Blake Moran quotes from Madam Secretary

Blake

My coins were too big.

Nadine

Is that some sort of euphemism?

Blake

[about his fruitless search for a home for a portrait of Vincent Marsh] I've tried everything.

Daisy

National Portrait Gallery?

Matt

Library of Congress? How about the state house in Illinois? He served there once in the...

Blake

The general assembly. I've tried everything is not a sentence I use lightly. Lest you attempt to keep saying names of museums.

Elizabeth

What's the latest?

Blake

So, Markes was...

Nadine

Was pulled over for driving the wrong way down a one-way street and then failed a field sobriety test.

Blake

And the woman who he was with...

Who was not his wife.

Blake

...had half...

A half ounce of cocaine on her.

Blake

And Markes...

Nadine

Then tried to bribe the arresting officer by telling him that he could give him a big promotion if he made the charges go away.

Daisy

And all of that would've been bad enough except...

Blake

Okay, let me tell it.

Elizabeth

The whole thing was caught on video by someone who recognized him. Sorry, Blake, I heard that part on the drive over.

Blake

No problem, ma'am. Being interrupted by you is a pleasure. But, uh, if I may, what does this have to do with the State Department?

Elizabeth

Okay, what do we know about Markes?

Daisy

He was a cheater.

Blake

And a liar.

Elizabeth

Head out of the tabloids, think policy.

Nadine

He was head of the Foreign Relations Committee.

Wait, so he was the man responsible for controlling what came up for a vote.

Nadine

And he stymied us on Cuba last spring.

Daisy

And now that he's out of the way, you're going to try...

Elizabeth

Wait. Let Blake say it.

Blake

You're going to try to bring a bill to the floor of the senate and lift the embargo on Cuba.

Elizabeth

And how cool would it be to announce that when we reopen the embassy?

Blake

That's in 48 hours.

Elizabeth

(Laughs) Well, we better get to work.

Blake

Spider moneys will be extinct!

Elizabeth

Somebody take that away from Blake.

Elizabeth

G'morning.

Blake

Morning. Here's a copy of today's agenda.

Elizabeth

Thank you. And did you get the--

Blake

Four lemon-blueberry and a vegan scone, in case Stevie joined us.

Stevie

That's just eerie.

Blake

Mm. Thank you. Uh, also, I took the liberty of highlighting various students' online reviews of professors at Rafferty College. The debate professor is wonderfully polarizing.

Mom, I don't think you pay Blake enough.

Elizabeth

Oh, I am sure I don't.

Uh, and to your right, you will see a display of what we here at Rafferty nobly refer to as the Wasting of Time.

Elizabeth

Wow. That's an important part of the curriculum, if I recall. (she gets laughs from the group)

Blake

You're killing it with the college crowd, ma'am.

Stevie

Are you never not fully groomed?

Blake

It's before 10:00 p.m.

Elizabeth

Tell me this isn't real.

Blake

It was posted by an indigenous human rights group in Chile. He made the same video in Spanish and his native language.

Stevie

It says he'll be doing a live feed until he reaches the top or dies, whichever comes first.

Elizabeth

He could die?

Blake

Well, temperatures at the peak at this time of year average negative forty degrees, so yes.

Elizabeth

If he's right, if Chile violated a treaty with their own indigenous people, then everything these kids are yelling could be true.

Stevie

I hate to say it, but if this thing's up already, it kind of doesn't matter if it's true or not.

Blake

Not going there yet.

Stevie

No, she's right. Nobody cares about the legal sale of mineral rights, but you give 'em an indigenous James Franco taking his righteous cause up the mountain with a GoPro?

Nadine

Ma'am, there's one other thing. Uh, one of the students from the confrontation yesterday has filed a lawsuit against the State Department.

Blake

I'm sorry. Come again?

Nadine

He feels the DS agent violated his personal space.

Elizabeth

It's the confetti-bomb guy. They were a little rough taking him down.

Nadine

Uh, no, no, it was another one. The, uh, vocal one.

Blake

The guy who was just standing there yelling at us?

Elizabeth

The screamer feels we violated his personal space?

Matt

The government made me yell and now my throat hurts?

Daisy

Guys! Do you know how fast something like this could turn an election? I mean, it's just ridiculous enough to get way more coverage than it deserves.

Elizabeth

What's the kid's name?

Nadine

He's choosing not to reveal that in the suit.

Blake

Brian Andrew Lindstrom. He lives in Foster Hall.

Nadine

We'll take care of it.

Elizabeth

No, no, no. This one I want. Don't worry, I'm not going to violate his personal space as much as I would love to.

I have a right to a safe learning environment. That's what you guys are paying for.

We're paying for you to get an education. And I'm starting to wonder if it's money well spent.

And a lawsuit against the U.S. Government. Who's paying for that?

There's a legal aid clinic in town. They fight against injustice.

Will you listen to this kid? Some security guy bumping into you is not an injustice.

I was exercising my right to free speech. They were trying to silence me.

God, it's like he's two. You're dropping the lawsuit, Bri. Or you can pay your own tuition.

Elizabeth

If I may, um, I think the thing getting lost here, uh, Mr. and Mrs. Lindstrom, is your son's passionate commitment to social justice. Young people rising up against the abuse of power has been a force many times in this country, and Brian was right. Not about the mining contract-- that was legitimate. But about the larger issue. The brutal legacy of colonialism asserting itself once again in Chile. That turned out to be true. And, Brain, without you guys and the Chilean citizens rising up against what you thought was wrong, the Inhawoji people might not have dared raise their voices, too, and found a world ready to listen.

Thanks, Mrs. Secretary.

Blake

Madam Secretary.

Elizabeth

Don't stop speaking truth to power. But maybe the best way to call upon our better selves is for you to show us yours.

Matt

Come on, don't hold back. How'd you get college baby to drop the lawsuit?

Daisy

Was it a total smackdown?

Elizabeth

Let's just say his parents helped him see reason.

Blake

She's being modest. It was a smackdown.

Blake

If I'm not mistaken, doesn't that still solve all of our problems?

Matt

If you mean Hercutel still gets to rape the land with impunity-- uh, sorry, extract precious minerals-- then, yeah, it works out for them.

Blake

What am I taking care of?

Elizabeth

Appeasing a racist Quaker.

Elizabeth

Where is Nadine?

Blake

She is on the phone in her office, ma'am. She waved me off like a thirsty fan boy when I tried to wrangle her.

Daisy

Does feel 20% less austere in here.

Elizabeth

Marcia Forman is having a field day with this dissent memo.

Blake

Marcia Forman is an unhappy woman desperately trying to make herself relevant.

Matt

Aren't we all?