Courtesy never got me anywhere.
All S1
S1 E15Unfinished Business
THTom Hammerschimidt
My advice is to let it go. You're gonna repeat the same goose chase we did.
I had to ask.
What does your editor say?
To let it go.
THTom Hammerschimidt
You see?
He's not as good as you are.
THTom Hammerschimidt
Was.
Wish you were at The Telegraph.
THTom Hammerschimidt
Yeah, let me know if anyone gets fired.
We can't afford any more shake-ups in the campaign right now, especially with the president in the hospital.
Mmm-hmm.
We also can't afford any more of your mistakes.
[Stamper knocks Seth to the ground, pinches his nose and seals his mouth over with a glass]
[both grunting] Shut up. Shut up! When I first woke up, I couldn't speak. I had to blink my eyes if I wanted to respond. Do you understand? If I can't get your loyalty, I will have your obedience!
The organ network. It answers to you.
MLMeredith Lee
Yes and no. In a regulatory capacity...
You have the power to modify the recipient list.
MLMeredith Lee
That's up to the network. They have an expert committee that determines...
The president's life will not be decided by a committee.
MLMeredith Lee
Let me show you something. [shows him a spreadsheet] He was number three yesterday. Number one got a transplant. That puts the president at number two. His chances are very good. But this man, Anthony Moretti, he's just hours away from dying.
Then let him die.
MLMeredith Lee
I'm not doing this. It's not just the law, it's the ethics.
Then change your ethics, or you can resign and and your deputy can make this call. And if he won't, then he can resign too. I will strip away this entire department until I find who I need.
[in Frank's hallucination] You tried, Frank, which is more than most people ever do. Right now, it's just us. Rest your eyes. We have all the time in the world.
You should talk to your husband.
I'm not leaving here until we have an agreement.
But you're an amateur, Claire. You fly in, you puff up your chest and you pretend to play president. But what would you be without your husband? Nothing. A pretty face. So, yes, play the president if you like. Go. Tell the Chinese they get nothing on the Pacific. You think you can do that, Mrs. Underwood?
Your people are hurting. Six months at most, they're gonna be marching on Red Square. I'm done letting you have your dignity. The truth is you're a beggar on your knees, and you will take whatever we shove down your throat. Viktor. Take the deal. Get your dignity back.
Stay with me. It's us against them. Always. Otherwise, what's the goddamn point?
I can't do it, Francis. I can't come back and be First Lady.
Not that. Not that. I said you were nothing in the Oval without me. It's the other way around.
[to Claire] When Walker and Vasquez betrayed us and pulled Secretary of State right out from under my feet, there was no room for doubt, and you've made me remember that. We took a path, a difficult one because there was no guarantee of where it would lead us. It took a steel goddamn stomach, and so has everything else we've had to do since. So don't worry about you and me now. Find your steel, Claire.
Imagine a duel, me and Conway. Now, Conway has a powerful gun: a search engine. And it's powerful because with it, he can tell what you think, what you want, where you are, and who you are. He can turn all those searches into votes, and that's enough bullets to kill my chances of winning. But I have an even bigger gun. It's called the NSA. It's one of the perks of being president – that is, if the courts allow my surveillance request. Imagine the men on these walls wished they had a gun like that available to them. Your phone, the phone of the person sitting next to you, your neighbor's phone and everyone you know and the 300 million Americans you don't know. I can see you, and I can use what I see to rig this election. Now of course, a weapon like that... well, you can imagine how risky it is. [gestures at a portrait of Richard Nixon] It might have even given pause to an old crook like him. I mean, they roasted him on the spit for tapping into a few rooms at the Watergate. I'm talking about tapping into every single home in America, and a weapon like that can blow up in my hand. And that's why it's Plan B. Plan A is much safer. Expose that Conway is using his gun illegally and remove the weapon from his hand. [looks at the portraits of Kennedy and Reagan] All three of us took bullets. [looks at the Reagan portrait] Well, I know why we're smiling; we survived.
Thirty years from now, when you're dying in hospice care, you can look back and be proud of all the lives you saved. Or you can be forgotten, clutching onto the past with your cold, dead hands.
Conscience has an unmistakable stink to it, sort of like raw onions and morning breath. But a lie stinks even more when it's coming from someone who isn't used to lying. It's more like rotten eggs and horse shit.
[Gestures towards the man waiting in the oval office, addressing the viewers] Senator Dean Austen of Ohio, the leadership's top choice for running mate. [Starts counting with fingers] Twelve years in Congress, helps us with a major swing state, middle of the road, very few enemies, and most important to them, long-time friend of the NRA [raises all five fingers one by one]. Now his shortcomings are [starts counting with fingers again]: he's another middle aged white guy, underwhelming, unimaginative, and a long-time friend of the NRA. [only middle finger remains] So you can see how I feel about the leadership's choice.
[about Yates] You felt something for him.
Maybe for a moment. Did you?
No, I don't think so. I felt... I felt like he saw me.
Me too.
Saying nothing says a lot sometimes.
BBBob Birch
You want the convention to be a circus.
Oh, Bob, I'm not sure if you've noticed or not, but politics is no longer just theater, it's show business. So let's put on the best show in town.
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