Bartlet Confesses Wrongdoing and Embraces Censure Over Leo's Fierce Objections
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet summons Leo into the Oval Office late at night, signaling an urgent and private conversation.
Bartlet reveals he's been consulting with advisors and has decided to accept the censure, despite Leo's immediate resistance.
Leo lays out pragmatic arguments against the censure, warning of political fallout and campaign damage.
Bartlet delivers a powerful confession of wrongdoing, rejecting moral equivocation and embracing personal accountability.
Bartlet clarifies it will be a Concurrent Resolution (H. Con-172) rather than a Joint Resolution, making historical reference to Andrew Jackson's censure.
Leo warns Bartlet about displaying Charlie's controversial map of Canaan/Palestine, injecting a moment of levity amid the gravity.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Implied resourceful competence
Referenced by Leo as source of historical knowledge on Andrew Jackson's 1834 censure, invoked to underscore the non-unique peril of Bartlet's choice.
- • Provide accurate historical precedents
- • Inform strategic defenses
- • History offers tactical lessons for crises
- • Precedents like Jackson's can be leveraged
Stoically formal without inflection
Off-screen voice solemnly reads the full text of House Concurrent Resolution 172 in congressional chambers, intoning Congress's condemnation of Bartlet's 'deceitful and dishonest conduct' as the scene dissolves.
- • Accurately proclaim the resolution's judgment
- • Fulfill procedural role in historic censure
- • Official reading enshrines congressional authority
- • Words carry institutional condemnation's full force
Neutral legacy invoked for reassurance
Invoked by Leo (via Josh) and Bartlet as 1834 censure precedent—expunged in 1836—framing Bartlet's choice as survivable history.
- • Serve as political survival archetype
- • Presidential censures can be overcome
Procedurally resolute and impartial
Off-screen voice from congressional chambers requests the House Secretary to read Resolution 172, initiating its formal proclamation that condemns Bartlet amid the Oval's private rift.
- • Execute congressional censure protocol
- • Publicly affirm institutional oversight
- • Congress holds power to rebuke presidential deceit
- • Formal reading amplifies resolution's weight
Implied warm loyalty
Referenced via his gifted map, which sparks a tension-relieving quip between Bartlet and Leo about hiding it due to its pre-Israel depiction.
- • Foster personal connection through gifts
- • Support president's diversions
- • Historical artifacts enrich leadership
- • Small gestures build bonds
Implied at ongoing risk
Referenced by Leo as 'Abbey,' warned that censure won't shield her from AMA scrutiny over medicating Bartlet.
- • Navigate ethical dilemmas as physician-spouse
- • Medical oaths persist beyond politics
Fiercely protective urgency laced with reluctant resignation
Enters the Oval Office at Bartlet's summons, urgently warns against signing the censure citing risks to Abbey's AMA issues, campaign viability, House Democrats' races, and personal embarrassment; references Josh's Jackson intel, quips about hiding Charlie's map, then reluctantly sits in silence as tension lingers.
- • Dissuade Bartlet from signing to minimize political damage
- • Shield allies like Abbey and Democrats from fallout
- • Censure offers no real protection and amplifies vulnerabilities
- • Historical precedents like Jackson's prove it's not redemptive
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Charlie's gifted 1709 hand-colored Holy Land map becomes a pivot for Leo's reminder to hide it—citing its lack of Israel and hot-button Lebanon borders—as a wry, bonding quip that momentarily defuses confession's gravity, underscoring loyalty amid crisis and humanizing the stakes.
House Concurrent Resolution 172 anchors the confrontation: Bartlet clarifies its technical status, vows to sign despite haggled wording, defying Leo's doom; off-screen, it's formally read, proclaiming Bartlet's deceit and Congress's condemnation, thrusting private resolve into public judgment.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Lebanon emerges via map banter—Leo flags its borders as 'hot button' rationale for hiding the artifact, Bartlet quips it's irrelevant domestically—lightening confession's weight while nodding to foreign policy subtext amid domestic peril.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
United States Congress manifests through off-screen Speaker's request and Secretary's reading of Resolution 172, condemning Bartlet's MS deceit as historic first censure—counterpoint to Oval intimacy, enforcing accountability's blade on White House defiance.
American Medical Association looms in Leo's warning that censure fails to protect Abbey from its ethics pursuit over her secret MS treatments for Bartlet, underscoring unresolved professional peril amid political maneuvering.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The congressional offer of censure presented to Leo directly leads to Bartlet's ultimate decision to accept it."
"The congressional offer of censure presented to Leo directly leads to Bartlet's ultimate decision to accept it."
"Leo's initial rejection of the censure deal is consistent with his later arguments against it, showcasing his unwavering loyalty to Bartlet."
"Leo's initial rejection of the censure deal is consistent with his later arguments against it, showcasing his unwavering loyalty to Bartlet."
"Bartlet's confession of wrongdoing directly leads to the Speaker of the House reading the censure resolution."
"The portrait of Andrew Jackson symbolizes historical political battles, which is echoed in Bartlet's reference to Jackson's censure."
"Bartlet's confession of wrongdoing directly leads to the Speaker of the House reading the censure resolution."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: "I was wrong. I was. I was just...I was wrong. Come on, you know that. Lots of times we don't know what right or wrong is but lots of times we do and come on, this is one. [...] No one in government takes responsibility for anything anymore. We foster, we obfuscate, we rationalize. 'Everybody does it.' That's what we say. So we come to occupy a moral safe house where everyone's to blame so no one's guilty. I'm to blame. I was wrong.""
"LEO: "It doesn't get Abbey off the hook. She's still going to have to deal with the AMA. It doesn't clear us up for the campaign. It's just a different looking stage weight around our ankle and now it comes with the Congressional Seal. [...] Doing this to save me the embarrassment I've got coming to me is about the dumbest reason I can think...""
"LEO: "Hang on, before I forget. That map that Charlie gave you. Make sure you don't put it where people can see it." BARTLET: "I don't believe this." LEO: "Recognizing Israel's a pretty hot button, wouldn't you say?""