Swimtern pops into Josh's office, asking what's up. Josh invites him to sit down, and mentions that he may have been "a little brusque" before. Swimtern doesn't care. Heh. "Your feelings a little hurt?" Josh asks. "Not at all," Swimtern assures him. Josh asks why not. Swimtern: "Would this be easier if they were?" Josh says that he indeed had planned to fire Swimtern earlier, but they ascertain that now, that's not happening. "Then there's an old 'sticks and stones' thing that comes to mind," Swimtern shrugs. I really do think these two have nice chemistry when their stuff is well-written. There's something good there, and they've usually missed it by about six inches in either direction -- either Swimtern is too obnoxious, or Josh is too nasty to him, and it doesn't work as well as it wound up working here.

Debbie is sitting at her desk, listening to music. She watches the office door warily as Toby paces, waiting to talk to Jed. Leo enters, and they touch base about Toby's conversation with Andy, who didn't budge, of course. "We got a name for Brady's seat," Toby says, almost a little amused. "Somebody workable?" Leo asks, but before Toby can answer, Debbie sends them in to see POTUS. We remain in the outer office with her and her music, and only hear Jed yell, "MULREADY? NO! Are you out of your bloody mind?" Jed continues yelling at the top of his lungs, and Debbie turns up the music. I really liked the way this was handled, because I really don't need to hear Jed shout and holler again, and this was a lot more effective. Debbie simply puts her glasses on and gets down to work, whatever it is that she does.

After the commercials, Josh's parade of dissatisfied customers continues as he runs into Charlie. "Chris Mulready?" Charlie asks. "Dissented on minority set-asides, struck down hate crimes legislation, went after Miranda rights? Feelin' pretty good about that?" "It's not a perfect plan, I'm the first to admit," Josh says. "The president wants to reiterate he's not spending more than five minutes with this clown," Charlie stresses, speaking as much for himself as for Jed, one suspects. C.J. walks up and tells Josh that they've cleared the press room and Carol is on the prowl for stray reporters. "You're in on this too," Charlie notes unhappily, and he walks off. Josh turns to a suddenly-present Donna and says that Lang is coming in to meet Jed, and that Mulready will be next. "He's on the short List?" Donna asks. Josh's voice gets low. "He is if she is; we may get both." "Oh my God, you're putting my mother's cats on the Supreme Court," Donna says with an almost imperceptible smile. "Your what?" C.J. asks. "It's just an experiment," he whisper-mumbles to Donna, and then to C.J.: "She's on sentry [I think]; we're good." Toby walks up, and Josh turns back to Donna. "Don't ever tell anyone that story," he murmurs. Hee. Toby comes up and asks whether things are set. "Lefty's got the goods, Rocco got the calls, Nicky's on lookout," C.J. says, and at being indicated at the end of this bit, Donna gives a weakly protesting "Hey." Just then, Swimtern walks up and confirms that his uncle is ready to talk, and Josh leaves with him. "Pierce will never buy it, will he?" C.J. asks. "Nope," Toby says simply. Well, at least they're keeping a positive attitude.