4.05: Debate Camp (with Ronald Klain)
The West Wing Weekly
Joshua Malina & Hrishikesh Hirway
4.9 • 12.2K Ratings
🗓️ 7 November 2017
⏱️ 57 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
To discuss the Bartlet Administration's debate camp, we're joined once again by Ronald Klain, who has been in charge of debate prep for every Democratic presidential candidate since 2004.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to The West Wing Weekly. I'm Rashique Sherway. See, that's how it's done. |
| 0:10.4 | That's a classic opener. And I'm Joshua Molina. Today we're talking about debate camp. |
| 0:17.1 | It's episode 5 of season 4. This episode first aired on October 16th, 2002. |
| 0:23.7 | One of my favorite episodes. Interesting, really. It is a very good episode. I don't know if |
| 0:28.3 | I put on my favorite list, but perhaps you'll talk it onto my favorite list. I don't know |
| 0:32.6 | what my favorite list really means anymore, but I love this episode. This episode was written |
| 0:37.9 | by Aaron Sorkin. The story is by William Sinde and Michael Oates Palmer. And it was directed |
| 0:43.7 | by Paris Barkley, who also directed the Portland trip and Indians in the lobby from earlier |
| 0:49.5 | seasons. And the ICU episode of Scandal for Scandal fans. I love this episode because it involves |
| 0:56.3 | flashbacks, which are always one of my favorite things on the West Wing. In this episode, |
| 1:01.4 | the president and his staff are preparing for the upcoming debate. There's only one debate |
| 1:06.3 | remember that's right coming up with Governor Richie. So the stakes are high. But meanwhile, |
| 1:12.1 | as they prepare, there are interspersed flashbacks from the beginning of the administration |
| 1:18.2 | right when the president was inaugurated shortly before and shortly after. Part of the substance |
| 1:23.6 | of the flashbacks is one of the points in the debate. That's what prompts it, which is the |
| 1:27.9 | nomination of Attorney General Cornell Rooker. And then the other non-political big news in this |
| 1:33.8 | episode is that Andy is pregnant and Toby is the father. Yes, bombshell. I too enjoy the flashbacks |
| 1:40.4 | and this episode is another element that I've mentioned before as being something I enjoy, |
| 1:46.0 | which is getting them out of their usual workplace environment. I like the whole camp aspect of it. |
| 1:52.7 | I liked the sit barn, for example. It makes you have to sit barn. It's fun to watch Brad try to |
| 1:59.3 | dribble a basketball and look like someone who's done that before. I thought they made a wise |
| 2:05.3 | decision not to show any actual basketball being played. We've seen them play basketball before, |
... |
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