History Awesome / TheWestWing

** That's just the public persona, the President as an institution, as a force of nature. The revelation of his true character is when, after spending an entire episode thinking he's going to get fired by a furious President, Josh gets specifically called by name as the staff leave the room.

** Really, Leo calling the President of the United States 'stupid', to his face, in the White House, 10 feet away from the Oval Office, is likely the ballsiest thing he has ever done in his career.

* Mulready gets a CMOA in virtually every scene he's in. His interview with President Bartlet, where he essentially dares him to appoint a judge to the Supreme Court who is not safe, middle-of-the-road choice, but instead someone who is visionary whose interpretation of law will last into the decades, is another.

* Joey is pretty much a walking MomentOfAwesome, but her speech about numbers in ''The War at Home'' is a particular standout.

-->'''Donna:''' I am not kidding. I have such an impulse to knock your heads together. I can't remember the last time I heard you two talk about anything other than how a campaign was playing in Washington. Cathy needed to take a second job so her dad could be covered by her insurance. She tried to tell you how bad things were for family farmers. You told her we already lost Indiana. You made fun of the fair but you didn't see they have livestock exhibitions and give prizes for the biggest tomato and the best heirloom apple. They're proud of what they grow. Eight modes of transportation, the kindness of six strangers, random conversations with twelve more, and nobody brought up Bartlet versus Ritchie but you. {{Beat}} [[DueToTheDead I'm writing letters, on your behalf, to the parents of the kids who were killed today. Can I have the table, please]]?

-->'''Donna:''' I am not kidding. I have such an impulse to knock your heads together. I can't remember the last time I heard you two talk about anything other than how a campaign was playing in Washington. Cathy needed to take a second job so her dad could be covered by her insurance. She tried to tell you how bad things were for family farmers. You told her we already lost Indiana. You made fun of the fair but you didn't see they have livestock exhibitions and give prizes for the biggest tomato and the best heirloom apple. They're proud of what they grow. Eight modes of transportation, the kindness of six strangers, random conversations with twelve more, and nobody brought up Bartlet versus Ritchie but you. [[{{Beat}}]] [[DueToTheDead I'm writing letters, on your behalf, to the parents of the kids who were killed today. Can I have the table, please]]?

-->'''President Bartlet''' (entering): I am the Lord your God, thou shalt worship no other God before me.

'''Penn''': Why? What if we burned a flag, not in protest, but in celebration of the very freedoms that allow us to burn a flag - the freedoms that everyone who has ever worked in this magnificent building has pledged to preserve and protect? \\

'' Teller's facial expression dares Josh to make a snappy comeback.'' \\

* After Creator/PennAndTeller perform their flag-burning trick in the White House, Josh insists that they deny it and retract the statements they were using their performance to make, while Teller's face takes on a "You-have-no-idea-who-you're-dealing-with" expression. Then, right on cue...

* After Creator/PenAndTeller perform their flag-burning trick in the White House, Josh insists that they deny it and retract the statements they were using their performance to make, while Teller's face takes on a "You-have-no-idea-who-you're-dealing-with" expression. Then, right on cue...

--> '''Penn''': Hi! I'm Penn Jillette! This is Teller!
[...]
--> '''Penn''': You tell me, Charlie: Did we burn a flag, or did we just vanish it in a patriotic flash of fireworks? \\

--> '''Penn''': Hi! I'm Penn Jillette! This is my partner, Teller!

* After CreatorPenAndTeller burn a flag in the White House, Josh complains, only to have Penn politely negate his bluster, and that's just for starters.

* Jonathan Lydell, father of Lowell Lydell (murdered for being gay), gets one in "Take Out the Trash Day." The West Wing staff are worried that he's ashamed of his son, but then he opens his mouth:
-->I don't understand how this president, who I voted for... I don't understand how he can take such a completely weak-ass position on gay rights--gays in the military, same-sex marriage, gay adoption, boards of education... Where the hell is he? I want to know what quality, necessary to being a parent, the president feels my son lacked. I want to know from this president, who has served not one day in uniform--I had two tours in Vietnam--I want to know what quality necessary to being a soldier this president feels my son lacked. Lady, I'm not embarrassed that my son was gay; my government is.

-->'''Joey:''' You say that these numbers mean dial it down. I say they mean dial it up. You haven't gotten through. There are people you haven't persuaded yet. These number mean dial it up. Otherwise you're like the French radical, watching the crowd run by and saying, "There go my people. I must find out where they're going so I can lead them."

* In the same episode, Bartlet orders that they come up with [[DisproportionalRetribution "a disproportional response,"]] and I quote, that they spend the next 60 minutes thinking up an American response scenario that doesn't make [Bartlet] think they're just docking somebody's damn allowance. What do they do? ''They actually do it.'' They deliberately target Hassan airport, which has thousands of people coming through daily, and then they tell the president that this ''is'' a disproportionate response, [[WhatTheHellHero just like he asked]]. The effect is that Bartlet backs down from his aggressive warpath and decides instead to go with one of their proportional response scenarios instead, becoming a lot more humble in his future military actions.

** There's also a small, ''incredibly subtle, '' awesome moment for Joey's interpeter, Kenny: if you're curious how Joey knew Donna was trying to play matchmaker, go back and watch the previous episode again. In ''Bartlet's Third State of the Union,'' Donna tells Josh to ask Joey out ''right as Joey and Kenny are walking back into the room.'' Since Joey is deaf, Donna doesn't think twice about saying that out loud, but it obviously doesn't occur to Donna that Kenny will overhear and pass the information along to Joey, which he clearly does in some off-screen moment, because there's no other way Joey would have known about it.

** There's also a small, ''incredibly subtle, '' awesome moment for Joey's interpeter, Kenny: if you're curious how Joey knew Donna was trying to play matchmaker, go back and watch the previous episode again. In ''Bartlet's Third State of the Union,'' Donna tells Josh to ask Joey out ''right as Joey and Kenny are walking back into the room.'' Since Joey is deaf, Donna doesn't think twice about saying that out loud, but it clearly doesn't occur to Donna that Kenny will overhear and pass the information along to Joey, which he clearly does in some off-screen moment, because there's no other way Joey would have known about it.

* From that same episode, Donna has been trying to talk Josh into asking Joey out, amd Joey correctly deduces that it's because ''Donna'' likes Josh, and is trying to cover herself with misdirection.
** There's also a small, ''incredibly subtle'' awesome moment for Joey's interpeter, Kenny: if you're curious how Joey knew Donna was trying to play matchmaker, go back and watch the previous episode again. In ''Bartlet's Third State of the Union,'' Donna tells Josh to ask Joey out ''right as Joey and Kenny are walking back into the room.'' Since Joey is deaf, Donna doesn't think twice about saying that out loud, but it clearly doesn't occur to Donna that Kenny will overhear and pass the information along to Joey, which he clearly does in some off-screen moment, because there's no other way Joey would have known about it.

-->'''Santos''': Good evening. I'm running for President and if you don't know know who I am, I wouldn't be surprised. I've been shut out of tomorrow night's debate for suggesting that it actually be a debate and this is the only ad I can afford. I got in this to improve a broken school system, to fix entitlement because they're going bankrupt, to expand health coverage because it will save money if fewer people in up in emergency rooms. What I found is that Presidential campaigns aren't about these things. They're about clawing your opponents' eyes out as long as you don't get tagged for it. So how about this: I will never say anything about my opponents or anything about anything without saying it myself, right into the camera. You might not get to hear much of me but when you do, you'll know I stand by it. I'm Matt Santos and you better believe I approve this ad.