Advise & Consent

Johnny Leffingwell:
The phone - Senator Munson.

Robert Leffingwell:
Tell him I've gone out.

Johnny Leffingwell:
Why?

Robert Leffingwell:
Because, Johnny, he'll want to do some things that might obligate me.

Johnny Leffingwell:
I mean why do you want me to lie? If you're in, you're in; if you're out, you're out.

Robert Leffingwell:
Son, this is a Washington, D.C. kind of lie. It's when the other person knows you're lying, and also knows you *know* he knows. You follow?

Fred Van Ackerman:
What I did was for the good of the country.

Bob Munson:
Fortunately, our country always manages to survive patriots like you.

Bob Munson:
Was that Brig? What's the matter?

Senator Lafe Smith:
[Hanging up phone] He's dead.

Bob Munson:
Brig?

Senator Lafe Smith:
In his office. Cut his throat.

Robert Leffingwell:
I'm an egghead. I'm not only an egghead, I'm a premeditated egghead. I set out to become an egghead and at this moment I'm in full flower of eggheadedness, and I hope to spread the spores of egghead everywhere I go.

[first lines]

[a boy is selling newspapers outside the U.S. Capitol, with the headline "Leffingwell Picked for Secretary of State"]

Paperboy:
[to a customer] Thank you.

Stanley Danta:
Morning, son.

Paperboy:
[taking change from Danta] Good morning, senator... thank you.

[Danta gets into a taxicab]

Bob Munson:
Mr. President, with the chair's permission, I shall be very brief.

The Vice President:
The chair gladly gives any senator permission to be brief.

Bob Munson:
He jumped the whale!

[last lines]

Bob Munson:
Senators. A great leader is dead. A bitter loss for our country. A bitter personal loss for all of us here. I move we adjurn out of respect until further notice.

Senator Seabright Cooley:
So ordered!

Journalist:
Senator Anderson. Senator Van Ackerman is accusing the commitee of using smear tatics. Would you comment on this?

Senator Brigham Anderson:
If Senator has any complaints to make he ought to write a letter to his congressman. [all the reporters laugh]

Senator Seabright Cooley:
Now, Mr. Gelman. You told me something about names in this comunist cell.

Herbert Gelman:
Yes. Nobody used their right names. Mr. Leffingwell was called Walker, Bukowski was called Fitzgerald. I never learn James Morton's real name. They tried to give me the name of Andrews. About that time I quit.

Senator Seabright Cooley:
What happened when you quit?

Herbert Gelman:
Mr. Leffingwell failed me in his class of Government administration.

Senator Seabright Cooley:
Why didn't you report all of this to the University authorities?

Herbert Gelman:
I was afraid.

Senator Seabright Cooley:
And you're not afraid now?

Herbert Gelman:
Yes. I'm afraid. But I couldn't stand by and see a man like Mr. Leffingwell get into a position of such power of Secretary of State.

Senator Brigham Anderson:
Can you corroborate this story, Mr. Gelman?

Senator Seabright Cooley:
This man is an eyewitness, under oath, Mr. Chairman.

Herbert Gelman:
[shouting] I'm not lying!

Senator Brigham Anderson:
I didn't say you were lying.

Senator Seabright Cooley:
Haven't had this much fun since the cayenne pepper hit the fan!

Stanley Danta:
Who're we gonna make peace with now? The Kickapoo Indians?

Ellen Anderson:
No, I don't know. He was good, and kind, and honest. I don't know what they were trying to use against him, but whatever it was, they can't use it anymore. So it doesn't matter, does it?

The Vice President:
Do you have any idea who might be behind this?

Ellen Anderson:
No! [sobbing] N-no... excuse me... please excuse me...

Fred Van Ackerman:
Mr. President, is the Senator calling me a liar?

Senator Bessie Adams:
The record must stand as it is, Mr. President. How the Senator interprets that record is his own problem, not mine.

Bob Munson:
What do you think about that, you old buzzard?

Senator Seabright Cooley:
Us old buzzards can see a mouse dying from 10,000 feet up. Us old buzzards have the sharpest eyes in creation. Right now I'm studyin' the terrain.

Bob Munson:
[to Brig about the President withdrawing Leffingwell] He'll bend if he has to, and I guess he has to.

Senator Brigham Anderson:
[with an air of desperation] Call the press and announce your withdrawl and forget the President.

Robert Leffingwell:
I've given the President my word.

Senator Brigham Anderson:
Your word is not exactly coin of the realm.

Robert Leffingwell:
No, maybe it isn't thanks to your committee, but I still place a value on it... and there's nothing more to be said. [with finality] Good night, Senator.

The President:
I guess I've been wrong in many many things. I don't suppose history will have much good to say of me. I can't dwell on that. I've done my best.

Bob Munson:
You're one of the great Presidents, Ross.

The President:
Well, if you think so, that's almost as good as History. Bye, Bobby.

Bob Munson:
Good night, Mr. President.