Francis?
What is this?
What does it look like?
But the basement is mine.
I know. It's not for me.
So who's it for?
For you.
There's a gym in the Capitol.
Which you never use.
Because I'm a tad busy running the country.
But not at home, so now you have no excuse.
I want it out.
Give it a try first.
Is this your subtle way of saying that I'm out of shape?
No, it's my way of suggesting you could be in better shape.
That sounds both passive-aggressive and condescending.
Just plain aggressive and true.
Don't wait up for me.
Are you going running now?
Yes, because I couldn't this morning. I had an early meeting.
Use the monstrosity. It's freezing out.
You break it in.
It looks positively medieval, doesn't it? And to turn my only sanctuary into a fitness dungeon. I won't have it.

It's a stretch.
We're not misleading anyone. he was the editor.
did You call for A comment?
I tried three times. The press secretary said he'd get back to me. He didn't.
What about research? You couldn't find anything to echo the editorial? No quotes, no op-ed pieces?
Don't you think if something like that existed, someone would have printed it by now? Nobody else has this, Lucas.
I don't think there's a story here.
I'm not saying there's a story. All I'm saying is that there's a question that needs to be answered. This is a nominee for Secretary of State. We have an editorial on Palestine and Israel.
Which he didn't write.
Which we don't know he didn't write.
Exactly.
We don't have to print it. I could just scan the thing, stick it on a site, and tweet the link. But if I did that, some other paper might--
Whoa, whoa. Don't be a bitch. I'll talk to Tom.
That's all I was asking.

We simply can't afford to allow the--
We got a guy who's almost perfect. He's a libertarian drug fiend marinating in a mobile home.
I didn't agree with President Reagan on many things, but there was some merit to the notion of trickle-down economics, and I feel there is much merit to the idea of trickle-down diplomacy. If we can solve...
Those are my lines. Vasquez must have given them to him.
...stalemate between Israel and Palestine, that success will trickle down to a hundred other diplomatic dilemmas between Muslims, Jews, Christians--
I'm glad you brought up Israel and Palestine because just before we came on the air, I received an advance copy of an article that's going to be in tomorrow's Washington Herald's front page and was written by Zoe Barnes, and in it she quotes an editorial that ran in the Williams College register when you were editor back in September 1978, which called the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, quote, an illegal occupation.
can I see that?
Sure.
Did you write those words, "Illegal occupation"?
No. I have no memory of this.
But you were the editor of the paper.
Yes, but--
So it couldn't have gone out without your approval.
No, of course not, but my staff-- somebody else usually wrote the, uh, the, uh-- and then we'd vote, and if--
Did you vote for it?
Honestly, George, I can't remember. It was 35 years ago.
So you're not sure whether or not you supported these words--
I can tell you without a shadow of a doubt I did not write these words.
But were they in line with your thinking at the time?
This is ludicrous.
I know it was a long time ago, I understand that.
That's all we need-- him laughing. Nancy, get me Dennis Mendel of the ADL.
The Middle East is a vital American interest. What you think about the Middle East is relevant.
You can look at my voting record. Every single vote has been in defense of Israel--
So when did your views change?
What I'm saying to you is my-- What's important now, George, is how I have voted while I have represented the great state of Colorado--
I understand that's your position, but a lot of other people are going to look at it and think what you thought then is relevant as well.
Well, let me ask you this. Have you ever changed your views since college?
Certainly, but I'm not the nominee for Secretary of State.
Uh, even if I did have--
It's golden.
This has not been my views--
It's a bull's eye.
What were you saying when you came in?
So, ahem, I found a guy who was on the college editorial staff when Kern was there. This burnout, still pumping mimeographed manifestos out of a trailer park in the Berkshires.
You're not planning on talking to him.
No. No.
Peter Russo.
Good. Sounds like a perfect match.
Dennis. Any chance you're watching Stephanopoulos?