Loyalty Accused; Amy Calls the Bait
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Susan apologizes for discussing sensitive matters in front of the group, shifting the conversation towards the issue at hand.
Susan accuses Amy of serving two masters due to her connections with the White House, reigniting tension.
Susan challenges Amy's stance, arguing for taking the issue head-on rather than protecting the President.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Not present; implied as coolly analytical and quick to act.
Josh Lyman is invoked as the White House strategist who would quickly see through Ritchie's tactic; he is not present but functions as the measuring stick for tactical competence.
- • Protect the President from being baited into a damaging exchange
- • Identify and neutralize opponent traps rapidly
- • Political bait is detectable and should be handled by swift, disciplined counsel
- • White House staff owe the President controlled messaging to avoid optics pitfalls
Not present; inferred as calculating and opportunistic from advisors' descriptions.
Governor Rob Ritchie is referenced as the originator of the controversial AMA text and as the strategist using leaked remarks to manipulate opponents' responses; he is not present but his tactic drives the debate.
- • Create a provocative public stance to force opponents into difficult replies
- • Shift the health-policy debate toward abstinence and personal responsibility rhetoric
- • Aggressive, polarizing statements can bait political adversaries into damaging responses
- • Controlling the frame at venues like the AMA yields national media leverage
Not present; invoked to suggest institutional alignment with the President.
C.J. Cregg is named by Susan to underscore Amy's White House connections; she is not present but her association is used as evidence of divided loyalty.
- • Preserve White House messaging discipline (implied)
- • Maintain institutional credibility in public crises (implied)
- • White House staff relationships color political allegiances
- • Institutional ties can compromise independent advocacy
Measured and slightly dismissive; confident in her read of opponent tactics while uncomfortable with personal accusations.
Amy Gardner calmly reframes the leaked text as intentional bait for the President, resists Susan's attack, and advises strategic restraint to avoid being manipulated into serving someone else's political calculus.
- • Prevent Stackhouse from playing into Ritchie's trap and exposing the President unnecessarily
- • Protect Stackhouse's credibility by advising a strategy that elevates issues without becoming an instrument of White House PR
- • Ritchie's advance leak is a deliberate political maneuver designed to create headlines and force reactions
- • Caution preserves both the Senator's independence and the broader political positioning of allied Democrats
Indignant and impatient; righteous about the public-health imperative and suspicious of political hedging.
Susan Thomas openly accuses Amy of divided loyalties, presses Stackhouse to call for federal needle-exchange funding at the AMA, and frames Ritchie's remarks as a tactical opening that must be exploited now.
- • Force an immediate, principled public statement in favor of federal needle-exchange funding
- • Expose and neutralize perceived White House influence that could dilute Stackhouse's independence
- • This is a moral issue that demands decisive public leadership
- • Amy's White House ties compromise her ability to press the issue uncompromisingly
Not present; inferred as at-risk of being pulled into a controversial exchange.
President Josiah Bartlet is referenced as the intended target of Ritchie's bait; he is not in the room but his potential forced involvement structures the tactical argument.
- • Maintain message discipline and institutional dignity (implied)
- • Avoid unnecessary political traps that could harm governance (implied)
- • The President must be shielded from traps that prioritize headlines over policy
- • Allied candidates should not be used as proxies for White House political needs
Not present; implied as energetic and quick to act.
Donna Moss is referenced as Josh's assistant who would spot the tactic quickly; she is not present but functions as a shorthand for the speed with which the White House would detect the bait.
- • Rapidly identify opponent tactics (implied)
- • Support swift White House response capabilities (implied)
- • Staff-level vigilance prevents larger messaging mistakes
- • Small, fast teams can out-detect opponent maneuvers
Frustrated and pulled between policy impulse and strategic caution; mildly flattered but anxious about being used as a political instrument.
Senator Stackhouse sits between two advisors, attempting to mediate and weigh the tactical merits of responding at the AMA while visibly frustrated by the interpersonal escalation.
- • Resolve the quarrel between advisors and restore a functional decision-making rhythm
- • Decide whether speaking at the AMA on needle exchange advances his candidacy and moral positioning
- • He should be the one to introduce important ideas even if others won't hear him otherwise
- • Public policy moments can advance both issue discussion and personal political capital
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The advance copy of Ritchie's AMA remarks is the concrete evidence on the table that sparks the debate. It functions narratively as the 'smoking gun' that allows Susan to argue for an immediate, forceful response and allows Amy to diagnose the leak as a deliberate tactical bait.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The AMA is invoked as the planned public forum and the temporal locus for Stackhouse's potential response. It functions as both opportunity and trap—its prestige amplifies statements, making any provocation likely to reach national audiences and to compel presidential attention.
Stackhouse's offices function as the immediate battleground where staff-level partisan loyalties and strategic judgments collide. The confined, private meeting space turns into a stage for accusation and countermove, amplifying interpersonal stakes and making policy debate intimately tied to reputation.
The 'five cities with the highest incidence of AIDS' are cited to ground Susan's moral urgency and to turn abstract policy into targeted human consequence—these locations are the rhetorical lever for calling federal funding.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The American Medical Association functions as the venue and institutional authority where Ritchie's remarks are to be delivered; its name lends credibility to the platform, raising the stakes of whether Stackhouse should answer there or abstain.
The Committee to Re-Elect is referenced indirectly as an entity the Senator might feel pressure to shield; Susan accuses others of protecting it, making the committee an implied stakeholder whose optics and electoral interests shape advisors' calculations.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's passionate critique of Ritchie's stance on needle exchange echoes Amy's earlier warning about Ritchie baiting the President, both highlighting the hypocrisy and political maneuvering around public health policy."
"Toby's passionate critique of Ritchie's stance on needle exchange echoes Amy's earlier warning about Ritchie baiting the President, both highlighting the hypocrisy and political maneuvering around public health policy."
"Toby's passionate critique of Ritchie's stance on needle exchange echoes Amy's earlier warning about Ritchie baiting the President, both highlighting the hypocrisy and political maneuvering around public health policy."
"Amy's identification of Ritchie's strategy as bait directly leads to Josh raising the issue of potential political fallout if Stackhouse responds, showing the immediate cause-and-effect chain in political strategy."
"Amy's identification of Ritchie's strategy as bait directly leads to Josh raising the issue of potential political fallout if Stackhouse responds, showing the immediate cause-and-effect chain in political strategy."
"Amy's identification of Ritchie's strategy as bait directly leads to Josh raising the issue of potential political fallout if Stackhouse responds, showing the immediate cause-and-effect chain in political strategy."
Key Dialogue
"SUSAN: I believe, in this case, on this particular point, you're the servant to two masters."
"AMY: It's baiting the hook. That's why they sent an advanced copy."
"STACKHOUSE: Yeah. But didn't I get in it to talk about things like this? Why not take the bait?"