West Wing Quote of the Day

[Sam and Ainsley have been debating the Equal Rights Amendment, and the discussion has devolved to standard left v. right.]

SAM SEABORN: You know, you Republicans are so fond of calling government depraved because it won't regulate what you can see on a newsstand, or what sex we're allowed to have sex with, or a woman's right to choose - but don't you dare regulate this deadly weapon in my pocket, because that would violate my freedom.

AINSLEY HAYES: Yes, and you Democrats are all for freedom of speech unless it means prayer in a public school, and you're all for the freedom of information act unless I want to find out if my fourteen-year-old has had an abortion...

SS: Well, we believe in the ERA.

AH: And good for you.

SS: How can you possibly have an objection to-

AH: Because it's humiliating Sam. An amendment to the Constitution that says I'm equal under the law to a man - I'm mortified there's reason to think I wasn't before. I'm a citizen of the United States of America, not part of a special class that requires your protection. I don't need to have my rights handed down to me by a bunch of old, white men. The same 14th amendment that protects you, protects me, and I went to law school, just to make sure. And with that, I'm going back down to the mess, because I think I may have seen there, a peach.

[exits]

SS: I could have countered that, but I'd already moved on to other things in my head.