Arnold Vinick quotes from The West Wing

Vinick

I want to give him back his briefcase.

Bruno

I figured.

Vinick

"When in doubt, do the right thing."

[together] "The rest of the time, get away with whatever you can."

Vinick

Who said that? It must have been one of those Louisiana governors.

Bruno

Yeah, probably from his jail cell. You know, Santos never got the vetting a front-runner gets. He was never supposed to get the nomination. The press gave him a free ride in the primaries. Until now, he's been running way behind you, so the press still hasn't done their digging on him. But they will now. So, it really doesn't matter what you do with that briefcase. It's going to come out. If it comes out while Santos is in the White House... I don't know what happens. All hell will break loose.

Vinick

He wouldn't be the first President with an illegitimate child.

Bruno

How far do you think he's going to get with that defense?

Vinick

You know what, if I agreed with a candidate on the issues, and I was ready to vote for him, and something like this came out about him, I'd still vote for him.

Bruno

Good. That's you. And that's maybe most Santos voters. And it is every voter in France. But it is not this country, not yet. I don't want people wishing they could change their votes after this comes out. The voters have a right to know about it before making their voting decision.

Vinick

Come on, Bruno. This is me you're talking to. Please don't try to turn mud-slinging into a "Respect the Voters" spiel.

Bruno

Don't tell anyone, but I do respect the voters. That's why I win. I find out what they care about. I don't try to tell them what they care about.

Vinick

That's not exactly my idea of leadership.

Bruno

It's my idea of democracy. The voters get to set the terms of the elections, not us. They get to decide what's important, not us. That's why I think voters have a right to this information now instead of six months from now. They could be electing a President who's drowning in scandal when he's supposed to be trying to stop World War III from starting in Kazakhstan. And that is not the kind of guy most of the country wants to be the next Commander-In-Chief.

Your hand healed faster than I expected.

Vinick

That's 'cause I went from 1,000 handshakes a day to none.

Vinick

What do you have in California?

You don't want to be the official greeter at a vineyard, do you?

Vinick

Coffee of the day.

Tall, grande or venti? [Vinick looks confused] What size?

Vinick

Whatever's biggest.

Name?

Vinick

Sen... Arnie.

Venti coffee of the day for Ernie.

You got a minute to talk about Kazakhstan?

Vinick

I don't get a daily intelligence report. All I know is what I read in the papers.

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.

Vinick

The good cop, bad cop routine you and Bartlet had worked out seems to be the only thing you can do.

What do you mean?

Vinick

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.

I'm gonna need another cop when Bartlet leaves office. [pause] How about Secretary of State?

Vinick

You gonna go with Reynolds?

Maybe. If I don't get my first choice.

Vinick

Who's that?

That would be you.

Vinick

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.