the-french-artist/wikipedia_20220301.simple_sentence_embeddings huggingface dataset:
The West Wing 
 In the first season, the administration is in the middle of its first year and is still having trouble settling in and making progress on legislative issues.
The West Wing 
 The second season brings scandal as the White House is rocked by allegations of criminal conduct and the President must decide whether he will run for a second term.
The West Wing 
 The third and fourth seasons take an in-depth look at the campaign trail and the specter of both foreign and domestic terrorism.
The West Wing 
 In the fifth season, the president begins to encounter more issues on the foreign front, while at home he must face off with the newly elected Speaker of the House over the future of the federal budget.
The West Wing 
 The sixth season chronicles the quest to replace Bartlet in the next election, following the primary campaigns of several candidates from both parties, while the President himself attempts to build his legacy, but finds his ability to govern compromised by his illness.
The West Wing 
 In the seventh season, the president must face a leak of confidential information about a secret NASA program from inside the White House, while the Democratic and Republican candidates battle to replace him in the general election.
The West Wing 
 The series developed following the success of 1995 theatrical film The American President, for which Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay, and Martin Sheen played the White House Chief of Staff.
The West Wing 
 Sorkin used some of the same research he had done for The American President a suggestion from a friend to create The West Wing.
The West Wing 
 According to the DVD commentary, Sorkin intended to center the show on Sam Seaborn and the other senior staff with the president in an unseen or a secondary role.
The West Wing 
 Positive critical and public reaction to Sheen's performance raised his character's profile, decreasing Lowe's perceived significance.
The West Wing 
 In addition, according to Sorkin, the storylines began to focus less on Sam and more on Josh Lyman, the deputy chief of staff.
The West Wing 
 For the first four seasons, Sorkin wrote almost every episode of the series, occasionally reusing plot elements, episode titles, character names, and actors from his previous work, Sports Night, a sitcom in which he began to develop his signature dialogue style of rhythmic, snappy, and intellectual banter.
The West Wing 
 Fellow executive producer and director Thomas Schlamme championed the "walk and talk," a continuous shot tracking in front of the characters as they walk from one place to another that became part of The West Wing's signature visual style.
The West Wing 
 Sorkin's hectic writing schedule often led to cost overruns and schedule slips, and he opted to leave the show after the fourth season, following increasing personal problems, including an arrest for possession of illegal drugs.
The West Wing 
 It had suffered a significant ratings fall after being placed in the same timeslot as ABC's Top 20 hit Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, and CBS' Top 30 hit Cold Case.
The West Wing 
 The West Wing offers a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the White House, and the show's legitimacy, political slant, and film merits have generated considerable discussion.
The West Wing 
 The West Wing is not completely accurate in its portrayal of the actual West Wing; however, former White House staffers agree that the show "captures the feel [of the West Wing], shorn of a thousand undramatic details."
The West Wing 
 Former White House Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers as well as expert pollster Patrick Caddell served as consultants for the show from the beginning, helping writers and actors depict the West Wing accurately.
The West Wing 
 Other former White House staffers, such as Peggy Noonan and Gene Sperling, have served as consultants for brief periods.
The West Wing 
 A documentary special in the third season compared the show's depiction of the West Wing to the real thing.
The West Wing 
 Many former West Wing denizens applauded the show's depiction of the West Wing, including advisor David Gergen, Press Secretary Dee Dee Myers, Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove, and former Presidents Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, and Bill Clinton.
The West Wing 
 While critics often praised The West Wing for its writing, others faulted the show as unrealistically optimistic.
The West Wing 
 Television critic Heather Havrilesky asked "What rock did these morally pure creatures crawl out from under and, more important, how do you go from innocent millipede to White House staffer without becoming soiled or disillusioned by the dirty realities of politics along the way?"
The West Wing 
 Despite acclaim for the veracity of the series, Sorkin believed, "our responsibility is to captivate you for however long we've asked for your attention."
The West Wing 
 Former White House aide Matthew Miller noted that Sorkin "captivates viewers by making the human side of politics more real than life — or at least more real than the picture we get from the news."
The West Wing 
 Miller also noted that by portraying politicians with empathy, the show created a "subversive competitor" to the cynical views of politics in media.
The West Wing 
 In the essay "The West Wing and the West Wing", author Myron Levine agreed, stating that the series "presents an essentially positive view of public service and a healthy corrective to anti-Washington stereotypes and public cynicism."
The West Wing 
 Dr. Staci L. Beavers, associate professor of political science at California State University, San Marcos, wrote a short essay, The West Wing as a Pedagogical Tool, concerning the viability of The West Wing as a teaching tool.
The West Wing 
 She concluded, "While the series’ purpose is for-profit entertainment, The West Wing presents great pedagogical potential."
The West Wing 
 The West Wing, in her opinion, gave greater depth to the political process usually espoused only in stilted talking points on shows like Face the Nation and Meet the Press.
The West Wing 
 However, the merits of a particular argument may be obscured by the viewer's opinion of the character.
The West Wing 
 Beavers also noted that characters with opposing viewpoints were often set up to be "bad people" in the viewer's eyes.
The West Wing 
 These characters were assigned undesirable characteristics having nothing to do with their political opinions, such as being romantically involved with a main character's love interest.
The West Wing 
 In Beavers's opinion, a critical analysis of the show's political views can present a worthwhile learning experience to the viewer.
The West Wing 
 One of the stranger impacts of the show occurred on January 31, 2006, when The West Wing was said to have played a hand in defeating Tony Blair's government in the British House of Commons, during the so called "West Wing Plot".
The West Wing 
 The plan was allegedly hatched after a Conservative Member of Parliament watched the episode, "A Good Day", in which Democrats block a bill aimed at limiting stem cell research, by hiding in an office until the Republican Speaker calls the vote.
The West Wing 
 The West Wing was sometimes called "The Left Wing" by detractors because of its portrayal of an ideal liberal administration and its alleged demonization of conservatives.
The West Wing 
 Chris Lehmann, senior editor of Washington Post Bookworld, characterized the show as a revisionist look at the Clinton presidency: an attempt to solidify the Clinton legacy and to make America forget the Whitewater and Lewinsky scandals.
The West Wing 
 On the other hand, some Republicans have admired the show since its inception, before even the departure of Sorkin and the show's resulting shift toward the center.
The West Wing 
 Journalist Matthew Miller wrote, "although the show indeed has a liberal bias on issues, it presents a truer, more human picture of the people behind the headlines than most of today's Washington journalists."
The West Wing 
 In its first season, The West Wing attracted critical attention in the television community with a record nine Emmy wins.
The West Wing 
 The show has been praised for its high production values and repeatedly recognized for its cinematic achievements.
The West Wing 
 However, many in the television community believe that the true genius of the show was Sorkin's rapid-fire and witty scripts.
The West Wing 
 The West Wing is noted for developing the "walk-and-talk"—long Steadicam tracking shots showing characters walking down hallways while involved in long conversations.
The West Wing 
 In a typical "walk-and-talk" shot, the camera leads two characters down a hallway as they speak to each other.
The West Wing 
 One of these characters generally breaks off and the remaining character is then joined by another character, who initiates another conversation as they continue walking.
The West Wing 
 These "walk-and-talks" create a dynamic feel for what would otherwise be long expository dialogue, and have become a staple for dialogue-intensive television show scenes.
The West Wing 
 In its first year, The West Wing received nine Emmys, a record for most won by a series in a single season.
The West Wing 
 The show also received the Emmy Award for Outstanding Drama Series in 2000, 2001, 2002, and 2003, tying Hill Street Blues and L.A. Law for most won in this category.
The West Wing 
 The show shares the Emmy Award record for most acting nominations by regular cast members for a single show in one year. (
The West Wing 
 Allison Janney, John Spencer and Stockard Channing each won an Emmy (for Lead Actress, Supporting Actor and Supporting Actress).
The West Wing 
 The others nominated were Martin Sheen (for Lead Actor), Richard Schiff, Dule Hill and Bradley Whitford (for Supporting Actor), and Janel Moloney and Mary-Louise Parker (for Supporting Actress).
The West Wing 
 In that same year, Mark Harmon, Tim Matheson and Ron Silver were each nominated in the Guest Actor category (but none won the award).
The West Wing 
 This gave the show an Emmy Award record for most acting nominations total (including guest performer category) in a single year, with 12 acting nominations.
The West Wing 
 In addition to its Emmys, the show won two Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards, in 2000 and 2001, for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series.
The West Wing 
 Martin Sheen is the only cast member to have won a Golden Globe, and he and Allison Janney are the only cast members to win a SAG award (for best actor and best actress).
The West Wing 
 W.G. "Snuffy" Walden received an Emmy Award for Main Title Theme Music in 2000 for "The West Wing Opening Theme".
The West Wing 
 Many cast members have been Emmy-nominated for their work on The West Wing but have not won, including Martin Sheen—who was nominated each year for all seven seasons of the series without receiving the award—as well as Janel Moloney, who was nominated twice, and Dulé Hill, Rob Lowe, and Mary-Louise Parker, who were all nominated once.
The West Wing 
 Matthew Perry, Oliver Platt, Ron Silver, Tim Matheson, and Mark Harmon have also received Emmy nominations for guest starring on the show.
The West Wing 
 After the real-world election of Republican President George W. Bush in 2000, many wondered whether the liberal show could retain its relevance and topicality.
The West Wing 
 However, by exploring many of the same issues facing the Bush administration from a Democratic point of view, the show continued to appeal to a broad audience of both Democrats and Republicans.
The West Wing 
 In its second season episode "The Midterms", President Bartlet admonishes fictional radio host Dr. Jenna Jacobs for her views regarding homosexuality at a private gathering at the White House.
The West Wing 
 Dr. Jacobs is a caricature of radio personality Dr. Laura Schlessinger, who strongly disapproves of homosexuality.
The West Wing 
 Many of the president's biblical references in his comments to Dr. Jacobs appear to have come from an open letter to Dr. Schlessinger, circulated online in early May 2000.
The West Wing 
 The Bartlet administration experiences a scandal during the second and third seasons that has been compared to the Monica Lewinsky affair.
The West Wing 
 The scandal centers around President Bartlet's nondisclosure of his illness to the electorate during the election.
The West Wing 
 He is investigated by an opposition Congress for defrauding the public and eventually accepts Congressional censure.
The West Wing 
 Multiple sclerosis advocacy groups have praised the show for its accurate portrayal of the symptoms of MS and stressing that it is not fatal.
The West Wing 
 Following the September 11, 2001 attacks, the start of the third season was postponed for a week, as were most American television premieres that year.
The West Wing 
 The episode "Isaac and Ishmael" aired on October 3 and addresses the sobering reality of terrorism in America and the wider world, albeit with no specific reference to September 11.
The West Wing 
 While "Isaac and Ishmael" received mixed critical reviews, it illustrated the show's flexibility in addressing current events.
The West Wing 
 The cast of the show state during the opening of the episode that it is not part of The West Wing continuity.
The West Wing 
 While the September 11 attacks do not occur in The West Wing continuity, the country does enter into a variation of the War on Terrorism.
The West Wing 
 The war begins during the show's third season, when a plot to blow up the Golden Gate Bridge was uncovered; in response, the President orders the assassination of terrorist leader Abdul ibn Shareef.
The West Wing 
 This storyline draws similarities to the real-world U.S. invasion of Afghanistan as well as U.S. relations with Saudi Arabia, as it brings the Middle East to the forefront of U.S. foreign relations and elevated terrorism as a serious threat in The West Wing universe.
The West Wing 
 In Seasons 3, 4 and 5, the fictional Bahji terror group seems to act as a fictional stand-in for the real world Al Qaeda, but in Seasons 6 and 7, characters mention Al Qaeda itself as a threat, despite no clearly stated history of Al Qaeda terror attacks in The West Wing continuity (although Nancy McNally does refer to Osama Bin Laden as a potential threat at the beginning of Season 2.)
The West Wing 
 In the middle of the fourth season, Bartlet's White House is confronted with the genocide in the fictional African country of Equatorial Kundu which was compared to the Rwandan Genocide of 1994.
The West Wing 
 The result was new foreign policy doctrine for Bartlet Administration and military intervention to stop the violence, which came after much hesitation and reluctance to call the conflict a genocide.
The West Wing 
 In reality, the Clinton Administration didn't intervene in Rwanda, making series events look like a moral imperative.
The West Wing 
 In the sixth and seventh seasons, The West Wing explores a leak of top-secret information by a senior staffer at the White House.
The West Wing 
 In the storyline, the International Space Station is damaged and can no longer produce oxygen for the astronauts to breathe.
The West Wing 
 With no other methods of rescue available, the president is reminded of the existence of a top-secret military space shuttle.
The West Wing 
 Following the president's inaction, the shuttle story is leaked to a White House reporter, Greg Brock (analogous to Judith Miller), who prints the story in The New York Times.
The West Wing 
 In order to stop the investigation, in which authorities suspect Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg, Toby Ziegler admits leaking the information, and the President is forced to dismiss him.
The West Wing 
 In comparison, the Plame affair resulted in the arrest and conviction of Lewis Libby, the vice president's chief of staff.
The West Wing 
 Richard Armitage, an official in the Bush State Department, acknowledged leaking information about Plame to reporters but was never charged with a crime.)
The West Wing 
 Libby's two and a half year prison sentence was later commuted by President Bush, though the other facet of his sentence ($250,000 fine) stands until Libby's appeals were to be considered.
The West Wing 
 Peacemaking and terrorism in Israel, West Bank and the Gaza Strip, including the deaths of 3 Americans in the attack on a diplomatic convoy in the Gaza Strip and a peace negotiation at Camp David, similar to the Camp David 2000 Summit.
The West Wing 
 Brinksmanship and potential conflict between the People's Republic of China and Republic of China over Taiwan's political status (including a situation similar to the Third Taiwan Strait Crisis when the PRC holds military exercises in response to the ROC's first democratic elections)
The West Wing 
 The 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (referred to directly, along with the fictional Marriage Recognition and Sanctity of Marriage Acts)
The West Wing 
 A bombing of apartment blocks in Moscow, leading to allegation that the Russian President orchestrated the attacks
The West Wing 
 The Isla Perejil crisis, involving Morocco and Spain in 2002, is portrayed in the fifth season episode Disaster Relief, in which Greece and Albania vie for the control of a deserted islet, inhabited only by goats (as Perejil is).
The West Wing 
 President Bartlet has made three appointments to the fictional Supreme Court and maintains a full cabinet, although the names and terms of all members have not been revealed.
The West Wing 
 Many other government officials, such as mayors, governors, judges, representatives, and senators, have been mentioned and seen as well.
The West Wing 
 A near meltdown at the nuclear plant becomes the focus of an October surprise for Republican nominee Senator Arnold Vinick during the 2006 presidential election, due to Vinick's strong pro-nuclear stance and revelations of his active lobbying for the construction of the plant.
The West Wing 
 This was seen to be a key factor in Vinick's narrow defeat in the election by Democratic nominee Congressman Matt Santos.
The West Wing 
 It is stated to be a very small community of only 63 people, of whom 42 are registered voters, that votes at one minute past midnight on the day of the New Hampshire primary, hours before the rest of the state, and has accurately predicted the winner of every presidential election since William Howard Taft in 1908.
The West Wing 
 It is based on the true New Hampshire communities of Hart's Location and Dixville Notch, which in real life do vote before the rest of the state during the primaries, and also loosely upon the concept of "bellwether states" in US presidential elections.
The West Wing 
 Kennison State is a fictional university in Iowa that was used as the setting of a bombing in the beginning of the fourth season.
The West Wing 
 While several real-world leaders exist in the show's universe, most foreign countries have fictional rulers.
The West Wing 
 Real people mentioned in The West Wing include Muammar al-Gaddafi, Yasser Arafat, Fidel Castro, Queen Elizabeth II, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, King Carl Gustaf, Thabo Mbeki and Osama bin Laden.
The West Wing 
 However, when a peace accord was worked out between Israel and the Palestinian Authority at the start of the show's sixth season, the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority was the fictional Nizar Farad, not Arafat. (
The West Wing 
 Entire countries are invented as composite pictures that epitomize many of the problems that plague real nations in certain areas of the world:
The West Wing 
 Qumar, a fictional oil-rich, terrorist-sponsoring Middle Eastern state, is repeatedly a source of trouble for the Bartlet administration.
The West Wing 
 According to maps on the show, Qumar is in southern Iran, directly across the important Strait of Hormuz.
The West Wing 
 Jabal Nafusah (also the name of a real-life Libyan city) seems to be the largest city and the capital, according to maps shown of the country.
The West Wing 
 The nation was first introduced in the third season where it was mentioned as a close ally of the United States.
The West Wing 
 Qumar continues on the show to be a U.S. ally, though the sultan and other officials were extremely troubled by the Bartlet administration's assassination of Defense Minister Abdul ibn Shareef, and a bombing campaign and invasion that followed Zoey Bartlet's abduction by Qumari extremists (ostensibly in retaliation for Shareef's murder).
The West Wing 
 As a result of the air strikes, gas pipelines were damaged, leading to economic troubles for the country and its European allies.
The West Wing 
 During the final season episode "The Cold", a situation room map shows the Persian Gulf clearly, but omits Qumar.
The West Wing 
 Equatorial Kundu is a fictional African nation blighted by AIDS and a civil war resembling the 1994 Rwandan genocide.
The West Wing 
 When Kundu was first mentioned in season 2, it is led by President Nimbala who is executed by the end of the episode.
The West Wing 
 In January 2003 of the series' timeline ("Inauguration, Part I"), the Arkutu-run government of President Nzele (described as a "sadistic madman") begins an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Induye in Bitanga, killing 200 people.
The West Wing 
 In President Josiah Bartlet's second inaugural address ("Inauguration Over There"), he announces the new Bartlet Doctrine for the use of force: America shall intervene whenever there are humanitarian interests at stake.
The West Wing 
 With that new doctrine, Bartlet sends a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division, the 101st Airborne Division, and a Marine Expeditionary Unit, a force of 11,000 troops in total, to Kundu ("The California 47th").
The West Wing 
 President Nimbala and his aide appear to speak Setswana, a Bantu language spoken in South Africa and Botswana, which would imply a Southern African setting.
The West Wing 
 The Season 4 appearance seems to more firmly place the country in West Africa, near to the Ivory Coast and Ghana.
The West Wing 
 In general, The West Wing attempts to create an alternative reality, in which there is a subtly different set of historical truths in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.
The West Wing 
 In particular, the show tries to suggest that the last "real" president in its timeline is Richard Nixon, and to chart the careers of its principal players in the light of that decision.
The West Wing 
 However, through timeline analysis, it can be assumed that while Richard Nixon was the last President to hold a real-life presidential term, Ronald Reagan was the last real-life President.
The West Wing 
 Fictional Presidents who served between Nixon and Bartlet include one-term Democrat D. Wire Newman (James Cromwell) and two-term Republican Owen Lassiter.
The West Wing 
 Leo McGarry is mentioned as being Labor Secretary in the administration that was in office in 1993 and 1995.
The West Wing 
 In the first season, an outgoing Supreme Court Justice tells President Bartlet that he had been wanting to retire for 5 years, but waited "for a Democrat."
The West Wing 
 The season four episode "Debate Camp" features a flashback to the days just before Bartlet's inauguration, as Donna Moss meets with her Republican predecessor, Jeff Johnson, who makes it clear that the outgoing Republican administration has been in office for eight years.
The West Wing 
 In season six Leo says that the Republicans have been "out of power for eight years", and Republicans at their convention say "eight (years) is enough".
The West Wing 
 The passage of time on the show relative to that of the real world is somewhat ambiguous when marked by events of shorter duration (e.g., votes, campaigns).
The West Wing 
 Sorkin has noted in a DVD commentary track for the second season episode "18th and Potomac" that he has tried to avoid tying The West Wing to a specific period of time.
The West Wing 
 Despite this, real years are occasionally mentioned, usually in the context of elections and President Bartlet's two-term administration.
The West Wing 
 The show's presidential elections are held in 2002 and 2006, which are the years of the midterm elections in reality.