Character mistake: When Josh is giving his WWII example to Donna, he talks about "France, Austria and England being pounded by the Germans." Except Austria was incorporated into the Third Reich after the Anschluss of 1938; it was essentially part of Germany for all intents and purposes. It therefore was not being attacked by the Germans at all. One would have thought Josh, who shows a firm grasp of WWII information in other episodes, would have known this. (00:31:20)
Other mistake: In a scene with Leo and the President, Toby confronts them about the fact that there was no clear person in charge while the President was in hospital after being shot. He references the shooting as taking place 'last May'. However, in an earlier episode, 'The Midterms', there is a title card that states the date as August 14th and in the scene that follows there is discussion about the staff job approval in which CJ states, 'A week ago the job approval is at 51, we got shot at and its at 81.' This would mean that the shooting took place in August not May.
Character mistake: Someone set up the chess board incorrectly. White should be on the right. (00:09:20)
The Drop In - S2-E12
Factual error: Leo asks how long it will be before the missile system being tested will hit the target, and is told "two minutes, ten seconds". He decides the President should see it, and leaves to fetch him. But doing so results in them both arriving back In the Room exactly 3 minutes later. 7 seconds after that, they are told there are still 50 seconds to impact (but it should have occurred 57 seconds ago). After the 50 seconds pass, Leo states the impact will occur in 20 more seconds, and the moment of expected impact does pass at that time. In all, 4 minutes, 16 seconds pass from when "2 minutes, 10 seconds" to impact was announced. (00:01:30)
The Stackhouse Filibuster - S2-E17
Continuity mistake: When Josh first sits down at his computer, there are about 3 or 4 lines already typed in the email on the screen, but a few seconds later that has almost doubled. Even more inexplicably, when he finally starts 'typing' at about 28:05, he presses about 10-15 keys but two whole paragraphs pop up. This is not due to pasting copied text, as his hands are nowhere near the Control keys. Finally, at about 28:25 when Donna leaves, he turns back to a screen which is now back to the 3-4 lines. A less-detailed version of this has already been submitted, but I believe mine is clearer (and that other one has not been approved). :). (00:27:45)
Continuity mistake: The President is watching Dial M for Murder with the staff and his daughter Ellie. In the beginning of the scene, the President is sitting behind Ellie and there is no empty chair next to her. Then he leaves the room. When he returns, his chair is suddenly placed next to Ellie.
Suggested correction: There was an empty chair next to her.
Factual error: When describing the location of the "oil refinery" / missile silo, it is said to be in the Oblast Region of Russia. Clearly, some intern was asked to Google Russian Regions and accidentally came back with the Russian word FOR region. It's like saying something was in State State or County County. Also, in the same episode, Bartlett berates the Russian ambassador about people being crazy in Minsk...which is in Belarus.
Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the episode, while CJ is talking to Sam about getting lost on the way to work, the fishbowl gets turned around mid conversation - the elephant in the fishbowl suddenly faces the other way.
Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail - S2-E16
Character mistake: In this episode the Organisation of Cartographers for Social Equality claims the cartographer Mercator is German. He is in fact Belgian. He was born Rupelmonde Belgium, March 5, 1512 and died at Duisburg Germany, December 2nd, 1594. (00:24:00)
Suggested correction: Although Mercator was born in Rupelmonde, it was during a visit his parents were making to the town. His family was ethnically German, as they came from Gangelt in the Holy Roman Empire. This is also where Mercator spent much of his adult life (specifically in the German city of Duisburg). Calling him German is technically correct.
Continuity mistake: During Josh's conversation with Congressman Skinner, the beer bottles on Josh's desk change between shots. The labels point different directions, and during one shot the bottles are open, only to be closed again in the next shot. (00:10:00)
Character mistake: While in the Situation Room Leo says twice "we need the calvary." According to Webster, calvary is a proper noun that refers to the hillside on which Jesus was crucified. Cavalry is a group of highly mobile army troops. Leo meant to say "cavalry" but mispronounced it. The subtitle is correct with the spelling "cavalry." Leo would definitely know better. (00:19:00)
