Buying the Vote, Fishhooks, and Ron the Goat
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Josh encounters Will Bailey and discusses the foreign aid bill's likely reduced funding, highlighting the public's misunderstanding of the issue.
Will confronts C.J. about the goat in his office, leading to a humorous exchange about hazing and the goat's name, Ron.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Shaken and defensive on the surface; morally chastened but determined underneath — using humor and stats to mask embarrassment and keep fighting.
Emerges from a private meeting shaken, admits to recommending the President take a $115,000 NIH 'remote prayer' study as a quid pro quo, argues statistics and legislative logic in the hallway, and shows raw pragmatic urgency while seeking moral recovery.
- • Protect the administration's legislative outcome by any viable means
- • Contain the political and moral fallout of a transactional compromise
- • Reassure staff and convert setback into continued action
- • Keep the band of aides focused on the next tactical move
- • Legislative success can require ugly compromises
- • The President's agenda must be defended even if tactics feel morally compromised
- • Public opinion is volatile and can determine outcomes
- • Staff morale can be restored with blunt honesty and levity
Neutral and businesslike; performing routine staff duties and exiting to let bigger interactions proceed.
Briefly present in the lobby exchange; she walks off as Will approaches and later shares logistical information with C.J., functioning as a peripheral connector in the hazing/office conversation.
- • Keep lobby traffic moving
- • Support C.J. with logistics
- • Avoid getting entangled in the hazing exchange
- • Small administrative details matter to smooth operations
- • Hazing is a harmless, manageable irritation
- • Senior staff will handle the substantive crises
Not physically present; implied to be the subject of juniors' ribbing and informal initiation.
Referenced by C.J. as the 'new guy' whose office is being used for hazing — his name functions to explain why staff are targeting an office and to situate the goat prank within internal dynamics.
- • Establish himself in the staff hierarchy (implied)
- • Survive hazing without losing professional credibility
- • New staff are fair game for workplace rituals
- • Socialization rituals help bond staff
Not present; implied to be subject to staff counsel and potential political compromise.
Mentioned as the decision-maker Josh advised — the President is described as the recipient of Josh's recommendation to accept a purchased yea via the remote-prayer funding proposal.
- • Advance the administration's foreign-aid and legislative agenda
- • Preserve institutional credibility while securing votes
- • Presidential decisions can be shaped by staff pragmatism
- • Political survival sometimes requires strategic concessions
Supportive and amused outwardly; quietly confident she can steady Josh and wield humor as a corrective to politics' grimness.
Sits waiting for Josh, listens, offers wry consolation, tells the Fishhooks McCarty anecdote to reframe the ethical sting, and delivers a blunt pep talk that steadies Josh and converts shame into resolve.
- • Stabilize Josh emotionally and keep him functional
- • Reframe the moral compromise as pragmatic survival to sustain effort
- • Preserve staff cohesion and morale during a political setback
- • Anecdote and perspective can diffuse guilt and sharpen resolve
- • Politics is a rough trade where practical results matter
- • Josh's energy, once steadied, will return to fighting mode
Not present physically; implied to be calculating and opportunistic.
Mentioned by Josh as the senator who requested $115,000 for a remote-prayer study in exchange for his yea vote; functions as the off-stage transactional actor who catalyzed Josh's moral compromise.
- • Secure federal funding for a constituent or pet project
- • Leverage appropriations to extract political concessions
- • Political give-and-take is normal and expected
- • Funding is a useful tool for bargaining votes
Represented through quotation; lends a skeptical intellectual tone.
Quoted indirectly in Josh and Will's exchange (Churchill's line about democracy and the average voter); functions as rhetorical shorthand justifying frustration with public opinion statistics.
- • Provide rhetorical cover for cynicism about polling
- • Frame public ignorance as a constraint on policy-making
- • Democracy has serious practical limits
- • Voter opinions can be shallow or uninformed
Not physically present; invoked to illustrate pragmatic realism and to reassure Josh.
Referred to in Donna's anecdote as a corrupt politician whose ritual prayer justified stealing 'the rest'; functions narratively as moral cover and a model for practical survival.
- • In anecdote: survive and prosper by any means
- • In function: provide moral framing for current compromises
- • Daily ritual and faith can coexist with pragmatic corruption
- • Practical outcomes justify certain moral compromises
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Will Bailey's 500-word brief on American leadership is referenced by implication as the work he is trying to do while being hazed; the document functions as the narrative tension between duty and juvenile workplace culture.
The $115,000 NIH 'remote prayer' study is invoked as the concrete quid pro quo Josh recommended to buy a senator's yea, operating as the textual embodiment of transactional, morally awkward bargaining in the scene.
Hazing bicycles are referenced as part of the prank ecosystem used to disorient and welcome staff; they add sensory absurdity and signify internal culture of ribbing.
Ron the goat is the centerpiece of a hazing prank: mentioned by C.J. and discovered by Will, the animal provides comic relief that offsets the moral weight of Josh's confession and humanizes staff coping mechanisms.
Seaborn for Congress posters are named as one of the items used to cover windows during hazing; they function as political in-joke props that ground levity in the staff's institutional world.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The West Wing hallway functions as the transitional spine where private triage (Outer Oval) meets public work: Josh exits his confessional exchange, collides with Will, and the mood shifts from intimate counsel to brisk policy chatter.
Josh's bullpen area is the organizational heartbeat reached after the hallway: it's the practical staging ground for vote-counting, where statistics are cited, calls are made, and the administrative cost of the moral compromise is operationalized.
The Communications Office is the destination of Will and C.J.'s exchange: it houses the PR and hazing logistics, and C.J. uses its institutional knowledge to explain the goat/handler situation and diffuse the scene.
St. James Church appears in Donna's Fishhooks McCarty anecdote as the daily ritual site that contextualizes pragmatic corruption; it provides cultural and moral texture to Donna's consoling story.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
St. James Church (as an organization invoked in Donna's anecdote) functions narratively to legitimize Fishhooks McCarty's ritual and to provide a moral-ritual foil for the administration's compromises.
The White House is the institutional frame for the event: its staff grapple with a tactical vote shortfall, a morally fraught bargaining proposal, and the internal rituals used to manage stress and maintain cohesion. The organization is both the site of compromise and the object Joshua seeks to protect.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
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Key Dialogue
"JOSH: "I just recommended to the President that he buy a yea vote for a $115,000 and the Bill of Rights.""
"DONNA: "Bet your ass.""
"WILL: "I believe you put a goat in my office, and I just want you to know that I stand here with full humor and total focus.""