thirdmonday | M is for Mary Marsh for duckgirlie, by audeamus

Title: M is for Mary Marsh
Recipient:

duckgirlie
Fandom/s: Realnews/West Wing
Rating: PG
Warnings: None really
Characters: Keith, Rachel, Richard Wolffe, Ana Marie Cox, Anderson and other MSNBC/CNN people
Prompt: Countdown/Maddow/AC360 reactions to one of the big WW Scandals.

Summary: Various pundits react and report on the first big story out of the Bartlet White House (sort of including the bicycle accident, but not really)

Disclaimer: All television shows, movies, books, and other copyrighted material referred to in this work, and the characters, settings, and events thereof, are the properties of their respective owners. As this work is an interpretation of the original material and not for-profit, it constitutes fair use. Reference to real persons, places, or events are made in a fictional context, and are not intended to be libelous, defamatory, or in any way factual.

Author:

audeamus
Note: thanks to

jamapanama for the beta job

When Keith caught the taped debate and heard what Josh Lyman was saying to that cow, he almost snorted his drink from laughing so hard. He immediately called Rachel and relayed half the quote before she finished it for him.

"I can't wait to see the response from her pals on the right."

"I know, right? They're probably going to try and dig up some dirt on Lyman or his boss.. " Keith chuckled as visions of outraged Christian-right groups and their leaders danced in his head, already pondering puns or references he could drop. He'd need to check on their sites and some conservative media first, also talk to his producers and graphics department.

Rachel hummed and Keith could hear someone else speaking in a low voice. "Listen Keith, call me tomorrow morning if anything else happens, you know responses from either side.. otherwise I'll see you at the office. Get some sleep.. we got a lot of research and calls to make. This is gonna be big."

Keith chuckled again and agreed, "Kiss Susan and Poppy for me. See you tomorrow."

"Night Keith. You do the same for Katy."

*****

Rachel bounced into his office the next day, clutching a few papers. Likely they were memos and talking points from the Christian-right groups, rounding up the troops for battling the Bartlet administration for daring to viciously verbally attack one of their dear leaders. Or they were an apology from Toby Ziegler's office for the remarks.

Turns out, Keith was a little more than half right.

Rachel waved a paper excitedly, "Ana just sent me an e-mail, and Chuck Todd says that the White House has invited all these big names to meet the Communications department. No word on what they'll discuss, but it's pretty obvious." She grinned and waited for him to fill in what was so obvious.

"What Josh Lyman said." He couldn't help but match her grin.

Rachel nodded, "But there's word going around that President Bartlet wants to address other things. I want to jointly cover the possibilities with you and your team. Like this legislation that's on the House floor.. "

The discussion turned to things like the newest legislation from the pro-life caucus of both the House and Senate, placing restrictions on condom distribution, and another bill from the religious members of both chambers regarding allowing school prayer, and the like. Rachel noted that these leaders would probably use them as bargaining chips and a call to Lawrence confirmed that this sort of deal was likely to come up. Whether the White House would go for it remained to be seen.

Keith would have given almost anything to be a fly on the wall for that meeting, but he and Rachel would have to keep checking on their sources. In the mean time they continued talking, making calls to Ana, and planning other segments, also checking their TVs to see if any daytime news channels were talking to someone at the White House.

Once, Rachel caught Andrea talking to Chuck while he stood in front of the White House, but it was quite another story altogether. Something about spotting the Deputy of Communications with a call girl. They ignored it in favor of more pressing stories and sources calling in with information about the Christian-right leaders summit.

What didn't surprise Keith was the clip of Rush Limbaugh that one of his writers sent him, with Rush on the verge of calling a revolution of some sort on the White House and going on rant after rant about the attempt at secularization of society. Typical, really. He couldn't wait to mock it later that night. Rachel couldn't either if the glee on her face was any indicator.

******

Anderson was walking to his office when Erica intercepted him with a smile on her face, saying he had to get Mary Marsh on the show. He blinked in surprise,

"But she's a complete-"

"Shhh.. I know! But listen, you have to watch her getting chewed by the Deputy Chief of Staff, it was priceless stuff. If you get her on the show, then we can draw out some people from the White House."

He smiled and shook his head, "It's bad enough when we have Tony Perkins.. you love putting my blood pressure on the line, I think." They had reached his office, Anderson setting down his bag and and coat, then opening his laptop. "I'll see if I can get her or one of her spokespeople on, or talk to the bookers, alright?"

"I can't wait. And don't forget to watch it! I recorded it on your set so you wouldn't miss it." She left to get more coffee, leaving him to watch and take notes.

Anderson let out a small giggle once he was halfway through the show, when Mary's face got noticeably pinker under all the TV makeup as Josh pointed out the various issues that she was wrong or missing out on facts. He wondered how the rest of the Right would react to such pointed remarks from the Deputy Chief of Staff.

*****

Richard decided to go meet Chuck after the White House Press briefing and get some answers (after catching Lyman's interview and then the news of the bicycle accident on Morning Joe). He was amused though thrown off by the enthusiastic rapport that his colleague was having with the chief correspondent (Danny was it?). Getting closer he caught snippets of conversation, but not much. Chuck laughed at what seemed to be a really good joke and waved to him as Danny departed for another spot on the White House lawn,

"Richard! You heard about everything I suppose?"

"Over my breakfast, correct. Got anything new I can bring to HQ?"

"I'm about to go on air with Andrea, but you can stick around in case Keith or Chris wants to bounce things with you."

He grinned at the idea; he missed trading puns and laughs with the big guy. Watching Chuck go to work, Richard's attention wandered from his words to the beautiful changing colors of the Washington foilage, feeling the crisp air blow around him and the camera crew. He also made a mental note to take his kids to a park before he departed for New York that night.

*****

After Rachel's show, Keith texted her for drinks in his office. They fell into an easy chatter about the incoming e-mails (ignoring most of the hate mail from right wing groups as usual, though Keith noted one in which Rachel and he were apparently put on a sort of praying list).

"Hey, we got something from the White House."

Rachel swallowed some of her Sazerac and said, "Well? Read it out loud. I wanna know what Mr. Lyman thought of our oh-so-flattering stories."

"'Dear Mr. Olbermann and Dr. Maddow (yes I remembered one of you has a doctorate), I'm writing on behalf of Josh Lyman to say that we all appreciate your true and fair reporting on this whole Mary Marsh story. No, we're not telling you to paint us in a certain light, really it's more an encouragement to keep doing what you're doing. Though my boss would kill me if he knew I was e-maling you two about this. On a slightly more personal note, I enjoy both of your shows. Post script: Mr. Olbermann, you really should pick better ties. Sincerely Donna, Assistant to Deputy Chief of Staff of the White House.'"

"How lovely of her.. wait I remember meeting her.. "

"At the Media Correspondents' dinner, yeah," Keith smiled at the memory. "I think she was the one who met us in Josh Lyman's place."

"Some meeting with the Chief of Staff, right. Good open bar too."

"Of course you'd remember that. Probably got some poor White House interns drunk as sailors on Sidecars."

"Interns yes, poor no. I distinctly recall collecting good tips for mixing such good drinks."

"You took money from interns?!"

"They offered!"

Keith rolled his eyes and turned on the TV to CNN, and they watched as Anderson gave a tease for tomorrow night, when they would have an exclusive interview with the Deputy Chief of Staff. Without saying another word, they exchanged looks, weighing similar thoughts about analyzing said interview. That was another day and battle though.