You ever read Jedediah Purdy, For Common Things?
No.
He talks about cynical times. People having terminal irony with a studied refusal to hope or care openly. Does that sound like us?
No.
No. Have you asked yourself tonight why we never reported the Petraeus story?
The Petraeus?
Remember? David Petraeus is resigning on Thursday.
We didn't report it.
That's funny.
I forgot. Yeah.
It's because we never made the trade. The decision was that the other story had information voters needed, the Petraeus story didn't. Not that many voters. It would have affected maybe a few thousand, tops. In one district, one seat. As opposed to breaking two days early what will be a giant story. Breaking it in front of an Election Night audience. And the decision to decline the trade was made instantly and unanimously. Don pushed back reflexively, but he came around in seven seconds. Don. We've come a long way. I'm not resigning. And neither are you. What, are we out of our fucking minds? Dantana doctored the tape. That's what happened, Will. We know the truth and the mob doesn't. When did we decide it was an institutional failure? We waited 11 months. We know people who would have gone after the second red team meeting or even the first. You agree with what I'm saying?
I believe, except for the things we did wrong, we did everything right. And I can't live with Mac taking the blame for--
We'll get the audience's trust back. Like Leona said, we're gonna overcome the terminal irony. And the laundry list of embarrassing things in the complaint? I've got to tell you, I'm not embarrassed. The Zimmerman tape, Jim going to New Hampshire, Sloan punching a guy in arbitrage-- I actually like that one. [pause, he notices Will is staring off into space] I can't tell what you're thinking. [pause] Will? It's gotten strange now. Are you able to hear me speaking? She--
Except for the things she did wrong, she did everything right, too. The rest was me.
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