January 2012
5 posts
Leo: (signing Christmas cards) Who is this?
Margaret: Elizabeth.
Leo: Who's Elizabeth?
Margaret: Your sister.
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“Because I’m tired of it - year after year after year after year, having to...”
– Leo McGarry, The West Wing (writer Aaron Sorkin)
December 2011
7 posts
7 tags
JOSH: Are Ben and Sally asking for me?
LEO: No, they'd rather you didn't come, but they'll do me a favor and I need you to do me one too.
JOSH: What's at Ben and Sally's?
LEO: Karen Cahill.
JOSH: And what stupid-ass Irish thing did you say to Karen Cahill that you now need me to apologize at Ben and Sally 's like a little girl?
Leo glares at Josh rather sternly.
JOSH: Let me tell you what was surprising about that moment just then. I said that only 12 hours after you were very cool about my almost accidentally setting the building on fire.
LEO: I made a joke about her shoes.
JOSH: I'm sorry?
LEO: I made a remark about her shoes.
JOSH: You're the second most powerful man in the country...
LEO: And she relates a column for the New York Times and who knows what kind of special relationship women have with their shoes!
JOSH: What could you possibly have said...?
LEO: It doesn't matter. It was perfectly benign to anyone who doesn't take shoes that seriously. Just tell her that I love her and that I'm sorry and I'll take her shoe shopping.
JOSH: Why don't you tell her?
LEO: If someone else tells her it seems like I was thoughtful enough to mention it. If I tell her it just makes me seem feminine.
JOSH: You don't think the shoe shopping's gonna take care of that?
LEO: Let's call the insurance company and see how much water damage was done in the mural room.
LEO MCGARRY: And do you think ratcheting up the body count is going to act as a deterrent?
PRESIDENT JOSIAH BARTLET: You're damn right I do.
LEO MCGARRY: Oh, well then you're just as stupid as these guys who think that capital punishment is going to be a deterrent for drug kingpins. As if drug kingpins didn't live their day-to-day lives under the possibility of execution. And their executions are a lot less dainty than ours, and tend to take place without the bother and expense of due process. So, my friend, if you want to start using American military strength as the arm of the Lord, you can do that. We're the only superpower left. You can conquer the world, like Charlemagne. But you'd better be prepared to kill everyone. And you had better start with me because I will raise up an army against you and *I* will beat you.
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“You want to see me orchestrate this right now? You want to see me mobilize these...”
– Leo Mcgarry (so many amazing west wing speeches, but this one has always caught my eye)
2 tags
: Long as I got a job, you've got a job. →
raisealittlesand:
LJ reminded me that it’s Quote Leo McGarry Day:
CJ: Is there anything I can say other than “The President rode his bicycle into a tree?”
Leo: He hopes never to do it again.
C.J.: Seriously, they’re laughing pretty hard.
Leo: He rode his bicycle into a tree, C.J. What do you want me to –…
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Dec 16. When you see this, quote Leo McGarry
bsidegirl:
“Well, nothing says Christmas like animal fables in iambic verse.” (In Excelsis Deo)
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“I’m tired of it, year after year after year after year, having to choose between...”
– Leo McGarry (via anonemouse)
CJ: Is there anything I can say other than "the President rode his bicycle into a tree"?
Leo: He hopes never to do it again.
CJ: Seriously, they're laughing pretty hard.
Leo: He rode his bicycle into a tree, C.J., what do you want me - the President, while riding his bicycle, came to a sudden arboreal stop.
November 2011
6 posts
4 tags
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“LEO: John, I know we’ve had our ups and downs, but let me be your guy here for a...”
– The West Wing, 1.16 “20 Hours In LA” (via oldstarnewshine)
October 2011
12 posts
1 tag
“This guy is walking down the street when he falls in a hole. The walls are so...”
– Leo (The West Wing)
President Josiah Bartlet: You got a best friend?
Roger: Yes, sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: Is he smarter than you?
Roger: Yes, sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: Would you trust him with your life?
Roger: Yes, sir.
President Josiah Bartlet: That’s your Chief of Staff.
Leo: He was swerving to avoid a tree.
Donna: And what happened?!
Leo: He was unsuccessful.
“Please call the editor of the New York Times crossword and tell him Qaddhafi is...”
– Leo McGarry, official knower of all the things. all the things.
(via fannylemon)
Leo: True or false: if I were to stand on high ground in Key West with a good pair of binoculars, I'd be as informed as I am right now.
Josh: That's true.
Leo: The intelligence budget's money's well spent, isn't it?
“Carelessness doesn’t have to exist for a mistake to be made.”
– Leo McGarry (The West Wing 3x18 Enemies Foreign & Domestic)
The Warfare of Genghis Khan (5.13)
Leo: My generation never got the future it was promised. Thirty-five years later, cars, air travel is exactly the same. We don't even have the Concorde anymore. Technology stopped.
Josh: The personal computer.
Leo: A more efficient delivery system for gossip and pornography? Where's my jet pack? My colonies on the Moon?
thebigpinkdinosaur:
President Andrew Jackson, in the main foyer of his White House, had a big block of cheese….
1 tag
President Bartlet: Donna wants me to call Karen Cahill and make it clear she wasn't hitting on her when she gave her her underwear.
Leo: Yeah, that's because I made fun of her shoes and then Sam said there were nuclear weapons in Kyrgyzstan and Donna went to clear up the mix up and accidentally left her underwear.
President Bartlet: There can't possibly be nuclear weapons in Kyrgyzstan!
4 tags
September 2011
15 posts
5 tags
"In this White House?"
AINSLEY: I've been thinking about that ever since your office called me on Tuesday, and I have something to say on my own behalf, if you'll permit me a moment to say it, and I understand if you won't, but I would really appreciate it if you did.
LEO: I... didn't really follow that, but whatever.
AINSLEY: I think that it is wrong for a man in your position to summon someone to the White House to reprimand them for voicing opposition. I think that that is wrong, and it is inappropriate. It's inappropriate, and I'll tell you what else.
LEO: [nodding slightly] It's wrong?
AINSLEY: Yes.
LEO: That's fine, except you weren't summoned here to be reprimanded.
AINSLEY: Well, then, if you'll permit me, why was I summoned?
LEO: You have an interesting conversational style, do you know that?
AINSLEY: It's a nervous condition.
LEO: I used to have a nervous condition.
AINSLEY: How did yours manifest itself?
LEO: I drank a lot of scotch.
AINSLEY: I get sick when I drink too much.
LEO: I get drunk when I drink too much.
AINSLEY: Well, Mr. McGarry...
LEO: Leo.
AINSLEY: Yes, sir. I'll ask again: for what purpose was I brought here today?
LEO: So I could offer you a job.
AINSLEY: I'm asking because I do not think that it is fair that I be expected to play the role of the mouse to the White House's cat in the game of, well, you know the game.
LEO: Cat and mouse?
AINSLEY: Yes. And it's not like I'm not, you know... the fact that I may not look like some of the other Republicans who have crossed your path does not mean I am any less inclined towards... [comes to a sudden stop]
LEO: Here it comes.
AINSLEY: Did you say offer me a job?
LEO: Yes. Associate White House counsel. You'd report to the Deputy White House Counsel, who reports to the White House Counsel, who reports to me.
AINSLEY: I'm sorry... A job in this White House?
LEO: You want a glass of scotch?
AINSLEY: Yes, please.
1 tag
President Bartlett- Leo, hard as you might try, the Republican party isn't going anywhere.
Leo- You don't know that for sure, sir, they could all end up moving to Vancouver.
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LEO: Good morning, Mr. President.
BARTLET: "Grace is but glory begun and glory is but grace perfected." I made my Bible selection.
LEO: Listen to this, please. The Supreme Court is striking down the use of prior offenses as a factor in Stiles v. Rhode Island. The Chief Justice writes a concurring opinion:
"Guilty or not guilty, past convictions frustrate the judge who wonders should your fate abate."
BARTLET: It's awkwardly worded.
LEO: No, it's not. it's 22 syllables.
BARTLET: Oh, God.
LEO: Two, four, six, eight. Two. And it's suppose to sound like this: "Guilty, or not guilty, past convictions frustrate, the judge who wonders should your fate, abate." It's a cinquain.
BARTLET: A what?
LEO: Cinquain.
BARTLET: How do you know?
LEO: I know things. And I'm worried about the Chief Justice.
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“I take my daughter to a seafood place the first thing she does is name all the...”
– Leo McGarry, 3x23
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“Breakfast is my favorite meal to eat out. I love tomato juice.”
– Leo McGarry (3 x 9)
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Bartlet: Listen, I don't care that much about your ass but if you need to perjure yourself to protect me you're going to damn well do it.
Leo: Sir, this isn't a secure phone call. So I'd like to say to the 17 global intelligence networks listening just then, that he was kidding.
5 tags
Leo McGarry: You saw Sam's friend?
Sam Seaborn: How did you know?
Leo McGarry: I had you tailed.
Josh Lyman: You had us tailed?
Leo McGarry: Yes.
Sam Seaborn: Why?
Leo McGarry: On the off chance that you're as stupid as you look.
1 tag
shikse-feminista:
When Leo tells the President how it is.
That’s right.
You tell him.
You are the grandaddy of bad assery.
word.
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“John Marbury: I thought you were the butler.
Leo McGarry: No, I’m the White...”
– i love this show (via foreverunsolved)
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President Josiah Bartlet: We should hire her.
Leo McGarry: That'd be funny.
President Josiah Bartlet: No, I mean it.
Leo McGarry: Mean what?
President Josiah Bartlet: We should hire her.
Leo McGarry: Well, you mean as a joke on Sam?
President Josiah Bartlet: No, not as a joke, I mean we should hire her as a reality. We should hire her.
Leo McGarry: She's a Republican.
President Josiah Bartlet: So are half of the people in this country.
Leo McGarry: Well, that half lost.
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Leo McGarry: Any downside?
C.J. Cregg: I'll feel stupid.
Leo McGarry: I can live with that.
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“Little thing called team morale, Josh. You gotta make people feel good about...”
– Leo McGarry
3 tags
6 tags
Leo McGarry: Toby, an encouraging word from you to Sam wouldn't be totally out-of-line.
Toby Ziegler: Sam doesn't need to be patronized. He'll shake it off.
Leo McGarry: It'll make him feel better.
Toby Ziegler: I don't want him feeling better. I want him feeling mad. Is there anyone you'd rather have as a blood enemy less than Sam? That's how I want him.
Leo McGarry: You know, it was a screw-up. But I gotta say, I love the way he did it full-speed, bam. Like there's a Sam Seaborn-shaped hole in the wall.
2 tags
“Oh, well then you’re just as stupid as these guys who think that capital...”
– Leo McGarry, THE WEST WING (via o-bravenewworld)
August 2011
34 posts
5 tags
“…this is big-boy school, Mr. Bailey.”
– Leo McGarry (to Will Bailey)
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“You ever see Arnie Vinick campaign up close? He’ll go into those high...”
– Leo McGarry (to Josh)
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Leo McGarry: Mr President, please; Congress, the Joint Chiefs, the American Public, your own staff, everyone disagrees with your assessment of the situation.
President Josiah Bartlet: Killing Palestinians isn't going to make us feel safer. They'll kill more of us and we'll have to kill more of them. It's Russian Roulette with a fully loaded gun.
Leo McGarry: We can't allow terrorists to murder our citizens without...
President Josiah Bartlet: 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.
Leo McGarry: This isn't overreacting, this is the appropriate, balanced...
President Josiah Bartlet: [shouting] 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 this ends!
Leo McGarry: [shouting] We don't always know how it ends!
4 tags
Leo McGarry: You are no longer the guy who picks losing candidates and ushers them to their principled end. You're the guy who takes good men and makes them great. You and Josh, you still think you're terriers barking at the heels of the party. You are the party. Rafferty's a spoiler, shouldn't be in the race.
Toby Ziegler: I'm not sitting this one out, Leo.
Leo McGarry: Don't. But don't pretend you're still an outsider with a ponytail and a dream, you work in the White House... Your brother didn't have any more fight in him. You still do.