The West Wing: Top 10 Best CJ Cregg Quotes

Claudia Jean Cregg is the Bartlet White House Press Secretary-turned-Chief of Staff for the run of the show. As the only female member of Senior Staff in the West Wing, she’s put through the ringer at times, but she comes out stronger (and sassier) for every challenge she faces. She’s a fierce role model, she’s hilarious, and she always knows just the right thing to say.

Sure, she might not always do the right thing, but when it comes to finding her words and communicating her feelings, CJ’s second to none.

10 “Right Now, And In Photographs, You Are Wearing A Medal You Didn’t Earn.”

CJ stops a retiring DOD General from smearing the president on air when she discovers he’s claimed a medal he shouldn’t be wearing. When she finally speaks with him directly instead of an aid, she combats his arguments about the Defense budget and combat readiness with facts and logical answers and doesn’t let him rile her up. But he still plans to go on TV, so she calls him out. Since the ship he “earned” the medal on never fired its guns or was fired upon, he doesn’t have a right to wear it. She doesn’t let his rampant, aggressive misogyny get the better of her, and when he starts to rant about Bartlet not having served in the military, she curtly dismisses him, and out he goes. Inspiring.

9 “Let’s Chop The Financial Balls Off These Genocidal Bastards In Khartoum.”

When CJ makes the surprising jump from Press Secretary to Chief of Staff in Bartlet’s White House, CJ finally gets to do what she wants, without being shouted down or told her opinion isn’t relevant when it comes to international politics. A horrible genocide is taking place, despite all attempts to stop it, and the refugee camps are overrun, so CJ takes matters into her own hands and orchestrates a clever plan to cut off the leaders’ oil supply – without leaving their fingerprints on the deal, either… and without consulting the President. It’s the sort of behavior expected from a man in her position, and CJ proves that being “ladylike” can look exactly like being badass.

8 “… This Is Saudi Arabia, Our Partners In Peace.”

CJ uses her Press Secretary position to condemn Saudi Arabia after young girls are left to burn alive inside a schoolhouse because they weren’t wearing the right clothing to be rescued. The White House doesn’t act, because they’re in the process of renewing an Air Force base in the country.

CJ can’t help but speak out against it, even though they renew the base anyway. It’s a blunt reminder that even in places the White House calls an ‘ally’, brutality occurs and that the White House could stop it… if it tried.

7 “If You Go After Those Women, Say They’re All Bimbos And Liars, I’ll Be Right There With Them, And I Can Handle Anything Your People Throw At Me. Anything.”

Former Vice President Hoynes is releasing a book, entitled Full Disclosure. That alone isn’t great since it means Hoynes is planning to run for President in the upcoming election – but it’s worse for CJ. She and the Vice President had a one-night stand ten years prior, so CJ refuses to be in the book in any way. That could’ve been the end of it, but she knows men like him. The odds are high that he’s done this with other women, too, and she takes her stand beside them. She warns Hoynes that if he tries to smear them, he’ll have to smear her, too, and that it wouldn’t end well for him if he tried.

6 “It’s The Fall That’s Gonna Kill You!”

Given how often CJ discusses the President’s health with the press (the pilot even led with it as CJ’s introduction!), she doesn’t take it very well when she finds out he has MS. Whether she meant to or not, the line separated herself from the rest of the West Wing and the Presidency – “you”, not “us”. In a show all about relationships, that could’ve spelled bad news. When something this shattering happens, even your firmest devotion and love can falter, just for a second. But CJ still shows up to work the next day, and the day after that – because momentary disillusionment can be overcome with faith, strength, the courage to try.

5 “Grissom Gave [Stackhouse] A Rest, And An Opportunity To Answer Some Real Questions About Autism. After Grissom Was Done, McNamara Took Over, Then Came Gianelli, Grandfathers All.”

This scene gives viewers goosebumps every time. Senator Stackhouse was filibustering a bill he wanted to include funding for autism research, but no one could figure out why he cared so much. Finally, they learned one of his grandchildren has autism, but he didn’t want to bring his family into politics. It’s so late in the game when they figure it out, the White House orchestrates a Senate technicality to get him some relief – and to get real answers about autism while they get the bill reopened.

4 “Tonight, I’ve Seen A Man With No Legs Stay Standing, A Guy With No Voice Keep Shouting, And If Politics Brings Out The Worst In People, Maybe People Bring Out The Best, Because I’m Looking At The TV Right Now, And Damn If 28 US Senators Haven’t Just Walked Onto The Floor To Help.”

CJ’s email that served as the framework for the Stackhouse story closes with the most beautiful of messages – people can bring out the best in other people.

People can come together and support each other, and sometimes, that means something genuinely good happens.

3 “We’ve Certainly Come A Long Way From ‘Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor.’ … If We Blithely Exploit This Young Man’s Ignorance, I Don’t Know Who We Are Anymore.”

A North Korean pianist visits the White House and wants to defect, but there are nuclear peace talks on the table. CJ, always the mouthpiece for the humanitarian concerns in the West Wing of the White House, argues passionately the entire episode for allowing his defection. In the end, they can’t allow it, because the peace talks seemed like the “real deal”… only for the North Koreans to walk away anyway, over the size of the flags on the tables. Maybe CJ was right – if the opportunity to do some good arises, jump at it before it’s too late.

2 “Wow, Are YOU Stupid?”

She’s right and she should say it. Sam, Josh, and Toby are all smart men who really should know better than to keep information from CJ. Especially when that information is ‘ Deputy Communications Director Sleeps With Call Girl’. But Josh doesn’t think it matters, since Sam didn’t pay the woman anything.

This proves that even smart men can be very, very foolish. The line being delivered beautifully, combined with CJ sneaking into Josh’s office specifically to yell at him, makes this moment a winner.

1 “Those 42 People Are Teaching Us Something About Ourselves. They’re Teaching Us That Freedom Is The Glory Of God, That Democracy Is Its Birthright, And Our Vote Matters.”

Hartsfield’s Landing a tiny town in New Hampshire that’s correctly predicted the outcome of every presidential election since Taft. They vote at midnight – all 42 eligible voters are called up to put a piece of folded paper in a box. Votes are cast at 12:01 and announced at 12:07. This glimpse of democracy in action, famous not for the amount of money spent or even the number of votes cast, but for its purity (and superstition), is a lovely reminder of the beautiful power American citizens have. As they say elsewhere in The West Wing, every four years we get to overthrow the government. Hartsfield’s Landing reminds us that every vote matters – and more than that, that each individual matters. It’s not just about the votes, but about who casts them, and that humanity is lost in the larger political sphere at times. At the end of the day, though, CJ’s right: our vote matters.

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