spch 191 - an honest politician v3

8/14/2019 Spch 191 - An Honest Politician v3

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/spch-191-an-honest-politician-v3 1/20

Female/Teacher: When George was about six years old, he was made thewealthy master of a hatchet of which, like most little boys, he was

extremely fond. He went about chopping everything that came hisway. One day… he found a beautiful, young English cherry tree, of which his father was most proud… Some time after this, his father discovered what had happened to his favorite tree. He came into thehouse in great anger, and demanded to know who the mischievous person was who had cut away the bark. Nobody could tell himanything about it. Just then George, with his little hatchet, came intothe room. "George,'' said his father, "do you know who has killed my beautiful little cherry tree yonder in the garden? I would not havetaken five guineas for it!'' This was a hard question to answer, andfor a moment George was staggered by it, but quickly recoveringhimself he cried: "I cannot tell a lie, father, you know I cannot tell alie! I did cut it—”

Robert/Child: Wait, I thought he was a politician…

Male #1/Intro: The Great politicians have always been honest with the people—

Male #2/Intro: You lie!

Male #1/Intro: Considered to be the most honorable politician ever wasLucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, Roman Consul and Dictator. He wasthought of as the model of Roman virtue. Cincinnatus lived inhumble circumstance until he was called upon to serve as dictator,set with the task of defeating the Aequians, Sabinians and Volscians.After the fight was over, he immediately resigned his position, rather than retain all that dictatorial power, a great example of outstandingleadership and service to the greater good and civic virtue.

Female/Intro: Yeah, one guy… ever.

Male #1/Intro: Anyway, politicians do have a history of trouble with thetruth, often at the expense of the people in favor of special interests.Simon Cameron, Secretary of State, then of War, under PresidentAbraham Lincoln once said, “an honest politician is one who, whenhe is bought, stays bought.”



Robert/Intro: He oughta know. He had to resign after being foundcorrupt.

Male #1/Intro: The question we have to ask: what does it take for a politician to be honest? Must he be an imposter like—

Everyone/Intro: Dave, drama by Ivan Reitman

Male #1/Intro: —or suicidally depressed like—

Everyone/Intro: Bulworth, drama by Warren Beatty and Jeremy Fikser

Male #1/Intro: —or already “retired” from office like in—

Everyone/Intro: Frost/Nixon, drama by Peter Morgan

Male #1/Intro: Are the matters of politics, day to day, too big to share

with the people? After all—

Everyone but Male #1/Intro: Untruth and Consequences: FromWashington to FDR to Nixon…

Everyone/Intro: …Presidents Have Always Lied…

Everyone but Male #1/Intro: …prose by Carl Cannon

Male #1/Intro: The following program suggests that, when it comes to politicians—

Female/Intro: —the moments of truth are few and far between—

Male #2/Intro: —so We the People need to appreciate them when we can

get them—

Robert/Intro: —or we might never get them again.

Female/Intro: With prose, The Cherry Tree, by Mason Locke Weems.

Male #1/Intro: Drama, Mastergate: A Play on Words, by LarryGelbart.



Male #2/Intro: Poetry, Mr. Politician, by Diane Buckley.

Robert/Intro: And, the songs, The Truth, by Good Charlotte, The Foolon the Hill and Tell Me Why by the Beatles, What’s Going On byMarvin Gaye, and Lies by Glen Hansard

Male #1/Intro: “An Honest Politician:

Female/Intro: Oxymoron or Just a Moron?” –

Male #2/Intro: A program that wonders,

Robert/Intro: can honesty and politics ever coexist?

Male #2/Senator Bowman: Can we have it quiet please. I’d like to beginon time if we may, inasmuch as we’re late already. Thank you.

Thank you very much. Even though a few members of the committeehave not been able to get away from a roll call vote on the floor of the house, I am advised that since enough of us are not all there wecan proceed with these proceedings here. Proceedings which havesubmerged to the surface after years of stonewalling and cover-up.I’d like if I may to begin by presenting a preamble I've prepared for the purpose of broadly narrowing down the scope of what thesehearings hope to accomplish. If we as a nation have learned anythingfrom Water-, Iran Contra- and Iraq-Gates, it is that those who forgetthe past are certain to be subpoenaed…

Robert/Bulworth: We stand at the doorstep of a new millennium. Our obligation is to reduce our bloated government and at the same timerestore its creative power, to reinvigorate our society… and, uh, bring about a, uh, rebirth of, uh, democracy… any questions?

Male #1/Man: Yes, the riots and civil unrest went down about 4 yearsago. You promised us federal funding to rebuild our community.What happened?

Robert/Bulworth: Well, what happened was that we all knew that wasgoing to be big news for a while, so we all came down here, Bush,



Clinton, Wilson, all of us. We all got our pictures taken, told youwhat you wanted to hear, and pretty much forgot about it.

Female/Woman: Can’t get any insurance down here, health insurance,fire insurance, life insurance. Why haven’t you come out for SenateBill 2720?

Robert/Bulworth: Well, 'cause you haven’t really contributed any moneyto my campaign, have you? You have any idea how much theseinsurance companies come up with? They pretty much depend on meto get a bill like that and bottle it up in my committee during anelection, and then that way, we can kill it when you’re not looking.

Female/Woman: Are you saying that the Democratic Party don’t careabout the African American community?

Robert/Bulworth: Isn’t that obvious? You’ve got half of your kids our of

work and the other half are in jail. You see any Democrat doinganything about it? Certainly not me. But, what are you gonna do,vote Republican? Come on, come on, you’re not gonna voteRepublican. Let’s call a spade a spade. I mean, come on, you canhave a billion man march. If you don’t put down that malt liquor andchicken wings, and get behind somebody other than a runningback who stabs his wife, you’re never gonna get rid of somebody like me.

FIRE ALARM

Male #2/Senator Bowman: This panel, which intends to give everyappearance of being bipartisan, will be ever mindful of the president’s instructions to dig down as far as we can, no matter howhigh up that might take us. Now, let me emphatisize one thing at thestart: this is not a witchhunt. It is not a trial. We are not looking for

hides to skin nor goats to scape; we are just trying at long last togather all the facts together into one room in the hope that they mightsomehow recognize one another. Our chief goal, of course, is toanswer the question, what did the president know and does he haveany idea that he knew it?

Male #1/Dave: I could veto this Simpson-Garner thing if I wanted to, but

I don’t. Do you know why? It’s got homeless shelters… and



Headstart centers… and hot lunches, hot lunches for little kiddies. If I kill it, I’m gonna look like a prick. I don’t want to look like a prick.

I want you to look like pricks.

Robert/Man: But, sir, we tried to kill it. Twice.

Male #1/Dave: I don’t think so, Howard. No, if you killed it, it would bedead. If I kill something, it always dies.

Female/Cannon: Why do presidents lie? Dothey lie more than most people? Are liesof omission essentially the same as liesof commission? What about presidentswho convince themselves of things thatare untrue—who are, we would say, “indenial”? Is this tantamount to lying? Can presidents be truly effective without

lying—or are there times when theysimply must engage in deception? …how is the public to know whether presidents are abusing that prerogative?Admonitions against lying are as old asWestern civilization itself, but the NinthCommandment was applied to the presidency by the first presidential biographer—a parson named MasonLocke Weems, who not only launchedthe cult of the president-as-truth-teller but did so retroactively with thatfamous, but unverifiable, cherry-treestory. Ever since, historical revisionismnotwithstanding, American

schoolchildren have been raised on thestandard of a U.S. president who didn’tlie—couldn’t lie—even as a six-year-old boy… Mark Twain deadpanned thatAmericans held their presidents to astandard few mortals could meet. “I amdifferent from [George] Washington,”

he would say. “I have a higher and

Everyone but Female:Tell me why you cry,and why you lie tome…

Tell me why you cry, andwhy you lie to me…



grander standard of principle.Washington could not lie. I can lie, but

I won’t .”

Male #2/Nixon: Good evening. This is the thirty-seventh time I havespoken to you from this office where so many decisions have beenmade that shaped the history of our nation… therefore, I shall resignthe Presidency, effective at noon tomorrow. (keeps mouthing words)

Male #1/Reston: Instead of the satisfaction I imagined I would feel, I just got angrier and angrier. Because there was no admission of guilt. No apology.

Male #2/Nixon: To have served in this office is to have felt a very personal sense of kinship with each and every American. In leavingit, I do so with this prayer: may God’s grace be with you in all thedays ahead.

Female/Buckley: How many words can you steal from the truthBefore the story becomes a lieIf we were to ever stand face to faceCould you look me in the eyePreach aloud from your mighty podiumOut both sides of your mouthLeading the nation on a route heading northAs you sail on a course clearly south

Male #2/Chip: Standby. I’m told we must cut back to Washington wherethe tension is mounting with each growing moment, as thecommittee awaits the impinging appearance of Secretary of StateBishop. Mary?

Female/Mary Chase: Secretary Bishop has, in fact, just arrived, Chip.I’m gonna try and get through here. Excuse me sir, Mary Chase,Total Network News. You’ve agreed to appear before the committee,sir?

Male #1/Secretary of State Bishop: I never stop appearing beforecommittees, Mary. I haven’t been out of this building in 2 years.



Female/Mary Chase: Mr. Secretary, you’re on record as having beenagainst the entire Mastergate operation.

Male #1/Secretary of State Bishop: I have indeed, from the very beginning. I thought it was lunatic to use a movie company as acover for the illegal diversion of arms.

Female/Mary Chase: And yet, sir, you played a major role in the plan.

Male #1/Secretary of State Bishop: That’s a gross exaggeration. Myinvolvement was strictly limited to the extent of my participation.

Female/Mary Chase: But, sir, isn’t it true that—

Male #1/Secretary of State Bishop: I’m sorry, Mary. The truth will haveto wait until after I finish testifying.

Robert/Good Charlotte: I want the truth, from you. Give me the truth,even if it hurts me.

Everyone: I want the truth, from you. Give me the truth, even if it hurtsme… I want the truth

Female/Buckley: From the sightless view within your ivory tower Can you see further than your blind charadeThe world is not your Potemkin VillageSaluting to your white-washed paradeYou line your golden pockets with my lifeFrom the morality you have whoredMarket my son for the price of a barrelTo fight your dirty wars

Everyone but Female: Talk to me, so you can see, oh, what’s going on,what’s going on, ya, what’s going on, ah, what’s going on

Female/Cannon: Presidents prevaricate for the reasons other people do: pathology, politeness, paternalism, convenience, shame, self- promotion, insecurity, ego, narcissism, and even, on occasion, tofurther a noble goal. Presidents also have burdens not felt by most of

us—keeping the nation safe, for one. High-level statecraft requires a



talent for telling divergent groups of people what they want to hear.This is not the best recipe for truth telling, particularly in times of

war or national peril.

Robert/Bulworth: We stand on the doorstep of a new millennium. Wehave an obligation… on the one hand to reduce… (sigh) yada yadayada… yada yada yada… It’s up to the people to decide what thestate of California and the nation will do… Biddy biddy bid… Ooh,what’ll we do? The nation will do… It’s up to you. What’ll we do?What’ll we do? Well, it’s up to you.You know it ain’t that funny, you contribute all my money.You make your contribution, then you get your solution.As long as you can pay, I’m gonna do it all your way.Yes, money talks and the people walk.Yeah, now let me hear ya say it, big money.

Everyone: Big money, big money.

Robert/Bulworth: One man one vote, now is that really real?The name of our game is “Let’s Make a Deal” Now people got the problems, the haves and the have-notsBut the ones that make me listen pay for 30-second spots

Everyone: 30-second spots, 30-second spots

Robert/Bulworth: Yo everybody gonna get sick somedayBut nobody know how they gonna payHealthcare, managed care, HMOsAin’t gonna work, no sir not thoseCause the thing that’s the same in every one of theseIs these motherfuckers there, the insurance companies

Everyone: Insurance, insurance

Robert/Bulworth:You can call it single-payer or Canadian wayOnly socialized medicine will ever save the dayCome on now, let me hear that dirty word: Socialism!

Male #2/Beatles: But the fool on the hill

Sees the sun going down



And the eyes in his headSee the world spinning round

Male #1/Dave: I’ve found some ways to put back the homeless sectionof the Simpson-Garner Works Bill. Now, the way I see it, we need$650 million in order to keep the project. Now, some of this can bedone though some simple changes in our cash management…Money management gets us halfway to our goal. In order to get therest of the money, we’ll have to make some tough choices. TheCommerce Department: we’re spending $47 million on an adcampaign to boost consumer confidence in the American autoindustry… we’re spending $47 million so somebody can feel goodabout a car they already bought? I’m sure that’s important, but Idon’t want to tell an 8-year old kid he’s gotta sleep in the street because we want people to feel better about their car.

Robert/Frost: You’ve always claimed you first learned of the break-in on

June 23rd

. This tape clearly shows that to be a falsehood and, movingon to the Dean conversation of March 21st the following year, there,in one transcript alone, in black and white, I picked out… (reading)One: “You could get a million dollars and you could get it in cash. Iknow where it could be gotten.” Two: “Your major guy to keepunder control is Hunt.” Three: “Don’t we have to handle the Huntsituation?” Four: “Get the million bucks. It would seem to me thatwould be worthwhile.” Five: “Don’t you agree that you’d better getthe Hunt thing going?” Six: “First you’ve got the Hunt problem. Thatought to be handled.” Seven: “The money can be provided.Ehrlichman could provide the way to deliver it. That could be done.”Eight: “We’ve no choice with hunt but the $120,000, or whatever itis, right?” Nine: “Christ, turn over any cash we’ve got.” Now, itseems to me, that someone running a cover-up couldn’t haveexpressed it more clearly than that. Could they?

Male #2/Nixon: Let me stop you right there. You’re doing somethinghere which I am not doing, and I will not do throughout these broadcasts. You’re quoting me out of context, out of order.

Female/Beatles: The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loudBut nobody ever hear him

Or the sound he appears to make



And he never seems to notice

Robert/Frost: You have always maintained that you knew nothing aboutany of this until March 21st. But in February your personal lawyer came to Washington to start the raising of $219,000 of hush moneyto be paid to the burglars. You seriously expect us to believe you hadno knowledge of that?

Male #2/Nixon: None. I believed the money was for humanitarian purposes to help disadvantaged people with their defenses… I’vemade statements to that effect before. All that was Haldeman andEhrlichman’s business. I knew nothing.

Robert/Frost: All right, if Haldeman and Ehrlichman were really theones responsible, when you subsequently found out about it, whydidn’t you call the police and have them arrested? Isn’t that just acover-up of another kind?

Male #2/Nixon: Maybe I should’vedone. Maybe I should’ve calledthe Feds into my office and said,‘Here are the two men. Haulthem down to the dock,fingerprint them and throw theminto the can,’ but I’m just notmade that way. These menHaldeman and Ehrlichman, Iknew their families. Knownthem since they were just kids.And I’ve always maintained— what they were doing—what wewere all doing—was not

criminal. When you’re in office,you have to do a lot of thingsthat are not, in the strictest senseof the law, legal. But, you dothem because they’re in thegreater interests of the nation.

(gets up)

Robert/Hansard: The littlecracks they escalatedAnd before you know it istoo lateYou're moving too fast for meAnd I can't keep up withyouMaybe if you slowed downfor meI could see you're only

tellingLies, lies, lies

(sits back down)



Robert/Frost: Wait a minute. Did I hear right? Are you really saying thatthere are certain situations where the President can decide whether

it’s in the best interests of the nation and do something illegal?

Male #2/Nixon: I’m saying that when the President does it, that meansit’s not illegal.

Robert/Frost: I’m sorry…?

Male #1/Beatles: and nobody seems to like himThey can tell what he wants to doAnd he never shows his feelings

Male #2/Nixon: That’s what I believe. But I realize no one else sharesthat view.

Robert/Frost: So, in that case… will you accept then… to clear the air

once and for all… that you were part of a cover-up, and you did break the law?

Female/Buckley: Wear a white hooded robe in this new CrusadesCommit murder with a righteous zealDeploying your personal ArmageddonTo prove your sacred book is realSaber-rattle your two-faced intentionTrace the truth in the action of the deedTo disclose the price tag of your moral valuesIs being wholesaled by—

Everyone: —unrestricted greed

Female/Cannon: Presidents have rarely told the full truth in the midst of

major military operations, and until Vietnam, Americans tended tocut them slack for the sake of the troops, if nothing else. DuringWorld War II, for example, the government launched an elaboratedisinformation campaign to mask the details of D-Day…

Male #1/Cannon: “Paternalistic lies.” The everyday version would be a parent falsely reassuring a child that Mommy and Daddy are not

fighting.



Male #2/Cannon: Another presidential equivalent would be falsely

reassuring the citizenry on issues of national security for their own protection. Presidents have trouble resisting the short-term gain a liecan afford them… The question is, should the government engage inlying…? The answer is, no it shouldn’t. It’s a serious business whengovernment lies, and eventually it does hurt a government and a president’s credibility.

Female/Jan Carl: Senator Bulworth, the news today requires us to ask you about the sudden change in your campaign style.

Robert/Bulworth: (laughing) C'mon.

Female/Jan Carl: Could you explain it?

Robert/Bulworth: (laughing) C'mon... why are you here? Let's admit

it... You're here 'cause you're making a bundle, right?

Female/Jan Carl: I beg your pardon?

Robert/Bulworth: Oh? You mean... You're not here 'cause you're getting paid a bundle of money? C'mon, we got three pretty rich guys here,getting paid by some really rich guys, to ask a couple of other richguys questions about their campaign? But our campaigns arefinanced by the same guys that pay you guys your money. So,(laughs) what are we talkin' about here? I could tell you stories aboutgetting money from these guys that would pin your ears back. (laughing) Stories about me. I mean, I don't know about,Hugh. Do you have... (pause) But, uh, I tell ya...

(Male #1/Murphy slips away, finds the light switch.)

Robert/Bulworth: We got a club, right? Republicans, Democrats...what'sthe difference? Your guys, my guys, our guys, us guys...it's aclub! (Robert/Bulworth: pulls out a flask) So, why don't we just havea drink? (laughs, unscrews the cap on a liquor flask)

Male #2/Dave Clark: Excuse me, Senator, if you don't mind, at the

moment I think we're here to ask about the news of your campaign.



Robert/Bulworth: News, What are you talking about? C'mon, the guys

you and I get our money from, they don't want the people to have thenews. They want you to think the corporations are more efficientthan government, right? You want to know why the health careindustry's the most profitable business in the United States? Causethe insurance companies take twenty-four cents out of every dollar that's spent. You know what it takes the government to do the samething for Medicare? Three cents out of every dollar. Now, what is allthis crap they hand you about business being more efficient thangovernment? These guys need to be regulated. What do you think,that these pigs are going to regulate themselves?

(Lights go out.)

Robert/Bulworth: (looking around) What's going on?

Everyone: What’s going on? Ah, what’s going on?

Male #2/Producer: Senator, Mr. Weldie... I'm sorry to say, but we'regoing to have to cancel this for today. They don't want to bump JerrySpringer.

(Turns to the audience)

Male #2/Producer: I'm sorry, folks. That will be it.

(Lights come back on.)

Female/Buckley: Are all the certainties that we’ve ever knownEntrenched in deceit and liesCould you answer just one simple question

Will you enlighten us as to whyWe teach our children to live in fear But can’t recognize the enemy’s faceIn this day of confused hypocrisyIt’s our humiliation—

Everyone: —and our disgrace



Female/Connie: Welcome back. In our Los Angeles studio we haveincumbent Democratic Senator Jay Bulworth of California. Good

evening, Senator. Senator, why this new campaign style?

(Robert/Bulworth doesn’t look up)

Female/Connie: Why this new manner of dress and speech... Your ethnicmanner of speech, your clothes...this use of obscenity?

Robert/Bulworth: Obsenity?(rapping...) The rich is gettin' richer, an' richer, an' richer, while themiddle class is gettin' more poor.Jus makin' billions and billions and billions and billions and billionsand billions of bucks?Well my friend, if ah, you weren't already rich at the start, thatsituation sucks.'Cause the richest muthafucker in five of us is gettin' ninety-fuckin'

eight percent of it.And every other muthafucker in the world is left to wonder wherethe fuck we went with it.Obscenity?I'm a senator. I got to raise $10,000 a day every day I'm inWashington.I ain't gettin' it in South Central, I'm gettin' it in Beverly Hills.So I'm votin' in the Senate the way they want me to and I’m sendin''em my bills.But we got babies in South Central dyin' as young as they do inPeru.We got public schools that're nightmares, we got a Congress thatain't got a clue.We got kids with sub machine guns, we got militias throwin' bombs.We got factories closin down,

Where the hell did all the good jobs go?Well, I’ll tell you where they went—my contributors make more profits makin'... makin'... makin'... hiring kids in Mexico.Oh a brother can work in fast food, if he can't invent computer gamesBut what we used to call America—that's going down the drains.How's a young man gonna meet his financial responsibilities workin'

at a mutha fuckin' Burger King?



He ain't.And please don't even start with that school shit.

There ain't no education goin' on up in that muthafucker.Obscenity?We got a million brothers in prison, I mean the walls are reallyrockin'.But you can bet your ass they'd all be out if they could pay for Johnnie Cochran.The Constitution sposed to give 'em an equal chance. Well that ain'tgonna happen for sure.Ain't it time to take a little from the rich mutha fucka and just give alittle to the poor?I mean, those boys there on the monitor—they want the governmentsmaller and weak.They be speakin' for the richest 20 per cent, while pretendin' theydefendin' the meek.Aww, shit, fuck, cocksucker.

That's the real obscenity black folks livin' with everyday.Is tryin' to believe a mutha fuckin' word Democrats and Republicanssay.Obscenity?(standing) I'm Jay Billington Bulworth and I’ve come to say.The Democratic Party’s got some shit to pay.It’s gonna pay it in the ghetto,It’s gonna pay it in...

Female/Connie: Senator, are you saying the Democratic Party doesn'tcare about the African American community?

Robert/Bulworth: (sitting) Isn't that obvious?Look, a lot of people think there're no black leaders anymore because they all got killed but I happen to think it's because of the

decimation of the manufacturing base in the urban centers. Don't youthink so?

Male #2/Engineer: He's had his time. Flush him.

Robert/Bulworth: (lowering his speech) You know the guy in the boothwho's talkin' to you on that tiny little earphone. He's afraid the



network gonna tell him he's through,If he lets a guy keep talkin' like I'm talkin' to you.

Corporations got the networks and so they get to sayWho gets to talk about the country, and who’s crazy today.I would cut to commercial if you still want this job,You might not be back tomorrow with this corporate mob.Cut to commercial, cut to commercial.OK. I got a simple question that I'd like to ask,Of this network who pays you for performing this task.How cum they got the airwaves?They're the people's, aren't they?Wouldn't they be worth 70 billion to the public todayIf some money grubbin' Congress didn't give 'em awayFor big campaign money?It's hopeless, you see.If you runnin' for office without no TV.If you don't get big money you get a defeat.

Corporations and broadcasters make you dead meat.You been taught in this countryThere's speech that is free.But free do not get you no spots on TV.If you want to have Senators not on the take,Then give them free air time, they won't have to fake.Telecommunications is the name of the beast,That, that, that, that, that, that's eating up the world from the West tothe East.The movies, the tabloids, TV and magazines,They tell us what to think and do and all our hopes and dreams.All this information makes America fat,But if the company's out of the country, how American is that?But, we got Americans with families can't even buy a meal.Ask a brother who's been downsized if he's gettn' any deal.

Or a white boy bustin' ass till they put him in his grave.He ain't gotta be a black boy to be livin' like a slave.Rich people have always stayed on top, by dividing white peoplefrom colored people. But white people got more in common withcolored people than they do with rich people. We just gotta eliminate'em.

Female/Connie: Eliminate?



Robert/Bulworth: Eliminate.

Female/Connie: Who? Rich people?

Robert/Bulworth: White people. Black People, too. Brown people, Yellow people. Get rid of 'em all. All we need is a voluntary,free spirited, open ended program of procreative racialdeconstruction.

Female/Connie: Uh...

Robert/Bulworth: Everybody just got to keep fucking everybody tillwe're all the same color. (leans forward) I think it’s gonna take awhile but...

CRASH

Female/Connie: (startled) Thank you, Senator Bulworth. We'll returnwith former Governor Lamar Alexander after this message.

Everyone but Stephanie: What’s going on? Ah, what’s going on?

Female/Buckley: Eventually we’ll stand and we’ll fight back When we shake our collective apathyThere’ll be no more reality channels to turnAs the opiate unveils its fallacyThe truth will unfurl like a blooming flower Unblemished in its hoary lightThere will be a resolution through naked peaceAs we awaken from this long dark night

HAIL TO THE CHIEF

Robert/Man: Mr. Speaker, the President of the United States.

Male #1/Dave: Mr. Speaker. Vice-President. Members of the Congress.Fellow Americans. I wish I could be here today under differentcircumstances. There are many things about this country that we

should be discussing. But, I realize that’s not possible now. As all of



you know, my former chief of staff has implicated me in a scandalinvolving the First Liberty Savings and Loan. And, once people start

discussing a scandal, it's hard to talk about anything else. So, fine,let's talk about it. Bob Alexander has accused me of—Let me readthis to make sure I get it right—“illegally influencing regulators on behalf of campaign contributors,” “interfering with an ongoingJustice Department investigation,” and “violating federal electionlaws in the area of campaign finance.”

Robert/Good Charlotte: I want the truth, from you. Gimme the truth,even if it hurts me.

Male #1/Dave: OK, let's get right to the guts of it. Each one of thesecharges is true. I'm the president, and as they say, the buck stopshere. So I take full responsibility for every one of my illegal actions.But, you see, that's not the whole story. And I think each one of youis entitled to the whole truth. I have here written proof... In the form

of notes, memoranda and personal directives, proving that BobAlexander was also involved in each one of these incidents, and inmost cases, planned them as well. Now, allegations of wrongdoinghave also been made against Vice-President Nance. As this evidencewill prove, at no time, and in no way was the Vice-Presidentinvolved in any of these. Bob just made all that up. Vice-President Nance is a good and decent public servant and I'd like to apologizefor any pain this may have caused him or his family. And, whilewe're on the subject, I'd like to apologize to the American people.You see, I forgot that I was hired to do a job for you... And it was just a temp job at that. I forgot I had 250 million people who were paying me to make their lives a little bit better. And, I didn't live upto my part of the bargain. You see, there are certain things youshould expect from your president. I ought to care more about youthan I do about me. I ought to care more about what's right than I do

about what's popular. I ought to be willing to give up this wholething for something I believe in because if I'm not... If I'm not…(hand to head) if I’m not… if I'm not, then... Maybe I don't belonghere in the first— (collapses)

Female/Cannon: So, is it still lying, anyway? He displays a kind of willful disregard for the truth, which is the moral equivalent of lying.

He doesn’t do any due diligence with the facts. Even if you believed



something was true at the time you said it, it becomes a lie when youdon’t act on new information—or correct yourself when you’ve been

proven wrong.

Robert/Frost: Mr. President, we were talking about the period March 21st

to April 30th. About the mistakes you’d made and so on… I’mwondering… would you go further than ‘mistakes?’ The word seemsnot enough for people to understand.

Male #2/Nixon: Well, what word would you express?

Robert/Frost: All right. Since you’ve asked me, there are three things theAmerican people would like to hear you say. One, there was probably more than mistakes. There was wrongdoing—yes, it mighthave been a crime, too. Secondly, I did abuse the power I had asPresident. And, thirdly, I put the American people through two yearsof agony and I apologize for that.

Male #2/Nixon: It’s true, I made mistakes. Horrendous ones—ones thatwere not worthy of a President. Ones that did not meet the standardsof excellence that I always dreamed of as a young boy. But, if youremember, it was a difficult time. I’d been caught up in a ‘five-frontwar’ against a partisan media, a partisan House of Congress, a partisan Ervin Committee… (catches himself) But yes, I’d have toadmit there were times I did not fully meet that responsibility and…was involved in a ‘cover-up’ as you call it. And for all thosemistakes, I have a very deep regret. I still insist they were mistakesof the head, not mistakes of the heart. But they were my mistakesand I don’t blame anyone else. I brought myself down. I gave them asword. And they stuck it in. And they twisted it with relish. And Iguess, if I’d been in their position, I’d have done the same.

Robert/Frost: And the American people?

Male #2/Nixon: I let them down. I let down my friends. I let down thecountry. Worst of all, I let down our system of government andthe dreams of all those young people that ought to get intogovernment but now think it’s too corrupt.I let the American people down, and I have to carry that burden with

me for the rest of my life… My political life is over.

spch 191 - an honest politician v3

Documents