This is the episode where Arnold Vinick gives his speech at the Republican Convention. It is a surprise to all that he praises President Bartlet during the speech.
The thing is, obviously every word of that speech was politically calculated, but still, Vinnick seems so sincere. That’s why he was so great. You never felt like he was lying to you.
Inspiring?If you are inspired by brilliant politics machinations. It was entirely manipulative and the politically naive and shallow fall all over it. He played them like a fiddle. The writing is great but few actors other than Alda could have pulled this off. Machiavellian politics.
Both Bartlet and Toby saw through what Vinick was doing. The GOP convention had been 3 days of Bartlet bashing. But here comes the nominee who praises Bartlet. Suddenly blue dog Democrats and independents see Vinick as a "different" kind of Republican, one they could vote for.
@@coena9377 As a speechwriter Toby is superior but overall political acumen Jed was probably the best in the series. It's just he was too busy to use it most of the time.
@@EsquilaxM I don't think Toby could have made as good of a president as Jed, but I don't think Jed's overall political insight was greater than Toby's, unless you're talking specifically about the economy.
In less than 2 decades and compared to our world today, the decency and basic patriotism shown in this series, comes off like science fiction. How far we've fallen.
Classy example of honoring the Presidency. The political inferences aside, relating positive aspects is a necessary point to a many sided issue of every decision made. All trade offs for all decisions made is what creates balance for all.
@@afieldingaf An amoeba could have done a better job than the psychopathic, sociopathic, narcissistic, self-aggrandizing, racist, corrupt, sexual predator and compulsive liar that was the Commander-In-Insurrection.
@@anthonymitchell9793 see right there you displayed the hypocrisy of the left which is absolutely breathtaking you accused Trump and his supporters of spreading hate and look at all the horrible hateful vengeful words you said about President Trump, you are just like the rest of the left and the Democrats you are all hypercrites, you call Trump a sexual predator what dies that make the current President
Boy, did you say it. I remember being up all night blowing coke and then watching WW and ER reruns on the TNT network. This gave me a sense of normalcy and kept me tied to reality long enough to make changes to my life. What a ride it’s been.
I’m old enough to remember when there were Republicans like that. Decent, respectable, kind, well spoken and with an intellectual political argument to offer instead of fear and jingoism. Damn I’m old.
@@wac9280 No. Neither of them were Eisenhower Republicans. Neither would’ve increased taxes on the wealthy nor would they have protected Social Security. We haven’t SEEN a Republican as progressive as Eisenhower since 1960.
And I’m old enough to remember Dems like Bartlett, not radicals that want to ban oil and have biological ales go to women’s prisons if they self identify. Demos are so quick if to point out the failures of the opposition but never self analysis. Why do you assume they fault is externally, maybe you’re looking at it with your mind made up. Why do old people always talk about the olden days being better? They’re not better you just remember them better because you were young and didn’t have joint pain at the time.
Yeah, and then Democrats and their friends in the media decided to treat a boy scout choir boy goody two shoes in Mitt Romney like he was the second coming of Adolf and Republicans realized they'd never be given a fair shake or treated with humanity ever again. And now the Democrats even arrest any of their political opponents.
Arnold Vinick is perhaps the embodiment of everything I'd like to see out of a Republican. He's smart and honest. I'm a liberal Democrat, but I might actually be able to vote for someone like Arnold Vinick.
John Landon There are no “Vinick” Republicans left. The remaining Republicans have proactively chosen to work with the enemies of freedom and democracy to destroy our nation. Those, like Romney, who aspire to appear uncorrupted are careful to make a stand only when it is irrelevant.
The benefit of the final season was they made both Vinick and Santos moderates, at least in their respective parties. They made them both likable candidate. They knew it was hard to pick a winner. Much like the Kennedy v Nixon election, or even the Bush v Gore election.
It's scenes like these that I kind of wish that Vinick had won. Though I understand, that with the passing of Leo's actor the writers could not possibly make Santos lose after such a personal loss to the viewer. Alan Alda to me breathes Presidentialitly. Statesmanship and indeed, a bit of nobility.
To be honest, I probably would have voted for Arnold Vinick. While my esteem for him as a character diminished a bit as I got to know him better, Santos never seemed to possess that X factor one looks for in a President. He had good policy ideas and made some very stirring speeches, but he wasn't so candid or such a unifying figure in equal measure as Vinick. However now it's 2014 and one week to the election which, in the West Wing universe, and presuming Santos was re-elected, would replace Santos. I'd like to imagine Sam Seaborn would be on the Democratic ticket. I would DEFINITELY watch a West Wing reboot with Sam as President (written by Sorkin, of course).
I honestly felt Santos would be a one term president. No party sense FDR and Truman has held the White House for 4 straight terms. Also Santos was entering into a mess with the intervention in Central Asia, and likely spending most of his political capital in a fight over his VP.
Jaron Ehlers I thought Santos appointing Vinick as Secretary of State was essentially horse trading to get the Republicans in Congress to confirm his pick for VP.
mjakes20 2020 now, I would take Arnie Vinick, I would take Arnie Vinick’s dog, if he had one; for President. Funny how you don’t think much about Freedom, Democracy, and the Blessings of Liberty; until you lose them.
Before Leo McGarry - John Spencer died it was plan to led Vinick win, Santos should be the latino with big talents but does be a Statesman. Then Spencer died all plans were altered.
Max Schön I thought it was really amazing that in the cold open for the first episode of Season 7, “The Ticket”, when all of the regulars of the Bartlett White House were gathering three years later to celebrate the dedication of his Presidential library. Only Leo was nowhere to be seen. This aired on network television almost three months before John Spenser died, so it really was a chance decision that kept them from having a huge inconsistency in their historical timeline. (Yes, calling him Leo versus Mr. Vice President might have spoiled the election surprise.)
+SonOfGod3000 No he is not. He is unreallistic, cause it's what you would want republican candidate to look like. That is sometinh that GOP had, but not anymore. Last guy that was like that was sen. McCain. Awsome guy! And now, looking at candidates for GOP ticket, we all wish for Arnold Vinnick
+Jitesh Shahani and they also made it very clear that Vinnick would have walked away with the election if not for the nuclear accident. If that scenario had happened in real life to someone like Vinnick, it would have torpedoed his campaign in much the same way.
+John Randall Banks They'd instantly have my vote and I'm a liberal. The left has let the their own personal clown car get way out of control. The authoritarian left makes Green Peace look like conservatives.
Too bad there aren't any Democrats running for office like Matt Santos. Or even Bingo Bob for that matter. Today we get to choose between two flavors of shit.
There are. And they get shot down in primaries, if they even get that far. Because the sheeple tuned out 30 seconds into that speech to look at a tweet crowing "FAKE NEWS LIBERALS, SAD!"
How many openly out-of-closet atheists are there in American politics, let alone within GOP? I enjoy wet dreams, too. When I leave the screens, I know it is time to be awake. That is why I appreciate the fact that this screenwriter did not attempt to draw any parallels to the real-life occurrences.
I kind of wanted Vinnick to win. He had more of a presidential feel than Santos. This speech was amazing. He dismissed Santos and Russell just like that.
if you live in a fairy tale, then yes. of course u just had 8 years of obama failures to realize what reality is, and still didn't figure anything out, so go back to smoking pot and living a lie.
@justforlescomments Vinick WAS going to win, but after John Spencer died suddenly they changed it so that Santos would win, figuring that having both Leo McGarry die and Santos losing the race would be a little too negative.
Can't we do the world a favour and have all the West Wing episodes avaliable for free to show how polictics should be and also how TV drama should be made.
We do have a real-life Arnold Vinick: his name is Jon Huntsman. But he'll never get the nomination, because the GOP is different in real life. So please, vote to re-elect Barack Obama, the most Bartlett-like person running!
there is no difference. You're giving a similar amount of your life for your country, and you are a human being who deserves the same decency and respect.
Man! Alan Alda should run for president! He was so so good in season 7 . I really wanted him to win! If not for the nuclear meltdown in California, he had it all sewn up!
Yeah, but Huntsman was a decent human being like Vinick. That's what I was going for. Also Huntsman was the closest thing the Republicans had for a lineup. Even most democrats I knew liked him.
Yep, we need another democrat President who skullf*#ks interns in the oval office and then lies about it under oath. Or maybe one who will send $1.5 billion in cash to the nation sponsoring most of the terrorism around the globe.
Vinick was supposed to have won. But, the death of John Spencer changed that ending. It was thought to be too sad, for Santos to lose his running mate AND the election.
@Waltham1892 You say that, but in the opening episode it was Josh how was about to introduce the new president to Bartlett et al. and Josh becomes Santos' chief of staff. It looked to me that it was always set up for a democrat victory and that season 7 was more a story on how that would happen, not whether it would happen.
@VolumeTurnedDown I dunno, I felt it made him even more honourable in the fact that the temptation to turn dirty was there but he didn't use it. It's not enough for him to say he's a good guy, we have to see him be a good guy.
John Huntsman was the closest thing they had to Vinick in terms of ideology, but the Old Guard couldn't have a moderate like that. That's why the events of the West Wing remain fictional, unfortunately.
Just how good was this show? Simply the very best American TV series ever made. Grows in stature as the years pass. Prescient politically, not dated by the issues of the day it addressed, utterly superb acting throughout and, above all presented the romantic ideal that decent civilized people can rule effectively as believable. Every Trump Cultist should be required to watch the entire series 3x before being allowed to believe the votes for Biden were rigged! 🤣
Don’t think it’s ironic. When was the last time a Democrat gave a good speech? Joe is mentally gone, Obama so painfully arrogant. To these writers Democrats can go to a brokered convention, have all sorts of issues but they’ll never actually lose. That’s how they would always write it. Just another reason so many people ignore the media and their step child, Hollywood.
@@staleydu1 Not quite. Vinick was apparently going to win originally, but they changed it after John Spencer passed because the crew felt that would’ve been too sad. You might want to check your sources before you hit the keyboard next time.
At 1:55, he wasn't being a jerk, he just knew there was a political ploy behind the kind words. He's been a politician too long to think this was just praise for the sake of praise. His wife could give as good as she got. His son-in-law's kind of an idiot. Hoynes is also in many ways a jerk.
John McCain deserves a lot of credit for those comments. BUT he was talking about SENATOR OBAMA. Do you think he would say those things today about PRESIDENT OBAMA?
Of course Vinick can praise Bartlet, he's not running against him. It would be a smart move really, you'd get the support of everyone who supported the previous administration byt saying you intend to pick up where they left off and uphold their ideals.
@@Mark-xh8mdI’m a rank-and-file Democrat, but not even I could say that about either Bush. It would require unmitigated gall for me to say that about either of them because it would be an outright lie. And that goes double for Reagan and off the scales for saying that about Trump!
@Ichiro20 The payoff for Vinick fans was his being appointed Secretary of State. Santos knew he was the man for the job and didn't care he was a republican. In a show that's centered on democrats and democratic issues, that's a win for a republican. (It is fiction after all!!)
Fantastic speech! (For what we hear) Although he said "Every Everything", as if he were groping for words. McCain and Obama could not say this about Bush. Us Republicans need an Arnold Vinick. Vinick really should have won that election.
i agree...the closest thing the repubs have to vinick right now is probably ron paul...and although his popularity has grown...i'm not sure he can move the party back to its true self
@TheJUMBOJAM Not quite true. I read an interview with one of the script writing team that they wrote the election on the fly, and enjoyed the fact that it developed into a genuine contest, but that no decision had ever been made early on that Vinick would win. You know this because Josh introduces the president in episode 1 (i.e. as Santos' Chief of Staff). This idea that Vinick was supposed to win has been kicking around erroneously for a while now,
@Ichiro20 They didn't want to give Vinick the win because the actor who played Leo died just before the end of the series. They didn't want to hit fans with a double loss...but I agree with you; as a moderate, I agree a Vinick win would have been a better ending of the series.
@ifyoufilmmeiwillkilu He was supposed to win the election--that's what the writers planned. But when John Spencer passed away they didn't want Santos to lose the election for that reason, and they didn't want the audience to lose a great character and an election. Too emotionally painful. So they re-wrote it so that Santos won.
god, what I would give for an orator like that this election. Sanders just repeats the same shit over and over and over again. Clinton comes off as awkward and uncomfortable. Trump spews vile bigotry everywhere. Cruz seems too snide and too smug.
+Andrew Wang John Kasich, from a style perspective (though unsure if he's thought out all of his positions, I'm pretty sure he has a general understanding for things), comes rather close; I doubt he wins the Republican nomination though (if he did, he'd beat both Hillary and Bernie).
Andrew Wang Watch John Kasich in a town hall setting, and compare that to Vinnick. Vinnick never actually had soaring oratory; he was a honest truth-teller who everyone (Democrat, Republican, or otherwise) saw as a good an honest man.
+Andrew Wang Sanders though, I like him a lot, because he has his focus concentrated on one big target, which when taken down, it could pave an easier path for bringing the Presidency closer to the people and providing what the people want, instead of taking payoffs from Wall St.
Tim Schnell his target is unrealistic as hell, and his speeches are probably the most boring out of all the candidates for the sole fact that he says the same 2 or 3 lines over and over and over and over and over and over and over again.
If only we were graced with two such candidates. While I've become a committed Democrat in the last two decades (Newt Gingrich was the straw that broke this camel's back - but Reagan did a lot of the heavy lifting) - but I KNOW I could/would vote for a Republican who had the clarity, integrity, sincerity, and gravitas of a Vinick (e.g. a Dick Lugar, a Mitt Romney, a Jon Huntsman, ... ). We're in steep decline now - pray that such candidates emerge in the coming years, regardless their party affiliation.
