“H. Con-172” · Season 3
In this episode: Toby Ziegler (3), Leo McGarry (3), C.J. Cregg (2), Jordan (2), Josiah Bartlet (1), Josh Lyman (1), Sam Seaborn (1), Cliff (1)
Okay. Well, I'll just call the President and suggest to him that he allow a huge bipartisan vote on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives calling him a liar and that he welcome the result. Then, I'm going to flap my wings and fly to Neverland.
Leo–
You think I am so desperate to save my ass, I'm gonna roll over on Jed Bartlet?
I don't think it's a matter of–
I take a bullet for the President. He doesn't take one for me.
Well, I'm a straight shooter. I think my record's pretty clear on that.
Yeah.
[about Amy Gardner] I'd like to see her again.
Call her.
And ask her out?
Yeah.
No, no. 'Cause there's a potential she says no and then I have to move someplace where it'll never be spoken of again.
Yeah.
I need to come in under the cover of business.
'Cause you're a straight shooter.
Yeah. I need a point of friction. An issue where the feministas and the White House disagree. That way, I can go to her, break the bad news, stand tough, smooth it over and then, you know, I take it from there.
How about the word "feministas"?
[Reading a book that an ex-reporter wrote about the White House] “Bartlet was playing a round of golf with Toby Ziegler, the prickly communications director, whose bitter inner darkness spelled the breakup of the one marriage we know about.”
It was miniature golf, wasn't it?
Yeah.
This is five hundred and thirty-five Congressmen and Senators standing up and saying the President lied and should be ashamed of himself. And this is us, standing up and saying 'You're right.' This would be the first time in history a President has been censured. Congress isn't talk radio – it's the seat of democracy. Their opinion matters, and their condemnation doesn't have to come with handcuffs to be devastating to this President. That is the force and effect. And it's not gonna happen 'cause of me.
[to Leo] I was wrong. I was. I was just...I was wrong. Come on, you know that. Lots of times we don't know what right or wrong is but lots of times we do and come on, this is one. I may not have had sinister intent at the outset but there were plenty of opportunities for me to make it right. No one in government takes responsibility for anything anymore. We foster, we obfuscate, we rationalize. "Everybody does it." That's what we say. So we come to occupy a moral safe house where everyone's to blame so no one's guilty. I'm to blame. I was wrong.
It's a non-binding resolution. Do you know what that means?
No, could you tell me, 'cause I've really started to take an interest in government lately.
Do you know how much force and effect it has?
Jordan...
None. No force and effect. The following is a sampling of non-binding joint resolutions from the 106th Congress.
I have a meeting.
A resolution in support of Ohio's state motto. A resolution fostering friendship and cooperation with the people of Mongolia.
I have a meeting.
A resolution recognizing the contributions of Bristol, Tennessee, to the development of country music.
I'm sorry, I have a budget meeting.
A resolution in support of Little League baseball.
Jordan...
A resolution recogniz...
This isn't that! This is five hundred and thirty-five Congressmen and Senators standing up and saying the President lied and should be ashamed of himself. And this is us, standing up and saying 'You're right.' This would be the first time in history a President has been censured. Congress isn't talk radio – it's the seat of democracy. Their opinion matters, and their condemnation doesn't have to come with handcuffs to be devastating to this President. That is the force and effect. And it's not gonna happen 'cause of me.
[about an inaccurate tell-all book] I'm sorry. We can't sit on the sidelines and ignore this crap. I'm not going to. Why am I the only one taking this seriously?
That's a reasonable question and we should explore that for a minute.
It's not the reason you think.
You hired the guy.
Yes, I hired the guy, but that's not... Legitimate news organizations are going to cover this to say nothing of the people who hate us who are going to run it over, over, over, over, over...This guy was here for three minutes and he was fired. He is not credible. I'm a lawyer, I'm telling you. That has to be made clear. Every time he makes a factual mistake we got to come out with a press release. Every time he misquotes or misidentifies anyone we need to have an affidavit swearing to the truth. If there's a comma in the wrong place he needs to be killed until he is dead and he needs to be killed again or he is going to keep biting at our ankles and I mean all through the campaign. He needs to be a joke, or we're going to be.
[snapping fingers rhythmically] Boy, boy, crazy boy. Keep cool, boy...
I'm not screwing around.
Me neither. Sit down.
I'm not going to be a victim of this.
Let me tell you something I've learned in my years. There are victims of fires. There are victims of car accidents. This kind of thing, there are no victims - just volunteers. Of course we'll get in the game. I'll talk to the editors of the major papers but we're not going to publicly refute every bogus charge. First of all, there are too many of them. Second of all, I'm not going to give this guy and his book the weight of the White House. As far as the press is concerned I've read the book because I had to. You have a vague recollection of the guy but he wasn't here long enough to make a lasting impression. Have you read the book? Of course not. You're too busy doing a job.
While you're convincing the Post and the Times that it's ridiculous...
Sam! Once again, we don't know what's going on in the Oval Office. Obviously, there's a problem. When it's our turn to worry about it they won't be shy about telling us. Let's not fixate on the knuckleheaded stuff we think we can fix in the meantime. And it feels a lot like...that's what you're doing.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The West Wing pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
