“Han” · Season 5
In this episode: Josiah Bartlet (2), Josh Lyman (2), Toby Ziegler (2), C.J. Cregg (2), Will Bailey (2), Leo McGarry (1), Amy Gardner (1), Bob Russell (1)
In a triumph of the middling, a nod to mediocrity, and with gorge rising, it gives me great nausea to announce Robert Russell -- Bingo Bob, himself -- as your new Vice President.
This lapdog of the mining interests is as dull as he is unremarkable...
...as lackluster as he is soporific. This reversion to the mean...
...this rebuke to the exemplary...
...gives hope to the millions unfavored by the exceptional...
not the worst, not the best, just what we're stuck with.
We've certainly come a long way from "Give me your tired, your poor." If we don't allow this defection, if we blithely exploit this young man's ignorance, then I don't know who we are anymore.
By refusing to put language to it, we pretend it does not exist. But it's something. Even if we don't know what to call it. I just think it's time to start working on a language plan for whatever it is we're doing, too.
There's a Korean word, Han. I looked it up. There is no literal English translation. It's a state of mind. Of soul, really. A sadness. A sadness so deep no tears will come. And yet, still, there's hope.
Leo tells me you have a strong view on this?
Yes sir, for one thing sending him back would seem to be illegal.
Our hand's not legally forced unless he tells anyone.
C.J. He's told us. He's asked the President of the United States for asylum. Are we saying he'd have been better off asking some cab driver?
You know the rationale for sending him back.
So the Iranians don't wake up one morning and decide, hey, it's a good day to nuke Israel.
C.J. Sir, seven North Korean nuclear scientists defected through China last year, we helped pay for it. Are we saying, if this kid were more valuable to us we'd accept him?
Is that such an unreasonable distinction? But this isn't your real argument.
Sending him back will play as a disaster in the press if it ever gets out.
[shakes head] That's not your real argument either.
No sir, it's not. This young man's asking for freedom. It's what this country was built on; everyone's from somewhere else, some place less free. That's my argument.
The President wants altitude.
As befits this vertiginous choice? [Toby stands up] Distinguished is as high as we go; you have to be high to go loftier. Here's what it should be. [Will begins typing] In a triumph of the middling, a nod to mediocrity, and with gorge rising, it gives me great nausea to announce Robert Russell — Bingo Bob, himself — as your new Vice President.
This lapdog of the mining interests is as dull as he is unremarkable...
...as lackluster as he is soporific.
Good.
This reversion to the mean...
This rebuke to the exemplary...
...gives hope to the millions unfavored by the exceptional...
Yes.
The Vice Presidency, being famously once described as not being worth a warm bucket of spit; let's now hock a big loogie for Bob Russell. Not the worst. Not the best. Just what we're stuck with.
Amen.
You look great.
Thanks, so do you.
Everyone looks great in a tux; chimps look great.
With none actually present I'll have to settle for you.
So listen, umm, Ryan of all people asked me straight out about our relationship, and I couldn't have avoided the subject more if I had faked a stroke.
Cheeky little brat.
That's not the point, even if I'd wanted to answer him, I wouldn't have known what to say. It's like what C.J. said today about the economy; by refusing to put language to it we're trying to pretend it doesn't exist, but it's something... even if we don't know what to call it. I just think it's time to start thinking about a language plan for whatever it is we're doing too.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The West Wing pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
