I believe him. My gut says he is telling the truth.
Of course you do. Otherwise you'd just be a fool with daddy issues.
All S1
S1 E15Unfinished Business
Everybody loves a good holiday party, right? What'd you guys do last year?
We passed around a bottle of vodka on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. And then we went to work because that's what Gladiators do.
Bah, humbug.
You took my family from me. But Javi's fine. He's a good kid. He'll be a good man. And by staying away, I've been a good father. But your daughter? You failed. The sad part is that you know it, and you're not doing anything about it. So, like I said, you are nobody's father. I know what you want. And knowing that you want to die? Oh, it's almost better than killing you.
Wow. A liberal female democrat who thinks defending planned parenthood is a mockery?
SMSenator Moskowitz
Mellie Grant is political quicksand, and I refuse to go down with her.
I can't do this. I just I can't. I don't even know why I'm doing this. I'm a republican. I just didn't like Gibson telling me what I can't do.
You're the biggest bitch I know. Don't tell me you can't do this.
FFitz
I hate that you're always right.
Me too.
FFitz
We tried.
We did.
You were mean.
Of course I was. You were my husband's mistress. Was I supposed to be friendly?
You were really awful. I'm telling you, you were nasty, and I took it.
Why? I wanted to fight and you never fought.
I was your husband's mistress. I was in the wrong.
Truth is, I was glad you were there. You were a good mistress. Probably a great one. You know what I mean?
Well, I am an overachiever. Once I put my mind to something, I commit.
It was working.
I'm sorry?
It was working. That's why I stayed. It was working. Fitz and I and you. It was working. You know what I mean?
I'm not sure I do what you ...
Hold on a minute. (takes a sip from her jar of booze) I used to wonder if it was all men or just Fitz that sucked the life out of you. Now, I think it's all the powerful men. They've been told their whole lives they deserve everything, that they should have everything, and it makes them so weak. They think that everything belongs to them by default, and if they don't get it, they just fall apart. Fitz didn't have any fight in him. He didn't know how to stand on his own two feet. I mean, I saw the potential. We all saw it. But I had to work at it. I held his hand, I fluffed, I bled, and I got nothing in return. Except for you. You showed up. I wasn't devastated, Olivia, or numb or empty. I was deserving. I deserved you. I was a 37-year-old governor's wife with two kids, and that was all. I was somebody's wife and somebody's mother. Not my own anything. I deserved you. I warranted you. I justified you. I had lost myself, and in return, I got you. You are my retribution. And it was humiliating. I couldn't even hate you. I couldn't even pretend to. I hated myself. But then I turned a corner. It was quick. Effortless, really. You had become the beautiful kept thing he lusted after. Where you went, he went. Which meant that I ... I suddenly had space. I had air of my own that I could breathe, time to think and plan, and I started liking myself again because I was alone and I was relieved. And I was free. Freedom, baby. I stayed because it was working. I stood by and I allowed the affair to continue because it was working for all of us. He was occupied, thanks to you. He was happy. You lit his fire. We made it all the way to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. And one day, it was gonna be my turn. Fitz would make me President of the United States because he owed me at least that much. And so I stayed. Because the three of us, ugh. We worked! So, what do you say, Olivia? That deep enough for you? Is that honest enough?
Mellie, you can't actually write that anywhere. If you want to be President, you can never, ever tell anyone any of that.
Oh yeah, I know. I know I can't. That's the problem.
I was happy you were around, too. When I was with Fitz, I was happy you were around, too. With you around, I didn't have to ... I had an out. You--you were my out, Mellie. You kept him unavailable.
Okay.
And, so, I left for the same reason you stayed. Because I was scared.
Okay.
Mellie. That's what you write. You write that you were scared. You write that you never could have imagined standing up in front of the entire Senate for as long as you did, filibustering the hell out of that bill, protecting every woman's constitutional right to make her own decision about her own body because you never thought you would be able to do any of that on your own. You write that you didn't need Fitz. You didn't need some man to give you the power. You had the power the whole time. It just took you a little longer to realize. That is what you write.
Get out your laptop. Start writing.
That was ... incredible.
What do you think their secret sauce is made out of?
Crack. I think it's made out of crack.
You would be an amazing President.
David, do you know why I was chosen to be VP? It wasn't because I am amazing. It's because Mellie Grant lacks character. She was picking her competition for the next Republican Primary, and instead of having the guts to go toe-to-toe with a worthy warrior for a true battle, she turned coward. She picked me. She picked someone useless, unthreatening, unpolished, unelectable. She picked a bug she can crush in one blow. I don't stand a chance in a primary against Mellie, so why would I put myself, my daughter, through the agony of a campaign? Why would I uproot us for months on end--
Don't you ever call yourself names in my presence again. You are not a bug. You are a warrior. You could win this. You could win, Susan. I really believe that.
My husband, John, served in the U.S. Army. He was a lieutenant in the 116th Infantry Brigade. Served all over the world, including Afghanistan, where his platoon was tasked with the rather onerous job of patrolling a 20-mile stretch of desert along the Kandahar-Herat highway. He called me one night while he was over there, and when he told me what their assignment was, I said, "Well, what is it about this 20-mile stretch of desert that's so important to our country? Is it a village that needs protecting from the Taliban, a prison where we're holding terrorists?" "No," he says. "It's a pipeline." A pipeline that the Afghani government, in exchange for billions of dollars, was allowing American companies to build on its land. One of those companies – Doyle Energy.
DDoyle
[laughs] Okay. This...
I'm talking now. Hearing my husband say that, it made my blood boil. Here he was, putting his life at risk so American businessmen could line their pockets. I wanted to say something, voice my rage, tell my husband to get the hell out of there... but I didn't. I bit my tongue because we are not our husbands' keepers. Fourteen hours later, a Taliban sniper put a bullet through my husband's neck, severed his carotid artery, killed him almost instantly. I didn't blame the shooter. I didn't even blame the government or the energy companies. I blamed myself. I had an opinion, and I didn't voice it. I kept my mouth shut, and I swore that day that I would never again be silent. I became a United States Senator, I became the Vice President of the United States of America, and I plan to become the President of the United States because, no, we are not our husbands' keepers, but maybe we should be America's. Next question.
How does it feel to be the most powerful person in the world?
Right. It feels right.
These quotes come from Wikiquote's Scandal pages and are available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.