10th most-quoted character in The West Wing: in 37 of its 913 quotes Most scenes with: Josh Lyman (6), Arnold Vinick (6), Leo McGarry (3)
Scenes with Matt Santos 24
SSantos
Do you want a President who will get out of the way when airline executives are putting their companies into bankruptcy so that they can avoid the pension responsibilities to the workers that have dedicated their lives to those companies?
Some of our older airlines are having trouble meeting their huge pension obligations at the very same time when they're facing intense competition from low-cost airlines that are so new they don't yet have pensions to pay. Now, an unthinking liberal will describe the airline bankruptcies as the evil capitalists screwing the workers.
SSantos
I didn't say that Senator and I don't think you should put words in my mouth.
No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have used that word. I know Democrats think liberal is a bad word. So bad you had to change it. What do you call yourselves now, progressives? Is that it?
SSantos
It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.
Yes, a liberal Republican; Senator, what happened to them? They got run out of your party! What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.
Josh is going to make a lot of strategic decisions over the next few weeks. He's going to sweat them like life and death. And they'll be important, sure, which is why you and me are going to be in on every one of them. But they're meaningless compared to the decision the voters are going to have to make just by listening to you and trying to see if they can connect with the idea of Matt Santos as President. And Josh has nothing to do with that. Goodwin's right: Josh has taken you as far as he can. The rest is up to you.
It's amazing the natural look they can achieve now with bulletproof glass. Labor Day, the barbecue: I had to provide the Secret Service with everyone's names, Social Security numbers, birth dates. To come by and have a hot dog, everybody had to be issued ID pins. My mother walking around tagged like she was some threatening wacko. If you're considering this an opportunity to crack a mother-in-law joke, you are seriously misjudging the mood of your audience.
I don't get a daily intelligence report. All I know is what I read in the papers.
SSantos
A lot of what you read is better than our intelligence. I was impressed with what you said about Kazakhstan during the campaign. I always had wished that I had said it first.
You two must've coordinated messages. You're not reckless enough to undermine the president on foreign policy in the middle of a crisis. You're trying to make the Russians and the Chinese believe that it's gonna be tougher to deal with you than Bartlet. Put pressure on them to negotiate a settlement with Bartlet now. Well, it could work.
SSantos
I'm gonna need another cop when Bartlet leaves office. [pause] How about Secretary of State?
You've got better relationships with all the important heads of state than I do. You know the diplomatic corps. You're respected in every capital in the world. You agree with me on foreign policy. And you are the best strategic thinker I know. I'm not asking you if you'd consider it, Arnie, I'm asking you to do it.
The West Wing · 913 quotes
