyer raul julia portrays in alan j. sekulla's "presumed innocent" - perhaps with a little more spice to it.
I've always liked this scene for its drama. But it has also confused me, as this is the kind of advice a communications expert would give, not a lawyer.
True but Presidents can ignore their comms experts. Much harder to ignore the lawyer that is supposed to get them out of the creek they are in with no means of propulsion.
Oliver Platt is truly versatile, comedic, dramatic, solicitous, gregarious and so many other wonderful adjectives. I would like to smack the idiot who did not allow us to know his character better. You who were in charge of The West Wing, you failed your audience. Don't get me wrong the writing for the other characters was strong and well spent, but you let this gem slip through the cracks and that my friend is unpardonable.
Man, I love that anger in Oliver's voice as he gets into it. He's not screaming at the President (which would be a bad idea, obviously), but you can still clearly hear that he is mad, verging on furious, about the President lying. He's still doing his job, and he's doing it out of more then duty; he really does think this is the best path forward for the President, the office, and the country. It's certainly the only one he'll tolerate. But he is _not_ happy that the President has put himself and Oliver in this position.
Thing is Potus didn't listen to Oliver cause In Subsequent Episode Oliver identifies the appointed Special Prosecutor as nice and takes his time which leads to CJ taking leads to have the House form a prosecution committee
Context: the President has MS for a little while maybe 4-6 years at this point in time. Zoey, the youngest daughter of President Bartlet and his wife Dr. Abigail Bartlet, needs a Family Medical History form that will inform Georgetown, the College that she is going to filled out and signed by a parent since she is 17 at that point of time. Abbey, in error doesn't mention the MS in the form and signs the form.
I think that Babish's demand regarding the Hague was crossing the line into foreign policy, hence, none of his business. The president sets policy regarding recognizing the Hague, not the White House counsel.
the whole show was in response to Bill Clinton being impeached. I think the premise was what if there was Dem. President without all of Clinton's baggage. But, of course, being a drama that borrowed liberally from real life, they put this story line in. It seems the character of Santos was loosely based on Obama, and IIRC Obama used Santos's character during his presidential run. Art imitating life imitating art :-)
I can't think of an American President that would have done so, maybe the first few might have when the country was young, bloodied and still somewhat undefined but after that. Lincoln, Grant, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama, and Trump would all stay well clear. American Presidents are the most powerful men on Earth for years at a time, that any of them ever did anything that could get them in trouble is practically certain. Maybe Teddy Roosevelt would have done it, to his woe. Out of the other candidates for the office in the previous election, Clinton sure wouldn't have and I don't think Johnson or Stein would have either and though it's probably more likely Sanders would have, for the sake of having said he did, he wouldn't have enjoyed doing it.
Babish told them they should name a blood thirsty Republican as Special Prosecutor. Instead, they name slow-moving and well-respected Clem Rollins. The whole thing ends up in the House of Representatives.
When Oliver said “I’ll be in my office for awhile if you need me”, he should have followed it up with “And believe me Mr President, you need me!” That would have guaranteed another season of Babish.
Sorry, I preferred Lionel Tribbey(sp?) and his cricket bat. But this was much more serious and Platt probably pulled it off better. However, in "real life" any independent council investigation would have gone on for years/seasons like cancer, slowly killing off characters and plot lines until only it was left. And the cricket bat.
This scene shows why Trump is so clearly guilty over Russia. If he knew he was innocent, then this is exactly how he should have reacted to Muller's appointment.
The Clinyon Foundation is the most evil, corrupt institution of psychopaths this country has ever seen and the truth will come out one day. Mark my words.
The Clintons aren't evil or psychopathic, corrupt absolutely, but they're not Bond villains. And stop bringing them up whenever Trump is mentioned, the election is over; Trump has the power, and therefore the criticism that comes with it.
@ John Adams; You are close, but it's the accusations against the Clinton foundation that are the work of corrupt psychopaths and THAT truth WILL come out, but you won't care. Most of the Clinton Foundation slander was originated and propagated by foreign-based social media accounts. The same ones behind pizza-gate. Their point is to get into YOUR head and make you suspicious of everyone who doesn't agree with you. Also, John Adams stood for an unpopular truth and came into the public view by defending, not attacking, the political enemies of his 'party'. Look into his involvement in the Boston Massacre trial. You discredit his name by using it to advance such specious accusations.
I’m going to call bs! The White House counselor should advise the president that he needs his own personal attorney to handle this. This is a conflict of interest for the White House counselor.
This is where Oliver Babish should’ve became part of the main cast.
This is where a Oliver Stone should begin his fan fiction about President D.Trump
Oliver Platt may be a distant relative of Orson Wells.
Yeah, I thought so back then when the show was on TV. He play a damn good lawyer character.
So true...
Oliver and Bruno.
Oliver Platt...one of America’s greatest underrated actors! Been a fan of his for bloody yonks!!!
One of.... Canada's greatest underrated actors. ^_^
Loved him in Frost/Nixon especially. His comic Nixon impersonation was absolute gold.
Canadian Guy-I you want to claim Oliver,you have to take back Cruz,too.
For some reason I always get Platt and Robert Pastorelli mixed up in my head...
He was awesome in the Three Musketeers
Babish's "Bring it on" strategy is actually very smart. By the president not making any effort to dodge or cover up anything, those coming after him will have nothing to use, the president will appear cooperative and the harder they press they'll just look like a bunch of jerks picking on a sick man.
Many times cover ups become worse than the original sin.
It’s essentially a retelling of the Clinton Administration’s strategy of dealing with the Lewinsky scandal…
The cover up is always worse. All you have to do is look at Richard Nixon.
Was not telling anyone an impeachable offense?
@@BuzzLightyear9999 not really...
Look, tim, I dont care or know what you feel about the matter
but if Biden was found fucking anyone while president ,right now, who isnt jill biden
I wouldnt care, I couldnt care
hes been so much a gift to republicans in caving to all their demands before even beginning an attmept. obama 2.0 and also naive.
Him getting laid means hes able to not have his heart blow up and he still has basic sexual function which requires some brain and body elements.
That clock ticking in this scene and the pink ball bouncing at the beginning and end of "17 People" is frosting on the cake of this arc.
The West Wing really had an amazing way of bringing out some of the most incredible performances by actors/actresses. One of Oliver Platt's best if not the best performance of his career.
Bartlett: "Bring it On"
Goosebumps, even in this short clip. I know Martin Sheen has been in a number of iconic roles and is rightly lauded as star of the big screen but in my opinion this was the role he was born for. The way he conveys what a proud man Jed Bartlett is but that he is willing to take advice from good people when necessary is masterful.
Would've been more dramatic if Bartlet didn't blink.
He puts his hands in his pockets, he looks away.
That means he's decided.
A keen observation by someone who must obviously be a fan of the show. Props.
Ah but he didn't smile.
Man, every time I watch Two Cathedrals, I always wonder "wait, did they actually set that up before?" and realize that once again I forgot to look out for it beforehand. Good catch!
@@jasonreid9267 I'm gonna bet he smiles a little to himself when he turns away from camera in the last shot :)
"I am afraid it can't depend sir" that has to be the most respectful way to say "Let me do my job"
The answer should always be "that depends". You cannot ever promise to do exactly what somebody tells you to do, even your lawyer. You always have to do what is right.
Yup, he had to drag Bartlet and his staff kicking and screaming through the whole thing to get them through it. I don't even think they ever thanked him for it.
It is just lawyer speak for pulling a coup
@@timothyjames6412 : either you trust your lawyer or you do not. Having a "hedge" with a "that depends" concludes that you do not. In that case, best of luck, find another lawyer who tolerates that. Babich would not.
@@paulcolburn3855 any lawyer who would walk just because the client expresses some attachment to integrity, and who won't tolerate the client asking some questions about what exactly "that depends" entails, will, I hope, quickly find himself out of work. And I have enough faith in our country to believe such a scoundrel would never become White House Counsel (with the likely exception of the Trump administration).
Only an actor like Oliver Platt could have the gravitas to share a stage with Martin Sheen in a scene written like this one. He's spellbinding.
They BOTH are!
BB...He was fine let's not get carried away...Ron Silver could've effectively done that, John Laraquette, Anthony Anderson, etc etc etc etc. etc.....
Only Oliver? Did you forget about Karl Malden and the parable of the man who lived by the river?
"It was Lady Macbeth"... From a show that had so many amazing lines, this was one of the best, lol!
“It was Lady Macbeth.” 😂
Not the first time he mentions Shakespeare. He mentions King Lear with reference to one of his daughters.
I think the Lady Macbeth reference was rather appropriate. She is a doctor and treated her husband medically in secret for his MS and signed her daughters Georgetown application knowing she left off her father's disease. She has the blood on her hands. Out out damn spot!
@@retroguy9494 Barlet brought this on himself. He should have been honest with the American public as well as his staff. Hell, he didn't even tell Leo until an MS attack rendered him unable to function as president for a brief time. None of his staff knew. Only him and his wife.
@@blastermasterguy Oh, I agree! Just as JFK should have told the American public about his Addison's disease and all his other health issues which required him to take all those pills and have all those injections! The guy probably walked around high half the time. Funny how art imitates real life, isn't it?
@@blastermasterguy And that Press was complicit in hiding Roosevelt's polio disability from the public. They agreed to only photo graph him in situations that didn't expose his disability.
oLiver babbish was a very underrated character. He was awesome in this scene.
Great actor with great writing equals magic.
Babbish wasn't as flamboyant and Lionel Tribbey waving around his cricket bat.
@@longshot7601 Oh, if its flamboyant you want, none of them come close to Lord John Marbury. I used to LOVE the way he would say "Abigail your brrrrrrrreasts are MAGNIFICENT!"
Scenes like this are why TWW is the best television drama ever. Thank you, Aaron Sorkin!
What an understatement! :)
Two of the most powerful characters on one of the very best ensemble Television Shows ever……. Bring It On !
I think it was criminal of Aaron Sorkin to not have a scene where we see Babish in court.
Scene my ass, would have needed a two-part episode.
They never WENT to court. There were congressional hearings. In the end Lady Macbeth agreed to voluntarily surrender her medical license for a period of time.
@@retroguy9494 doesn't mean they couldn't have written SOME scene for SOME thing, just to put Babish in a courtroom setting.
@@jdgindustries2734 True but then they would have to add another character. Because presidents and their spouses as a general rule don't GO to court while the president is in office.
@@retroguy9494 I'd argue that is more common than we think... We just don't see it because it's just the lawyer in the court. I could be wrong, but that's my intuition.
My love of the movie "Chef," strange as it may seem, brought me here. I remember this scene and Oliver's character. He is a master of making an ensemble part into the acting equivalent of a jazz solo. I love this guy.
We needed 900% more Oliver Babish in The West Wing. He might be the best minor character in the show.
Ethics !!! You can't conceal, ignore, or moderate the truth. When anyone makes mistakes, the US public is usually willing to forgive when candor is offered in a timely fashion. But, through history, the biggest problems happen when a cover-up is attempted.
Wel said!
Yup, Barlet should have told the American public he was suffering from MS and then gracefully dropped out of the race do to being medically unfit as president. Politicians seem to have trouble with telling the truth.
I know it has become a cliche and you would think at this point people would have gotten the point but it is still the case over and over that "it is not the crime it's the cover-up."
@@blastermasterguy But he wasn't medically unfit to be president. MS does not affect judgement, only mobility
@@bbofun - and even then, mobility affect is not inevitable - and with modern treatment, often avoidable altogether
The *GREATEST* show in the _HISTORY_ of television.
Period!
Through a remarkable set of circumstances I once was in a place to have dinner with Martin Sheen. I didn’t quite know what to say and perhaps it was clumsy, but I thanked him for bringing at least two characters to life who have deeply inspired me. One was Carl Fox, the ethical conscience of the movie Wall Street and the other, President Josiah “Jed” Bartlett of The West Wing.
I don't go to bed with no whore, and I don't wake up with no whore. That's how I live with myself.
2:02 - "If you invoke Executive Privilege one time, I'm gone."
Contrast this with "The direct witnesses can't testify because of executive priviledge, and therefore prosecutors have no direct witness testimony, and therefore the Senate votes not guilty."
Bring on the truth vs. blatent coverup. Honor vs. cowardice.
Except of course that Bartlett is a fictional character. I'm not an American, and I definitely believe that Trump violated, and trampled upon, just about any standard of decency. But I'm curious: has any actual American President (or any President/Prime Minister etc., anywhere in the world) responded in this "bring it on" fashion, when faced with such a challenge? Maybe the answer is "yes", I wouldn't know. But somehow, I suspect that the answer is no. (I don't just mean using the rhetoric of "bring it on" -- I'm sure several did; but actually following through on that rhetoric).
The Russian collusion hoax was all a hoax, all of it. He allowed the investigation go wherever it wanted to go. And it didn't matter because he knew he was innocent.
@@paulcolburn3855 The investigation opened and proceeded by protocol, and Trump violated the law to obstruct the investigation plenty of times. "Hoax" is a lie, and justice demanded Trump's impeachment from his first felony act. If we'd stopped it when it was only procedural felonies, it wouldn't have progressed to inciting a coup attempt.
@@BradyPostma The President never obstructed the investigation. Why would he? After all, he knew the investigation would vindicate him which it did. The rest of what you write, is hooey.
@@paulcolburn3855 The second half of the Mueller Report detailed a dozen times Trump obstructed the investigation.
Why would he? Because he had things to hide... like the dozens of criminal charges, including of his administration officials, that came out of that investigation.
By why pay attention to investigators and the law when you have the word of the accused? No one who was guilty could possibly claim to be innocent, right?
In today's political climate, Bartlet would be gone by the end of the week. Today the strategy would be "Lie, delay, stonewall, attack, admit nothing, accuse your accusers."
yea theyd call this show liberal crap but they covered a variety of topics and this is the type of president and administration we wished we had
Nicholas Buck I agree. Every time I watch this I wish we had a president more like this one. The good and the bad
Or hide in your basement till the next Presidential Election occurs.
@@realityitis4 It's not bad if the "Liberal Crap" is well intentioned to actually help the U.S. or more importantly the People of the U.S., but to line pockets and tear the country down is not liberalism, but communism in disguise.
The Republican strategy.
This is why I love the previous episode someone's comin to emergency, someone's going to jail in the same season. Not many people realise it but a ton of what Sam went through in that episode Is foreshadowing this. And right at the end of this scene, that little flair of don henley was an allusion. Brilliant.
That’s a great catch…on first and second watch I caught the Henley sting but didn’t make the connection
@@Chicagopaisan can someone explain that one please?
how can you not love Babbish at this moment
There was a great little moment that went with the story arc here. Oliver asks the First Lady, "do you know what time it is?" She gives him the time and he says, "stop doing that." She doesn't get what he is saying. He says, "stop answering questions that you aren't being asked." He asks her again if she knows what time it is.
She simply says, "yes."
That was CJ, not the First Lady.
I love the writing in this show... Sorkin should do more of this...
That sound at 2:24, that's worth having a decent subwoofer sound system for...
This is how a lawyer advises his client. 100% Not necessarily the exact advice, but how its done.
Exactly ...
A decade ago, I was caught in a tangled legal Web that, although some of it was of my own making, much of it had to do with the failings of a beauocracy, and monumental miss-managment, and bad advice.
The legal advice was that, if I had pled guilty, then I would get a lesser sentence; _however_ that meant letting that moronic beauocracy that led me to that mess, off the hook. The alternative was to plead not guilty, meaning there was room for a fair legal fight, even though the consequences of that failing, would have been much, much, worse.
Every one whom knew my situation in any detail told me to plead guilty, because all they saw was a losing fight: no way, they, and even my own mum, thought I could win, because.
But I went with my first instincts: plead not guilty, because, inwardly, I knew, I had been screwed over. Even the therapist I was seeing at the time, saw straight through that mess, and she was amongst the few whom thought I hadn't lost my mind.
Turns out, my instinct was right. Those whom fought that legal battle for me, demanded a full, and complete, disclosure of whom spoke to me about what, and when. Given the poor record keeping, that would've taken weeks, if not months, on a case that already had taken months to get to the appropriate court. So, the government department involved was given a stark choice, especially by the Judge: either they comply with that order by my defence (which they couldn't ignore), or, if they were unwilling, or, especially unable, to spend way more on the case than what I was accused of, then that would've only meant one thing: forcing the Judge to fully aquit me of all charges, based on that unwillingness to present said evidence which, in any case, would've made them to appear in a bad light, not only because of poor record keeping, but all manner of bad practices. Worse, given I was a person with disabilities, had it gone to a full jury trial --- as it would've done --- the chances of a successful prosecution would've gotten slimmer, despite what they thought they had.
So, to the dismay of my detractors, even my mum, I ran with not guilty ...
... and, as predicted, the case simply fell apart because of the prosecution unwillingness to present a full disclosure, as that would have meant not only a huge amount of effort on their part, but also meant disclosing the huge inadequacies involved. The Judge warned them what non-disclosure meant, but they still refuse ...
In short, full acquittal, on all charges. Yes, the overpayment had to be paid back, but that was the least worst of all the things that could've happened.
That's when I knew: if a lawyer is on top of their game, usually it does end in an acquittal, especially when it's clear the other side is unable to produce decent evidence before the court ...
So often, taken the fight to the opposition --- the best defence is a strong offence --- works ... especially when they (your defence lawyer) hits them what they know is the weakest link in the evidence is, or --- as in this case --- Babbish knew that if the Special Prosecutor was anything other than slow, steadfast, methodical, and well-respected, and -regarded on both sides of the Aisle in both Houses of Congress, but rather seen as a partisan hack, foaming at the mouth to take a chuck out of Bartlett, the more likely he (Bartlett) would get off lightly, especially as if he came off as being the calm, rational, and sane one ...
I could go into real world examples where Presidential Impeachments where bound to fail (aside from Nixon, but he jumped off before it got to that stage), but that will require a separate, even longer, comment, than this one ...
Love Oliver Platt. He brings it in what ever roll he does. Love him on Chicago MED
"Bring it on." *chills*
So atmospheric - no other political drama has ever come close
Anybody here from Binging with Babish?
Hands in his pockets. The big tell
JED
When?
MRS. LANDINGHAM
Just then. You stuck your hands in your pocket. You looked away and smiled.
He nervously takes his hands out of his pockets.
MRS. LANDINGHAM
That means you made up your mind.
JED
That doesn't mean anything.
MRS. LANDINGHAM
Yes it does.
JED
I stuck my hands in my pockets!
MRS. LANDINGHAM
[smiles] And looked away, and smiled. We're in.
Great catch, never even noticed it before. Great thing about a 2nd run through this show is spotting all the masterful foreshadowing and things you miss the first time around.
Ha. How did I miss this?!
The ticking time clock in the background is just pure genius in creating at atmosphere.
God how would it be!!!!! to have a president STAND up and DEFEND his record on the FACTS rather than obfuscate, delay, deny, collude, collaborate, and windge!
Reminder: When you hire a professional to provide services--law, accounting, marketing, healthcare, etc--remember that they know wtf they're doing because they do it all the time. You don't. Sit down, shut up, and let people do their jobs.
how a REAL president handles making a mistake and being investigated. and i LOVE his scene with Charlie, pounding it in 'you will NOT lie for me'. I understand that he is not Bartlet, but I would vote for Sheen for POTUS right now because god DAMN can he act the part
I miss shows like this. Smart, sassy, even educational.
One major complaint I have about season 3 is the legal fight didn’t last very long at all.
Leo’s questioned and then it’s over.
Best casting ever.
The music at the end makes it even more amazing.
"I'm afraid it can't 'depends', sir."
And there, right there, is a man of integrity. He's about to wade through one of the hardest, crappiest, most dangerous tasks in his life, one that will define his career and his legacy if he screws it up just a little, and he has to tell the President to not only abide by his integrity, but also to trust him based on nothing.
Who knew that we'd get a cooking channel out of this?
Especially with only one recipie from it ...
Yep, about as distant from the current administration as Tatooine is from Earth. Clearly one is a happy fantasy and the other a truly sad reality.
Oliver:Bring it on! Rudy:True is not true.
"If there's a brightest star in the galaxy, the last administration was on the planet furthest from it."
2:27 - the same four chords that the synth plays at the beginning of New York Minute. This is Snuffy Walden suggesting to us that "somebody's going to jail".
Whats really amazing about this is how Babish wants the Right, with an R in the biggest font possible to spearhead this investigation if it came down to it.
He literally wanted this seamless and give every possible reason not to have a single loose end the opposing party could find.
This is what made this show so good, moments like this.
"If you invoke executive privilege one time, Im gone".
Trump in the same situation would wait for him to leave and then fire him with a tweet.
Don't forget to claim execute privilege at every literal possible chance.
Bartlett had to have confidence in Babish after this. Babish wouldn't waste his or the presidents time with a lost cause. He knew he could save the presidency, it would be uncomfortable but he could do it. Thats essentially what he's telling Bartlett here.
Always thought Babish was the one guy who could match the President’s intellect and wasn’t afraid to show it.
oliver babbish is more than surely inspired in the lawyer raul julia portrays in alan j. sekulla's "presumed innocent" - perhaps with a little more spice to it.
A few chords at the end there from SGTE, SGTJ...
You ever notice how they could make the clock ticking in the Oval Office, that loudest sound in the world?
Oliver Babish and John Laroquette were great characters.
Laroquette with that bat in that one scene was 👩🍳 💋.
Since Trump it seems crazy that this is taken so incredibly seriously. Not saying its bad writing, just different times
I've always liked this scene for its drama. But it has also confused me, as this is the kind of advice a communications expert would give, not a lawyer.
True but Presidents can ignore their comms experts. Much harder to ignore the lawyer that is supposed to get them out of the creek they are in with no means of propulsion.
@@Martin-pb7ts you mean the feces flume?
This is a brilliant example of how music and sound effects should be used in movies and tv series.
Oliver Platt is truly versatile, comedic, dramatic, solicitous, gregarious and so many other wonderful adjectives. I would like to smack the idiot who did not allow us to know his character better. You who were in charge of The West Wing, you failed your audience. Don't get me wrong the writing for the other characters was strong and well spent, but you let this gem slip through the cracks and that my friend is unpardonable.
Babish is pissed. PISSED.
Sometimes ya forget about the music throughout.
This clip should be viewed on a stereo
The casting for this show was always phenomenal….
THAT is the atty you want when you call home and say, "Send lawyers, guns and money...The shit has hit the fan."
so she is 17 right before, but in the first season she is just starting the college AND she is 19 (the bar scene charlie says her age)
Oliver Platt must have felt comfortable with these political scenes. His father was a career diplomat. He grew up around international politics.
Man, I love that anger in Oliver's voice as he gets into it. He's not screaming at the President (which would be a bad idea, obviously), but you can still clearly hear that he is mad, verging on furious, about the President lying. He's still doing his job, and he's doing it out of more then duty; he really does think this is the best path forward for the President, the office, and the country. It's certainly the only one he'll tolerate. But he is _not_ happy that the President has put himself and Oliver in this position.
Damn hes a good actor!
Before anyone asks which one I mean. The answer is yes.
This is from 2001. Oliver Platt returned to The West Wing as Oliver Babish in 2005, and in 2005 he didn’t have a goatee.
I've had a crush on Platt for decades.....
"It can't depend sir."
"No that's not how this works. There's no open-ended agreements when it comes to the President."
Oliver worked with Martin's son on my favorite version of The Three Musketeers.
Man the suits were so big back then. Makes these guys look so small.
Thing is Potus didn't listen to Oliver cause In Subsequent Episode Oliver identifies the appointed Special Prosecutor as nice and takes his time which leads to CJ taking leads to have the House form a prosecution committee
Can someone explain this to me??
Oliver Platt (yes,his real name) was a cool mad dog in this scene, a little bit more and he would have practically barked Bartlett out of the room...
What do we say? “It’s all rigged!”
There'll never be a political drama like this again.
There will never be quality tv like this again. Breaking Bad after this was awesome, but now it’s cheaper to produce a reality show. Such a shame.
Context: the President has MS for a little while maybe 4-6 years at this point in time. Zoey, the youngest daughter of President Bartlet and his wife Dr. Abigail Bartlet, needs a Family Medical History form that will inform Georgetown, the College that she is going to filled out and signed by a parent since she is 17 at that point of time. Abbey, in error doesn't mention the MS in the form and signs the form.
its Charlie who figures this error out
I think that Babish's demand regarding the Hague was crossing the line into foreign policy, hence, none of his business. The president sets policy regarding recognizing the Hague, not the White House counsel.
I do wonder how much of this shadows/parallels the appointment of Ken Starr discussions in the Clinton WH.
the whole show was in response to Bill Clinton being impeached. I think the premise was what if there was Dem. President without all of Clinton's baggage. But, of course, being a drama that borrowed liberally from real life, they put this story line in.
It seems the character of Santos was loosely based on Obama, and IIRC Obama used Santos's character during his presidential run. Art imitating life imitating art :-)
Would the current POTUS "bring it on"?
I can't think of an American President that would have done so, maybe the first few might have when the country was young, bloodied and still somewhat undefined but after that. Lincoln, Grant, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower, JFK, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush Sr., Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama, and Trump would all stay well clear. American Presidents are the most powerful men on Earth for years at a time, that any of them ever did anything that could get them in trouble is practically certain.
Maybe Teddy Roosevelt would have done it, to his woe.
Out of the other candidates for the office in the previous election, Clinton sure wouldn't have and I don't think Johnson or Stein would have either and though it's probably more likely Sanders would have, for the sake of having said he did, he wouldn't have enjoyed doing it.
The current POTUS just said on live TV that he was a young vibrant man. I think his position is pretty clear.
Nope, cause he would shit his pants!
"It was Lady Macbeth."😆
great show and actors
"will there be pancakes?"
Yet this guy somehow WASN'T your SCOTUS pick? Amazing.
Being good at being white house counsel and being good at being a supreme court justice are entirely different things.
Such a great got damned scene.
Damn he’s good
Its a shame they didn't continue this plot, it would have been interesting question on ethics of his lie of omission and the bs of the system.
Babish told them they should name a blood thirsty Republican as Special Prosecutor. Instead, they name slow-moving and well-respected Clem Rollins. The whole thing ends up in the House of Representatives.
I'll be in my office for a while if you need to tell me you cannot accept that.
In my opinion, Jed Bartlett is the best president this country ever had!
I want more of this, more Sorkin
The way a President of the United States should act... unlike what we have now
When Oliver said “I’ll be in my office for awhile if you need me”, he should have followed it up with “And believe me Mr President, you need me!”
That would have guaranteed another season of Babish.
Oliver had his hands in his pockets just like the president. Meaning business……
This is the kinda smart i wanted to be since i was a kid....
Babish and Fitz. The best.
he should be a bigger part of the show
Sorry, I preferred Lionel Tribbey(sp?) and his cricket bat. But this was much more serious and Platt probably pulled it off better. However, in "real life" any independent council investigation would have gone on for years/seasons like cancer, slowly killing off characters and plot lines until only it was left. And the cricket bat.
This scene shows why Trump is so clearly guilty over Russia.
If he knew he was innocent, then this is exactly how he should have reacted to Muller's appointment.
The Clinyon Foundation is the most evil, corrupt institution of psychopaths this country has ever seen and the truth will come out one day. Mark my words.
The Clintons aren't evil or psychopathic, corrupt absolutely, but they're not Bond villains.
And stop bringing them up whenever Trump is mentioned, the election is over; Trump has the power, and therefore the criticism that comes with it.
not evil? how many people connected with hillary are found dead with a bullet hole in the back of their head and it is treated as a suicide?
Is that a rhetorical question?
@ John Adams;
You are close, but it's the accusations against the Clinton foundation that are the work of corrupt psychopaths and THAT truth WILL come out, but you won't care. Most of the Clinton Foundation slander was originated and propagated by foreign-based social media accounts. The same ones behind pizza-gate. Their point is to get into YOUR head and make you suspicious of everyone who doesn't agree with you.
Also, John Adams stood for an unpopular truth and came into the public view by defending, not attacking, the political enemies of his 'party'. Look into his involvement in the Boston Massacre trial. You discredit his name by using it to advance such specious accusations.
I’m going to call bs! The White House counselor should advise the president that he needs his own personal attorney to handle this. This is a conflict of interest for the White House counselor.
Pretty sure they covered that in this episode or somewhere around it. Don't remember how they resolved it though.
@@paterpatriae645 Thank you
I wish the real life trials of former white house officials were this effective and efficient.