I don't think there's an immoral way to kill terrorists.
MacThere's an illegal way and we're doing it.
Mac
'Cause you were taken off the 9/11 anniversary coverage?
Mac
I knew you were upset.
Of course I'm-- Are you kidding me? I'm flipping out! - Holy shit, Mac. What the fuck did I do?
Mac
I know. It feels bad.
I used to be exactly the person that you wanted to see in these moments.
Mac
I know.
I don't mean the old days. Like a year ago.
Mac
You still are.
I remind people of the enemy? Jesus!
Mac
Every blond-haired guy from Nebraska reminds people of Muslim extremists. There's nothing you can do.
Don't try to make me laugh.
Mac
You can blame it all on me.
If there was a way to blame it on you, don't you think I would have done that by now? I've got Roger Daltrey screaming, "You better, you better, you bet" in my ear.
Look, I'm trying real hard to care the Al-Awlaki is dead, but I-
I don't care that he's dead. I care that we killed him. Without a trial, or anything resembling due process.
You can't switch teams, declare your intention to kill as many Americans as possible, and not expect to be treated as an enemy of the state.
And you can't be found to be an enemy of the state without a trial.
John Dillinger said the problem with living outside the law is that you no longer have the protection of it.
That doesn't sound like Dillinger.
Yeah, it may have been someone else.
Mac
Federal Agents tried to arrest Dillinger coming out of a movie theater, and when he pulled a gun, they shot him. They didn't hit the theater with a rocket.
Al-Awlaki was the head of AQAP. He doesn't get read Miranda. I don't give a shit what his passport says.
Mac
You don't.
And you know all those times the two of you ask me why I'm a Republican, as if that's something that needs an explanation?
Mac
I don't know what the hell you're on about...
I have never heard either of you ask anyone why they're a Democrat. Well it's right here. The purposeful suspension of common sense.
Treason is a crime, you have to be found guilty of it before you can be punished.
Mac
The blog isn’t accomplishing what it should. And even though I can’t tell you specifically what to change, I want a complete overhaul.
I see, you’re doing a topical satire of OWS.
Mac
Well, I’m not willing to say exactly what I’m doing, because I don’t want it corrupted by the media.
Mac
Hey, how was your weekend?
It was good. It was good and then I saw Titanic for the first time.
Mac
You'd never seen it before?
You know how I am about sad movies and the title suggested it wasn't gonna end well. But I still didn't see it coming. Mac, what is more important than the people you-- Kodak is dropping like a sack of flour. I'll never let go, Kodak. I'll never let go.
He says he never said they used sarin.
Mac
It's on film.
He says he never said that.
Mac
It's on film.
I knew this would happen.
It happens all the time. These guys get cold feet or someone at the DOD begs them to recant.
Mac
What's he saying we did?
Edited him out of context.
Mac
Did you tell him we have the raw footage?
Mac
Raw footage isn't edited out of context. It isn't edited at all.
Mac
What did he say?
He said he was gonna kill me.
Did he say it the way Mac says it to me or did it seem like he meant it?
Mac
I mean it when I say it to you.
Mac
Tell him I'm gonna go right now to look at the raw interview again and that he can look at it with me if he wants.
We knew things were gonna happen.
Yeah. [stepping out the door] Chemical weapons expert wants to kill me. I make the worst enemies. Seriously, I'm a perfectly nice guy.
[Jerry goes to get out of the lift, but an angry looking Mac, having found out that he had trimmed the footage of a Genoa interview, confronts him at the door]
Mac
You forgot about the shot clock.
JJerry
Mac? [she pushes him back in, pressing the "G" button] Hey, easy does it.
Mac
The shot clock jumps. From nineteen, to three, to two, to fourteen.
[There is no response from Jerry, and she gives him an impatient look]
Mac
How do you not understand what you've done?
[They begin talking over each other]
JJerry
He said it before we were rolling, but I couldn't get it to say it on camera. He said it to me.
Mac
We have to retract it. Do you understand this..?
JJerry
Did Genoa happen? It happened. It happened.
Mac
...That we invented evidence to support a story of a war crime. A WAR CRIME!
JJerry
Maggie was there, she heard him say it. She's just fucked up. Yeah, it's a war crime, and it happened! We went into Iraq because he had these things. We don't torture, we don't use chemical weapons.
Mac
No one... No one... No one... No one..!
JJerry
I WOULDN'T HAVE DONE THIS ON ANY OTHER STORY, AND I WOULDN'T HAVE DONE IT UNLESS I WAS SURE!
Mac
... Is ever going to believe us again.
JJerry
[after a brief silence] I think I shouldn't say anything more until I've talked to a lawyer.
[They reach the ground floor, and he leaves]
Mac
You're fired.
We're gonna resign, Leona. It's what has to happen now. Elliot Hirsch, Sloan Sabbith, Terry Smith, Dayside ACN, ACN. We understand the integrity of the news is more important--
Than one individual. That is beautiful. Not as beautiful as Daniel Craig.
We're not fucking around.
You will resign when I fire you out of petty malice and not before.
Firing Jerry was obviously the right thing to do, but it wasn't enough and we've known that for two months. Charlie and I have to go.
Mac
It was my fault.
McMac. Can I call you McMac? Doesn't matter, I'm gonna anyway, McMac. Your head's up your ass.
Mac
Mrs. Lansing.
Guy comes in here into my hizzy-- guy comes in here, cooks an interview, no remorse. It goes on air. You, I don't know what you'd do to Sherlock Holmes this thing. I wouldn't be able to figure it out and I'm the smartest person in the room.
Well, I wouldn't go that--
Oh, shut the fuck up, you Daniel Craig wannabe.
I don't want to be Daniel Craig.
Well, you should want to be Daniel Craig. Everybody should.
[catching sight of her own reflection in a window] You know, my makeup lasts a long time.
Mac
Mrs. Lansing.
No, no, please, call me-- Continue to call me Mrs. Lansing.
Guy comes into my house which I love. Which I bet you guys didn't know. But I love it. I love ACN. You don't make me a nickel and you cause headaches for the divisions that do, but you make me-- You make me so proud. God, guy comes in here, cooks an interview, and this ends up with-- 'Cause he's unemployable he gets a $5 million settlement and the three of you leave? Oh, I don't think so. And McMac. That's a name that's really starting to grow on me. She doesn't have to go. Nobody's ever heard of her. But she's going to do the honorable thing. And what's expected of me, huh? Not to do the honorable thing? What's expected of me? [shouting] No, I do not accept your resignations! And Jerry Dantana's not gonna get one FUCKING dollar! [in a normal tone] I got some kick-ass courtroom outfits.
You have to accept our resignations and you have to settle. He'll take it to trial and win. There was an institutional failure and he was the only one fired.
Then you'll need a good lawyer. Lee, don't accept their resignations.
I already wasn't accepting their resignations, Becca. Don't horn in on my honorable thing. God, I mean, can't a lady have--
[in desperation] Leona, we don't have the trust of the public anymore!
There's a story about a little kid who keeps shredding paper and his parents take him to all kinds of doctors to get him to stop shredding paper. And finally they take him to the most expensive doctor in the world who turns to the kid and he says, "Kid, if you stop shredding paper, your parents will stop dragging you to doctors." And the kid turns to his parents and says, "Why didn't you just say so?"
Mac
Well, all right, then.
The point of the story is that the kid could make himself happy by just stopping. I think that's the point. I don't know. I've been trying to figure it out. But I didn't return it. Because I'm in love with you.
Mac
What did you say?
And because of-- Will you marry me?
Mac
Wait.
I said will you marry me? And before that, I said I'm in love with you. That's-- that's-- That's what I'm getting at. I feel like I can do this so much better if I can have a second.
Mac
What in the fuck is happening right now?
If-- if I-- I don't ever want to not be-- No. I love you. I'm gonna go back to that. And will you marry me? And let me just say I really think you should. I think you should say yes. But no matter what you say, there's no chance I am ever gonna hurt you again. And no matter what you say, I'm gonna be in love with you for the rest of my life. There's no way out of that. That's just a physical law of the universe. You own me. No matter what you say--
Mac
Yes.
Mac
Yes.
Mac
I'm saying yes.
Mac
Yes.
Mac
Took you long enough.
The Newsroom · 118 quotes
