One of my favorite episodes of the West Wing is "Election Day," from early Season 4, during that brief moment before Robe Lowe left but after Joshua Malina had already come on board.
Malina is Will Bailey, a tragic/comic figure: a liberal Democratic consultant running a campaign in conservative Orange County. Long odds, even before his candidate died several days prior to the election. But he keeps on, believing he can win. He has a complex analysis, based on factors like higher than expected labor turnout, as well as depressed overall turnout because of the expected blowout and even because of the weather. But really he's just quixotic.
His sister urges him to calm down and concede, just a few hours before polls close: "The die is cast."
His response, and my ear worm: "There's a moment after you cast the die but before it hits the table. Breathe wrong and you'll change the way it lands."
I [heart] Joshua Malina.
BTW, forgive any audio sync snafus; I'm not a very good video editor. Still: enjoy the classic Sorkin.
P.S.: Thursday is when I stop worrying about the breathing.
I love the clip and the line, but your postscript is a lie--you'll continue to make us all crazy up until the moment of truth, and perhaps even beyond.
ReplyDelete@james: welcome to the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteAlso, "is" is a verb and should be capitalized in the header. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteI'm reminded of the Seinfeld where Jerry is trying to get Puddy and Elaine back together when he says, "Obviously no one else can stand being in a relationship with either on of you..." If I was marrying you two I would totally add that in. Good luck today!
ReplyDeleteMatt