Blake Moran quotes from Madam Secretary

Blake

Uh, Assistant Secretary Thompson is here, presumably to share the diplomatic equivalent of a high five.

Blake

[about the election returns] I prefer to watch at home where I can curl into the fetal position with my blanket.

Blake

[to reporter] I'm Blake Moran, assistant to the Secretary and the best snacks are one flight down. I hope that's not classified.

Elizabeth

Hey Blake, on a scale of one to ten how much does Nadine hate me?

Blake

I think that one goes to eleven.

Elizabeth

Do they all hate me that much?

Blake

No...It’s a mixture.

Elizabeth

Why don’t you hate me?

Blake

Because you hired me. And you’re awesome… I might have inadvertently reversed those.

Blake

Meeting with the chief of staff and the secretary of defense in half an hour. Oh, that's Russell Jackson and Gordan Becker, respectively.

Elizabeth

Blake? I know their names.

Blake

Yeah. Yeah.

Matt

Who’s she in there with?

Blake

I’m not at liberty to say.

Daisy

Well I got it straight from security that it’s the director of the CIA.

Blake

Can’t confirm or deny.

Daisy

Just so you know, there’s a tradition of sharing information in the outer office.

Blake

Oh well, in that case I heard you guys tongued in the supply closet at the Christmas party and it’s been a little awkward ever since, because you’re both with other people.

Blake

This is Roxanne Majidi, the newest addition to our staff.

Elizabeth

I see. In what capacity?

I was sent by the chief of staff. Mr. Jackson says I'm to be your personal appearance specialist.

Elizabeth

Okay, I have no idea what that means.

Your stylist.

Elizabeth

Oh. Well, I'm sure that you're very good at what you do. But, um, I don't need a stylist.

Madam Secretary, I just do as I'm told. But I was sent by the chief of staff. He was pretty insistent. The way he conveyed it to me, you don't have a choice in the matter.

Elizabeth

See, here's the problem. I've never met a situation where I don't have a choice in the matter.

Elizabeth

Fine. You want me to talk to her and explain why the Secretary of State's daughter can't be doing things like this?

Daisy

And we need to release a statement.

Matt

Explaining your mystery daughter.

Blake

Not a mystery daughter.

Elizabeth

By 'mystery' do you mean born out of wedlock or sired by aliens?

Matt

Well, we'd like to remove all doubt about either of those speculations.

Elizabeth

Knock yourself out. Can we talk about matters of national security now please?

Daisy

It's an easy spin. There's a difference between philosophical thought, academia and practical application... work in action

Matt

Well, if it's so... easy, why don't you give me the headline to that? Uh, "Secretary of State Discovers that Doing is More Challenging than Talking About Doing"?

Daisy

And we still have to explain the mystery daughter.

Blake

Not a mystery daughter.

Nadine

Blake... everyone appreciates your allegiance to your boss.

Blake

Well, she is not my boss, she's our boss.

Blake

Dubois's the tip of the iceberg. In another cable, an INR analyst referred to the Austrian ambassador as Das Boob. Several deputy assistant secretaries agreed in an e-mail chain that a member of the Peruvian Constitutional Tribunal is a coked-up, narcissist blowhard. Oh, and our ambassador to Kenya called their defense minister a sweaty, brain-damaged hippo.

Elizabeth

Are we sure those cables aren't from a frat?

Elizabeth

He's Top Secret SCI.

Nadine

She gave you that?

Blake

You Jedi mind-tricked her, didn't you ma'am?

Blake

You have a visitor, Madam Secretary.

Elizabeth

(Startled) God, where did you come from?

Blake

I'm always with you.

Elizabeth

All right, who's visiting? And why are we allowing it?

Blake

Our favorite reporter Gina Fisher. Says it's urgent.

Elizabeth

Really? Put her in conference East and don't offer her a beverage.

Blake

Why does Daisy have on a weird face?

Matt

That's just her face.

Blake

No, that's her freaked-out face.

Daisy

Can I show you something over here?

Elizabeth

Yeah. There's some debate about whether or not you have on your freaked-out face or your regular face.

Daisy

Fu Xinpei, visiting Chinese high school genius, just stood up at Dulles and declared she wants political asylum. Now the news has got hold of her. I'm worried that she's gonna mess up the signing of the treaty, but I'm probably being paranoid. This is my paranoid face.

Blake

The White House is on the line.

Elizabeth

Of course they are. Because I just tied The President to a drug dealer.

Jay

He's used to getting his way.

Elizabeth

Well, that may be, but I happen to know he is extremely ticklish.

Matt

Wait. Did the Secretary just admit to intimate anatomical knowledge of the Prince of Bahrain?

Blake

The CIA briefs must be very detailed.