Awesome / Madam Secretary

• Both of the McCord parents' arguments against Dean Ward of Westmore when she chooses to expel Jason, even after he apologizes for breaking another student's nose in defense of his mother. Doubles as Hypocritical Humor since both of them try to stop the other until she manages to offend both.
  Ward: This is a Quaker school. Nonviolence is one of our core valu—
  Henry: So is integrity. Our son is following his conscience, and you behaving like a tyrant is in direct contradiction to the basic precepts of the Quaker faith.
  [...]
  Ward: Madam Secretary, I'm sure you're used to getting your way at the State Department, but I'm in charge here.
  Elizabeth: That's cute, but if I ran the State Department the way you run this school, the world would be a smoldering ember.
  Ward: Okay. Get out or I'm calling security.
  Elizabeth: Oh really? Are you sure you want to do that?
  Henry: (scoffs) Honestly?
  Elizabeth: 'Cause I don't like their odds against my detail. I mean, given the whole, you know, nonviolent thing.
• Henry's "The Reason You Suck" Speech in "Waiting for Taleju":
  Jeff from Fair Oaks: Uh, I've been listening to you talk about the moral codes of Christianity and Islam. And I think it's so interesting that you hold yourself up as an expert on morality when all I'm finding online about you is a photo of your daughter rolling around in bed with the president's son.
  Henry: Excuse me?
  TV host: I'm sorry. Uh, Jeff, we lost our conne—
  Henry: No, no, let me finish.
  Jeff: Is that your definition of moral parenting, Dr. McCord? Is that your definition?
  Henry: (to the host) No, no, I'd like to answer that. (to audience) You ask an interesting question, Jeff. I'd like to start by making a distinction that I usually make on the very first day of my Morals and Ethics class. A lot of people say that morals are how we treat the people we know and ethics are how we treat the people we don't know. So morals are what make us a good parent, a good friend, a nice neighbor. But ethics are how we build a society. That's the true test of our higher self. But what happens, Jeff, when society is ruled by the subjective morals of, say, you and your family, and you choose to project that onto complete strangers is that we all end up with a society that's governed by self-aggrandizement. So, really, by calling in to make sure you're the first little pedant to jump off your chair and teach me a lesson with smug superiority about your own particular moral point of view when you know precisely nothing of the situation, you've done your part to contribute to the erosion of our entire social fabric. (Sarcastic Clapping) Pat yourself on the back. Bravo.
• During a college tour, Elizabeth is berated by a young man over her failure to help miners in Chile. The man harassing her is pushed back by her bodyguard. He then sues Elizabeth, who shows up at his dorm room to apologize. The man sniffs that he won't accept it and he won't be intimidated. Elizabeth says she knows she can't intimidate him but knows who can...and her aide pops up his laptop to show the man's parents, berating him for acting like an idiot as various classmates laugh hysterically.
• Liz and Henry confront a key party donor on how the man is the one who hired a stalker to harass their family just to make Liz quit. The man arrogantly says that "Presidents come and go but we stay" and that if Dalton wants his help for the election, Liz is gone. Dalton arrives and the man tells him that unless he fires Liz, he won't support him. Dalton pauses...and then has the Attorney General show up to immediately start an investigation of the donor for his many crimes.
• When an earthquake kills the leadership of Venezuela, a would-be dictator takes some aid workers hostage and will only give them up if Dalton promotes him as the new President. He watches a news conference as Dalton does so, followed by interviews with Dalton's two Presidential opponents decrying the move. The hostages are freed...at which point it turns out the "news conference" was only sent to the dictator's computer, not the real media. Not only that, Dalton's two opponents agreed to help, noting that whatever issues they may have with Dalton, they hated a "two-bit thug" trying to blackmail the U.S. more. The hostages are in the air before it hits the dictator he's been duped.
• Season six: President Elizabeth McCord.

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