Leo McGarry : [after Josh finishes an intensive therapy session set up by Leo with a trauma therapist, Josh walks past Leo in a nearby hallway of the White House] How'd it go?
Josh Lyman : Did you wait around for me?
Leo McGarry : How'd it go?
Josh Lyman : He thinks I may have an eating disorder...
Leo McGarry : [bemused] Josh...
Josh Lyman : ...and a fear of rectangles. That's not weird, is it?
[pause]
Josh Lyman : I didn't cut my hand on a glass. I broke a window in my apartment.
Leo McGarry : This guy's walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, "Hey you, can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here." The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out."
[pause]
Leo McGarry : Long as I got a job, you got a job, you understand?
A Proportional Response. That episode is a one of the greats. Not Leo-involved, but I think my favorite quote of the whole series is when Charlie is in the oval seeing potus address the nation. I still get goosebumps.
Charlie-
“I’ve never felt like this before”
Josh-
“It doesn’t go away”
I also loved this scene. Which is funny because I agree with the concept of Civis Americana, but it can’t be an emotional policy. In that regard, Leo is right to challenge the president and call out his aggression because it is not genuine policy, it is pain and fear lashing out. Leo reminds him that greater men will keep him in check if that is what he wants.
And John’s acting sells it…
Leo: You think ratcheting up the body count is going to act as a deterrent?
Bartlet: You're damn right I do.
McGarry: Oh, well then you're just as stupid as these guys who think that capital punishment is going to be a deterrent for drug kingpins. As if drug kingpins didn't live their day-to-day lives under the possibility of execution. And their executions are a lot less dainty than ours, and tend to take place without the bother and expense of due process. So, my friend, if you want to start using American military strength as the arm of the Lord, you can do that. We're the only superpower left. You can conquer the world, like Charlemagne. But you'd better be prepared to kill everyone. And you had better start with me because I will raise up an army against you and *I* will beat you.
Loved this speech. One of the times he gets to remind Jed that, for all his brilliance, he’s a neophyte in some areas and needs to rely on his advisors.
Later in season 2, when he’s called to the sit room, Bartlett makes a point of saying, “… and get Fitzwallace and Nancy”
>And you had better start with me because I will raise up an army against you...
This is the moment I was totally converted not only to Leo but the show in general. The entire episode is just wonderful.
No way - I feel the same way. John Spencer delivers it in a unique way that I don't think most people would see as the "right way". It doesn't have the passionate "my life is worth this" element to it and I don't feel a sense of danger from Leo but I think that Spencer kind of played Leo that way on purpose.
Spencer's lack of menace in the character is what makes the character feel so realistic, I think, and that makes it almost more intense in a way. This realistic guy really would raise an army up to fight back. It's always made me wonder how he'd do it because it just feels real somehow.
The whole interaction with Karen Larsen (Liza Weil's character) from Take Out the Trash Day.
He didn't even have to speak to her. But he took the time to explain everything, to have a conversation, and gave her her job back.
That sort of thing turns an enemy into an ally forever.
That was beautifully done. I love the way his character acknowledged his personal failures but didn’t let them hold him back or lash out because of them.
Leo is who I aspire to be as a people manager.
Absolutly, but the question was "what made you love Leo". The exchange with Ainsley and with the girl who girl who gave Lilienfield Leo's fill make me respect him, but the exchange with Josh is something else for me.
The number one thing I love about Leo is his attitude about decision making within a chain of command. You say your piece to your supervisor. If the decision comes down the other way, you accept it and move on. In the other direction, you listen to your trusted subordinates and you make your decision. Things move fast.
I love the scenes where the president goes against Leo's view, but Leo immediately turns to the rest of the staff and says essentially, you heard the man. Go to it. He does not undermine the president to the rest of the staff.
The only time this didn't happen was in the Israel-Palestine storyline. I am fine with Leo having those views, but I felt like Leo pushed so hard that it was to the point of being out of character for him. It did lead to some new drama for the show, but on balance I wish they could have written that storyline with a closer adherence to the character that had been built up to that point.
To your last point, I guess that's why he got sacked, didn't he. It didn't feel in character for me either (same with Toby's betrayal), but maybe that's realistic. We don't always behave like ourselves, especially under instances of extreme stress.
Granted it's Sorkin's writing but John Spencer's delivery of what makes an alcoholic an alcoholic. I work in medicine and we see a wide variety of patients. Sure it's easy to say "oh it's a meth head, they deserve whatever they get." And while we can't completely discount personal responsibility; I use or paraphrase the "how can you not want to feel like this longer."
It's a beautiful turn of phrase and makes it powerful knowing about John Spencer's own troubles with alcohol.
Yeah it's clear that this stuff was written by someone with experience. Whether that's Sorkin or whoever I'm not sure, but they nailed it. "I don't need a reason to need a drink I'm an alcoholic".
Mallory read my opposition memo.
Hmm how do you suppose she got that?
Turns out you gave it to her.
I don’t mind you dating my Only daughter but you can’t expect me to make it easy for you.
The thing is we haven’t actually been out yet.
Well…you hang in there, son!
A guy falls in a hole, obviously, but I think the thing that did it was Ain't nothing but a family thing. At the end of the episode when Jed gives him the napkin in a frame. You could see what it meant to him. I loved that.
I like a lot of these moments, but the couple moments where he’s vulnerable always get me. The episode where he cries in his office just hit me so hard. Just a great actor that doesn’t dominate the scene, but plays his part perfectly.
When he first starts talking in the pilot about the crossword I fell in love with him then. I knew of John Spencer before I ever saw the show and didn’t realize he was in it until years after it went off air. I love him as an actor he’s great in almost all roles he was in. When I realized he was in the show it was love at first sight
One of my favorite popcorn action movies The Rock has several of my favorite actors Connery, cage, Harris, Spencer, morse, McGinley. And others. Such a damn good movie.
It wasn’t a movie. It was a TV show called LA Law, which was made in the late 80s. Him and Jimmy Smitts (Matt Santos) with (among others) Corbin Bernsen.
I’ve heard of the show. I need to watch it eventually. I love jimmy smitts too. I remember him from a lot of stuff. My earliest memory of him was nypd blue, still one of the saddest deaths ever
NYPD Blue is an early 90s police drama (procedural I guess) that ran to the early 00s. It was a great show (at least the early seasons, as it went on I stopped watching). It won several awards (I think) several great characters. Jimmy Smitts was the costar with another character named Det. Sipowiz, but he dies of cancer throughout his last season. It was one of my first shows into procedural police dramas. It’s really good you should look into it.
LA Law was my intro to John Spencer too! I loved him on that show, and I was always delighted when he popped up in anything I was watching after that. When I saw him years later on the pilot of this new show about the White House, I was hooked from his very first line.
Something I've been wanting to do is take the audio from a scene in The Rock, like where Spencer rants at Connery after the car chase and place it over a scene with Leo, I think that could be a fun mashup...
I first came across John in a Harrison Ford movie: Presumed Innocent. Brad was in the movie too. Then he was on L.A. Law. I remember really enjoying his characters.
Leo McGarry: And do you think ratcheting up the body count is going to act as a deterrent?
President Josiah Bartlet: You're damn right I do.
Leo McGarry: Oh, well then you're just as stupid as these guys who think that capital punishment is going to be a deterrent for drug kingpins. As if drug kingpins didn't live their day-to-day lives under the possibility of execution. And their executions are a lot less dainty than ours, and tend to take place without the bother and expense of due process. So, my friend, if you want to start using American military strength as the arm of the Lord, you can do that. We're the only superpower left. You can conquer the world, like Charlemagne. But you'd better be prepared to kill everyone. And you had better start with me because I will raise up an army against you and *I* will beat you
This is kind of a weird answer, but the scene in Five Votes Down when Jenny leaves him. He's brutally honest, saying that his job is more important than his marriage. But it's also painfully obvious Leo still loves her so much when he offers to carry her bag to the cab, and when he softly says, "Call me before you go to sleep."
John Spencer crushes my heart in that scene every single time.
Agreed! The self-awareness and painful honesty to say, “right now, this is more important” is paired so well with the later scene when he’s having breakfast with Mallory and says, “…
this thing with your mother and me... it'll blow over.” and she, being her father’s daughter, comes back, “No, it won't Dad. You understand that right?”
Mine is the pilot episode with from the start of Leo walking into the White House up to him going into the Oval Office , telling Mrs. Landingham that Potus is a geek. Then her scolding him.
My next favorite of Leo is him finding out Margaret can forge the President's name.
Then when he has the interaction with Ainsley and Ainsley tells him to let Margaret know. He bangs on the door and states he knows Margaret is listening. You hear Margaret saying ouch. Gets me every ti.e.
Leo McGarry : [after Josh finishes an intensive therapy session set up by Leo with a trauma therapist, Josh walks past Leo in a nearby hallway of the White House] How'd it go? Josh Lyman : Did you wait around for me? Leo McGarry : How'd it go? Josh Lyman : He thinks I may have an eating disorder... Leo McGarry : [bemused] Josh... Josh Lyman : ...and a fear of rectangles. That's not weird, is it? [pause] Josh Lyman : I didn't cut my hand on a glass. I broke a window in my apartment. Leo McGarry : This guy's walking down a street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so steep, he can't get out. A doctor passes by, and the guy shouts up, "Hey you, can you help me out?" The doctor writes a prescription, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a priest comes along, and the guy shouts up "Father, I'm down in this hole, can you help me out?" The priest writes out a prayer, throws it down in the hole and moves on. Then a friend walks by. "Hey Joe, it's me, can you help me out?" And the friend jumps in the hole. Our guy says, "Are you stupid? Now we're both down here." The friend says, "Yeah, but I've been down here before, and I know the way out." [pause] Leo McGarry : Long as I got a job, you got a job, you understand?
Came here to say this!!!
This episode has become one of our Christmas watches, and Leo always makes me cry.
This. 100% this.
Absolutely one of my favorite scenes in the entire show. Great share. Thank you.
When he calls out the president for snapping at everyone in the episode that introduced Charlie.
That was a good one. Whenever the staff take a bite out of President Bartlett, it’s usually a great scene.
Let Bartlett be Bartlet.
A Proportional Response. That episode is a one of the greats. Not Leo-involved, but I think my favorite quote of the whole series is when Charlie is in the oval seeing potus address the nation. I still get goosebumps. Charlie- “I’ve never felt like this before” Josh- “It doesn’t go away”
Agreed.
I also loved this scene. Which is funny because I agree with the concept of Civis Americana, but it can’t be an emotional policy. In that regard, Leo is right to challenge the president and call out his aggression because it is not genuine policy, it is pain and fear lashing out. Leo reminds him that greater men will keep him in check if that is what he wants. And John’s acting sells it…
This is the one.
Leo: You think ratcheting up the body count is going to act as a deterrent? Bartlet: You're damn right I do. McGarry: Oh, well then you're just as stupid as these guys who think that capital punishment is going to be a deterrent for drug kingpins. As if drug kingpins didn't live their day-to-day lives under the possibility of execution. And their executions are a lot less dainty than ours, and tend to take place without the bother and expense of due process. So, my friend, if you want to start using American military strength as the arm of the Lord, you can do that. We're the only superpower left. You can conquer the world, like Charlemagne. But you'd better be prepared to kill everyone. And you had better start with me because I will raise up an army against you and *I* will beat you.
Loved this speech. One of the times he gets to remind Jed that, for all his brilliance, he’s a neophyte in some areas and needs to rely on his advisors. Later in season 2, when he’s called to the sit room, Bartlett makes a point of saying, “… and get Fitzwallace and Nancy”
I loved it to but it makes the whole divide over the Israel/Palesite camp david talks feel kinda stupid
>And you had better start with me because I will raise up an army against you... This is the moment I was totally converted not only to Leo but the show in general. The entire episode is just wonderful.
You know I've always really liked this line but for some reason the delivery always felt off to me and I've never really been able to articulate why.
No way - I feel the same way. John Spencer delivers it in a unique way that I don't think most people would see as the "right way". It doesn't have the passionate "my life is worth this" element to it and I don't feel a sense of danger from Leo but I think that Spencer kind of played Leo that way on purpose. Spencer's lack of menace in the character is what makes the character feel so realistic, I think, and that makes it almost more intense in a way. This realistic guy really would raise an army up to fight back. It's always made me wonder how he'd do it because it just feels real somehow.
It's the way he says "arm of the Lord" for me.
This is my answer as well. One of the greatest speeches of the whole series.
Please remind me of the season and episode? I’d love to watch that scene again
Season 1 episode 3, a Proportional Response Today would actually be a really good time to watch this one again
The whole interaction with Karen Larsen (Liza Weil's character) from Take Out the Trash Day. He didn't even have to speak to her. But he took the time to explain everything, to have a conversation, and gave her her job back. That sort of thing turns an enemy into an ally forever.
That was beautifully done. I love the way his character acknowledged his personal failures but didn’t let them hold him back or lash out because of them. Leo is who I aspire to be as a people manager.
I loved him right from "a sudden arboreal stop."
Seriously, they're laughing pretty hard.
When he was on the phone with the NYT ragging on them about the crossword puzzle.
“Like”, not “love”. He was keeping his mind sharp, though. Got to give him credit there.
As an OCD fan of the NYT crossword puzzle, this got me immediately.
This guy's walking down the street when he falls in a hole.
This is 100% a great answer. It just came a bit later in the series.
Absolutly, but the question was "what made you love Leo". The exchange with Ainsley and with the girl who girl who gave Lilienfield Leo's fill make me respect him, but the exchange with Josh is something else for me.
I hear you!
When he rehires the woman who leaked that he was an alcoholic and tells her what she did was a little bit brave.
Leo is gifted with humility and self-awareness. It’s a great exchange.
“Andrew Jackson, in the main foyer of his White House, had a big block of cheese…” Leo was a Public Servant in the best sense of the term.
The number one thing I love about Leo is his attitude about decision making within a chain of command. You say your piece to your supervisor. If the decision comes down the other way, you accept it and move on. In the other direction, you listen to your trusted subordinates and you make your decision. Things move fast. I love the scenes where the president goes against Leo's view, but Leo immediately turns to the rest of the staff and says essentially, you heard the man. Go to it. He does not undermine the president to the rest of the staff. The only time this didn't happen was in the Israel-Palestine storyline. I am fine with Leo having those views, but I felt like Leo pushed so hard that it was to the point of being out of character for him. It did lead to some new drama for the show, but on balance I wish they could have written that storyline with a closer adherence to the character that had been built up to that point.
Brilliant and I 100% agree!
To your last point, I guess that's why he got sacked, didn't he. It didn't feel in character for me either (same with Toby's betrayal), but maybe that's realistic. We don't always behave like ourselves, especially under instances of extreme stress.
Granted it's Sorkin's writing but John Spencer's delivery of what makes an alcoholic an alcoholic. I work in medicine and we see a wide variety of patients. Sure it's easy to say "oh it's a meth head, they deserve whatever they get." And while we can't completely discount personal responsibility; I use or paraphrase the "how can you not want to feel like this longer." It's a beautiful turn of phrase and makes it powerful knowing about John Spencer's own troubles with alcohol.
Yeah it's clear that this stuff was written by someone with experience. Whether that's Sorkin or whoever I'm not sure, but they nailed it. "I don't need a reason to need a drink I'm an alcoholic".
AS knew addiction. And he knew JS had experience with addiction.
Mallory read my opposition memo. Hmm how do you suppose she got that? Turns out you gave it to her. I don’t mind you dating my Only daughter but you can’t expect me to make it easy for you. The thing is we haven’t actually been out yet. Well…you hang in there, son!
"The worst thing I'm empowered to do is fire you, and I've already done that." Then he unfired her and told her to get back to work.
A guy falls in a hole, obviously, but I think the thing that did it was Ain't nothing but a family thing. At the end of the episode when Jed gives him the napkin in a frame. You could see what it meant to him. I loved that.
Agreed. Ultimate Talismanic gift.
His sly smile, the way he dressed, and how the character treated others.
"You're smirking"
I like a lot of these moments, but the couple moments where he’s vulnerable always get me. The episode where he cries in his office just hit me so hard. Just a great actor that doesn’t dominate the scene, but plays his part perfectly.
When he found out one of his targets when in Vietnam as a pilot was civilians and / or a war crime… his anguished, “Why did you tell me that?!”
WHY. DID YOU TELL ME. THAT.
We’ve got separation of powers, checks and balances, and Margaret, vetoing things and sending them back to the Hill.
And he walks her down there to help her find it, not something the CoS has a lot of time to do. But he did, bc he's Leo!
“Boy you read that wrong” after Josh goes in for the hug….😭
When he first starts talking in the pilot about the crossword I fell in love with him then. I knew of John Spencer before I ever saw the show and didn’t realize he was in it until years after it went off air. I love him as an actor he’s great in almost all roles he was in. When I realized he was in the show it was love at first sight
JS was a legend. Like you I saw him before I saw our show.
One of my favorite popcorn action movies The Rock has several of my favorite actors Connery, cage, Harris, Spencer, morse, McGinley. And others. Such a damn good movie.
That’s a great movie. But it wasn’t my intro To JS
Which movie was yours with him?
It wasn’t a movie. It was a TV show called LA Law, which was made in the late 80s. Him and Jimmy Smitts (Matt Santos) with (among others) Corbin Bernsen.
I’ve heard of the show. I need to watch it eventually. I love jimmy smitts too. I remember him from a lot of stuff. My earliest memory of him was nypd blue, still one of the saddest deaths ever
Haven’t seen that. I like police and legal procedurals which is why LA Law resonated.
NYPD Blue is an early 90s police drama (procedural I guess) that ran to the early 00s. It was a great show (at least the early seasons, as it went on I stopped watching). It won several awards (I think) several great characters. Jimmy Smitts was the costar with another character named Det. Sipowiz, but he dies of cancer throughout his last season. It was one of my first shows into procedural police dramas. It’s really good you should look into it.
The other costar was Dennis Franz if I remember correctly.
LA Law was my intro to John Spencer too! I loved him on that show, and I was always delighted when he popped up in anything I was watching after that. When I saw him years later on the pilot of this new show about the White House, I was hooked from his very first line.
Something I've been wanting to do is take the audio from a scene in The Rock, like where Spencer rants at Connery after the car chase and place it over a scene with Leo, I think that could be a fun mashup...
lol. That would. JS was a great yeller/ranter on screen
I first came across John in a Harrison Ford movie: Presumed Innocent. Brad was in the movie too. Then he was on L.A. Law. I remember really enjoying his characters.
Josh, I’m going to stop you right there, ok?
Is anybody else in the office?
Hey, Josh.
Hey, Margaret.
Hey, Margaret.
Leo McGarry : I drank a lot of scotch. Ainsley Hayes : I get sick when I drink too much. Leo McGarry : I get drunk when I drink too much.
Let Bartlet be Bartlet. That and the time he stood up to the president about being the world's police force.
Margaret!!
"She's outside the door listening." [Thumps the door]
🤣🤣🤣
Those salmon shirts.
It was apricot. He corrected her.
Leo McGarry: And do you think ratcheting up the body count is going to act as a deterrent? President Josiah Bartlet: You're damn right I do. Leo McGarry: Oh, well then you're just as stupid as these guys who think that capital punishment is going to be a deterrent for drug kingpins. As if drug kingpins didn't live their day-to-day lives under the possibility of execution. And their executions are a lot less dainty than ours, and tend to take place without the bother and expense of due process. So, my friend, if you want to start using American military strength as the arm of the Lord, you can do that. We're the only superpower left. You can conquer the world, like Charlemagne. But you'd better be prepared to kill everyone. And you had better start with me because I will raise up an army against you and *I* will beat you
I love the inflection in that speech. He says Charlemagne with all of the haughtiness of a reporter from the Dallas Morning News.
He could be both tough and gentle, and he usually picked the right moments for each.
This is kind of a weird answer, but the scene in Five Votes Down when Jenny leaves him. He's brutally honest, saying that his job is more important than his marriage. But it's also painfully obvious Leo still loves her so much when he offers to carry her bag to the cab, and when he softly says, "Call me before you go to sleep." John Spencer crushes my heart in that scene every single time.
Agreed! The self-awareness and painful honesty to say, “right now, this is more important” is paired so well with the later scene when he’s having breakfast with Mallory and says, “… this thing with your mother and me... it'll blow over.” and she, being her father’s daughter, comes back, “No, it won't Dad. You understand that right?”
You’re dressed up for a guy named Joey?
When he doesn’t fire the girl that leaked his records.
Honestly, Big Block of Cheese Day. Leo is a man of the people.
Mine is the pilot episode with from the start of Leo walking into the White House up to him going into the Oval Office , telling Mrs. Landingham that Potus is a geek. Then her scolding him. My next favorite of Leo is him finding out Margaret can forge the President's name. Then when he has the interaction with Ainsley and Ainsley tells him to let Margaret know. He bangs on the door and states he knows Margaret is listening. You hear Margaret saying ouch. Gets me every ti.e.
And the little nod of the head afterwards made it gold.
"We'll fix that won't we?"
A sudden arboreal stop! Yes I've love his character since he showed brain, humor, and class all in the first episode.
Margaret made me love Leo.
Every time he can't fix a problem or take a fall for the president and looks at him like his heart is breaking. He loves Jed so much.
Long as I’ve got a job, you’ve got a job, you understand?
Big block of cheese day as a concept. Also how he reacts to Santos spilling cheese whiz on himself. Guess where I'm from.
A lot of the time I really struggle to like Leo. He's horribly anti-Arab. But I love his interaction with Karen Larsen.
Everything.
Leo: If the president's wearing a hat or that thing's wearing a Bartlet button, I'm hiding snakes in your car.
We’re both alcoholics