The West Wing · Season 4
I throw a rubber ball against the window; that means you come to me. As my frustration level grows, so does the velocity of the ball against the window.
Don't you ever worry about the window breaking?
During moments of peak frustration: when the Speaker of the House threatened to repeal the 16th Amendment, a couple of Yankee games, and when Congress censured my boss...but it's always held up, that window; that window is a game-day player.
[to Carol] Stop trying to get us together, okay? If I wanted Danny I could have him. And he's still a jackass from the foreign-ops vote and many other things, so tell him I'm getting my hair done.
Your hair looks great.
[to Carol] There was no way you could tell me he was right behind me? You couldn't fit that in?
This language proposes a new doctrine for the use of force! That we use force, whenever we see an injustice we want to correct: like Mother Teresa with first-strike capability!
Damn right!
Tickets came.
For?
The balls.
Could you handle mine for me until it's over?
Yeah.
Thanks.
Know what Jack will be wearing? A saber.
God, Donna, please tell me that's not the only thing he's wearing.
No, he'll be wearing his dress blues, Warfare pin, Submarine Officer pin, two Commendation Medals, Meritorious Unit, Purple Heart, Bronze cross...and a saber.
...I'll be wearing a tuxedo from Gary's.
I heard once - I don't know if this is true - I heard once that you convinced the President to let you rewrite a section of the State of the Union with less than twenty-four hours to go. It was the second year and everybody was a Republican, whether they were or not, and people at the DNC had convinced him to include the line, 'The era of big government is over.' And you couldn't live with it. Because government should be a place where people come together and no one gets left behind. An instrument of good. And that's exactly what we heard in the State of the Union the next night.
There were maybe four people in the room when I had that conversation.
Well, if I'd have been one of them, I would have repeated it to everyone I met.
Charlie, I'm gonna change my mind again on the Bible.
[ironically] Mr. President, you have to imagine my utter surprise.
Aren't you afraid that one day I'm just gonna kick your ass like it's never been kicked?
We're not talking about the President going to Asia or the President going to Rwanda or the President going to Qumar. We're talking about the President sending other people's kids to do it.
That's always what we're talking about. And in addition to being somebody's kids, they're also soldiers and sailors, and if we're about freedom from tyranny, we should be about freedom from tyranny, and if we're not, we should shut up!
We're for freedom of speech everywhere. We're for freedom to worship everywhere. We're for freedom to learn... for everybody. And because in our time, you can build a bomb in your country and bring it to my country, what goes on in your country is very much my business. And so we are for freedom from tyranny, everywhere, whether in the guise of political oppression, Toby, or economic slavery, Josh, or religious fanaticism, CJ. That most fundamental idea cannot be met with merely our support. It has to be met with our strength. Diplomatically, economically, materially. And if Pharaoh still don't free the slaves, then he gets the plagues or my cavalry, whichever gets there first. The USTR will go crazy and say that we're not considering global trade. Committee members will go crazy and say I haven't consulted enough. And the Arab world will just go indiscriminately crazy. No country has ever had a doctrine of intervention when only humanitarian interests were at stake. That streak's gonna end Sunday at noon.
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful and committed people can change the world. Do you know why?
Because it's the only thing that ever has.
Leo said just now that there was going to be an NEC briefing on scoring and tell her what I said.
'What's wrong with booze and a comfortable pickup?'
No, I see there's no hour too early for your Noel Cowardesque wit, sir.
Mr. President, the U.S. is trampling on the sovereignty of my country and on behalf of Nzele–
I've just taken your airport... clearing the way for the 101st Air Assualt to take the capitol. Seven thousand troops, twenty-five battle tanks, fifteen Apache attack helicopters, and three destroyers. Strictly speaking, I conquered your country without the paperwork.
Kundu is in the midst of a civil war.
No, it's not. It's in the midst of a one-sided slaughtering of an entire people.
Don't be fooled: they love us in Orange County. They're crazy-go-nuts for the President – really, the whole Democratic Party in general. I think they really like it when we come to town. When we were there last month, we were working the crowd, and some young boys – worried, possibly, that I couldn't afford fruits and vegetables on a government salary – tossed me some of their own.
You want to go to Orange County?
I think we have to go. [to Bartlet] Even though there's $1,300 with your name on it if you don't make me go with you.
Get over the dress, would you?
It was a suit, and they hit me with an avocado!
It could have been worse.
How?
They could have hit me.
Listen to me. We've got all kinds of atmospheric cabin pressure up here. We're a little late, so the Colonel's put the hammer down in a 747. You've got wind shear, downdraft, massive turbulence, not to mention four giant engines burning jet fuel at galactic temperatures. We're standing in a flying death tube! [people look up] No, not the rest of y-y-you, it's just my family. It's fine. Look...
What do you want me to do, step off?
Also, you've got twins in there; you're basically a minivan. How are you fitting into a seat?
Uh-uh... I saw him first, girls.
Mr. President, the U.S. is trampling on the sovereignty of my country and on behalf of Nzele–
I've just taken your airport... clearing the way for the 101st Air Assault to take the capitol. Seven thousand troops, twenty-five battle tanks, fifteen Apache attack helicopters, and three destroyers. Strictly speaking, I conquered your country without the paperwork.
Kundu is in the midst of a civil war.
No, it's not. It's in the midst of a one-sided slaughtering of an entire people. Both the Secretary General of the United Nations and the Vatican have pleaded with President Nzele for a cease-fire and both the U.N. and the Holy Father have struck out to the peril of 115,000 Induye men, women, and God knows children, particularly the boys.
Who will soon be men and will rise up...
The heads of Ghana, Nigeria and Zaire have similarly sent packing. The Red Cross has been denied entry on three separate occasions in the last ten days. President Nzele has 36 hours to give the command to his troops to hand over their weapons to the 82nd Airborne Division of the United States Army. At 36 hours and -one minute-, I give the order for the 101st Air Assault to take Bitanga and run up our flag. I skipped breakfast. Anybody want coffee or something?
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The West Wing pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
