Executive orders - Tom Clancy [474]
I thought he said some pretty good things today, Plumber observed while the tape ran.
Invoking I Love Lucy must have come from Callie Weston on a serious PMS day, Donner observed, flipping through his copy. Funny, she used to do great speeches for Bob Fowler.
Did you read the speech?
John, come on, we don't have to read what he says. We know what he's going to say.
Ten seconds, the director called over their earpieces.
Nice copy for later, by the way, John. The face broke into the smile at three.
A huge federal task force is now investigating Friday's attack on the President's daughter. We have this report from Karen Stabler in Washington.
I thought you'd like it, Tom, Plumber replied, when the light went dark again. So much the better, he thought. His conscience was clear now.
THE VC-25 LIFTED off on time, and headed north to avoid some adverse weather over northern New Mexico. Arnie van Damm was topside in the communications area. There were enough important-looking boxes to run half the world here, or so it seemed, and hidden in the skin of the aircraft was a satellite dish whose expensive aiming system could track almost anything. At the chief of staff's direction, it was now getting the NBC feed off a Hughes bird.
WE HAVE THIS closing comment from special correspondent John Plumber. Donner turned graciously. John.
Thank you, Tom. The profession of journalism is one I entered many years ago, because I was inspired in my youth. I remember my crystal radio set-those of you old enough might recall how you had to ground them to a pipe, he explained, with a smile. I remember listening to Ed Murrow in London during the blitz, to Eric Sevareid from the jungles of Burma, to all the founding fathers-giants, really-of our profession. I grew up with pictures in my mind painted by the words of men whom all America could trust to tell the truth to the best of their ability. I decided that finding the truth and communicating it to people was as noble a calling as any to which a man-or woman-could aspire.
We're not always perfect in this profession. No one is, Plumber went on.
To his right, Donner was looking at the TelePrompter in puzzlement. This wasn't what was rolling in front of the camera lens, and he realized that, though Plumber had printed pages in front of him, he was giving a memorized speech. Imagine that. Just like the old days, apparently.
I would like to say that I am proud to be in this profession. And I was, once.
I was on the microphone when Neil Armstrong stepped down on the moon, and on sadder occasions, like the funeral of Jack Kennedy. But to be a professional does not mean merely being there. It means that you have to profess something, to believe in something, to stand for something.
Some weeks ago, we interviewed President Ryan twice in one day. The first interview in the morning was taped, and the second one was done live. The questions were a little different. There's a reason for that. Between the first interview and the second, we were called over to see someone. I will not say who that was right now. I will later. That person gave us information. It was sensitive information aimed at hurting the President, and it looked like a good story at the time. It wasn't, but we didn't know that then. At the time, it seemed as though we had asked the wrong questions. We wanted to ask better ones.
And so we lied. We lied to the President's chief of staff, Arnold van Damm. We told him that the tape had been damaged somehow. In doing that, we also lied to the President. But worst of all, we lied to you. I have the tapes in my possession. They are not damaged in any way.
No law was broken. The First Amendment allows us to do almost anything we want, and that's all right, because you people out there are the final judge of what we do and who we are. But one thing we may not do is to break faith with you.
I have