I know everybody else has already posted this but I've been dealing with the news since very late last night :(

John Spencer has died and I'm very sad and sorry. My thoughts are with his family and friends and his coworkers in The West Wing. I hope he is happy wherever he is.

He was Leo McGarry! I love that character because he was and he is Leo McGarry. He made that character what it was, what it is.

Leo is one of my favorite characters. His relation and discussions with Josh were great!!!

To remember him, I'm posting some parts of the Pilot where he just steals the show from the beginning.



Security Officer: It's a nice morning, Mr. McGarry.
Leo: We'll take care of that in a hurry, won't we Mike?
Security Officer: Yes sir.
Bonnie meets him. She carries some papers.
Bonnie: Don't kill the messenger, Leo.
Leo: Why the hell not, Bonnie.
Bonnie: Five minutes?
Leo: Please.
Leo walks through the corridors of the West Wing.
Leo: Hey, Emma.
Emma: Good morning.
Leo: Wilson?
Wilson: Hey, Leo.
Leo: Joe.
Jeffrey: Jeffrey.
Leo: Whatever.
Leo pops his head into an outer office.
Leo: Josh!
Donna: Good morning, Leo.
Leo: Hey Donna. Is he in yet?
Donna: Yeah.
Leo: Can you get him?
Donna (shouting): Josh!
Leo: Thanks.
Donna: I heard it's broken.
Leo: You heard wrong.
Donna: I heard...
Leo: It's a mild sprain, he'll be back later today.
Donna: And what was the cause of the accident?
Leo: What are you, from State Farm? Go do a job, would you.
Donna: I'm just...
Leo: He was swerving to avoid a tree.
Donna: And what happened?
Leo: He was unsuccessful.
In Josh's office.
Josh (into phone): Yeah, it's fine. Just don't do anything until you talk to justice. Okay. 'Bye. (hangs up). Hey.
Leo: How many Cubans exactly have crammed themselves into these fishing boats?
Josh: It's importan to understand, Leo, that by and large they're not fishing boats. You hear fishing boats, you conjure the image of, well a boat, first of all. What the Cubans are on would charitably be described as rafts. Okay? They're making the hop from Havana to Miami in fruit baskets basically, let's just be clear to that.
Leo: We are.
Josh: Donna's desk, if it could float, would look good to them right now.
Leo: I get it. How many are there?
Josh: We don't know.
Leo: What time exactly did they leave?
Josh: We don't know.
Leo: Do we know when they get here?
Josh: No.
Leo: True or false: If I were to stand on high ground in Key West with a good pair of binoculars, I'd be as informed as I am right now.
Josh: That's true.
Leo: The intelligence budget's money well-spent, isn't it?
Josh: Tell him to send in the Coast Guard, Leo, come on. I understand, but they're never gonna make it to our territorial waters.
Leo: Thank you.
Josh: What if the DEA suspected they had drugs?
Leo: Does the DEA suspect there were drugs?
Josh: We can make a phone call.
Leo: Josh...
Josh: If the DEA or Navy-Intel thought the Cubans were bringing in drugs, wouldn't we have to go out there and search those rafts with, you know, guns and blankets?
Leo: You look like hell. You know that, don't you?
Josh: Yes I do. Listen, Leo, did he say anything?
Leo: Did he say anything? The President's pissed as hell at you, Josh, and so am I.
Josh: I know.
Leo: We gonna work with these people. And where the hell do you get off struttin' your...
Josh: I know.
Leo: Al Caldwell's a good man.
Josh. Al Caldwell wasn't there.
Leo: I'm saying you take everyone on the Christian right, dump 'em into one big pile and label 'em stupid. We need these people.
Josh: We don't need those people.
Leo: Josh...
Josh: We need Al Caldwell, we want Al Caldwell, we do not need John van Dyke and we do not need Mary Marsh.
Leo: And I think there shouldn't be instant replay in football but that's not my call, now is it.
Josh: It was stupid.
Leo: Damn straight.
Leo leaves.
Josh: I was right, though.
Leo (over his shoulder): Like I don't know that.
Leo enters Mrs. Landingham office in his way to the Oval Office.
Mrs. L: Oh, Mr. McGarry, have they done an x-ray?
Leo: Yep.
Mrs. L: Is anything broken?
Leo: A four-thousand dollar Lynex Titanium touring bike that I swore I'd never lend anyone.
Mrs. L: I don't understand,  how did he...
Leo: He's a klutz, Mrs. Landingham, your President's a geek.
Mrs. L: Mr. McGarry, you know how I feel about that kind of talk in the Oval Office.
Leo: I apologize.
Mrs. L: Just in this room, Mr. McGarry, is all I'm asking.
Leo: Yes. Oh, Bonnie, call OEOB and set up a briefing for the Vice-President... let's coordinate with Katy Simons' office on the appointments.
Bonnie: Should I get everybody it?
Leo: Yeah. (to Margaret) Margaret, please call the editor of the New York Times crossword and tell him that Khaddafi is spelled with an 'H' and two 'D's' and isn't a seven letter for anything.
Margaret: Is this for real or is this just funny?
Leo: Apparently it's neither.
Leo's office.
CJ: Is there anything I can say other than the President rode his bicycle into a tree?
Leo: He hopes never to do it again.
CJ: Seriously, they're laughing pretty hard.
Leo: He rode his bicycle intro a tree, CJ, what do you want me... 'The President, while riding a bicycle on his vacation in Jackson Hole, came to a sudden arboreal stop'... What do you want from me?
CJ: A little love, Leo.