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This week's the West Wing was short on the usual discussion of substantive issues. Instead, the themes of the show were Ainsley's first couple days on the job as the new associate counsel at the White House; Josh's problems with the insurance company, regarding his claim for payment of medical bills in connection with being shot; C.J.'s dressing down of a Army General who is planning to publicly criticize the President; and the President and First Lady's very open desire to have sex with each other.

Reoccurring through each theme was a dialogue of shouting - Josh shouting in unbelief about the insurance company, the Chief White House Counsel shouting at the President for hiring a republican, C.J. shouting at the staff assistant to the Army General, and Sam shouting at (and firing) staff members who were rude to Ainsley. Anybody who has worked in or visited the real West Wing can confirm that outbursts and shouting is not something that regularly occurs, especially any outbursts or shouting in public spaces. The most unbelievable scene was the Chief Counsel charging into the Oval Office and shouting about the employment of Ainsley. As reported in last week's review, the Oval Office is a heavily guarded room, especially when the President is inside. Nobody- not even the First Lady- charges in unannounced, especially when the President is giving a radio address and has visitors in the Oval Office.

Another very unbelievable part of this week's show was the office space in which Ainsley was assigned to work. The show portrayed Leo walking with Ainsley to her new office. They were walking down several flights of stairs into what appeared to be a dark and cold basement. In fact, the sets were designed after the Old Executive Office Building or "OEOB" that sits to the west of the West Wing. The OEOB is where the majority of the President's staff has offices, because the real West Wing is a very small building. However, the show's depiction of the OEOB was simply wrong, especially the depiction of an office for an Associate White House Counsel.

The Offices in the OEOB are very large and grand. The OEOB is a huge French Empire building that is highly decorated with marble floors, big solid wood doors, and 20-foot ceilings. In fact, there is a running story in Washington that the European tourist will stand on Pennsylvania Avenue and compare the White House and the OEOB and ask, why does your leader choose to live in the cottage instead of the palace?" The attorneys working in Counsel's Office at the White House have some of the best office space in the OEOB. There, offices are generally nearly 1000 square feet in size, with lots of big windows and old fireplaces. Readers can rest assured that nobody works in the kind of office space given to Ainsley, as portrayed on the West Wing.

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Regarding C.J.'s dress down of the Army General, this would never happen either. First, a press secretary to the President does not have the power or the clout to summon a military official to the White House. Second, C.J., as press secretary to the President, is responsible for the talking heads in the White House, such as other members of the President's staff. The Pentagon has it's own press staff to deal with such media related matters. Moreover, the Army General is not a political figure and he is not a political appointee. Therefore, neither the White House nor the President's political party has any control over what he says publicly.

Finally, the thing about the President and First Lady's desire to have sex. Presumably the television show was attempting to demonstrate that the President and First Lady's schedules were so busy that they did not have time to see each other and, therefore, they had to take any opportunity for any free time in their schedules to have sex. While this open discussion of sex by our Commander and Chief may not shock the conscious as much as, say, actually having sex with a young intern and then lying about it, the silly sex discussion just seemed out of context in a show that usually focuses on substantive issues.

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