Kate Harper quotes from The West Wing

Kate

It's not just that it's futile. I mean, as long as Americans are willing to pay $60 a gram for cocaine some peasant farmer earning $60 a year is going to grow it. It's just so geopolitically counter-productive. We turn their villages into war-zones, we destroy their land, we poison their families with herbicides, and then we're surprised when they go vote for the socialists.

Kate

Leo. You wanted to see me?

Leo

Yeah, listen. With Nancy McNally out of the country, you're going to have to be our go-to... I was gonna say "guy". The problem with English: "guy" is wrong, "gal" is patronizing, and "person" sounds arch.

Kate

"Go-to-guy" is fine.

Leo

Good, 'cause you're it. Which is a lot to throw at you weeks into the job. I want you to know you have my and the President's full support.

Kate

I appreciate your confidence.

Leo

We'll need you to coordinate all the intelligence agencies, including the FBI and CIA. You may have heard: they don't play nicely together.

Kate

Well, boys will be boys.

Leo

And don't be afraid to knock heads together. We don't want petty turf wars slowing down the intel.

Harper

I'll keep on 'em.

Leo

You run into resistance, you let me know.

Kate

I hope that won't be necessary.

Leo

Another thing: the President's not crazy about the DCI. It's chemical; just rubs him the wrong way.

Kate

Okay.

Leo

This isn't gossip; it's guidance. If the CIA's got something, the Director's not always the most effective vessel for communicating it.

Kate

I'll make sure to underline anything I think is significant.

Leo

We just need you to be all over this. State, Defense. You're the White House point... person.

Kate

I won't let you down. Oh, and on that whole language score: I was in the military. I "manned" battleships, was "one of the boys," occasionally was exhorted to "drop my ...," you know, and "grab my socks." I've made my peace with the colloquial.

Leo

Okay.

Kate

Just between us girls. Thanks, Leo.

Kate

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.

Will

Listen to some Arab broadcasts.

C.J.

Rabble-rousing to distract their street.

Kate

I'm not sure any credible Arab leader truly expects Israel's demise anymore, not even the Chairman.

Leo

Don't be so sure.

Kate

Well, there's a view that...

Will

Don't keep saying "Some argue" and "There's a view." Can we restrict it to your view?

Kate

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.

Will

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.

Bartlet

The Mideast reminds me of that joke about the optimist and the pessimist. The pessimist says "Everything is terrible. It can't get any worse." The optimist says "Oh, yes it can."

Kate

It can get easy to forget that there's a silent majority on both sides who just want to live their lives.

Bartlet

Unfortunately, you spend all your time focusing on what's drowning them out: the invective and bomb blasts.

Kate

Isn't it our ultimate moral responsibility to them?

Bartlet

It's quicksand. An ego trip.

Kate

Sir?

Bartlet

Chasing that Nobel Peace Prize right down the same sinkhole.

Kate

After 50 years of strife and futility, there's no dishonor in failure. The only dishonor might be not to try.

Kate

The tragedy is that the Palestinians and the Jews are so much alike.

Charlie

How's that?

Kate

All through history no one's wanted either of them.

Will

[on the tiff with Canada] The Vice President advocates a hard line.

Kate

Permanent lockout in the NHL? Maple syrup embargo? Turn off Niagara Falls?

Kate

[to the Canadian ambassador] Ambassador, listen carefully. An hour ago I reviewed the United States' contingency plan to invade your country.

Will

Uh...there's a contingency plan...

Kate

1789, amended in 1815, the calligraphy is beautiful. And if one more "deal" is floated in this room, I'm gonna ask DOD to reactivate it. [walks out]

CJ

Do me a favor and talk to Ellie about whatever problems you're having with her music.

Will

Now?

CJ

I was supposed to be in there but then Kate happened. It's going to take a few minutes; I thought you could do your thing.

Will

I was working!

Kate

I was golfing.

CJ

Mini.

Will

I've mastered the windmill shot, with the bridge.

Kate

That's a hard one!

Will

Hole-in-one.

C.J.

People!

Will

[at a press conference on TV] Uh, they'll be walking down the aisle to "Sorge Nel Patto", the aria Gaffredo sings to his daughter in Handel's Rinaldo. The aria was picked for its beauty and its text, which translates roughly to, "a certain delight surges from my breast and promises to calm my heart."

Kate

That was lovely.

Will

I made it up. Don't tell.

Will

I have a thing of yours.

Kate

My Pyongyang book, good. I tore up my whole office looking for it.

Will

It's not that.

Kate

Really?

Will

Really.

Kate

It's in a blue binder. It may not be --

Will

Nothing in a blue binder.

Kate

Are you sure? I mean, picking it out --

Will

It's a bra.

Kate

...oh, okay.

Will

You spend the night at my house more often then not.

Kate

Which makes me...?

Will

A really good date.