West Wing
West Wing

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Deborah: C- | 1313 USERS: C+
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A Very Special Episode of The West Wing

One kid asks whether Josh gets scared about working at the White House. Josh says he doesn't and, gesturing toward Donna and himself, he indicates, "We're bystanders, basically, and we work around a lot of people who routinely put themselves in harm's way: the Secret Service and the military." He describes how the President's protection is rehearsed a thousand different ways, and mentions that there's one guy whose primary function is to put himself in the way of a bullet headed for POTUS. "Not get the shooter --" Josh emphasizes, "stand in front of the bullet. I've seen them do it." The girl who spoke before asks whether Josh ever thinks of quitting. Josh is all, "Nah." He confesses that his mother wants him to quit, adding that his family members have a habit of dying before they're supposed to, and that it's just him and his mom now. He mentions, kind of sheepishly, that he got "accidentally shot a little bit or something in Rosslyn." Yeah, just a bit. He indicates that his mother would like him to work in the private sector. Josh tells his mother, "My government salary may not be a lot, but I still make more than the guy whose job it is to stand in front of the bullet, so how do I tell him I'm quitting?" I thought this was sort of an odd remark; his mother doesn't want him to go to the private sector because the money is better. Wouldn't it make more sense for Josh to argue to his mother that public service is the only way he can make the contribution he wants to make? ["I thought the point was that he feels sheepish that, in his relatively cushy government job, he has less to worry about danger-wise than Secret Service agents do, and that he'd feel like a wuss quitting because he's scared when they soldier on for a lot less compensation. Maybe?" -- Wing Chun] He then tells the kids that his mother made a box for him that he's supposed to keep in the trunk of his car, containing emergency supplies: flashlight, five gallons of water, a transistor radio, first-aid items. Josh says, "But she keeps thinking of things to add to it. She'll call and say, 'I found that cap that Dad got Joe Pepitone to sign for you on your birthday. You wore it to school every day in seventh grade. Do you want me to send it to you so you can put it in the box?'" Josh pauses, and notices everyone looking at him expectantly. He continues, waving his arm casually, "So I'll say, 'Yeah, Ma, let's put it in the box.'" He briefly pauses again and says, "So, anyway, I don't know against who, or I don't know what it's going to look like, but one of these days we're going to have a big win, and for a lot of us, who've seen what we've seen, we're not leaving till we do. I'm going to be here, six presidents from now, in my office, Wile E. Coyote and a map." Um, huh?

West Wing

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