Best of the West

Prompted by news of the cancellation of The West Wing, the Guardian’s Organ Grinder asked readers to post their favourite moments from the show’s glory years. So many happy memories:

CJ: The more photo-friendly of the two turkeys gets a Presidential pardon and a full life at a children’s petting zoo; the other one gets eaten.

Bartlet: If the Oscars were like that, I’d watch.

And

[Charlie seeks and obtains the President’s permission to date his daughter]
Bartlet: Just remember these two things: she’s nineteen years old, and the 82nd Airborne works for me.

And

Bartlet: I was watching a television program before, with a kind of roving moderator who spoke to a seated panel of young women who were having some sort of problem with their boyfriends - apparently, because the boyfriends had all slept with the girlfriends’ mothers. And they brought the boyfriends out, and they fought, right there on television. Toby, tell me: these people don’t vote, do they?

And

Sam: There are lots of hungry people in the world, Mall, and none of them are hungry because we went to the moon. None of them are colder and certainly none of them are dumber because we went to the moon.
Mallory: And we went to the moon. Do we really have to go to Mars?
Sam: Yes.
Mallory: Why?
Sam: Because it’s next. Because we came out of the cave, and we looked over the hill and we saw fire; and we crossed the ocean and we pioneered the west, and we took to the sky. The history of man is on a timeline of explorations and this is What’s next.

And

Leo: [on the phone with the New York Times] 17 across. Yes, 17 across is wrong… You’re spelling his name wrong… What’s my name? My name doesn’t matter. I am just an ordinary citizen who relies on the Times crossword for stimulation. And I’m telling you that I met the man twice. And I recommended a pre-emptive missile strike against his air force, so I think I know how…
C.J.: Leo.
Leo: They hang up on me every time.
C.J: That’s almost hard to believe

And

Bartlet: In the future, if you’re wondering, “Crime. Boy, I don’t know” is when I decided to kick your ass.

And finally, my all-time favourite:

Bartlet: Good. I like your show. I like how you call homosexuality an abomination.
Dr. Jacobs: I don’t say homosexuality is an abomination, Mr. President. The Bible does.
Bartlet: Yes it does. Leviticus.
Dr. Jacobs: 18:22.
Bartlet: Chapter and verse. I wanted to ask you a couple of questions while I have you here. I’m interested in selling my youngest daughter into slavery as sanctioned in Exodus 21:7. She’s a Georgetown sophomore, speaks fluent Italian, always cleared the table when it was her turn. What would a good price for her be? While thinking about that, can I ask another? My Chief of Staff Leo McGarry insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2 clearly says he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to kill him myself or is it okay to call the police? Here’s one that’s really important because we’ve got a lot of sports fans in this town: touching the skin of a dead pig makes one unclean. Leviticus 11:7. If they promise to wear gloves, can the Washington Redskins still play football? Can Notre Dame? Can West Point? Does the whole town really have to be together to stone my brother John for planting different crops side by side? Can I burn my mother in a small family gathering for wearing garments made from two different threads? Think about those questions, would you? One last thing: while you may be mistaking this for your monthly meeting of the Ignorant Tight-Ass Club, in this building, when the President stands, nobody sits.

And those are just the quotable bits. Throw in intelligent, thoughtful plots and some of the best ensemble acting you ever saw and you’ve got one hell of a show. Reading those again makes me want to order the box sets of the first four seasons right this minute.

[For many, many more quotes from the show, go to WikiQuote or the IMDB.]

[Via feeling listless]