Annie's Press Clipping (rosary‑shaped tomato human‑interest scrap)

The clipping features a humorous article and serves as a rhetorical prop for the President.

2 appearances

Appearances in the Narrative

When this object appears and how it's used

2 moments

S1E1 · Pilot

Banter Breaks — Bartlet's Quiet Reckoning

Referred to by the President as the anecdotal prop that frames his moral point: Annie's press clipping about a rosary‑shaped tomato becomes the connective tissue between playful staff banter and the tragic Naval Intelligence figures, anchoring the rebuke in human terms.

Before: An item in the President's memory and reportedly shown to him previously by Annie; not physically presented in the current meeting.

After: Remains an invoked memory serving rhetorical purpose; its mention reframes the room's tone but the physical scrap is not exchanged or produced.

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S1E1 · Pilot

Break's Over" — Bartlet Reclaims the Oval

Bartlet recounts a press clipping Annie once brought him about a rosary-shaped tomato; the clipping functions as an anecdotal moral hinge — a small, domestic image that he contrasts with the stark Naval Intelligence refugee numbers to shame the staff into focus.

Before: Originally in Annie's possession when she showed it to the President earlier; exists as a remembered, recently referenced item in the President's anecdote.

After: Remains a referenced memory/anecdote rather than a physical prop in use; its evocative image continues to puncture the Oval's conversation but is not physically handled in this moment.

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