Toby Secures Leo's Tacit Approval for Secret GDC Rebuke
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Toby proposes the 'drop-in' strategy to publicly rebuke environmental groups for not condemning eco-terrorism, citing the Colorado ski resort arson.
Leo reluctantly agrees to Toby's plan, acknowledging the political utility of 'spanking the people to our left' while questioning the specifics.
Toby insists the rebuke should be a surprise 'drop-in' rather than part of the advanced text, avoiding Sam's potential objections.
The scene ends with Toby's dry acknowledgment of the NMD test's catastrophic miss, underscoring the administration's dual crises.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Irritated by test failure and Leo's defensiveness, fueled by righteous determination to seize political advantage.
Enters mid-phone call, presses Leo on NMD miss distance, pivots sharply to Sam's GDC speech, launches passionate pitch for a clandestine drop-in rebuke of environmentalists' eco-terrorism silence using vivid Colorado lynx arson example, angrily rejects Leo's preemptive jab, insists on bypassing Sam for secrecy.
- • Convince Leo to pitch presidential rebuke at GDC for left-flank independence
- • Ensure drop-in secrecy to evade Sam's idealistic objections and staff fractures
- • Environmental lobby's silence on eco-terrorism demands public correction
- • Short, sharp rebukes to allies enhance electoral positioning without full pivot right
Professionally detached amid reporting failure's gravity.
Delivers urgent NMD test debrief to Leo over phone, detailing nine successes overshadowed by 137-mile miss, prompting Leo's frustrated hang-up and segue into Toby's pitch amid shared crisis tension.
- • Accurately convey test telemetry to enable White House response
- • Equip Leo with data for presidential briefing
- • Technical precision outweighs spin in crisis reporting
- • NMD viability persists despite single criterion failure
Unaware but implicitly principled objector.
Referenced repeatedly as GDC speech author whose recent pitch Leo greenlit without attending; Toby explicitly demands bypassing him to avoid 'fourteen objections' to the secret rebuke insertion.
Referenced regarding the NMD missile shield support, prior approval of Sam's GDC speech pitch, and as the target for Leo to propose the drop-in rebuke.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Serves as the vital conduit for Keith's NMD failure report to Leo, receiver cracking against base as he hangs up in frustration; its coiled cord symbolizes taut tensions transitioning from external crisis to Toby's internal political ambush, grounding the pitch in raw, immediate disappointment.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Vividly invoked by Toby as the arson-scarred exemplar of eco-terrorism—a $12 million ski development torched to protect rare lynx habitat—fueling his pitch for rebuke; it crystallizes the moral ambiguity of environmental extremism, heightening stakes in the clandestine strategy session.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Positioned as the high-profile venue for Sam's Clean Air speech where Toby envisions Bartlet's surprise 30-second drop-in rebuke for eco-terror silence; it becomes the tactical stage for demonstrating independence, blindsiding allies and amplifying internal White House strategy tensions.
Directly targeted in Toby's pitch as the 'left' flank needing a public spanking for failing to condemn eco-terrorism; Leo and Toby weigh a calculated rebuke to signal Bartlet's non-beholden stance, fracturing staff loyalty and setting up donor backlash for political gain.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's proposal of the 'drop-in' strategy directly causes Bartlet's off-script rebuke of the GDC's silence on eco-terrorism, leading to the speech's disastrous reception."
Key Dialogue
"TOBY: There's an extent to which we've gotta screw the environmental lobby."
"TOBY: We don't have to move to our right if there's an opportunity to spank the people to our left."
"TOBY: I don't want it in the advanced text. I don't want Sam and his fourteen objections. It should just be a drop-in."