Sir, given the volatility of the region, a secret test would be how Iran would certainly proceed.
All right, let's put our cards on the table. What helped keep the Cold War cold was a sense of moral restraint that these weapons were too terrible to use.
That restraint won't exist in jihadists who strap bombs to their chests and enter nightclubs.
SSliger
There are moderate elements on the ascendancy in Iran.
Toby"In the Koran, God commanded to kill the wicked and those who do not see the rights of the oppressed and to murder them. If we abide by the Koran, all of us should mobilize to kill." Televised address by President Alijani: Moderate.
Taylor Reid was talking about your spin on the decline in manufacturing jobs and he said...
Toby
'The tall lady's back to telling tall tales.'
The tall lady.... Carol, call 'The Taylor Reid Show' and book me on the next open slot. I'm going to reach down and rip off his puny, little face.
Toby
He's a featherweight who only looks like a lightweight because he's got you propping him up.
Toby
Don't say 'heir apparent' when we have men in moon suits hermetically sealing the Oval. This is Russell's only shot... A night like this. You're comfortable with that?
Toby
Well, great.
Toby
This and voter fraud, another option.
Toby
Or a mob hit would also work.
Someday there's going to be a newer, younger political operative moving on to your landscape. Somebody up through the ranks from the domestic policy shop, and you'll be able to foist all your jealousy and resentment onto his unsuspecting shoulders and you'll give me a break for three consecutive minutes.
Toby
Jealousy? This is good.
You've had one win in your career, one. And you're looking sunset in the face, and I'm just getting started, and that's eating you apart like some psychological melanoma.
Toby
My jealousy of you?
It's an adrenaline sport and you're exhausted. If you had another fight in you, you'd be grooming Matt Packard or Howard Sturgis and you'd take me down, me and my anemic candidate. But you don't have it. I say this with a great amount of respect. I would be eternally grateful if you would back off.
Toby
What you wrote for Russell tonight was profoundly disturbing.
Because he upstaged the President?
Toby
Because he might win.
Toby
Who was the first person to shake his hand after the speech tonight?
Toby
Of course you were.
Toby
In a room full of 600 reporters McGill's not a golf buddy, he's Chairman of Ways and Means. You made a calculation; you positioned him brilliantly. It never for a second crossed my mind before, but if you keep this up, he might win.
Toby
It wasn't a compliment. You need to get the hell out of there. You're grooming this clown for a win and then what?
Four more years. A better prescription drug plan, maybe the educational overhaul you guys can't seem to get off the ground.
Toby
With Howdy Doody at the helm?
This isn't a dictatorship. There are hundreds of people running this White House. The salient detail being they're all Democrats. You most of all...
Toby
There are no launch codes at my desk! At the event of what I perceive to be a threat, I can't deploy troops to invade so much as a 7-Eleven. I don't care who you surround this guy with, he's going to wield a tremendous amount of power.
He'll be fine. The Party wants a win. 60 million Democrats want...
Toby
Winning is easy.
You only hit it once, and maybe never again.
Toby
Because you back the guy who should win, not the guy who will win. I backed a man of vision, who's still hanging on to his integrity with his teeth. You're damn straight I won't win again.
There has to be a future, Toby. Someone will take the torch. You will despise the very notion of them whoever they may be.
Toby
Go find someone you can honestly respect. Groom him.
I'll comb the countryside.
Toby
We went to Hokumville, New Hampshire, to find one, yeah. Comb the countryside.
You go. If it's so important, you go. [pause] That's what I thought.
Toby
[on the phone] Are you kidding? Do you know the term "decent interval"? Go away. [hangs up] Magley from the DNC, wants to talk about who to run for the two vacant House seats.
Toby
They're still picking up pieces of these guys over there, he's talking about DeSantos' poachable district.
What's he calling you for?
Toby
He thought Josh'd be upset about Donna being in the car. I guess he figured since my ex-wife was only almost blown up that I'd be only almost upset.
One reason some people say nothing can happen till these guys are gone is the feeling they both may be stuck in old attitudes or assumptions. There was a time when Palestinians and all Arabs wanted to drive Jews into the sea, but some would argue that time's past.
Listen to some Arab broadcasts.
Rabble-rousing to distract their street.
I'm not sure any credible Arab leader truly expects Israel's demise anymore, not even the Chairman.
Well, there's a view that...
Don't keep saying "Some argue" and "There's a view." Can we restrict it to your view?
Okay. Palestinians are no longer fighting to destroy the Jewish state. They're fighting for a state of their own, a revolutionary struggle against an occupying force, and revolutionaries will outlast and out-die occupiers every time.
I don't know if that's more simplistic or naive.
Toby
It's tribal. It can't be solved. It's Hatfield and McCoy and there is no end.
The West Wing · 913 quotes
