The West Wing (TV Series)
War Crimes (2001)
Rob Lowe: Sam Seaborn
Quotes
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Toby Ziegler : You're a good deputy, Sam.
Sam Seaborn : What do you mean?
Toby Ziegler : That.
Sam Seaborn : You won money on football today, didn't you?
Toby Ziegler : Yeah, but I mean it anyway.
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Sam Seaborn : [Sam's interrupting Leo and Gen. Adamle's discussion of war crimes and the international tribunal] If you're in the middle of something, I can come back.
USAF Gen. Alan Adamle : We're eliminating genocide. What are you doing?
Sam Seaborn : Eliminating the penny. So, I'll come back
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Josh Lyman : Why?
Sam Seaborn : Why?
Josh Lyman : Yes.
Sam Seaborn : Because this country is populated with unbalanced people. Many of whom find their way to Washington. As if the continent funnels them into this one spot.
Josh Lyman : He wants to abolish the penny?
Sam Seaborn : He doesn't want to abolish it, as much as he wants to give his boss a reason why we can't.
Josh Lyman : Well, it's stupid.
Sam Seaborn : Yeah, but the thing is... it isn't really.
Josh Lyman : Really?
Sam Seaborn : It turns out the majority of pennies don't circulate. They go in jars and sock drawers. Two-thirds of the pennies produced in the last 30 years have dropped out of circulation.
Josh Lyman : You've been reading about this?
Sam Seaborn : It's interesting.
Josh Lyman : No, it's not.
Sam Seaborn : The Mint gets letters with pennies taped on notebook paper. Letters from citizens who found the pennies on the street and mailed them back to the Treasury to help pay down the debt.
Josh Lyman : It's almost hard to believe that plan hasn't worked.
Sam Seaborn : It's also bad for the environment. Production requires the mining of millions of tons of copper and zinc each year.
Josh Lyman : Zinc?
Sam Seaborn : In 1982, they changed the composition to 97.5% zinc and only 2.5% copper.
Josh Lyman : Sam?
Sam Seaborn : I'm turning into one of the funnel people.
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Toby Ziegler : This is the Legal Tender... Huckleberry Bill?
Sam Seaborn : Modernization Bill, yeah.
Toby Ziegler : We can't support it 'cause it'll never get to the floor.
Sam Seaborn : Why not?
Toby Ziegler : Where's the Speaker of the House from?
Sam Seaborn : He's from Illinois, which, by the way, is the only state where you can put pennies in a toll machine. Why is that, do you suppose?
Toby Ziegler : It's because...
Sam Seaborn : [realizing] It's 'cause Lincoln's from Illinois! And... so is the Speaker.
Toby Ziegler : Yes.
Sam Seaborn : Well, that's a good reason. Well, it's a dumb reason, but it's good enough, right?