Arnold Vinick quotes from The West Wing

Vinick

Help me keep a secret.

Bartlet

What's that?

Vinick

That I just gave you more than you asked for. Let me hang around for a while, as if we're really slugging it out in here.

Bartlet

Can I get you anything?

Vinick

Where's the ice cream?

Vinick

It is with great humility that I accept your nomination for president of the United States. Before I share with you my vision for America, I want to say a few words about the man who I hope is my predecessor, President Josiah Bartlet. He has graced and honored his office, the highest in the land. The most powerful in the world, some would say, myself included. He has served this country steadfastly and laudably, and I say this despite our political and philosophical differences. For in the end, the presidency is more than a simple catalog of policies pursued, crises weathered, battles lost and won. It is a stewardship, a sacred trust, a commitment to sacrifice every fiber of your being, every thought, every moment, every ... every everything, in service to your nation. President Bartlet has done this well and ably, and he deserves nothing less than our humble appreciation and heartfelt gratitude.

Leo

Nice what he said about you.

Bartlet

Yeah. The bastard.

Leo

He just picked up five million Democratic votes.

Vinick

My commitment to strive to be worthy of the example of the great men who have gone before. Presidents walk in giant footsteps. They have magnificent legacies to uphold. I stand here on this day and put my name forth as one who aspires to their example, who will daily make that sacrifice. Who will honor not just the office, but the people that office serves. Their president of these United States of America.

Senator, what do you think of Congressman Santos doing his Reserve duty in the middle of the campaign?

Do you think it was a stunt?

Vinick

A stunt? No, that was... that was devotion to duty. That's what makes the American military the greatest fighting force in the history of the world. And I hope Congressman Santos continues to do his duty when I'm Commander-in-Chief.

Vinick

I've always won the Latino vote in California. Why should I give up on that now?

Bruno

Well, I don't know. Let me think. Well, maybe because you're running against a Latino candidate who's going to get about... 2,000 percent of the Latino vote.

Bruno

He should resign the Senate now so we can't be forced into any more difficult votes.

[on the phone] He'd be breaking his promise to Californian voters to serve his full six-year term.

Bruno

We've already got enough problems with his voting record.

Vinick

Hey, I'm proud of my voting record. Well, most of it. I'd quit the Senate in a second if I thought it'd help us win. Now it would just look like a cheap stunt.

Bruno

I'm just saying...

We'll just have to turn the Senate into an advantage.

Bruno

No senator has won the Presidency since 1960. There is a reason for that.

Vinick

Sheila, will you please tell Bruno that when I make a decision, that's the end of the discussion.

Vinick

We've got to shake this up now. This is not business as usual.

Bruno

Santos got a polling bump from the Reserve thing. That is gonna disappear just as fast...

Vinick

Santos is not the standard-issue Democratic candidate.

Yeah, he's weaker than the standard-issue Democratic candidate.

Vinick

Matt Santos is a lot smarter and tougher than you think. We've got to take it to him. We've got to put Santos in a jam. We can't just cross our fingers and hope for the Houston Police Union to do it for us.

First one to go negative is a show of weakness.

Vinick

I want to knock him off message without ever mentioning his name.

Bruno

Look, we can find ways that can surprise him.

Vinick

I don't want to surprise him. I want to shock him.

Vinick

Politics is about practicality.

Not if you think abortion is murder.

Vinick

Whether you do or not, Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land for decades. Most of the country is not ready to change that. Neither am I.

Well, that's not the party's position.

Vinick

I joined this party because the liberals were the ones who always wanted something from the government. We just wanted government to leave us alone. Especially when there's no consensus otherwise. I'm trying to lead the majority who agrees on that, not the minority who wants to enact their version of Leviticus into law.

Next time you decide to smear me maybe you'll have the guts to do it yourself.

Vinick

I had nothing to do with that ad. You blew off the debates. It's clear what kind of campaign you want.

Oh, I forgot how eager you were for debates. And next time you send left-wing lobbyists to my office don't forget the gift card.

You want an ugly campaign you're going to get one.

Vinick

I didn't start this.

Nah, your henchmen did it for you. [pause] You're hitting me on partial-birth tonight, aren't you? [He shakes his head and chuckles]

Vinick

Here we are, a Presidential campaign, grand national debate, pounding each other on one of the few things we basically agree on.

Then let's negotiate now.

Vinick

Excuse me?

No backroom tactics. You and me, a real debate.

Vinick

Oh, please.

A real debate, really.

Vinick

No negative ads. No attacks in our speeches out there.

If we can have a real debate on the issues, just you and me.

Vinick

How's Sunday night?

Vinick

It's a hell of a way to end your campaign.

Oh, I'm just getting started.

Vinick

It is truly an honor to be here tonight. I would...You know, I've watched every televised Presidential debate that this country has ever had. And every time I heard them recite the rules, I always thought that meant they're not going to have a real debate. When the greatest hero of my party, Abraham Lincoln debated, he didn't need any rules. He wasn't afraid of a real debate. Now I could do a 2-minute version of my Sensible Solution stump speech and I'm sure Congressman Santos has a memorized opening statement ready to go. And then we could go on with this ritual and let the rules decide how much you're going to learn about the next President of the United States, or we could have a debate Lincoln would have been proud of. We could junk the rules. We could let our able and judicious moderator ask us questions. And we could forget about whether each of us has the exact same number of seconds to speak. We could have a real debate if that's all right with you, Matt.

Um, Senator, according to the rules, candidates may not direct...

No, please. [to Vinick] You mean like a Senate debate? What are you going to do, filibuster me? Are you going to grab the microphone for a whole hour?

Vinick

No, no, no. We tell the American people what they need to hear, no more, no less. I suspect the audience will reward brevity.

Okay, let's have a real debate.

Our whole school system has been slipping for years and our rankings with other countries in math and science achievement... we've got to find a way to turn that around. If we provide the school systems and teachers with everything they need and the flexibility to experiment with fresh new approaches, I think that American students can be number one in the world in math and science in ten years.

Vinick

That's a lie.

Vinick

It's a lie that every President, Democrat and Republican, has been telling for 20 years: we're going to be number 1 in ten years. Go ahead, Google it right now. I'm not saying that every President knew it was a lie when he said it or that Congressman Santos knows it's not true, but I do. So let me tell you what our goals should be, our realistic goals. First of all, let's stop pretending that everyone can or should go to college. Every airline needs high-paid mechanics and none of them have to go to college. There are plumbers in some parts of the country that make a better living than dentists. Now, I'm not talking about lowering our ambitions. I'm talking about targeting our ambitions correctly. Now, it's true: some other countries have raised their academic standards over and above what they were once. But we still have the best scientists in the world, the best doctors, and by far the most Nobel prizes. If a kid does well in one of those foreign high schools, guess where he or she wants to go to college. That's right; Harvard, Stanford, Cal-Tech, the University of Texas, and a hundred other American universities that are better than anything they have in their countries. So, if we're going to have a practical approach to education, we're going to have to admit that not every one can go to MIT. But most of the kids who do go to MIT come from American public schools.

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?

Vinick

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.

I didn't say that Senator and I don't think you should put words in my mouth.

Vinick

No. Of course you didn't say it. You're not an unthinking liberal. Are you?

I know you like to use that word 'liberal' as if it were a crime.

Vinick

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?

It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.

Vinick

A Republican President ended slavery.

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.

[As Vinick and staff sit down in the Mural room] Make yourselves comfortable. The President will be right with you.

Vinick

Thank you.

[quietly] Not too comfortable.

Vinick

What?

[acting confused] What?

We have had a good time always running for the center. But the party's over. You're a Republican, you need to start talking to the Republican, conservative base.

Bruno

Nail him to the cross. He can stump for votes on the Via Dolorosa.

I am the only person talking to values voters.

Bruno

And you are doing a fantastic job.

They're not voting for me, and they know it. He needs to spend more time in the southern states to make sure we don't lose them.

Bruno

The undecideds are moderates. They're not bible thumpers. He's got to speak to their issues.

What's he going to do? Suddenly pull the Arnold Vinick Health Plan out of his tailpipe?

Vinick

Would that qualify as a miracle? They like the miracles.

Vinick

We lost independents because a nuclear power plant almost had a meltdown after I said nuclear power was completely safe.

Bruno

That is water under the bridge. Now we've got to...

Vinick

If it's water under the bridge, how come I'm still ducking reporters on the campaign trail?

Vinick

If Santos takes California, game over.

A Republican can win the Presidency without winning California.

Vinick

And a Democrat can't. This isn't some sentimental, home-state thing. This is about winning. I don't have a 50-state strategy anymore. I have a one-state strategy: the one state that has everything: big cities, small towns, mountains, deserts, farms, factories, fishermen, surfers, all races, all religions, gay, straight, everything this country has. There's more real America in California than anywhere else. If I can win California I can win the country.

That's a nice speech; just don't say it into any microphones. Because everyone else in the 49 other states thinks that California is a giant psycho ward.