meebly — 19 years ago(August 25, 2006 11:51 AM)

I loved his character of Chairman of the Joint Chiefs on "The West Wing", a no-nonsense military type who still had an open mind and a clear-eyed view of how to keep peace while always preparing for war. He reminded me of the generals who were rebuked for informing our beloved real-world president and sec. of defense that, in the case of Iraq, we either needed to go all in (at least another 100,000 soldiers) or get the hell out.
As far as the show, I thought he always came across as the voice of reason when Bartlet or Leo started to lose focus. I especially liked the episode where he very nonchalantly scolded a committee opposed to gays serving openly in the military by reminding them that, although the army wasn't meant to be an instrument of social change, that's what they said about integrating the troops in the 40s and 50s, but that the army got past it and grew stronger as a result, and today a black man (refer to Colin Powell under Bush the elder) is chairman of the joint chiefs.