Just skip to the part that's going to piss me off
That's going to be all of it.
S6NSF Thurmont
I'm not bombing half the Middle East because it's going to make us all feel better.
He doesn't like chaos. We bomb some apartment building in Gaza or a camp in Syria there'll be consequences. And we can't tell him what they're going to be. Will we get drawn into a war in the Middle East? Will suicide bombers be climbing onto buses in Passaic, New Jersey instead on Tel Aviv and Haifa? ...The President is looking for answers and we don't have them.
They want peace but I have to blow something up first?
I think they are willing to haggle on the peace part.
That usually work in the past?
Sir, the Lincoln Battle Group will be in position sometime tonight; they're awaiting your order to strike Nassan and the Syrian camps in the morning.
What?
We can't wait for Farrad. The risk of losing Khaleel Nassan is too great. We have intel linking Iran to the martyrs, it's sketchy in spots, but overall it's a compelling case. I'm recommending you include Iran in the attack.
General Alexander went ahead with plans for these bombings?
At your request.
I said I'd consider it when the time was appropriate! I did not ask–
He was trying to anticipate your eventual need, sir. At my urging...Mr. President, please, Congress, the Joint Chiefs, the American public, your own staff, everyone disagrees with your assessment of the situation.
Killing Palestinians isn't going to make us feel safer. They'll kill more of us, then we'll have to kill more of them. It's Russian Roulette with a fully-loaded gun!
We can't allow terrorists to murder our citizens–
Why would they do it? Why would Palestinians murder American government officials? They never have before. They're deliberately provoking us, Leo. They know that we have to retaliate. They've studied us; they want us to overreact–
This isn't overreacting. It's the appropriate, balanced–
Tell me how this ends, Leo! You want me to start something that may have serious repercussions on American foreign policy for decades, but you don't know how it ends!
We don't always know how it ends!
...The Lincoln will be in position in a few hours, and then you are going to have to give the go-ahead for the bombings.
...Or what?
You ever look around and think 'If we're the ones in charge, this country's in a hell of a lot of trouble?'
'Til I spend time with the other guys.
S6The Birnam Wood
Whether you choose to do this today or ten years from today, you will face the same geography, the same neighbors, the same ancient animosities. More years of bloodshed and pain will not change those facts. The only path to a real and lasting peace is through negotiation.
MMukarat
They've done everything in their power to undermine moderate leadership. Don't they understand when they blow up leaders of Hamas with bombs, all those Palestinian homes, they only make them stronger? Boys and girls, they no longer want to be doctors, teachers, engineers. Now, they all want to be martyrs.
I can't support this decision. For a short period, we may be welcome. But what happens when we have to start kicking in doors? Declare martial law? Enforce curfews --
Once they establish a rule of law, and their economy settles down, they'll be quiet --
This isn't a romp in the desert! You're committing American lives to something that may go on for decades!
[angrily, nearly shouting] How are we not involved now-- [suddenly goes quiet, looking back at the house, then, quieter, shaking his head] We can't keep having this argument.
No, sir, we can't. If my counsel is no longer of use to you, perhaps–
So, if I disagree with your advice, you have to threaten me?
This is your own League of Nations, and it will ruin you like it ruined Wilson.
Okay. I'll need your successor in place before you leave.
The tragedy is that the Palestinians and the Jews are so much alike.
How's that?
All through history no one's wanted either of them.
Any ideas on how to break the logjam?
Too bad Congress isn't here. They'd just cook the books and hold a press conference.
S6Third-Day Story
[about Leo's heart attack] Stress actually restricts the flow of blood to the coronary arteries. What I'm saying is it's physiological. Unless you wanted him meditating his way through intelligence briefings and sleeping in a flotation device... There's nothing you did–
BBartlet
I fired him.
What?
BBartlet
Last night at Camp David, I fired him. What does that do to the flow of blood?
We're fumbling. Our diplomatic strategy is a game of telephone.
Read the coverage. We're doing fine.
Today, sure, and the second day's story is how you pulled it off. But the third-day story is that Congress doesn't want to pay, that our coalition's fraying, that the spokes are coming off the wheels–
It's a couple of days. This was totally unexpected.
No, it wasn't. Not with Leo's history with alcohol, with pills. Mr. President, surely you had a process in place.
Not for this. You think we'd even be doing this without him?
No, sir, but Leo is one person and there are 290 million more and they come first.
You think this is your fault? It's not.
BBartlet
He's my best friend. I'm not the kind of person who has best friends.
Because your life is your work, and so is his; your work.
BBartlet
What are you trying to say?
You chose this; both of you. You're running a country, for God's sake, not a tree house.
BBartlet
Well, Leo stays in the tree house if he wants to. We'll work around his recovery; half-days, whatever it takes.
He's not going to work half days. He's not going to work around his recovery. He's not going to do whatever it takes.
BBartlet
That's his decision.
And we know what that decision is going to be.
BBartlet
So I should wake him up and fire him again? Because it worked so well the first time?
Let's talk about this time. You've got to keep him out of that job. He'll kill himself for you if you don't.
I'd like to know why my Treasury Secretary's on national television denouncing a tax cut I never saw because of an estimate I never asked for.
We did offer to brief you on the details.
Brief me now.
We're not quite ready to brief you on the details.
Because you made a complete hash of it; the Leadership's sole request before taking up peacekeeping.
We're close to 60 Democratic votes.
It's just that you might face a decision about the fall legislative agenda.
What is that?
Would you prefer a bill to appoint an American monarch...
...or a ban on the institution of marriage, except in casinos and department stores.
You tell the Speaker and the Majority Leader that with my newfound royal authority, with all my free time now that my marriage has been banned, and with the support of every NATO member in my pocket I'm sending those peacekeepers to the Middle East. If Congress wants to feed them, pay them, or ever bring them back, that's entirely up to them.
I assume we're free to play with the language on that.
We're done here.
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