The First Five Pages

Television — By Joe Carter on October 20, 2003 at 12:00 am

Int. Reagan Bedroom — White House

Mike Deaver
I got a call from John Tower…He wants to talk to you, Mr. President…
Reagan is still staring into the tv. It’s a cowboy movie.
Nancy
It’s okay, Mike. Go on.
Deaver turns to Nancy, lowers his voice
Deaver
(in a whisper)
They’re beginning to talk about impeachment.
She begins to tremble.
Nancy
They’ll never impeach him.
They won’t have the votes for it in the Senate.
To spare you the trouble, I’ll summarize the rest of the scene:
Deaver tells Reagan he needs an attorney. (The White House counsel apparantly had the term off).
Reagan calls Ollie North a bastard and a “lying son of a gun.” The President has some mouth on him.
Nancy says Ronnie will only talk to the people, not the press. The people love him. The press, not so much.
Reagan says they got Nixon but they won’t get him. He’s not Nixon, he’s not.
In what is soon to become an annoying habit, Ronnie refers to his wife as “Nancy-pants”. He tells her not to worry. She worries anyway.
Nancy talks to Deaver in private. She says she needs to consult her psychic because they are “surrounded by traitors.”
She catches a security guard watching a TV program about Oliver North. She immediately fires this traitor. (No explanation for why the White House is being protected by security guards.)
Close up on Reagan’s eyes. He looks confused.
So are we. Confused about why we are watching this mess.

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