Original subtitles

Previously on The West Wing:

What do you think you're doing?

Excuse me?

We don't push agendas here.

I don't believe I am.

I was in a lock-down for 77 hours once.

Where was that?

Overseas.

Oh, okay, I get it. The CIA.

I could look you up.

I have code-word clearance.

Not this code you don't.

We have the ability to effect more change

in a day at the White House

than we'll have in a lifetime

once we walk out these doors.

What do you want to do with it?

( sighs )

Jorge, por favor.

Ah, canceladas.

Por ahora, no?

Y esto está conectado con este rumor?

Que mierda, Jorge.

No sé, no sé.

No quiero perder esta oportunidad.

Inventaremos algo, okay?

Gracias, Jorge.

Hasta luego.

Leo, do you know

what time it is? Good morning, Mr. President.

I'll be the judge of that.

It's a little after 5:00 a.m.

5:13, to be precise.

Well, it wasn't my favorite thing, calling you.

Yeah. I had to run the gauntlet upstairs.

That can be special.

"The world breaks everyone,

"and afterwards, many are strong at the broken places.

"But those that will not break, it kills.

"It kills the very good and the very gentle

and the very brave impartially."

"When he was good, he was very, very good,

and when he was bad, he was horr..."

Hemingway was a monster.

He hated his mother, treated four wives miserably,

trashed his friends, grew paranoid, had breakdowns,

and, like his father, killed himself.

Well, aside from all that, why are you harassing me

at 5:13 a.m.?

I've been on the phone.

There's a rumor about Castro.

There's always rumors about him.

And at some point,

they'll be true.

We've been laying groundwork and making progress--

slow, granted...

A year, but who's counting?

But if the talks we've cobbled together with Cuba blow up,

and this number reaches zero,

and we've got nothing to show for it but...

And for this, you're reading Hemingway again?

It's been ten years.

I remember.

In 30 days, you read the complete works of.

It was hot.

It was dry. I had time on my hands.

Changed my life. Well...

not Hemingway, exactly.

Sierra Tucson can do that.

Sir...

I've got an idea.

Charlie, have you seen Leo?

He's gone. Gone?

I saw him packing up

when I came in a couple of hours ago. That would be night.

Yeah, it was still dark out.

Muchas gracias.

Señor McGarry, you made it successfully.

How was your trip?

The boat ride wasn't a lot of fun.

Oh, the weather. It's been bad.

Seemed like a good idea at the time.

( speaking Spanish inaudibly )

Please, enter la finca de Señor Ernesto Hemingway.

Gracias.

C.J.: Mr. President?

7:53.

7:49.

It's 7:53, and I had 7:53.

It doesn't reflect kindly, sir, if I may say so,

to what looks nothing so much like trying to welch on a bet.

Mr. President, you requested the EPA's ozone standard report.

I know Leo had it...

We've been expecting you.

I had 7:53, and Debbie's watch stopped.

Sir? Just a small wager

about how long it would take

before someone came to inquire

about where Leo might be.

I don't understand.

Who knew he was such an Ernest Hemingway fan

that he'd drop everything

and go and visit Hemingway's house?

The one in Idaho or the one with the six- toed cats in Key West?

Good question, Charles Young.

You know, I forgot to ask.

Me da mucho gusto estar aquí,

especialmente en esta casa.

Esta muy necesitada de un buén retoque.

A lo mejor podríamos ayudar en eso.

Creo que tenemos apurarnos.

Por eso es que estoy aqui.

MAN 2: You admire Ernesto?

Very much. His writing.

The best of it.

MAN 1: Señor McGarry,

le presento al Presidente de Cuba.

How about, "Good morning? Coffee? Eggs over easy?"

Seems there's a suspicion there may be termites.

This is a revelation. In the White House.

Hold the eggs. Two companies want to do some tests.

It could be some kind of ant as well--

carpenter ant, maybe--

and there's fear it might be related

to the outbreak of the woolly adelgid.

The woolly what?

They've been attacking hemlocks in the Smoky Mountains

and across Virginia and are closing in.

You're making this up.

You gave me the briefing book.

What do you think, the Roosevelt or Mural Room?

Are these people coming here to sit and talk?

Well, they may have to munch around a bit.

Munch? Just keep them far away from me, thank you.

They do handle a very large constituency.

You mean a small constituency.

Well, size doesn't count.

Changing the subject right now.

Any word from Leo?

Still in Hemingwayville, as far as I know.

Did you know he even read Hemingway?

History, books about fishing, thrillers.

Graham Greene, Charles McCarry...

But you never saw him reading Hemingway?

Can't say I did.

SLIGER: He is 79 years old, so it could be true.

Where'd the report come from? Miami.

Miami. Well, that's reliable.

C.J., a report's come in the last hour

that Fidel Castro's seriously ill.

Has it been verified?

We have nothing firm yet.

It's from Miami.

So it could be accurate. It could be wishful thinking.

There's a lot of Chicken Little down there, or it could be

the cover for something else.

There's a history of everything from assassination attempts

and psy ops forays to invasion plans.

I thought all that had stopped.

The CIA did.

Yeah.

We're talking decades back. Wasn't long ago.

How long before you nail down the information?

Well, there's a rabid Cuban-American community

that could be involved-- old zealots,

young hotheads-- and a ton of agencies--

FBI, DEA, NSA, NIA, INS...

Which doesn't answer my question.

KATE: We may never get a straight answer.

Miami, South Florida, South Florida, Miami.

It's Chinatown.

I don't care. Pin it down.

By the way,

I haven't collected my winnings yet.

Mr. President? Excuse me, sir,

I think that would be my winnings.

Sir, there's a rumor about Castro.

Debbie, let's pull up the drawbridge

for a couple of minutes.

I'll sound the trumpets, alert the gatekeeper,

and I think get the federal government

to attach your wages.

Believe me, they already do.

Castro's always dying.

He's dying from hypochondria,

or the exiles are trying to kill him,

or the CIA's trying to kill him.

You know, he collapsed a couple years ago.

Same thing-- endless rumors.

Then he reappears in fresh fatigues,

trimmed beard, and launches into a speech

of such length and intensity,

it would've put away William Jennings Bryan.

NSA seems to think even if it is a false alarm,

it may be significant.

That's kind of what Leo said.

Why am I suddenly getting the feeling

that there's something going on with Leo

besides Ernest Hemingway?

My apologies, C.J.

Look, before you were Chief of Staff,

we began secret exploratory meetings in Canada

with representatives of the Cuban government.

Leo's gone to Canada?

Actually, no.

Cuba.

With perhaps a thermometer and a stethoscope?

And an offer. A new deal.

And what does he say?

I'm waiting to find out.

And when you find out, is it your plan to tell

the rest of us who try and help you two run this place?

One night in 1961,

shortly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco,

President John F. Kennedy sent

Pierre Salinger out on a mission:

come back with a thousand Cuban cigars by morning.

Petit Upmanns is what the President smoked,

and before 8:00 a.m. the following morning,

Salinger had managed to corral 1,200 of them.

JFK smiled, thanked him, lit one up,

then he opened his desk drawer

and pulled out a long piece of paper,

which he signed immediately.

It was a decree banning all Cuban products

from the United States, and ever since then,

we've had an embargo against that mosquito of an island

90 miles away which has never worked,

while long before, we threw out

our anachronistic policies toward Russia and China

that are thousands of miles away and far more complex.

If these meetings become public,

the reaction in the Cuban-American community

and on the right will be ferocious.

If the Cuban government makes certain accommodations

before that... The Florida primaries

are right around the corner.

This comes out, sir...

This comes out, we can bring out the shovels

and bury the Democratic candidates

in that little fiesta.

You're sure the country's ready for this?

Who knows who's going to be sitting here next?

Who knows what's going to happen after Castro?

All I know for sure is there's a moment here,

and before I'm gone and he's gone,

I am not going to let it pass.

Oh, what a beautiful morning. Oh, what a beautiful day.

You wanted to see me?

I find that highly improbable.

Been here three weeks. Bring me in, Coach.

All right, sport.

You know Senator Rafe Framhagen?

I don't like this already.

He called the President and then Leo and then me,

and guess what that means.

None of you wanted to talk to him. Which leaves me.

See, you do know the senator.

What's not to know?

Brilliant, bilious, impossible.

Fires staffers for putting paper clips backwards on briefs.

Which way on a paper clip is backwards?

And that one other thing. I've heard.

Practically day and night.

A wooden leg.

Passes out in his car, though, they say.

There you are, your assignment.

Godspeed and l'chaim.

Oh, yeah, you've got all the indications, all right.

Indications of what?

Subterranean termites.

You know these fellas outnumber us 1,000 to 1.

Pile all them up and all us up,

ten times the weight of all the folks in the world.

Probably swarmed in through a crack I saw in the foundation.

There was some damage under a window.

Swarmed? What window?

The window near that weird round room looks over the Rose Garden.

The Oval Office?

Yeah, people appeared from every which way.

Never seen such a thing.

Maybe some

evidence here.

Hey, that's a 200-year-old mural.

Oh, yeah.

How may rooms

you got here?

135.

Whew. I better get on it.

This might take a while.

If you don't find more trouble what do you plan to do?

Sentricon Termite Colony

Elimination System should do the trick.

What does that involve?

Dig some holes, install some stations,

drop in a few grams of Recruit II and wait.

( drill whirs )

Okay, hold on one second.

WOMAN ( whispering ): Mr. Senator, Cliff Calley is here.

The senator will see you now.

( sighs )

( knocks )

Yeah, come on in, son.

What are you drinking?

Diet Coke'll be fine.

( laughs )

Diet Coke.

Oh, that's a Georgia drink.

In Florida, we drink orange juice.

Fresh, shipped up every week. Vitamin C.

We can inject it with something, if you like.

( chuckling ): No.

So they sent you, did they?

I have that privilege, Senator.

I remember you.

We breed lawyers around here like minks,

except we can't wear you in the wintertime.

Well, here's Linda Lee.

Do me a favor, darling. Would you freshen mine up, too?

That is a sashaying piece of pulchritude, isn't it?

Well...

Some people say

that beauty and brains don't go together.

Well, I'm talking smart pulchritude around here.

You know why you're here, don't you?

There's the water table in the Everglades,

the-the hurricane damage on the Gulf...

They didn't tell you.

I'm sorry, sir?

Of course not.

Send ignorance to combat truth, huh?

All right.

Well, you go back over there.

You, you tell those people,

those people the senator so graciously tried to call,

who didn't bother to call the senator back,

you tell them that I've heard it, too, the rumor.

What rumor?

That Castro thing.

And somebody knowledgeable better come see me right quick.

When Leo was Chief of Staff,

I could heckle him a little.

We used to bend our elbows together

right in this room,

down home back when.

Now he's gone.

Probably only that NSA gal, huh?

Gal?

You like repeating things, son?

I seem to be getting good at it. Yeah.

Yeah, you go back a couple of years,

get her out of those power suits back into the Sunshine State,

there'd be some serious pulchritude.

She's a buttoned-up babe now.

Babe?

I'll bet she knows what's going on.

You mean Kate Harper.

Just a warning shot across the bow.

If some heroic new Cuba agenda

is being contemplated by the Bartlet administration,

it's going to backfire.

The House may have that bill that waters down the embargo,

but my Cuban-American constituents

are just gonna raise bloody hell

over that bill with Democrat candidates

and no such bill is ever gonna see the light of day

out of my commerce committee.

Now, did you get that, son?

Or do you want to repeat some of it?

( knocking, door opens )

C.J., Cliff's here.

What's next, boss? That was so much fun.

You saw the Senator?

I'm full of Vitamin C.

Nothing stronger?

I think his orange juice was spiked.

What did he want? I'm not really sure.

You're not really sure?

This repeating thing must be contagious.

I assumed it was gonna be an infamous doddery senator

who'd run out of paper clips,

but it seemed to be about Fidel Castro.

You got my attention.

A rumor about his...

Health. Whether he's alive or dead.

I gather he was wondering if the White House was behind it,

or part of it, or up to something.

What is this city? Just one big game of Telephone?

Is there anything I should know?

There's a rumor about Fidel Castro's health.

Yeah. One other odd thing.

He suggested I talk to Kate Harper.

Well, she's the Deputy National Security Advisor.

I don't think that's it. Why's that?

I can't exactly put my finger on it.

The senator just sort of indicated between refills

something other than that. More.

Margaret, get me Kate Harper.

Let me guess then.

Back to the bench for me?

This is disgraceful.

I'm actually starting to like you.

She's gone for the day.

REPORTER: Does the White House have specific knowledge

about Mr. Castro's health?

The last time the White House

had first-hand knowledge of Mr. Castro's health was 1959.

REPORTER: But we're hearing that he canceled a rally

to denounce the US on Malecon Boulevard,

and that several posters of the Cuban president

have been removed from the Capitol.

Well, that could mean he's dead

or it could mean the Communist government

took down some Castro posters and plans to replace them

with more flattering photos, as they did six years ago.

REPORTER 2: Vice President Russell said

that he "voted for the embargo in 1996

"and will continue to support it until this horrific dictatorship

is brought to its knees."

Is he speaking for the White House?

The Vice President said that at a campaign rally.

But if Castro is no longer in control,

how would the White House react?

We don't react to hypotheticals.

In a post-Castro world, would the State Department

consider declassifying Cuba a terrorist state?

Only if they reacted to hypotheticals,

which they and I both don't.

Yeah, you.

Steve.

Uh, the CIA issued a report that

Cuba has replaced, uh, East Asia

as the destination for pedophiles and sex tourists.

No, I can't issue you a visa.

Next question. ( laughter )

Hoynes's campaign

may be collapsing,

but Russell says he wouldn't rule out

military intervention to secure

a democratic transition in Cuba.

Yeah, they're, they're campaigning in Florida.

What about Santos?

With his surprising victory in California...

I, I just answered that question.

If you want to cover the campaign,

take your questions to Florida.

Steve, please.

Uh, here in Washington... Thank you!

STEVE: Senator Framhagen said,

"The worst thing an outgoing American President can do

is send mixed messages..."

( sighs )

She's a blonde now.

I wasn't going to come.

And stand up a former CIA compatriot

after all these years?

"It was a time of splendor inI'd the grass, glory in the flower,.

but we will grieve not..."

What do you want, Andy?

We're not running off the reservation ops anymore.

We've changed.

Second time I've heard that today.

No more dirty tricks. No more messing with elections.

Even for Cabrera.

Still, our, our assignment's the same, Kate.

And you came all the way up here to tell me this?

No...

I just wanted to warn you guys over there

that it's a big mistake

to be digging into the Cuban tar pit once again.

What are you talking about?

Leo McGarry.

What about him?

You can't touch down in Cuba

at his level.

Whatever the precautions, word's gonna leak out.

Everybody's on the take

or has an agenda, or is an agent,

or a wanna-be.

I don't know anything about it.

You played that beautifully.

I didn't play anything.

Whether you're lying or covering

because you can't or won't tell me,

or you're telling the truth...

the one thing we learned down there,

you can't beat history.

The Bartlet administration can't pull this off.

It's not gonna work.

The president will be hung out to dry.

HARPER: C.J., why didn't anyone tell me?

Excuse me?

I'm the Deputy NSA,

and I don't know Leo McGarry's in Cuba?

Yeah.

How did you find out?

It's 90 miles away.

It's like driving to Baltimore.

There's three and a half million Cuban-Americans...

Kate, do you know Senator Framhagen?

Florida. He is Florida.

Yeah, I knew him when I was stationed there in '95.

It was my first posting.

Why would he say to ask you about Castro's health?

I don't know, maybe because he assumed

I'd know about Leo's trip.

How close is your source? Very.

Look, C.J., we don't want to get stuck

in the muck down there again.

BARTLET: Hey, look who's back.

She caught on, Leo. I had to spill the beans.

You saw him? Talked to him? How is he?

He's alive, and I think he might finally be ready to deal,

and he certainly can talk and talk.

He agrees on the need for further private,

unpublicized discussions bilaterally.

The man's indefatigable.

No wonder he's held sway for coming on 50 years.

Still smoking cigars.

I'm not sure he's ready to fight for truth, justice,

and the American way. I am optimistic,

but we've been down this road before...

I don't want to fail again.

It's a beginning, an opening.

Just thank God he didn't ask about baseball,

what I think about it, knowing what he thinks about it.

That could've blown the whole thing right there.

He saw you pitch at the Orioles game, sir. Had some pointers.

I'm sure he did. Excuse me, sir.

My fear is there seem to be rumors and more rumors

and rumors within rumors.

When you're talking about Cuba,

everybody seems to have secrets,

and they never stay that way.

Yeah, you're right.

We don't need to paint this guy

as some kind of hero.

It's just time to deal with him, is all.

Now, let's put together a fail-safe response

on how and what to announce about Castro's health,

about Leo's trip.

Then-- if found out-- public reaction,

Congressional reaction, and the candidates,

what to do about its impact on the primaries

and the general election,

and Cuba's response, for that matter.

How soon?

How about the end of the day?

Are they here yet?

They're waiting in your office.

Can you get me something while we're meeting?

Kate Harper's file. I can't.

That would be classified Was top-secret, above my level.

So what do we have to do?

A formal letter of request, signed by you.

Write it. Then forge my signature.

You can do the President's. Well, yes,

but his is simple, just a sweeping garland formation.

Yours...

Mine is what?

Angular, aggressive.

I mean your signature.

See the baseline,

the unevenly distributed pressure,

some countermovement to the natural flow...

Which means what?

You're concealing something.

It's my signature.

What? Are you a counterfeiter, some handwriting analyst?

My great-uncle was, right after the Civil War.

He was a dashing man with a mustache and one arm...

Okay, by now we could've written it, and I could've signed it.

Just go do it.

How's it going?

Give me a progress report. Cliff?

I think there's an opportunity to use

the rumors of Castro's health as deflection.

Keep 'em coming.

It's been a kind of Marx Brothers comedy anyway--

his illnesses and the 29 doctors who surround him

and claim he's gonna live forever.

Yeah, I'm not sure how long that's gonna fly.

Uh, then there is support

in the House to curb the embargo from both blue and red states.

Midwestern Republicans ready to jettison the trade part.

Cuba's an economic disaster area.

CALLEY: It desperately needs American grain, meat...

You believe this guy Cabrera?

Introducing the Vice President

Congressman, seventh, eighth term.

Once ran an ad

standing by a picture of himself with the caption:

"Convicted Felon."

Thanks for the lesson in local color.

Keeps winning every two years.

Keeps winning saying the same thing, same words.

Cuba Libre. Cuba Libre.

Then he gets here, doesn't do or say a damn thing.

Toby, did you call Josh and Donna?

I want to take the temperature in the campaigns.

Somebody should make the son of a bitch obsolete.

To those farmers who were cheated...

Has he been here?

Who? The exterminator.

There was a man yesterday.

The Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System?

As a matter of fact, yes.

We don't want to quarrel with another company's product.

That's not why we're here.

We can talk about the specifics of individual species like RIFA.

R.I.F.A.?

The red imported fire ant.

And we're members of IFAHI to thwart the spread of RIFA.

And we've got charts to show you

of the spread of the chinch bug,

the black- legged tick,

the viral-spreading mosquito,

and this very year's infestation

by the Mormon cricket. Here.

We are entomologists,

and while some control is necessary, these others...

ORBITZ: The exterminator.

...have lost sight of how insects help preserve

the diversity of life,

and are essential to the ecological web.

Insects can spread disease,

but they are also crucial

to studying how diseases are spread.

But now, the newest discovery, and perhaps most important,

is they can play a crucial part

in learning about our own history.

Like this great White House.

Think Abigail Adams and the War of 1812.

The burning of this building.

Now, I'll wager we go into these walls,

and we will uncover all kinds of information

and revelations as yet unknown.

And now helping solving crimes.

Forensic entomology, my special field,

is invaluable in measuring exposure of the victim--

whether homo sapiens, felis cattus, uh, canis, uh, familiaris--

to determine the time of death, or even the method of murder.

You've got to make a decision.

Do you simply want

to wipe out the infestation,

or use these little pioneers

to journey into our past and unveil its secrets

for the first time?

You got it?

They checked my clothes,

patted me down, searched my shoes.

My best shoes.

Practically X-rayed me.

But they didn't do any personality profile?

That didn't even occur to me.

Yeah, what were they thinking?

Here it is.

Kate Harper.

Close the door? Yes.

( knocking )

C.J.

Charlie, tell me you have good news.

I'm not sure.

Entertain me.

Enlighten me.

Raise me up to the rooftops, please.

I think this has more to do with the lower depths.

Oh, no, it's coming back to me now. Bugs.

Rhinotermitidae.

Is that the guy in the suit I saw with the gizmo yesterday?

It could be.

And he found... Rhinotermitidae.

We're not tenting the White House.

No, drilling walls, unearthing foundations.

There is this other group who are suggesting

that we observe them before killing them.

The ones in the Mural Room with the animatronic...?

Insectilatronic, apparently.

They say we can find out

remarkable things from the termites--

about lumber conditions,

about when the White House was built, burned, rebuilt.

What presidents smoked,

ate, smelled like.

This, Charlie, is not a tough choice.

For once, our policy can be clean and simple.

Just-- excuse me-- kill the damn bugs.

DONNA: Who is this?

Toby. I wanted to ask you about this Castro thing.

I'm sorry, I can't hear you.

Donna, it's Toby! It's Toby Ziegler!

It's so crazy in here. Wait a minute.

( dial tone ) Hello?

Toby?

( speed dial beeping )

( phone ringing )

JOSH: Toby?

TOBY: We're not talking to each other.

Then what's making my phone ring?

I don't know. The thing's got a mind of its own.

Uh, what's with Castro?

What's going on with that?

That's what I wanted to ask you.

I-I can't hear you.

It's crazy down here.

It's Guatemala.

( dial tone ) Hello?

I lost you.

How are you?

What's going on down there, Donna?

You wouldn't believe it.

This state-- it's unreal. It's like...

Guatemala?

Hey, that's good, you a speech writer?

What's the impact of this Castro thing?

It's unbelievable.

Castro's become Che.

Is he alive or dead?

He's wallpapering the primary.

Wait, what? Uh, Donna, hold on one second.

( dial tone ) Toby, I've got...

Josh?

Josh!

C.J., I should apologize

for you not knowing about the trip to Cuba.

Yes, you should.

I thought it was worth the risk.

I still do.

Well, while you were gone,

we all got calls from Rafe Framhagen.

I sent Cliff over, who said the senator

may have been three sheets.

Yeah.

And he had these questions about Kate Harper and Cuba,

as if she knew something.

If you're concerned, why don't you pull her file?

I did.

And this has been the long way round to what?

A lot of blackout.

Aren't you getting sidetracked here?

Kate Harper, Navy,

father Navy, formerly CIA, wasn't it?

Africa, blackout, Kosovo, blackout,

Iran, blackout.

She got around.

You're in it.

That's impossible.

Turn the page.

1995. Florida.

But why is it in her file?

The CIA must have been monitoring us.

The rest is blacked out.

What is it? We had a gathering

of the Bay of Pigs veterans from both sides

for the first time.

And it was remarkable.

These aging warriors-- enemies, fellow countrymen--

and I had high hopes.

We were pulling together,

strand by strand, a dialogue with the Cuban-Americans

and Cubans.

Never heard any of this.

There was also an election recount underway.

Congressman Cabrera.

Yeah. I know the one.

I was Secretary of Labor.

And Rafe Framhagen showed up, and we started drinking...

and I made a fool of myself.

Talk about three sheets to the wind.

And when I got back, it was over.

It had all fallen apart.

I should have never left.

So, I vowed then if there ever was a chance,

I'd put it back together.

If we had a cigarette, a lighter and the password,

we could be back ten years.

Except it's so loud in here now, I'd never hear the password.

Don't you miss it-- when you were undercover?

I miss the excitement,

dressing up and down, disappearing into character.

And now look at you--

wearing suits and sitting in meetings

with amazing people.

You've changed.

I saw your ex-husband not long ago.

He's still down there.

Why did you call me again?

I wanted to apologize.

For what?

I knew back then what was going on,

what it was doing to you.

I should have protected you better.

Woulda, shoulda. But it's...

There was more to it than that.

It's too late now, Andy.

It was too late then.

I know, I know.

Part of my 12 steps to make a fool of myself...

especially to those people who maybe I made fools of.

Thank you.

They have all of it down there now, Kate.

Leo McGarry's trip.

The deal he's trying to make with Fidel.

They're going to break the story.

You're sure?

Yeah.

Don't get caught in this again

when it goes to hell.

Cuba. It scums everybody it touches.

( sighing )

It's freezing out, and I'm walking back here

thinking this is a building I never thought I'd be in.

Maybe it's a place you never quite get used to.

One time, my father was gone

with the Pacific Fleet,

and my mother and I were left at the Key West Naval Base.

There was no housing, so for a while,

we lived in this boiling trailer with no air conditioning.

The wind shook it at night and rocked me to sleep.

It's a long way from here.

Kate, what's going on?

Tomorrow morning, Cuban-American factions

are going to go public with Leo's visit to Cuba.

C.J.: Mr. President,

it is clear now

that the news of Leo's trip is going to break.

KATE: We don't know what it'll be--

audio, eyewitness testimony, photographs--

but we know it's coming.

CNN will get it; then the networks.

A delightful prognosis.

C.J.: We can try

and spin it: it was Cuban representatives

who initiated the conversations.

We said we'd listen,

agreed to nothing, accepted nothing.

No, I hate that.

TOBY: We haveThe South Carolina at thand Florida primaries

are less than two weeks away.

And there'll be no mercy in the Cuban-American community.

We'll be drawn and quartered.

TOBY: It won't go away by the general election.

CLIFF: Russell will find a way...

Yeah, I can hear his soundbites already.

TOBY: Santos is a mystery.

I have no idea what he's going to do.

Bet he probably doesn't know, either.

And the Republican candidates-- Walken and Vinick?

I think Vinick probably agrees with what you're trying to do,

but publicly, he will step back

and let Framhagen and Walken put on their war paint

and gather around Little Big Horn.

Wasn't exactly the image I was hoping for.

So, Republicans and Democrats alike

will distance themselves from this

act of madness of the Bartlet Administration.

I think it's time we look beyond regrets and elections, sir.

It's here, isn't it?

Another cliff-- yes, sir.

Toby?

Jump.

C.J.

Get me some air time.

I'm going to have a few words with the nation.

Debbie? When?

As soon as possible; we're not going to wait.

I think it's only fair

to let the candidates know what's coming.

PRESIDENT: I agree.

Sir, the Vice President is still waiting.

PRESIDENT: Get Senator Vinick on the phone first,

and then Congressman Santos.

Then I'll see the Vice President.

( door closes )

( knocking )

Leo,

thanks for coming all the way over here.

Been a long time.

You care to join me?

( laughs )

No, I'm only fooling.

I know you don't any longer.

Kind of wish more people around here did.

Uh...

What's Hemingway's word?

Utilize?

How'd you find out?

The boat captain, the deckhand,

limo driver, gas attendant.

Does it matter?

It seems to me, we got a lot more done

around here when we were utilizing.

Got along better, too.

Left and right, elephant and mule.

'Course, these days, that's one place

where my point of view is in the minority.

Not the only place, Senator.

Demographics are changing in your state.

You were Scotch as I recall.

The good stuff, huh?

Just-Just the way it poured?

Younger Cuban-Americans don't care.

Ah.

The Cuba Effect on Florida's going the way

of too much utilizing.

Mm.

So, for the younger Cuban-Americans,

your solution is to have an old man with MS

send another old man who's had a heart attack

to check on the health of a third old man,

a man who could be, should be,

and God willing, soon will be dead.

It's too late

for the Bartlet administration to go

legacy-shopping in Cuba, you know.

If I had come to you first,

what would you have said?

No.

We had to change the calculus, or you'd bury us.

I am gonna bury you, Leo.

After 45 years,

it's time to admit the embargo isn't a reason for

or a solution to Cuba's tragic reality.

The reason for Cuba's tragic reality is Fidel Castro,

a vicious dictator

who refuses to allow free press, free elections,

who jails even the slightest opposition.

You want to legitimize his government.

The Good Ship Legitimacy sailed decades ago.

He's there, has been for a very long time.

The State Department lists Cuba as a terrorist state.

The State Department, Leo.

The FBI just busted a Cuban espionage operation,

arrested ten spies.

Yeah. When we've tried reforming a Communist regime

through embargo and severing relations,

we've always failed.

When we sought change through engagement and trade,

we've succeeded.

Well, what about the law, Leo?

Congress has codified the embargo.

US Sanctions cannot be lifted against Cuba

until all political prisoners have been freed,

until political parties

and labor unions have been legalized

and free elections have been scheduled.

Now, no American president

can just overturn the will of the people.

It's not the will of the people.

It's a few loud and shrinking number

of Cuban-Americans,

who came here stripped of everything,

who floated over here

in some little leaky boats,

their kids in one hand and their dreams in another.

And how many of whom did we turn away?

May God forgive us.

No one... No one's disputing that.

And who have become monumentally successful.

And too many of whom have become Republicans, right, Leo?

Yeah,

but who we've also pandered to for far too long.

I'm bringing you a possible breakthrough.

Oh, there's no such thing.

We're starting with an executive order

to provide food and dollars through the United Nations...

( chuckles ): Oh, God.

The Department of Treasury liberalizing business travel

to Cuba, working to involve Cuba in curbing narco trafficking

and terrorism rather than treat them

as part of the problem.

And there's the toothless, gutless foreign policy

we've all come to expect from the Bartlet Administration.

Just give away the store, probably billions of dollars

without getting a single concession in return, right?

Extradition treaty.

He's gonna

resign the extradition treaty?

We're talking.

You're talking?

Sure, he'll romance you.

He'll waltz you around through the summer

until he gets what he needs...

Maybe he's legacy-shopping, too.

Which is cash.

He needs cash.

That's why he's talking to you in the first place.

We finally got the bastard where we want him,

on the verge of economic collapse...

That's what we said in 1963.

He'll take your money, Leo-- our money-- and he'll renege.

The rest of the world's already there.

If we don't get our foot in the door,

US business interests

and your poor, maligned Cuban-Americans

will be left out in the cold.

Oh, that is really good.

The Bartlet Administration is gonna save Castro

for the sake of American business?

That's rich.

So you're gonna go to war

so a few geriatrics can get their cabanas back?

That's the trouble with our policy.

Your rigor mortis stance--

it's holding hostage the Cuban-American community

you say you so love,

and by proxy, has held hostage the whole country.

The world, time has passed them by.

Castro won. Rafe,

it's time.

It's long past time.

Whatever dumb thing you do

to prop up Castro will be reversed next year.

Because if you do it,

you lose Florida in the election,

and the presidency with it.

Your bottom line is

you care more about American politics

than alleviating the plight of the Cuban people,

just like in 1995.

Which year was that?

The one where Cabrera won the election recount,

and it turned out his sister-in-law,

who worked for you, was the chief monitor.

Cabrera did win that election.

He was a convicted felon,

and you knew at the same time we were meeting,

talking with Castro's people.

I came down there.

I remember we had a drink...

We could have had a deal,

ended all this insanity a decade ago.

It was you

who took me aside, invited me for a drink.

Now you're gonna climb up on your high horse, huh?

That's what I got to live with.

We were close once, back then.

No.

Senator, we just drank back then.

We were never close.

Hey.

I was looking for you.

The President goes on air any minute.

Thought I'd watch it down here.

Alone?

Yeah.

Cuba, Florida.

You know a lot about them.

You were there in the '90s?

1995 maybe.

Yeah.

( inhales ): Yeah.

I was there only a few days, and...

I can't remember much at all.

Led me to lock myself

away for 30 days, dry out.

But I believed then, and I believe now,

this fight is worth it.

There's gonna be hell to pay tomorrow.

If I'd only

gotten it done ten years ago,

Jed Bartlet could be spared it. I wish...

CIA would have never let the embargo go away then.

They're against ending it now.

What about you?

I was in favor of it then.

And now?

I don't know.

It's not about me.

It's about the President and what you want for him.

And this is something.

Yeah.

Did we meet back then?

Do you remember me?

No.

Do you remember me?

( grunts )

Where are you going?

That car, I think that...

KATE: Not this door.

Okay, okay.

Why don't I drive?

No. Yeah.

I think I'll drive.

( mutters )

Here you go.

Okay, okay, okay.

That's good.

Where are you going?

Why not drive off into the sunset?

( engine starting )

I think we missed it.

Something happened to your eye.

Oh, you should see the other guy.

Where are you staying?

Are you at a hotel?

On Calle Ocho.

Got a suitcase, pack it.

Airport. If I can find it.

I'm gonna remember this.

No, you won't.

Yes, I will.

No.

But I will.

Gonna put my head down.

Just for a moment.

Thank you.

BARTLET ( on TV ): My fellow Americans,

in 1961, President John F. Kennedy bought some cigars.

They happened to be from a country called Cuba,

and since that day, nearly 45 years ago,

no American has been able to do it again,

and it's time for that to change.

This is not about cigars, of course,

but about our relationship with a country

that is only 90 miles away.

Change is not going to come easy.

It's not going to be a change

without passionate discussion and disagreement,

but a change there can and will and must be.

The Cuban people

and the Cuban-American people have suffered too long

under intolerable circumstances on both shores.

My dream is that every one

of the hundreds of thousands of Cubans

who draw lottery cards every year

to win one of the 20,000 slots

allowing them to come to America will have the chance

to find that same freedom

in their own country.