The Newsroom, Season 2

The Newsroom (2012-) is an American drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin, airing on HBO, that chronicles the behind-the-scenes events at the fictional Atlantis Cable News (ACN) channel.

Charlie:
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--

Leona Lansing:
Than one individual. That is beautiful. Not as beautiful as Daniel Craig.

Charlie:
Leona.

Leona Lansing:
I'd have sent my plane.

Charlie:
We're not f***ing around.

Leona Lansing:
You will resign when I fire you out of petty malice and not before.

Charlie:
Our trust numbers are--

Leona Lansing:
Yeah, they're bad.

Charlie:
They're fatal.

Will:
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.

Leona Lansing:
And Twiggy over here?

Mac:
It was my fault.

Leona Lansing:
McMac. Can I call you McMac? Doesn't matter, I'm gonna anyway, McMac. Your head's up your ass.

Mac:
Mrs. Lansing.

Leona 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.

Will:
Well, I wouldn't go that--

Leona Lansing:
Oh, shut the f*** up, you Daniel Craig wannabe.

Will:
I don't want to be Daniel Craig.

Leona Lansing:
Well, you should want to be Daniel Craig. Everybody should.

Will:
Leona, are you stoned?

Leona Lansing:
[catching sight of her own reflection in a window] You know, my makeup lasts a long time.

Will:
Oh, jeez.

Mac:
Mrs. Lansing.

Leona Lansing:
No, no, please, call me-- Continue to call me Mrs. Lansing.

Will:
Leona--

Leona 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? No, I do not accept your resignations! And Jerry Dantana's not gonna get one f***ing dollar! I got some kick-ass courtroom outfits.

Will:
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.

Rebecca Halliday:
Then you'll need a good lawyer. Lee, don't accept their resignations.

Leona Lansing:
I already wasn't accepting their resignations, Becca. Don't horn in on my honorable thing. God, I mean, can't a lady have--

Charlie:
[in desperation] Leona, we don't have the trust of the public anymore!

Leona Lansing:
Get it back!

Taylor:
It's after midnight now and I feel like I can ask a question.

Sloan:
Sure.

Taylor:
I meant to Will.

Will:
Yes.

Taylor:
Who did you vote for today?

Will:
You know I'm not answering that.

Taylor:
I thought you might because you revealed your party affiliation on the air last year.

Will:
I did. I identified myself as a Republican because I thought it was fair to give to the viewer given the commentary I was delivering.

Taylor:
A commentary that ended with you calling the Tea Party the American Taliban.

Will:
Yes.

Taylor:
And in the body of the commentary - was a blistering indictment of Republicans.

Will:
Exactly the opposite. It was a blistering indictment of people who aren't Republicans.

Taylor:
Well, who's to say who is and who isn't?

Will:
On that night, I did.

Taylor:
I want to remind you you asked me to pursue this area.

Will:
I understand.

Taylor:
And I'm wondering, with all respect, do you call yourself a Republican so you can make a claim to credibility when you attack the GOP?

Will:
No, I call myself a Republican 'cause I am one. I believe in market solutions and I believe in common sense realities and the necessity to defend ourselves against a dangerous world and that's about it. Problem is now I have to be homophobic. I have to count the number of times people go to church. I have to deny facts and think scientific research is a long con. I have to think poor people are getting a sweet ride. And I have to have such a stunning inferiority complex that I fear education and intellect in the 21st century. But most of all, the biggest new requirement, really the only requirement, is that I have to hate Democrats. And I have to hate Chris Christie for not spitting on the president when he got off Air Force One. The two-party system is crucial to the whole operation. There's honor in being the loyal opposition. And I'm a Republican for the same reasons you are. So I hope your voice gets louder in the next four years.

Taylor:
Well, I don't like losing, so count on it.

Charlie:
You ever read Jedediah Purdy, For Common Things?

Will:
No.

Charlie:
He talks about cynical times. People having terminal irony with a studied refusal to hope or care openly. Does that sound like us?

Will:
No.

Charlie:
No. Have you asked yourself tonight why we never reported the Petraeus story?

Will:
The Petraeus?

Charlie:
Remember? David Petraeus is resigning on Thursday.

Will:
We didn't report it.

Charlie:
That's funny.

Will:
I forgot. Yeah.

Charlie:
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 f***ing 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?

Will:
I believe, except for the things we did wrong, we did everything right. And I can't live with Mac taking the blame for--

Charlie:
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--

Will:
Except for the things she did wrong, she did everything right, too. The rest was me.

Will:
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.

Will:
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?

Will:
And because of-- Will you marry me?

Mac:
Wait.

Will:
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 f*** is happening right now?

Will:
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.

Will:
I will never stop--

Mac:
Yes.

Mac:
I'm saying yes.

Will:
You're saying yes?

Mac:
Yes.

Will:
Thank God.

Mac:
Took you long enough.

[Doing a story about the audience of a Republican Primary Candidate debate booing a gay soldier serving in Iraq.]

Will:
That was a big room full of Republican primary voters booing an American combat soldier who, as he was speaking, was in combat. The audience members who were booing were in Orlando. Soon, they'll surely be in Hell, though not soon enough. Not everyone was booing. There were people in the audience who heard Captain Hill say that when he was deployed to Iraq, he was worried that if his sexuality was discovered, they might not let him go. As opposed to most of us who, if told we were being deployed to Iraq, would go Corporal Klinger faster than you can pull on a yellow taffeta picnic dress. I'm sure there were even some people in the building who stood up for Captain Hill. People who had the simple strength of character to turn to the fraction of a human in the seat next to them and say "How many different kinds of disgusting do you have to be to boo a man who volunteered to fight and die for you?" I'm sure those people were there. I'm sure there were many of them. But, unfortunately, none of them were on the stage. Not one of these would-be Commanders in Chief took a moment to stand with a line officer. They let him stand alone. Soldiers never do that. Leaders never do that. Witless bullies and hapless punks do it all the time. The only President on the stage last night was Stephen Hill. Godspeed, Captain Hill, and come home soon. A grateful nation is waiting to say thank you.


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