Politics

First Aired On: February 27, 1998
Written By: Brad Wright
Directed By: Martin Wood
Guest Stars: Ronny Cox (Senator Kinsey), Robert Wisden (Samuels)

Quotes:
Daniel: "'Beware the destroyers.' That's what the message said. These are the coordinates the Goa'uld will launch their attack from. It was a warning."
Teal'c: "Or so your vision foretells."
Daniel: "No. It wasn't a vision, or dream, or hallucination. It was real. Now, I know this is hard for you guys to believe but I swear to you the entire time you thought I had disappeared on P3R 233 I was experiencing an alternate reality."
O'Neill: "And you were there and you were there and there's no place like home."
Daniel: "As a matter of fact, you were there."
Carter: "Daniel, it's not that we don't believe you..."
Daniel: "So you do?"
O'Neill: "No, it's just that...we don't believe you."
Daniel: "Jack, this is very important."
Carter: "Alright, Daniel, when you were in this alternate reality, were there differences?"
Daniel: "Yes. Ah, Teal'c was leading the attack on Earth. I wasn't even part of the program. You and Jack were engaged to be married..."
O'Neill: "Excuse me?"
Carter: "What? Ok, uh, even if you did actually experience this alternate reality, doesn't the fact that there were differences mean that we won't face the same fate?"
Daniel: "Yes, but the defining event, the death of Ra, took place on both worlds."
Teal'c: "An attack of retribution."
Daniel: "Yes. And the same thing is going to happen here unless we stop it."
O'Neill: "Alright, wait a minute. Let me...let me get something straight. Engaged?"
Carter: "It is theoretically possible."
O'Neill: "It's against regulations."
Carter: "I'm talking physics, Sir. The entire concept of alternate realities, the entire alternate universe was predicted by Einstein a long time ago."

Hammond: "It costs nearly a billion dollars just to turn the lights on around here."
O'Neill: "How about a bake sale? Yard sale? Garage...?"
Hammond: "This is what I look like when I'm not laughing, Colonel."
O'Neill: "Car wash?"

O'Neill: "Well, he's late."
Teal'c: "You seem more apprehensive of this hearing than you do of battle."
O'Neill: "I prefer battle, actually."
Daniel: "I'm sure once we tell him that Earth's future is at stake..."
O'Neill: "Daniel. Let's just keep the little alternate reality story as our ace in the hole, shall we?"
Daniel, in a typical Daniel question: "Why?"
O'Neill, in a typical O'Neill answer: "Just because."

Kinsey: "This is the infamous SG-1."
O'Neill: "Infamous. Yes, Sir. Colonel Jack O'Neill."
Kinsey: "Colonel. I heard a lot about you."
O'Neill: "Don't believe a word of it, Senator. I'm actually a nice guy."

Kinsey: "I must admit that I find the very idea of this facility, of this command, offensive. It is far too dangerous to be this secretive. I have found several examples where you have diverted tragedy on a global scale by the skin of your teeth and virtually none where you have brought back anything of worth. However, since I have on occasion been wrong before, the President of the United States has asked me to hear you out. So here I am."
O'Neill: "Well, as long as you've got an open mind..."
Hammond: "Colonel."
O'Neill: "For crying out loud, Samuels, what did you tell this man?"
Samuels: "The truth."
Kinsey: "Colonel Samuels was entirely nonpartisan." (I thought Samuels had been promoted to Lieutenant something?)
O'Neill: "Ok, now, that's impossible. He's been against the program from Day One."
Samuels: "If anything, I voiced my awe and amazement at what the Stargate is, a technological marvel."

O'Neill, after Daniel and Kinsey have just bickered over "Pandora's Box": "Senator, if I could jump in here. I'm not as slick as you guys talking in metaphors here. I'm a military man. I prefer facts. And the fact is the Gate, i.e. the box, is already open. Now what's done is done."

O'Neill: "Let me remind you of something. This time there really are barbarians. They're called Goa'ulds. And they're knocking at the Gate...that one!"

Daniel: "Senator, we have reason to believe the Goa'uld are about to land and attack on ships."
Kinsey: "Then I think they'll regret taking on the United States military!"
O'Neill: "Oh, for God's sake..."
Daniel: "Oh, you're right. We'll just upload a virus into the mother ship."

Kinsey: "Admittedly these Goa'uld are a dangerous race."
Teal'c: "More dangerous that you could possibly know."
Kinsey: "If they're so strong, why did you switch sides in the first place?"
Teal'c: "Because what is right cannot be measured by strength. Your world values freedom. I wish that very same freedom for my people."
Kinsey: "Well, I don't want to appear callous," (too late, bud) "Sir, but I believe that's your problem."
Teal'c: "It will soon be yours as well, Senator Kinsey, for the Goa'uld are as powerful as they are evil. They Goa'uld have enslaved a galaxy of worlds."
Kinsey: "I don't care about other worlds. I must place the citizens of this country first."
Teal'c: "Then you would be wise to heed our warnings, Senator Kinsey. For when the Goa'uld finally do come in force, and they will, your citizens as the strongest, most powerful country of this world will be amongst the first to die."

Daniel, to Senator Kinsey, effectively summing up everyone's thoughts in three words: "You're a fool."

Samuels: "For what it's worth, I'm sorry it had to end like this."
Hammond: "Get out of here."

Teal'c: "General Hammond. I would like to request permission to return through the Stargate before it is permanently sealed. If this world does not intend to continue its struggle against the Goa'uld, then here I do not belong."
O'Neill: "I think I'm going with him."

Daniel, in yet another concise summary of Kinsey's character: "Sir, with all due respect, the Senator is an ass."

There But For the Grace of God

Within the Serpent's Grasp