The West Wing · Season 7
Yeah, come with me.
Where are we going?
Bedroom/office/staff room.
OK, I don't want to seem ungracious. We've all been under a lot of pressure. It's just that...
[they enter the room, and Donna is sitting on the bed]
Hi.
Hi.
I don't know what the problem is between you two, but she's great on television and I don't care if she worked for Francisco Franco in the primary. Right now, it's all hands on deck, so work it out.
Politics is about practicality.
Not if you think abortion is murder.
Whether you do or not, Roe v. Wade has been the law of the land for decades. Most of the country is not ready to change that. Neither am I.
Well, that's not the party's position.
I joined this party because the liberals were the ones who always wanted something from the government. We just wanted government to leave us alone. Especially when there's no consensus otherwise. I'm trying to lead the majority who agrees on that, not the minority who wants to enact their version of Leviticus into law.
Next time you decide to smear me maybe you'll have the guts to do it yourself.
I had nothing to do with that ad. You blew off the debates. It's clear what kind of campaign you want.
Oh, I forgot how eager you were for debates. And next time you send left-wing lobbyists to my office don't forget the gift card.
You want an ugly campaign you're going to get one.
I didn't start this.
Nah, your henchmen did it for you. [pause] You're hitting me on partial-birth tonight, aren't you? [He shakes his head and chuckles]
Here we are, a Presidential campaign, grand national debate, pounding each other on one of the few things we basically agree on.
Then let's negotiate now.
Excuse me?
No backroom tactics. You and me, a real debate.
Oh, please.
A real debate, really.
No negative ads. No attacks in our speeches out there.
If we can have a real debate on the issues, just you and me.
How's Sunday night?
[Santos holds out his hand. Vinick shakes it.]
It's a hell of a way to end your campaign.
Oh, I'm just getting started.
It is truly an honor to be here tonight. I would...You know, I've watched every televised Presidential debate that this country has ever had. And every time I heard them recite the rules, I always thought that meant they're not going to have a real debate. When the greatest hero of my party, Abraham Lincoln debated, he didn't need any rules. He wasn't afraid of a real debate. Now I could do a 2-minute version of my Sensible Solution stump speech and I'm sure Congressman Santos has a memorized opening statement ready to go. And then we could go on with this ritual and let the rules decide how much you're going to learn about the next President of the United States, or we could have a debate Lincoln would have been proud of. We could junk the rules. We could let our able and judicious moderator ask us questions. And we could forget about whether each of us has the exact same number of seconds to speak. We could have a real debate if that's all right with you, Matt.
Um, Senator, according to the rules, candidates may not direct...
No, please. [to Vinick] You mean like a Senate debate? What are you going to do, filibuster me? Are you going to grab the microphone for a whole hour?
No, no, no. We tell the American people what they need to hear, no more, no less. I suspect the audience will reward brevity.
[The audience laughs and claps.]
Okay, let's have a real debate.
[about border problems with Mexico] This is not a law enforcement problem. This is an economic problem. If Mexico's economy was as strong as Canada's, there wouldn't be a problem. The President cannot solve this problem. You cannot seal a 2,000-mile border. Mexico has to solve it. Mexico has to grow its own economy. It has to provide enough jobs so that it's not worth it to try to cross into our borders illegally. There is no other real solution to this. And Senator Vinick is smart enough to know that and I think you are, too.
Liberals who are opposed to tax cuts anyway always say you can't cut taxes until you've cut spending. I say we can lecture our children about overspending until we run out of breath or we can just cut their allowance. I'm a cut-the-allowance kind of parent.
Our whole school system has been slipping for years and our rankings with other countries in math and science achievement... we've got to find a way to turn that around. If we provide the school systems and teachers with everything they need and the flexibility to experiment with fresh new approaches, I think that American students can be number one in the world in math and science in ten years.
That's a lie.
...
It's a lie that every President, Democrat and Republican, has been telling for 20 years: we're going to be number 1 in ten years. Go ahead, Google it right now. I'm not saying that every President knew it was a lie when he said it or that Congressman Santos knows it's not true, but I do. So let me tell you what our goals should be, our realistic goals. First of all, let's stop pretending that everyone can or should go to college. Every airline needs high-paid mechanics and none of them have to go to college. There are plumbers in some parts of the country that make a better living than dentists. Now, I'm not talking about lowering our ambitions. I'm talking about targeting our ambitions correctly. Now, it's true: some other countries have raised their academic standards over and above what they were once. But we still have the best scientists in the world, the best doctors, and by far the most Nobel prizes. If a kid does well in one of those foreign high schools, guess where he or she wants to go to college. That's right; Harvard, Stanford, Cal-Tech, the University of Texas, and a hundred other American universities that are better than anything they have in their countries. So, if we're going to have a practical approach to education, we're going to have to admit that not every one can go to MIT. But most of the kids who do go to MIT come from American public schools.
Do you want a President who will get out of the way when airline executives are putting their companies into bankruptcy so that they can avoid the pension responsibilities to the workers that have dedicated their lives to those companies?
Some of our older airlines are having trouble meeting their huge pension obligations at the very same time when they're facing intense competition from low-cost airlines that are so new they don't yet have pensions to pay. Now, an unthinking liberal will describe the airline bankruptcies as the evil capitalists screwing the workers.
I didn't say that Senator and I don't think you should put words in my mouth.
No. Of course you didn't say it. You're not an unthinking liberal. Are you?
[The audience laughs and applauds.]
I know you like to use that word 'liberal' as if it were a crime.
No. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have used that word. I know Democrats think liberal is a bad word. So bad you had to change it. What do you call yourselves now, progressives? Is that it?
It's true. Republicans have tried to turn liberal into a bad word. Well, liberals ended slavery in this country.
A Republican President ended slavery.
Yes, a liberal Republican; Senator, what happened to them? They got run out of your party! What did liberals do that was so offensive to the Republican Party? I'll tell you what they did. Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. What did Conservatives do? They opposed them on every one of those things, every one. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, 'Liberal,' as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won't work, Senator, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.
The bus is here. We've really got to move.
Sir, do you know what the average SMT time was this week?
Bram clocks this. He rounds up because he's got money on it.
92 minutes.
That's a lie!
SMT?
Santos Mean Time.
92 minutes late?
The notion that I'm the problem is convenient, but completely fallacious!
Do me a favor and talk to Ellie about whatever problems you're having with her music.
Now?
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.
I was working!
I was golfing.
Mini.
I've mastered the windmill shot, with the bridge.
That's a hard one!
Hole-in-one.
People!
Look, we realize there's a lot that goes along with having a wedding at the White House, but anything we could do to keep the numbers under control...?
Sure.
I know my father needs to invite a lot of people but I'm not crazy about the spotlight and Vic's a little agoraphobic.
It's not a phobia.
I was exaggerating.
It's the occasional shortness of breath.
It's really nothing!
...sometimes I pass out.
[going over the guest list] Andrew Edward... what's he doing in the H's? Oh, right! His Royal Highness, Duke of York.
[Vic stands up and looks uncomfortable]
Do you want to get some air?
Hey, at least he's not bringing the Queen. [pauses and checks the list] Oh, maybe he is bringing the Queen...
[about Santos] He's not presidential material.
Why?
Why? Because he left. He left Congress. He left Washington to go home and do small, important work. You had to haul him by the hair out of the family bed. Did you never stop to wonder if that was a good choice?
He stepped up. When presented with the opportunity...
[interrupting] A man in that job shouldn't have to be presented with anything. It's for someone who grabs it and holds onto it. For someone who thinks the gods have conspired to bring him to this place. That destiny demands of him this service! You don't have that kind of drive, that hubris, how in the hell are you gonna make the kind of decisions that stump every other person in this country? How in the hell are you gonna hold that kind of power in your hand?”
You don't know he's not that man.
You don't know that he is. [pauses] Is he? Look me in the eye and tell me that you know. Without a shadow of a doubt...you know. [pauses] That's why the other guy wins.
You're not performing at the ceremony.
I wasn't asked to.
Sir, I'm sorry to interrupt--
No, that's quite all right. He was about to go into his Spencer Tracy routine.
So, rumor has it you're going to have a chat with the groom tomorrow morning.
I am.
Well, that will be lovely, I'm sure!
What? I did it with Doug!
Yeah. I don't recall that as being an unqualified success.
Well, now I've had a run of it.
You do know that talking him out of marrying your daughter is not an option.
Yeah. [pause] You really think it's not an option?
These quotes come from Wikiquote's The West Wing pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.
