quote of the day

The Presidential Debate West Wing Style

RITCHIE
[on TV] Let the states decide. Let the communities decide on health care, on education,
on lower taxes, not higher taxes. Now, he's going to throw a big word at you-- "unfunded
mandate." If Washington lets the states do it, it's an unfunded mandate. But what he
doesn't like is the federal government losing power. But I call it the ingenuity of the
American people.

MODERATOR
[on TV] President Bartlet, you have 60 seconds for a question and an answer.

BARTLET
[on TV] Well, first of all, let's clear up a couple of things. "Unfunded mandate" is two
words, not one "big word."

They cheer backstage.

BARTLET
[on TV] There are times when we're fifty states and there are times when we're one
country, and have national needs. And the way I know this is that Florida didn't fight
Germany in World War II or establish civil rights. You think states should do the
governing wall-to-wall. That's a perfectly valid opinion. But your state of Florida got
$12.6 billion in federal money last year-- from Nebraskans, and Virginians, and New
Yorkers, and Alaskans, with their Eskimo poetry. 12.6 out of a state budget of $50
billion, and I'm supposed to be using this time for a question, so here it is: Can we
have it back, please?