One of my all time favorite film moments
I am a card-carrying member of the ACLU. But the more important
question is why aren't you, Bob? Now, this is an organization whose
sole purpose is to defend the Bill of Rights, so it naturally begs the
question: Why would a senator, his party's most powerful spokesman and
a candidate for President, choose to reject upholding the Constitution?
If you can answer that question, folks, then you're smarter than I am,
because I didn't understand it until a couple of minutes ago. America
isn't easy. America is advanced citizenship. You gotta want it bad,
'cause it's gonna put up a fight. It's gonna say "You want free speech?
Let's see you acknowledge a man whose words make your blood boil, who's
standing center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which
you would spend a lifetime opposing at the top of yours. You want to
claim this land as the land of the free? Then the symbol of your
country can't just be a flag; the symbol also has to be one of its
citizens exercising his right to burn that flag in protest. Show me
that, defend that, celebrate that in your classrooms. Then, you can
stand up and sing about the "land of the free". I've known Bob Rumson
for years, and I've been operating under the assumption that the reason
Bob devotes so much time and energy to shouting at the rain was that he
simply didn't get it. Well, I was wrong. Bob's problem isn't that he
doesn't get it. Bob's problem is that he can't sell it. Nobody has ever
won an election by talking about what I was just talking about. This is
a country made up of people with hard jobs that they're terrified of
losing. The roots of freedom are of little or no interest to them at
the moment. We are a nation afraid to go out at night. We're a society
that has assigned low priority to education and has looked the other
way while our public schools have been decimated. We have serious
problems to solve, and we need serious men to solve them. And whatever
your particular problem is, friend, I promise you, Bob Rumson is not
the least bit interested in solving it. He is interested in two things
and two things only: making you afraid of it and telling you who's to
blame for it. That, ladies and gentlemen, is how you win elections. You
gather a group of middle-aged, middle-class, middle-income voters who
remember with longing an easier time, and you talk to them about family
and American values and personal character. And you hold up an old
photo of the President's girlfriend. You scream about patriotism and
you tell them she's to blame for their lot in life, and you go on
television and you call her a whore. Sydney Ellen Wade has done nothing
to you, Bob. She has done nothing but put herself through law school,
prosecute criminals for five years, represent the interests of public
school teachers for two years, and lobby for the safety of our natural
resources. You want a character debate, Bob? You better stick with me,
'cause Sydney Ellen Wade is way out of your league.
- "The American President"
Comments
One of my all time favorite movies! Now I know how I'll spend the rest of the evening. thanks!
Scary part? I did that mostly from memory. ;)
ok, scary, but also? awesome!
I love this movie, and love that scene! And awesome that you did it mostly from memory. :)