The West Wing (TV Series)

Impact Winter (2004)

Bradley Whitford: Josh Lyman

Quotes 

• Matthew Santos : I'm not running for Congress again, Josh. Now, you came a long way, I'm sorry about that. But it's just...

  Josh Lyman : I'm not talking about Congress.

• Leo McGarry : I just looked at the tape.

  Josh Lyman : Vinick's announcement? Makes you want to cry like a little girl, doesn't it?

  Leo McGarry : It's a tough primary for him. I wouldn't tear my shirt yet.

  Josh Lyman : Russell offered me campaign manager.

  Leo McGarry : Really?

  Josh Lyman : Turned him down. Hoynes asked too.

  Leo McGarry : Popular. You change your cologne or something?

  Josh Lyman : Think Hoynes could win?

  Leo McGarry : With Baker out? Russell's got a huge financial advantage. Sitting VP, he's going to raise a lot more money and he's in a position to offer a lot more favors.

  Josh Lyman : Hoynes is a guy without a job.

  Leo McGarry : That said, Hoynes is much more experienced in the job that Bob Russell holds, he was elected senator of a huge, complicated, and usually Republican state and Russell got elected representative of a district the size of my thumb.

  Josh Lyman : Hoynes is smarter than Russell. He'll kick his ass in the debates.

  Leo McGarry : And he's got more foreign policy experience. It could happen. But you gotta want to work for him and you gotta want him to win. You want that?

  Josh Lyman : I want to get Jeb Bartlet a third term.

  Leo McGarry : Yeah.

  Josh Lyman : What happened to the good old days when a couple of hacks with cigars chose the nominee in a smoke-filled back room?

  Leo McGarry : They didn't do so bad, did they? Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower.

  Josh Lyman : We need a back room.

  Leo McGarry : Well, we just about outlawed smoking and at this point I'm not allowed to even look at a cigar. But we're it. You and me. This is the back room.

• Josh Lyman : [Josh and Leo converge while walking through a doorway, ducking under Christmas greenery that maintenance staff are hanging up]  Season's greetings.

  Leo McGarry : You pick your dream candidate yet?

  Josh Lyman : I can't pick up and leave the White House to go run a campaign for some dark horse I pulled out of a cornfield.

  Leo McGarry : I did.

• Josh Lyman : The president can't move his legs. NASA's wondering if the next Ice Age starts on Tuesday. I gotta stay here, finish what I started.

  Leo McGarry : [Shaking his head and starting to walk away]  It doesn't finish, Josh. It keeps going.

• Josh Lyman : Cabinet meeting?

  Will Bailey : ...an informal conversation with senior members of the administration.

  Josh Lyman : President doesn't need the Cabinet swooping in on their shining steeds.

  Will Bailey : Wanna step into your office or something?

  Josh Lyman : The president is still running the show, on two continents. Russell can stop with the less than subtle insinuations to the contrary. There will be no cabinet meeting.

  Will Bailey : It's been announced. You don't think it will be more awkward if it doesn't happen.

  Josh Lyman : You know what? Watch yourself. You and the candidate.

  Will Bailey : You done?

  Josh Lyman : No. Free advice for the campaign trail - stop with the ceaseless mentions of his tennis game. Doesn't make him look young and vigorous, it makes him look like a dilettante who can't settle down with a thick book.

  Donna Moss : Wheels down in Beijing in a minute or so.

  Josh Lyman : A cabinet meeting.

  Donna Moss : You really think all the talk about tennis makes him look flaky?

  Josh Lyman : No, I think it makes him look young and vigorous.