It's a bizarre little time capsule of an episode at this point - it kind of boggles the mind that it even got made. But no one knew what to do back then, I suppose.

It's undeniably preachy (more than the show is on a regular basis, even!) and cringey throughout, with some characters, like CJ as you noted, saying what they did because Sorkin needed someone to make those points rather than it being a believable thing for the character to think. But I do like Josh and Billy, and Charlie's moment. It's not all bad...just mostly.