Polishing the Address — Moral Language, Technical Truth, and a Quiet Apology
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Toby and Sam collaborate on crafting the President's address, refining the language to emphasize the moral condemnation of the attack.
Sam steps away to apologize to C.J. for his earlier behavior, revealing his personal feelings amidst the professional crisis.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Frazzled but controlled—juggling interruptions and document control without losing authority over practical tasks.
Cathy stands at her desk, answers the ringing phone, relays information about the redline and the excised paragraph, and moves through the bullpen keeping the logistical flow intact under pressure.
- • Manage incoming calls and keep communications channels functional.
- • Ensure that redline edits are tracked and distributed correctly.
- • Minimize procedural slip-ups that could delay or corrupt messaging.
- • Operational clarity and document control are essential during crisis.
- • Timely, accurate distribution of redlines prevents public errors.
- • Senior staff rely on aides to absorb administrative friction so they can focus.
Focused and indignant—professionally urgent with a low simmer of irritation; moral certainty channeled into editorial control.
Toby enters his office and drives the wording session, demanding a third adjective, correcting technical missile terminology, calling out document edits, and directing staff to preserve message discipline.
- • Produce a rhetorically forceful line that morally indicts the act.
- • Prevent technical errors that could undercut credibility and invite criticism.
- • Protect the administration's disciplined public posture.
- • Maintain control over the communications team's output and timeline.
- • Exact phrasing matters politically and morally; careless language invites blowback.
- • Technical accuracy (missile designation, etc.) must survive expert scrutiny to preserve credibility.
- • The press and opponents will exploit any sloppiness in wording.
Anxious and hurried—operational adrenaline as they shuttle information, errands, and context between senior staff.
Unspecified staffers mill and hurry through the bullpen, creating a frantic background hum that amplifies the pressure on the principal communicators and underscores the urgency of message production.
- • Transmit information and materials quickly to decision makers.
- • Execute small tasks that keep the communications machine running.
- • Avoid becoming an obstacle in a time-sensitive workflow.
- • Speed is essential in crisis communications.
- • Hierarchy directs who decides the message, but staffers must enable execution.
- • There is little room for error when public statements are imminent.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
A ringing desk telephone summons Cathy to answer external calls, functioning as the practical conduit between the bullpen and outside parties; its ring punctuates the scene and forces brief interruptions to the drafting process.
The multi-page redlined draft of the President's address is the material locus of the debate — Toby and Sam edit its phrasing, Cathy reports which changes will appear 'on the redline,' and the document's revisions determine what will be said publicly.
A specific printed paragraph — repeatedly handled, then cut by Sam — functions narratively as the expendable textual element sacrificed in the hurry to tighten the message; its removal is noted aloud and affects the final address shape.
The missile designation (AGM-84D / 'Harpoon') is invoked verbally as a technical correction; the term anchors the scene’s tension between rhetorical moralizing and the need for precise, technical nomenclature that can withstand scrutiny.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The West Wing hallway functions as the brief, semi-private liminal space where Sam steps away from the bullpen to offer a quick apology and personal disclosure to C.J.; it enables a compressed private exchange amid a public crisis.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
No narrative connections mapped yet
This event is currently isolated in the narrative graph
Key Dialogue
"TOBY: It's needs a third."
"C.J.: The AGM 84 Islam."
"SAM: I'm sorry about before."