All language subtitles for The West Wing (1999) - S05E19 - Talking Points (1080p AMZN WEB-DL x265 ImE)_track3_[eng]

Previously on The West Wing:

And how good is Haffley?

He's better than anyone
we've seen

on the other side
of the table in a long time.

We don't go out there until
we agree on a game plan!

JOSH:
How about the voters?

How are we gonna create jobs?

And we can do better,

and we must do better

and we will do better.

How we gonna fix health care?

To ensure that the promise
of this country

is the birthright
of all the people.

How can we make
the lights go on?

How are we gonna
protect ourselves?

When we were elected,

I really thought
we were gonna own the place.

Hey! Congratulations.

Thank you.

So Leo's turned you into
a big-time trade negotiator.

No different than baby-sitting
or negotiating with Congress.

You sit there and let 'em
wear themselves out.

They're up to 200
tractors now.

Yeah, I know.

200 tractors, that
doesn't worry you.

Not being a bale of hay.

You're flying to Brussels
in nine hours,

the place is surrounded
by tractors,

every pair of overalls
in Europe

has come out to protest
your trade agreement.

I'll bring you back
a straw hat.

For the joint press conference
after the signing.

That's not the message.

"Protecting
intellectual property

through international
copyright enforcement."

Okay, I know what
you're talking about,

and I have no idea
what you're talking about.

LARRY:
Isn't that what we...?

Free trade creates jobs!

it creates better,
higher-paying jobs.

We still have to pass
this through Congress.

Let's not outsmart
ourselves--

as if that were, you know,
possible.

They're up to 200
tractors-- it's on TV.

I know.

Bill Parsons called.

What are European
farmers so upset about?

That they can't cling
to a dying way of life,

that free trade means that
some of them may have to
wear neckties,

that they can't beat Pentium
chips back into plowshares.

Take your pick.

USTR says India's signing on.

You're kidding.

I barely know what that means,
how could I be kidding.

India has all kinds of
problems with this trade
deal, why would they...?

USTR says India's in.

Ask Ed and Larry to poke
around the India thing.

I brought my luggage too,
you know.

Yeah, I'm still
working on that.

PRESIDENT:
That's wonderful,
Mr. Prime Minister,

I look forward to seeing you
in Brussels.

You did a great job
wrapping this up,

I've sent a little something
over to your office.

LEO:
You should've seen him.

Like a bull terrier
crossed with a rottweiler

crossed with a Fuller
Brush salesman.

Months of work
by a lot of people, sir.

I just tossed in
some free combs.

Start working on
Congressional passage.

I'm meeting
with the Speaker today.

He could argue we gave
too much to labor in
these side agreements.

We'll need Republican votes,

but there's plenty in here
Democrats'll like.

Sell it right,
and we'll squeak through.

CHARLIE:
Reporters are
waiting, sir.

Mr. President, you're doing
five advance interviews

on the Brussels Round:
three domestic print,

plus CNN-FN, plus the
International Herald-Tribune.

Foreign press
doesn't count.

We haven't globalized
pandering yet?

Our audience is Congress,
not the Finnish Parliament.

What do you say to the
opponents of free trade,

people who say
it exports jobs.

That "giant sucking sound."

Any half-decent economist'll
tell you to wear earplugs.

JOSH:
Sir...

Then file immediately
for unemployment.

Sir, have you read
the talking points?

I'm an economist,
some would say half-decent.

I don't need a primer on this.

Due respect, sir, your
answers on economic
issues can be a bit...

Polysyllabic?

Academic.

I was gonna go with
incomprehensible.

Hey, listen:
Any economic advancement

involves what Schumpeter

called "creative
destruction."

Bad answer.
Not a good answer.

Why?
'Cause that word

"destruction" will

really mollify
our critics.

Free trade creates jobs.

Selling our products
to the world...
...creates better

higher-paying jobs.

It's gotta be that simple,
or we lose the argument.

Anybody have any crayons,
so I can color in my Ph.D.?

Josh makes a point.

We're losing old
economy jobs in steel

and textiles,
all across manufacturing...

In economics.

Clearly, economics...

That's why we
fought so hard

in this deal for
copyright enforcement:

to protect the fruits
of the new economy.

Technology, inventions,
ideas-- the stuff

where America
can't be beat,

where they can't do it in
Malaysia for a dollar a day.

Okay.

What about
these tractor protests

in the streets of Brussels?

PRESIDENT:
Global economic forces

are unstoppable,
just like technology itself.

Should we have banned ATMs
to protect bank tellers?

Or digital watches,
to prop up the folks who
fix grandfather clocks?

JOSH, C.J. and LEO:
Free trade creates better,

higher-paying jobs.

JOSH:
It's gotta be that simple.

The President bashing the
clock industry in here.

India.
What?

The Communications union

was close to a new contract
for 17,000 programmers.

Jace Computer Networks
broke off the talks.

JCN.

ED:
The union thinks
JCN's moving

17,000 computer
programming jobs

to India, and that's
why India signed on.

17,000 jobs because of
the deal I just negotiated.

That's what
they think.

Okay.
Who else knows about this?

LARRY:
No one.

Don't...

Leo.

We may have
a situation.

Congress?

Where were we?

Creating better,
higher-paying jobs.

17,000 programming jobs.

That's what
they're saying.

Because of the deal
we just negotiated.

We don't know that
for sure yet.

Those are new economy jobs.

Yeah.

Not like putting beads
on an abacus.

Which I'm gonna say is
a lot harder than it sounds.

This could kill
the deal on the Hill.

In this economic climate,

I gotta think both parties
are gonna run pretty fast.

"Send your job
to Southeast Asia--"

not the best slogan
for globalization.

There's
another problem.

The programmers are represented

by the Communications Workers
of America.

The CWA.

Yeah.

I already got a message from
Parsons-- If this is real...

You've been working
with JCN on these talks.

All the tech companies,

I can't believe they'd
sandbag me like this.

Talk to JCN.

You did a great job on this.

I was serious
about the rottweiler thing.

Thanks.

How are the President's
interviews going?

Oh, let's see.

He used the phrase "market
inelasticity" three times,

"direct entitlement
failure" two times.

I was waiting for him to start
waving a piece of chalk,

maybe a piece of the
Gross National Product.

Professor-in-Chief.

More like
Professor Incoherent.

What're we hearing
from the press?

How come they're staying at
a two-star hotel in Brussels,

where are the Speaker
and the Majority Leader

on this trade deal,

plus Counsel sent some
press guidance

on their new FCC ruling.

The FCC reached
a compromise with Congress

on media consolidation--
happened about an hour ago.

Media consolidation?

You know,
that plan to let corporations

buy up more and more
local TV stations.

So they backed off.

Yeah, 'cause who wants
the same bunch of big-shots

controlling the media.

Those are talking points
on the VP's energy speech,

so you can help me...
control the media.

What's the compromise?

Instead of letting
one company

own stations reaching 45%

of all the viewers,
the FCC's agreed

they can only reach
39.37%.

39.37%?

This stuff
can be very scientific.

I'm going to need a slide rule
in my briefing-- 39.37%?

On the energy speech, if you
get questions, you'll help me...

Control the media.
Thanks.

Today's my last day
at the White House.

Thank you.

I was hoping you'd give a toast
at my going-away party.

How about a plaque, for best
impersonation of a blue blazer.

So you're coming
to the party.

I'm having my
own celebration,

with five cloves of garlic
and the cast of The Exorcist.

The Speaker's coming in at 3:15,

Parsons called again twice,

plus the President
sent you a gift.

Make sure Ed and Larry
are calling Democrats.

I want some votes in my pocket
when I meet with the Speaker.

He's gonna hate
these labor side agreements.

My charts...

The JCN lobbyist
is coming in.

I need those charts on
everything we gave tech

versus light industry
in this trade round.

If you're all out of joint

'cause we favored tech
over light industry...

You're leaving in eight hours.

Any progress getting me
on the trip?

You don't want
to go to Brussels.

Which is why
I asked 15 times.

It's Presidential
hand-holding.

It's a motorcade
to a hotel room

to a battle of the balding
Belgian finance ministers.

It's Pittsburgh with an accent.

Which I'd known if you'd
taken me on the Pittsburgh trip.

This isn't taxpayer-
funded tourism.

We got jobs to do.

And I'm trying to grow in mine.

I've been helping
on these trade talks for months.

How are you going to manage
by yourself?

I'll grab someone
off advance staff.
I'll be fine.

The charts.

Grab someone
off the advance staff,

maybe they can find them
for you.

I didn't mean to...
I'm busy, okay?

Maybe if you shackled
me to my desk, it'd
speed up my typing.

This isn't
a workers' collective.

Don't get all
Woody Guthrie on me.

I got a situation here.

You're the oppressor.

That's Latin for "boss."

I'm not talking to you.

Fine.

Katherine Harper,
this is Debbie Fiderer,

the President's
personal secretary.

Kate's our new NSC Deputy.

I'm bringing her in
to see the President.

Very nice to meet you.

The President's been running
quite a bit late today.

That's okay, ma'am.

Please call me Debbie.

Thank you, ma'am.

Top of her class
at Annapolis.

Once an ensign,
always an ensign.

Uh, your locator box.

Why, yes, this is so we know

where the First Family are
at all times.

Forgive me for... do you think
you should have it facing out?

Excuse me?

Secret Service
locator boxes

are code-word clearance
or higher.

Guests in this wing
of the building just
need an absence

of felony charges.

Some Congressmen
don't even meet that standard.

NANCY:
We've been looking
for a reason

to keep out
the Congressmen.

Just trying to be helpful,
ma'am-- Debbie.

On second thought,
feel free to call me ma'am.

NANCY:
You'll let us know
when the President's free.

Yes.

So nice to meet you.

Mm-hmm.

All packed and ready
for Brussels?

Let's talk about India.

Bit out of the way
for a layover.

The CWA says you're shipping

17,000 computer
programming jobs there.

That's proprietary information.

Then why's India
signing this trade deal?

India, which hated the
agricultural provisions,

hated the light industrial
provisions...

There's a chance JCN'll be
moving some programmers there.

You can't do this.

After everything
I negotiated for you?

You toughened copyright
enforcement,

now it's safer for us

to move sensitive programming
work overseas.

Over time, fine,
but not overnight.

We worked together for months,
without one word about this.

It's an internal
business decision.

Yet, somehow,
the nation of India,

population one billion
and rising,

slipped into
a JCN board meeting?

We lobbied through
our trade association.

That's how these things work.

No-- when I help you
on a trade deal,

you don't lobby behind my back.

That's how these things work.

It's economics.

It's politics, and you know it!

Now I got a union problem!

When they go nuts, I got
a Congressional problem!

We'll help you lobby;
we're good at that.

It's not gonna pass!

17,000 flesh-and-blood families,

spread over who-knows-how-many
Congressional districts.

It's more like 3.3 million jobs,
over the next ten years.

Industry-wide, of course.

You're... You're...
handing out pink slips

when we're popping champagne
corks and Brussels sprouts.

We can hold the announcement,

but American programmers
make 40 bucks an hour,

in India, it's 10.

How much would you save
if you move your CEO to India?

This is how free trade works.

You can't be surprised jobs
are moving overseas.

These jobs, yes;
$80,000-a-year jobs, yes.

The jobs this deal
is supposed to create

on the day we're leaving
to sign it...?

If automakers
innovated the way we do,

today's cars'd get 100,000 miles
per gallon and cost 50 cents.

Yeah, but they'd only be
this big.

( wry laugh )

I need you to spread the layoffs
over a couple years.

Can't do it.
Retrain 'em,

shove 'em in a back office.

We're a business,
not a halfway house.

Is that what you told
the head of your union?

No.

But feel free
to tell him yourself.

I'm sure he's on his way
over here right now.

...for many European farmers
who say globalization

is destroying a way of life
on their continent,

that global corporations
will now reap the gains they...

Can you and Josh spend
some time with Reuters on
the flight to Brussels?

They helped us on
that steel story.

You think something's funny

about these new
media ownership limits?

Who's-on-first funny?

Something's-rotten-in-
the-state-of-Denmark-funny.

Let's you and me never
do a stand-up act.

Or a local TV broadcast,
if I'm reading this correctly.

Our press guidance
says it's a victory.

They were gonna let
conglomerates like MertMedia,

Viacom get into 45%
of all homes.

Now it's 39.37%,

a number that ought to
come with a decoder ring

and a jar of Ovaltine.

What do you want?

There was a public outcry,

they settled
for a lower number.

A number
no one can explain.

The FCC's totally independent.

These media companies
are your constituents.

No, the public
are my constituents,

and when big business

can soak up more and more
local media...

Ben needs to stop by before
you leave for Brussels.

No. Tell him it's a bad day.
He can't.

Tell him I'll call him
from the plane.

You're going to Belgium.

He wants to make sure
you don't sample the endive.

I can't become one of
those women who sits around,

eyes a-fluttering,
waiting for her man.

"Eyes a-fluttering"?

You know, parasols
a-twirling.
Ah.

Tell him I'll call him
from the plane.

How come no one
can explain this number?

Well, you're talking about
deregulation.

You want to crack that code?

Follow the money.

I'll take care
of your Reuters thing.

C.J.:
Carol...

pull the FCC's
media ownership records

from last year, will you?

Yes. And you could say Christmas
came a bit early this year.

I'm not normally
in the business

of doing your
investigative reporting.

As opposed to blocking it.

Christmas, and you can
throw in Arbor Day.

Is this about the Brussels trip?

This is about the Federal
Communications Commission.

They just ruled

that media conglomerates
can buy stations

reaching up to 39.37%
of all TV viewers.

We wrote about this
when they tried
to make it 45%.

GEORGE:
Why do you think
they're rolling it back?

And why, you might ask,
to 39.37%?

I have here the FCC
media ownership records.

Turns out last year,
MertMedia

illegally purchased
nine local TV stations,

which brings them up
to the magic number of--

drum-roll please--
39.37%.

And Viacom's at 38.8%
and News Corp's at 37.8.

In other words,
the FCC is bailing out--

as in, posting bail--

for huge companies
that were illegally gobbling up

TV stations like greasy
hors d'oeuvres.

Would you like me
to draw you a diagram?

Can I ask about
the Brussels trip?

No you can't ask about
the Brussels trip,

this is a big story.

My business desk
is handling this.

Then bang on your editors.

This isn't some technical
business story.

This is about diversity
on the airwaves--

the market place of
ideas, ensuring a
healthy exchange of...

( sighs )

You don't want to write this

'cause it's about
your corporate owners.

There are a million places
to get news.

We compete for every story.

Like you're competing
for this one?

Let me walk you through the
numbers; talk to your editors.

Trust me, this is a story.

The tractor protests
are accelerating.

From four miles an hour to five?

They're up
to 230 tractors.

Why do I get the feeling
soil's going untilled?

Advance is worried.

They're jamming up
the Place de Brouckere.

Just keep the tractors
away from the President.

It's two centuries off
our message.

How are we doing
on Democratic votes?

It's tough with
this economy.

They're terrified of losing jobs
in their districts.

Well, keep making calls,
tell them--

talk about the labor side
agreements.

LEO:
The President's
concerned Andy Wyatt

and these Congressmen'll
negotiate on their own.

Are you sure
you want me on

a Congressional Delegation
to the Middle East?

It'll only lend it
legitimacy.

The President
wants you to go.

Someone's got
to block them

from trying to move
the Israeli border

and rename the synagogues

after prominent
North Dakotans.

Just meet with
him on this.

Of course I'll meet
with my President.

We'll get you in
this afternoon.

You know I almost
don't recognize you

without the hardware
store on your chest.

Only way I could shed
those extra pounds.

Josh.
Admiral.

How'd it go with JCN?

Great, if you
write computer code

and live in
suburban Bombay.

They're serious about
the 17,000 jobs?

They say it's going to be
3.3 million over ten years--

the tech lobby
screwed me on this.

They were pressing
India the whole time.

Parsons and his guys from
the CWA are coming here now.

If I let you
down on this,

if I missed some...

I sent you in there to close
a deal, no one does it better.

We need a strategy.

For Capitol Hill.

If it becomes a story, yeah,

I'm worried Republicans won't
like this deal as it is,

but that's not our
biggest problem.

We don't run
the computer industry.

No. Look. We have to give
something to Parsons,

to the union,
to balance this out.

Give them what?

The government
only buys software

made in America.

First, foreign countries
would retaliate against us.

Second, we buy only
the lowest-cost goods

or we burn taxpayers' money.

So we help a few
taxpayers earn money.

Congress would laugh us
out of the room,

and it'd cost
15, 20 billion a year.

I'm talking short-term,

till the benefits of
the trade deal kick in.

Where's your suit made?

I get this in Georgetown.

Where's it made?

Mexico.

I think those
"Made in the USA"

labels are sewn in Mexico now.

You want to ask Congress
and the OMB to do

what no self-respecting
clothes horse would do.

Let's see if this
becomes a thing
on the Hill.

I'm talking about the union.

The President's right, or
Schumpeter, or whoever--

sometimes you destroy
to create.

Your 11:00 is here,
Mr. President.

It's quarter past 12:00.

Would you please stop
calling it my 11:00?

Very well, sir.

Your 11:05
is still waiting outside.

Thank you.

Anyone has a stopwatch,
we can boil some eggs.

Sir, this is Kate Harper,

your new Deputy National
Security Adviser.

Yes, yes, I have your C.V.--
very impressive.

You're fluent in Arabic.

( speaking Arabic )

Thank you. I always forget
the punchline myself.

My own
11:00 is waiting,

so I'll give you two
a chance to get acquainted.

Thank you, Nancy.

Four years in
Naval Intelligence.

You served at our embassy
in Ulan Bator.

Yes, Mr. President.

Ah...

Yeah...

So we're off to Brussels.

Nancy may have told you

about this French
bilateral I'm dreading.

They're holding two
documented terrorists,

won't extradite them 'cause they
don't like our sentencing laws.

We can't even interrogate
bloodless murderers

if we don't put the right crease
in their linen napkins.

That's one way
of looking at it, sir.

You've got another way.

That's not really my job,
Mr. President.

I'm asking you.

There's a French side
and an American side.

I want your argument.

Officially,
I don't have an argument.

Yet we're having one right now.

Well, sir...

I guess what I would say is

that France has a body of law
and a constitution

and it's wrong
to trample on either,

let alone
the extradition process.

They see it as imperialism

and you do it at the risk

of shredding an
already-fragile relationship.

Officially, however...
PRESIDENT:
Debbie...

would you bring in my
11:03-- whatever the
hell it is?

Mr. President,
I don't mean to...

Thanks for answering.

It was nice meeting you,
uh...?

Ma'am. I mean, Kate.

PRESIDENT:
By the way,
welcome to the White House.

( knocks )

No.

Okay, second question.
What?

Trade.
These Belgian farmers

think it's going to cost
them jobs.

It probably will, 'cause it
lets in cheaper produce.

But Belgium's for it anyway?

It might be bad
for their farmers,

but it's good for their economy.

Then who's their economy for?

Would you please
tell Josh...

Harpo speaks.

Would you please tell Josh
that Bill Parsons with the CWA

will be here any minute,

and his 3:30 with Congressman
McKenna's been moved to 3:00.

Your 3:30...

McKenna's lucky
if I only keep him waiting

a half hour out of spite.

He says Congressman McKenna...

Tell him the Social Office

wants to remind him about
your going-away party.

The Social Secretary'd
be mighty...
!
Tell Ms. Mozzarella

a pack of wild bison on stilts

couldn't drag me
to your party.

He says that, actually, he'd be
quite tickled-- stilts?

Tell him McKenna's got
an issue with his
beloved trade deal.

Tell her McKenna
can take a check,

and I can handle
a ninth-string Congressman.

Tell him there's
something he ought to
know about that meeting,

and I've got half
a mind to...

Tell Donna wherever Skippy
the translator's going,

she ought to go, too.

He says, give that dashing young
Ryan a great big...

Harpo can hear, bright boy.

Now can we talk about
the Brussels trip?

No, we can't.

Carol tells me you're
not even pitching
the FCC story.

It's a business story.

Just 'cause I don't agree
with your take on it...

I... I don't have a "take."
The FCC looked

at how many stations
were already owned

by the six or seven
biggest companies

and used that as the number,

so nobody'd
have to sell anything.

Media monopolies
are history.

The Internet's exploding,

TV's every guy with
a camcorder and
a digital uplink.

Yet one company
can now own stations

in 199 of the nation's
210 media markets--

one company can influence
the elections of 98 Senators,

382 House members...

It's a free country.

Till Comcast and Clear Channel

puts a big bullhorn
in every town square it is.

A free country.

I am not a media critic.

No one in the media is,
that's the problem.

You're just trying to
knock me off this story

about job losses.

That isn't a story,
it's an allegation.

Those are
white-collar jobs;

the new-economy jobs
the President brags
about creating.

People need to know this
FCC thing isn't a victory--

it's less, but by the exact
amount the companies wanted.

Now you're getting into
glass-empty, glass-full
territory.

I'm trying to talk about
who pours the water.

Then let's talk about it,

'cause when seats come open
in your briefing room,

I don't see you giving them
to the Pennsauken Post,

or Radio Free Botswana,

or some guy with
a digital uplink.

We're not the ones
buying up all the media.

But you're the ones
giving them access.

How many seats does
MertMedia alone have
in there? Three?

How many companies are even
represented? Seven? Eight?

You want there
to be even fewer?

No, I want to talk about
Brussels and you don't.

And I'm on a deadline.

( sighs )

Aren't you going
to offer us a drink?

Bill, I don't know
how this happened.

I do.

You were so desperate
to help

a bunch of soft-money-
donating CEO's,

that you sold us up
the Ganges River.

I'm sorry,
but I-I got to ask you

not to go public with this yet.

Hard as it seems,

we're creating jobs,
we're growing this economy...

For who?
Foreign investors?

I mean, what good
is the economy

without the people in it?

You knew we were for free trade.

You knew it when you endorsed us
five years ago.

Yeah, 'cause you told us that
we might lose old economy jobs--

shoe manufacturing--
to some dirt-poor country,

but if we trained ourselves,
we'd get better jobs.

Now they're being vacuumed
out of here, too.

We're gonna fight
for more job training,

more transition assistance...

I have members on their
third and fourth careers,

what do they train for now,
nuclear physics?

Cello playing?

Or should they
just give up

and bag groceries
for minimum wage?

Well, that'd still buy them
a nice house in Bangalore.

Well, I've got three kids
in college--

a little late
for a transfer, isn't it?

You'll have pension assistance,

wage assistance,
you name it.

I don't want
burial insurance.

My career isn't over yet.
I want to keep my job.

WOMAN:
You owe us that, Mr. Lyman.

You made that promise
five years ago,

to my face, in
the Wayfarer Hotel.

They're going
to stay right here

till you tell them how
you plan to honor it.

Where are you going?

To your press room,

then to Capitol Hill.

One thing about the
Communications Workers--

we know how
to communicate.

You look a lot
better on TV.

17,000 white-collar jobs
will be shipped to India.

JCN spokesmen declined
comment on...

No, Congressman.
Yes, of course.

Yeah, I understand.

...be addressing in the coming
weeks, in any case.

What are you doing
out here?

Donna's not talking to me,
plus there are some

soon-to-be-unemployed workers
camped out in my office.

With tractors, I presume.

Something like that.

Think this job story's true?

It's proprietary.

Think it'll give the GOP

an excuse to squash
this trade deal?

With midterms coming up?

What do you think?

How'd you become a free-trader?

America has a quarter
of the world's wealth

and only two percent
of the customers.

You have to sell to others.

So how do you make that case

to people who're going
to lose jobs?

Ask them how often
they go to Wal-Mart

to buy cheap cardigans

or drill-bits.
Drill-bits?

I don't wear cardigans.

Okay.

But I like a nice drill-bit.

So it all comes down
to cheap drill-bits.

Pay more for a drill-bit,

you have less to spend
on other things.

Keep out cheap foreign
drill-bits,

and that country will keep out
cheap American something-else.

And that costs us jobs.

Do you ever wonder if we forget
the human face of trade,

the blood and muscle?

You have to go
with what grows

the economy for everyone.

There's blood and muscle
in India, too.

Yeah.

Hoynes was pretty critical
of free trade

when you worked for
him, wasn't he?

That was mostly politics.

So how'd you become
a free-trader?

I came to work for one.

Did you need something?

The Vice President is going
to distance himself

from this trade deal.

You did a great job.

It's mostly politics.

C.J.:
I'm sorry,
I can't do this right now.

Do what?
This leaving-on-a-jet-plane-

can't-bear-to-be-without-you-
for-36-hours bit.

Okay.

I've got labor leaders
frothing at the mouth,

making unverified claims,
a media conspiracy run amok.

I can't need to see you
every 37 seconds

to achieve completion
as a human being.

Fine.
Are we clear on this?

Sure.
Good.

Can I say something?
Go right ahead.

You left your passport
at my house,

you left your wallet
at my house,

you left your
driver's license

and all your credit cards
at my house.

Have a safe flight.

Are you...?

There's this...

nice little place...

Can I interest you
in a late lunch?

LARRY:
Josh. Josh.

This jobs story's killing
us with the Democrats.

Yeah.

Think the Speaker's going to
smell blood in the water

and spike this thing?

Belgian Prime Minister's
letting the tractors

into the Place des Palais.

260 tractors, right next
to the site of the ceremony.

It's like the Hayseed
Olympics out there.

Maybe if we plant
a row of corn...

Stop mocking the farmers.

They're just trying
to scratch out a living.

This no-talking thing isn't
working for me.

You have a 3:00,

I need to brief you.

And they won't
leave your office.

I know.

I tried to move them.

Do you want me to call
the Secret Service?

( sighing ):
No.

I just want to grow in my job,
do something meaningful,

do more than earn
a paycheck till I die.

Why are you saying that?

I only have one career,
and I want it to matter,

or I might as well
be a soda jerk.

That's why I wanted to...

Let's go back to not
talking for a while.

RYAN:
Missed a great party.

I've got bigger problems
than your brass parachute.

Where you going?

To meet Congressman McKenna.

That's funny, actually...

No, it isn't funny.

He's a two-bit jerk
of a junior House member.

He holds us hostage
every time we have a
budget or a trade deal,

or enough discretionary
authority

to buy an ice cream cone.

I've got the Speaker of
the House in ten minutes.

I'm going to smile,
bob my head

and stick him in the out box.

Beat it.
I've got a meeting.

So do I's the thing.

It's just me and McKenna.

I'm his new
Legislative Director.

Hi.

He figured
it'd be leverage enough

that he's on two authorizing
committees

and can stall half
your budget priorities.

Is this the part where
you smile and bob your head?

McKenna has a problem
with the Brussels Round?

He just wants a seat
on the plane.

That question you asked:
who's an economy's for...?

I don't care about trade.

If you taught me anything,

it's that my view
doesn't matter anyway.

You take your boss's position
lock, stock, and sound bite,

and you get what you came for.

Am I right?

BEN:
I think there's too many
channels as there is.

There's the Cooking Channel,
the Botany Channel--

I'm waiting for the channel

that's devoted to explaining
the other channels.

We have to do all the news mags.

You know when they passed the
laws that limit media ownership?

In the 40's, as a response
to fascism in Europe.

Think I saw that
on the Fascism Channel.

Laugh now, channel-boy.

Soon it'll be
the only one left.

Hi.

Hi, Leo McGarry.

You must be Ben.

C.J.'s just nuts about you.

Not really, actually.
Why are you hawking
this FCC story?

I got calls from
two network news heads.

Of course you have.
They're crazy about
this ruling,

and the people that aren't,
can't get us on the phone.

My problem right
now is I'm too easy
to get on the phone.

I need you pushing back
on the job losses.

Our Caucus is going bananas.

This is a bail-out for
MertMedia, and all the big...

The President's against
excessive media ownership.

If we think the FCC's
not looking out for
the little guy,

use the Briefing Room
to say it.

No one's writing about it.

They're all afraid of their
media-mogul robber-baron bosses.

This is the biggest media
conspiracy

since William Randolph Hearst
was starting wars

and crushing filmmakers.

We don't run the press.

We certainly don't
run the FCC.

They made the ruling.

Local news is getting
trampled.

You think corporate media's
going to take on

corporate polluters,
describe mega-mergers

as anything other
than a rising stock price?

BEN:
When was the last time
you watched local news?

I mean it's just
high school ping-pong

and weathermen predicting
hailstones

the size of canned hams.

National programming
doesn't bother you?

I've spent my entire career
living in Moosejaw.

I get my news off CNN.

I like this one.

He's about to become available.

Had to be MertMedia.

MertMedia?

The CEO calls me every few
months to offer me a job,

corporate communications.

I'm due for a call next week.

You're not thinking
of leaving...

No, I'm not.

And I don't know who the
FCC is looking out for,

but I came here to look
out for the little guy.

How come only the big guy
is trying to hire me?

Call facilities maintenance.

Get me two or three workmen.

CAROL:
Workmen.

Carpenters, joiners, quitters,

whatever they've got down there.

May I ask you...?

Like a surgeon wields
his scalpel,

like a barrister wields
his... whatever it
is he wields,

I'm using my
Briefing Room.

Mr. Speaker, I guess you've seen
this story about the job losses.

I have.

I know it's easy
to play politics here,

but it's just an allegation.

This deal will create
jobs over time.

No one is more concerned
about the dislocation than me,

so, if you've got some
issues, we should...

Let's get right to my issues.

Sure.

I have no issues.

Meaning?

Meaning you're
home, Josh.

Excuse me?

You're home.

I can get you 200,

maybe 210 Republican votes.

My members love it.

You did a fantastic job.

They love it?

Business lobby loves it,
tech lobby loves it,

unions always complain
about trade.

The labor side agreements.

Those things aren't
even enforceable.

And if there really are
white-collar job losses?

We knew there
might be.

The tech lobby was pressing
India to sign the thing.

You knew about that?

Yeah.
So did the White House.

It's the way things
were going anyway.

India can have
our programming jobs.

We'll give them up like
we gave up horses and buggies.

They can't take away
what's great about
the American spirit.

That's... that's it?

Unless I can interest you
in running for Congress
as a Republican.

I'm kidding.

Tell the President
to have a great trip.

We'll start
whipping up votes.

So the Vice President's
distancing himself.

Lots of Democrats are.

But things went well
with the Speaker.

We knew the tech lobby
was leaning on India.

Lots of lobbies
lean on lots of people.

You sent me
into that room

knowing it might cost
the CWA jobs.

I sent you
into that room

to close a deal.

No one put you in charge
of economic policy.

You didn't tell me 'cause I
never would have made the deal.

When the President
wants a deal,

it's your job to close it.

We don't sign
waivers around here.

We made a promise--

me and the President.

That's how we
got the CWA.

The first union to endorse
us in the first campaign,

which is how we got the AFL-CIO,
how we won Iowa, South Dakota.

That was my job, too.

You think we'd be here
without it?

You campaign in poetry,
you govern in prose.

We promised that union we would
protect their jobs.

We said it
right to Parsons' face.

We said we'd try
to look out for them.

I'm not parsing words.

That's not what we meant.

We have to strip out
the copyright provisions.

We'll give them
transition assistance.

They call it burial insurance.

Well, it's all
burial insurance, isn't it?

Great. Let's revise those
talking points:

the case for sweatshop labor,

send your nine-year-old
to a sneaker factory.

Let's just call

this whole trade deal
"to hell with everything."

I sent you in there
to close a deal, and you did.

Thank you.

There are trade-offs.

Lose 17,000 here,
gain 30,000 there.

They're human beings.

You're talking in abstractions.

As opposed to what,

meeting every factory worker
in America?

Reviewing every line
of computer code

and giving little check-marks?

We run a country,
we deal in abstractions.

That's easy for you to say.

You're not the one who
just screwed 3.3 million people.

Neither are you.

It's the President's agenda.

And it was
the President's promise.

Which you can't break,
I can't break,

and I am taking this to him,

if I have to park a tractor
on the South Lawn to do it.

Hey.

Hey.

The CWA said some
nasty things about
you to the press.

Yeah, I saw.

Tell your pals at JCN
to buy some TV stations,

shut this down
in a hurry.

That's good advice.

All the work you do
with the unions,

why'd Leo put you
at that negotiating table?

'Cause I asked him.

You spend your whole career
trying to get in the room,

as if you're the one
who can square
every circle.

And it turns out...

A circle's a circle.

There's our geometry lesson
for the day.

See you on the plane.

You know what
these CODELs are like.

We don't need
any dime-store diplomats

gumming up
the peace process.

There is no peace process.

Dime-store diplomats may be
better than no diplomats at all.

We really need
a bunch of Congressman

doing back-seat diplomacy?

You really want me
to go all the way

to the Middle East
with a whistle around my neck,

teach Congressmen
how to make lanyards?

I need you to go so we
can stay out of trouble.

It's the best we can do
in that region right now.

Come back with
some lanyards,

I'll toss in a couple
of new medals.

( knocking )
I'll go.

You know I'll do whatever
you want, Mr. President,

but I think we should

be more engaged over there,
not less.

Thank you, Fitz.
I appreciate it.

Thank you so much.

Would you give us
a minute, please?

Sure.

Leo's told me
about the 17,000 jobs.

We have to fix
this thing.

We've talked
about creative destruction.

We made a promise.

It's the evolutionary nature
of capitalism.

This isn't economic theory.

Where's our allegiance?

To our own people
or to Third World plutocracies?

There are children
in those plutocracies

who dig through trash heaps
for food,

who'd kill for a low-wage job.

You think if they're not
sewing sneakers,

they're downing cocktails
at a debutante ball?

This is different.

These programmers
have middle-class jobs.

Different how?
Because we know them?

Different...

because you and I looked them
in the eye, five years ago,

at the Wayfarer Hotel.

I know that we did.

Sometimes I wish I could
stick to the theory.

I don't like seeing
our friends get hurt.

Then let's not hurt our friends.

By doing what?

Building a wall
around the country

so we can keep those jobs
a bit longer and never
create any new ones?

Passing a law that
no one can be fired,

even if they play video games
at their desks all day?

I'd probably get a spike
in the poll for that one.

The CWA's the reason
we're in this room.

And they would prefer
a Republican

who'd support free trade

then gut job training and
eviscerate unemployment
insurance?

We made a promise.

There was a man named Canute,

one of the great Viking kings
of the 11th century.

Wanted his subjects
to be aware of his limitations,

so he led them down to the sea

and he commanded
that the tide roll out.

It didn't.

Who gave us the notion

Presidents can move the economy
like a play-toy?

That we can do more
than talk it up

or smooth over
the rough spots?

It's a lie.

What we really owe that union
is the truth.

We're running around saying

free trade creates
high-paying jobs.

And it will.

But I've been trying to tell you
it's not that simple.

I'll set up a call
with Bill Parsons.

Be nice to roll
back that tide,

wouldn't it?

Yes, Mr. President,
it sure would.

I want you
to do me a favor.

What's that?

Start preparing
a statement.

Saying what?

Retracting everything
I'm about to say to the room.

( lively, indistinct
conversation )

Good afternoon, folks.

I have to apologize--

the pre-Brussels briefing
won't start

for half an hour or so.

MAN:
What happened
in here?

We're making adjustments
to your seating assignments.

WOMAN:
Adjustments?

You're all aware of the FCC's
new rules on media ownership.

As you've reported,
they're a big victory

for the little guy--

if by little,
of course, we mean

transnational
multi-billion-dollar
conglomerates.

And in that spirit
of runaway populism,

the White House Briefing Room
will now offer

just one seat
per corporate owner.

( grumbling )

One seat for MertMedia,

one for GE, one for Disney,
Viacom, News Corp,

Clear Channel, Tribune.

Guess you'll have to flip a coin
to see who gets to sit.

Why are you doing this?

'Cause if America's choices
are gonna be restricted,

so are yours
and everyone's gonna know it.

Brock, see if your business
desk'll lend you

a folding chair.

See seven of you
in half an hour.

They're still in your office.

Yeah.

What are they doing?

Waiting by the sea.

What's this?

Your diplomatic passport.

You got me a seat on the...

No, I even had to give
mine to McKenna.

I'm going on the press plane.

Oh.

Well, you tried.

You're going on a CODEL
to the Middle East

with Fitzwallace and Andy.

No presidential hand-holding.

You're gonna see what's going
on; brief me and Toby about it.

What I did wrong

wasn't breaking my word.

It was making a promise

I couldn't keep
in the first place.

( knocking )

I understand we lost
about 39.37% of the seats

in the Briefing Room.

I've retracted that,

and I'm having the government
bill me for the carpentry.

I know you have
a two-by-four

to pick with the FCC.

You said I could use
the Briefing Room.

I did.

Our own press guidance

said it was a victory
for the little guy

when it was an amnesty
for monopolists.

And when do we stop
rewarding it?

Can I ask you a question?

Sure.
Who's the little guy?

I'm serious.
Who is he?

Do you know of any poor,
struggling station owners?

Some guy in hand-me-downs

tying antennas
to a pick-up truck?

No.

Even the smallest stations
earn tens of millions.

Lots of 'em have no news
programming at all.

We're supposed to upend
the marketplace

on principle alone?

People need to know
what's going on.

They need to know big changes
are happening

when no one's looking.

That doesn't mean
we can stop them.

It doesn't mean we go down
without a fight, either.

Send me that bill.

I'd like to pay
for the carpentry myself.

Thanks, but it was worth
every nickel.

MAN:
I'm educated,
I work as hard as anybody,

and this isn't the first time
I've lost my job.

Where does it end?

Am I gonna be working
at a video rental counter

next to some
high school dropout?

The staff vans are leaving.

Ten years ago, I worked
for this Senate candidate.

He had this idea
that health care, pensions,

even vacation time
ought to be portable,

that it should follow you
from job to job,

'cause everyone was gonna work
15 jobs in a lifetime.

Might as well fly
in the teeth of it.

And we talked him out of it.

We told him he was scaring
the bejeesus out of people.

Who wants to know about 15 jobs?

Maybe we should've done that;
I don't know.

What do you know,
Mr. Lyman?

We can't save your jobs.

We are gonna create more
in the long run,

but we can't save
your jobs.

It's the short run

we got to figure out.

The world's moving faster,
we can't stop it.

I wish we could.

We are gonna do more
to prepare you.

We have to.

Is that a promise?

No.

But we're gonna try.