Courting Condi (2008) Movie Script

1
The first time I saw her
I remember it very clearly.
It was like, I was there with her.
I mean,
there was this sense of awe,
the sound of the TV
almost like dropped out,
and I just-- I couldn't
take my eyes off of her.
In America,
with education and hard work,
it really does not matter
where you came from,
it matters only where you are going.
[applause]
Literally, my heart
skipped a beat when I saw her.
This is my secret that I've been
walking around with for years.
Cheers, Mom!
May you live as long as you want,
and never want as long as you live.
That's good. I like that one.
- Okay.
- That's very good.
You look nervous,
what have you got to tell me?
Ah... I have--
I have--
I've found someone.
Really?
- Yeah.
- Good.
- Who?
- Um...
For the last...
six years or so, um...
I...
I've been in love with, uh...
The Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice.
[laughs]
Oh, Condi, Condi,
I'm begging on my knees
The desperate outlaws
from Baghdad to Belgrade
are still there
and must be dealt with.
[applause]
Oh, Condi, Condi
She's one of the most
powerful women in the world
and she's also the girl next door.
Your quest is a way
to frame Condi's story.
I want to shine light on
this extraordinary woman
very few people
know anything about.
Oh, Condi, Condi
Oh, Condi, Condi
I was born and bred
in New York City
on the Upper West Side.
I've always had
a passion for music
and it's always been my dream
to get signed by a major label...
[rock music]
But now I've had a new dream.
It's time for me to find her
and to win her heart.
If I'm gonna stand a chance,
I've got to learn
everything about her.
Talk to the people
who know her best,
so I've agreed to let
my friend Sebastian
make a documentary
about my courtship.
In return,
he's going to help me to meet her.
This is my best shot for finding
love, I can't blow it now.
We start in Alabama
where she was born.
We then go to Denver
where she found her calling
to go from Denver to Stanford
all the way to Washington, D.C.
where she currently resides
and where she came to power.
I'm being deadly serious.
Mom, she's one of the most...
I thought you were gay.
This is something that I did
not even want to tell you now.
I feel like an idiot that I got
talked into telling you.
I think you're-- I think
you think you really are, right?
I think your brain's
a little addlepated right now.
It's -- I don't know, honey,
but you know, I know,
I know being in love
is very close to being insane.
So you have no intention
of getting an apartment?
The money
that you have been saving,
- you've been working towards...
- Yes.
...That you were going
to use for an apartment
you're going to use on some...
demented odyssey?
No! I'm using the money
that I've been saving to get--
For the apartment.
Well, or a house to share with her.
You can't even do
your own laundry.
Dad, she has people to do...
Condoleezza Rice,
are you fucking nuts?!
So what are you looking at?
Hold on,
I wanna show you something.
It's-- it's hard to imagine
my life without music.
I certainly find it as a way
to completely transport
into another world.
My secret weapon is music.
It's the thing that we
have the most in common.
I have always had really
eclectic taste in music.
I love very, very hard rock;
rhythm and blues;
Motown.
Some mornings it's Brahms
some mornings it's Cream.
So tell us about the films
you've been making for her.
Love discs are love letters
in music and pictures.
I've been making them
for the past five years,
but I've only sent one out.
This is my first love disc ever.
It's a little dated,
but I'm still rather proud of it.
[music]
I'll hold your hand,
together we'll stand
On the brink of a brand-new day
No more god-awful stuff
Darlin', you've had enough
And I've come to take you away
With each cowardly blow
No matter how low they go
I'll pick you up and carry you away
I'm your knight in shining armor
You're my damsel
who's had too much stress
Chill, Condi, chill
Chill, Condi, chill
...and that's enough of that.
That was five years ago and they
have gotten better since then.
I have had my share of the ladies,
but none of them have
been as accomplished
or as talented
or as interesting as she is.
Compared to her they're
as deep as a shot glass.
When I think of all the men
in her life, you know, all these
powerful professional men,
I just can't believe that
she hasn't been snagged up yet.
Oh, wouldn't we all
love to find somebody that
you'd want to live
the rest of your life with?
Sure, but I've never thought
you wanted to get married
in the abstract.
You want to get
married to someone.
I think with the love discs
that you're helping me to make,
how can she resist?
This is a song
I wrote called Invisible.
[music]
All my life, I've done nothing
There's been no hope,
I've been waiting
To give my love
People see through me
I am invisible through and through
And then I saw
you in a sea of blank faces
Amid all the people you stood alone
You looked right through them
And you saw me
I've been invisible
till I found you
Where did
the inspiration come from?
Well, a lot of people have
a lot of pretentious answers
about their inspiration,
but I just-- it just-- it--
it comes to me
when I think about her.
Condi is my muse.
[music]
[applause]
I'm about to head off to Alabama.
Very excited.
This is the first love
disc that you and I
have created together.
Sending it off to her.
Here we go.
Oh my God, I just did it.
[laughs]
[traffic noises]
Now I'm a man, I'm a man
Man, I am blood,
sausage and sorrow
And they'll never know, they'll
never know, they'll never know
What I got to give you,
don't you know
[PA announcement]
From day one, I had great
respect for Condoleezza Rice.
[music]
I'm a great admirer
of Secretary Rice.
I think she's a great American.
[music]
Look at this face!
Beauty and intelligence.
Thats great.
[music]
I grew up in a very nice, sheltered
little middle-class
community in Birmingham.
My mother was
a school teacher,
my father was a minister
and a high school guidance counselor
and I'm still friends with a lot of
the kids from that community.
Vanessa, very nice to meet you.
I'm Sebastian.
I'm the director.
Hi, how are you doing?
Now let me introduce you to Devin.
Uh, Devin is
our love-struck courtier.
- Pleasure to meet you.
- Hi, how are you doing, Devin?
I'm just a normal guy.
- How are you?
- Yes.
So when did you first meet Condi?
We were both five years old.
I moved across
the street from her.
She was literally
the girl next door?
Yeah.
It's the girl across the street.
- Across the street?
- Across the street.
- Yes.
- Wow.
Okay, we're going
to see the hospital.
This is where
it all started, right?
Is this where
Condoleezza was born?
- Yeah.
- In this hospital?
In this hospital.
Why was this all boarded?
Why is it all boarded up now?
Look, Devin,
this is how it looked in 1954.
Look at those cars.
Those old cars.
Yeah, that was 1954.
Oh, why did they let this go?
I mean this should be a landmark.
She was born here
November 14, 1954.
- She was born November 14th.
- Why is that special?
That's when my mother was born.
That's this-- that's
my mother's birthday.
Your mother's birthday
is November 14th?
- Yes.
- Oh, okay.
Look.
Take a look.
November 14th.
Oh, okay, that's mom's birthday.
Yeah, that's mom's-- Yeah.
Mom's birthday.
You gonna get one that says
Condi on that side?
- Yes!
- [laughs]
We're going around
and see what it looks like.
- See.
- I'm Father Alex.
- Nice to meet you.
- Father Alex?
- Pleasure. Pleasure to meet you.
- This is Vanessa.
I'm Vanessa.
Do you have any idea
why they would close--
why they would close this hospital?
Because of
the civil rights movement,
other hospitals in Birmingham
became accessible
to African Americans,
so this hospital no longer
had an appeal or a need
as it did at one time where
you couldn't have a child, a baby,
except at this hospital
if you were black.
Do you know where
the actual maternity award was?
I'm equally nervous and excited.
It's gonna be dark in here.
Okay.
Wow.
I can't believe
that we're actually here.
[sombre music]
[infants crying in background]
It's said that room 304
was most likely the room
where she was born.
Wait, seriously?
Yes.
Is that really it?
Oh, Devin!
Probably it's two beds.
See?
Probably it's two beds.
[music]
This is the Genesis.
This is where it started.
For the first three years
of my life, we literally lived
in the back of the church
and I'm very
proud of that heritage.
She was a Christian from day one.
In fact, her father
was a preacher and read her
the Ten Commandments
as a little girl.
She prays every day.
She goes to church regularly.
She believes that god
has set forth a plan.
One reason why she doesn't
really look back that much
is she doesn't dwell on the kind
of mistakes she might have made,
because what is happening
is that God's plan is unfolding.
I've never doubted
the existence of God.
My father was a theologian
and I can remember
from the time I was
a very young kid,
debating with him about the Bible
and debating about
this aspect of Jesus life.
He never made me feel
that my faith and my intellect
were at war with one another.
That's where she grew up.
The house is still the same,
except it's a different color.
It was a dark green.
Wow.
See, that's the house.
One year snow, and we
made a big snowman.
- Mm-hmm.
- Right here.
Look at that.
You see that's her on the left
and that's me on the right.
- Yeah, yeah, sure.
- That was January 1962.
And we played outside a lot.
We liked that.
Six years and I never
thought I'd be this close.
How many mornings would she come
racing out the door
to go to school.
There she is with her dolls.
Oh my goodness.
This is right here.
She was standing right here.
Yeah, standing right
there at the bottom the step.
Actually, it's a pretty good ratio
between me
and you and Condi and the doll.
Yeah.
[laughs]
Hi, Maria.
This is Devin.
Hi, how you doing?
Come on in.
Thank you very much.
Wow!
She used to run right through
here outside to meet you and play.
Mm-hmm.
Where do you think the piano was?
I believe the piano
was on this side.
Music played a very
important role in my childhood.
My mother, my grandmother and my
great-grandmother all played piano.
My grandmother
was also a piano teacher
and I would bang at the piano
when she taught her
students trying to emulate
what she was
doing with her students,
so she said to my mother,
"Let's teach her to play."
I was only about
three and as a result
I learned to play very, very young.
I could read music
before I could read.
By the time she was five,
she could play Beethoven
and other classical music.
She was--
she was good as a little girl.
Everybody thought music
was going to be her career.
You've gotten this far.
Come on in and look.
Now you're actually in the room.
You're actually in the room.
Can you believe it?
[laughter]
She would read her books
and do her homework here.
And had a doll collection.
She had a lot of dolls.
[laughter]
I remember going over
to her house with my mom
and she had all her
dolls all nice in a row
and kept them all cute
and then we would sit them down
at little tables and have tea parties.
They would be our
friends at the tea party.
Was she a good tea host?
She was always polite and offer
you what she had, you know.
She was the girl next door.
She went to church with us.
She bowled and she became the most
powerful woman in the world.
Just because she was a woman
and just because she was black
did not stop her from doing
what she wanted to do.
Our parents told us, "All right,
it may be that you can't have
a hamburger at
the Woolworth's lunch counter
and it may be that you can't go
to this amusement park Kiddyland,
but don't worry,
you can do anything you want.
Your horizon should be limitless."
John Rice who was
a Presbyterian minister
was the most important
person in Condoleezza Rice's life.
Kind of a big mountain of a man,
who really believed the most
important thing he could do
for black children, uh,
including his daughter
was to give them
a sense of self and pride.
Segregation wouldn't
matter in your life;
racism would not
matter in your life,
you can be whatever you want to be
regardless of whatever the outside
world tries to enforce upon you.
When you were in school
in segregated Birmingham,
teachers said unashamedly,
"You will have to work
twice as hard to get ahead
and if you really
want to get ahead,
you may have to work
three times as hard"
and they never said,
"And isn't that unfair?"
They stated it in the most
matter-of-fact way
and it did teach us all
to sort of get on with life.
[school bell]
I think Condoleezza
is a really good example
because she's someone
who came from this community.
It allows our children to see that,
you know, people that come from
this community can do great things,
so I would say a role model.
I came to school here because
my uncle taught school here
at Brunetta C. Hill,
and so at the end of the day,
I would go home with my uncle.
What do you think
Condoleezza would think of me?
Well, I would say
she would have to meet you.
You seem to be friendly.
I think you would
have to like music.
I play the piano too.
Oh, well, oh she would love that.
You all could do a duet together.
Oh, that sounds pretty good to me.
[music]
[guitar playing]
Was I...
[Singing under his breath]
Birmingham is a symbol of hardcore
resistance to integration.
It is probably the most
thoroughly segregated city
in the United States.
She came of age in the critical
years of multi-racial America
when it was really make or break.
Was segregation gonna
survive or be knocked out?
I remember very well in 1963
when Birmingham was so violent
when it acquired
the name Bombingham.
Even with my
wonderfully protective family,
you had to wonder, why
are they doing this to us?
Condoleezza was very seldom seen.
She was an assistant when
I would cut the grass at the church
across the street,
Westminster Presbyterian.
I sometimes would go to the house
with a lawn mower, stuff like that,
I could see her
peeping out the door.
See, she was a kept-in child.
There were certain areas
in this city like
walking to the store at night,
my mom would
not let me walk alone.
I would have to go with at
least one or two of my brothers
for the fear of the night riders.
[music]
I wonder if she ever
saw any of these people.
I wonder if she ever encountered
these wraith-like images
coming up to her.
Such a symbol of hate and fear.
This is the church
that turned things around
September 15, '63.
You see the cornerstone
on the church?
- Mm-hmm.
- Those first windows
to the right, this was
the Sunday school area.
They're getting ready
for a Sunday school play.
[glass shatters]
They broke into Saturday
night before, set the bomb.
The bomb went off at 10:22.
Since Sunday school
is from 9:30 to 10:30,
regular church is 11 to 1.
So there was no question
who the-- who the targets were.
- Okay?
- And it was specifically
- set for the children.
- Specifically set for the kids.
The Sunday school
and the Sunday school time.
[music]
It's awful.
These were innocent children.
This was homegrown terrorism.
These little girls weren't
going to hurt anybody.
When the bomb went off,
I don't know where
Condoleezza was.
I know where my daughter was,
she was over at
the 16th street Baptist church.
She was in the little
ladies room downstairs
getting her clothes
changed to whatever
they were going to do that Sunday.
I drove over
to the University Hospital
and that's where we found her
and lying up there on the table
with three other girls
and it was very painful.
Denise McNair was my
little friend from kindergarten
and she was a playmate, you know,
and I just couldn't
believe that she was dead.
What stands out
in Condi Rice's mind
about that bombing is particularly
memories of the funeral.
She recalls being very moved
by seeing those little coffins.
That's an image that has
been emblazoned in her memory.
Who would have
thought in September 1963
when my little
classmate Denise McNair
was killed in the bombing
of that church
that I would stand before
you as Secretary of State.
Condoleezza Rice's father took her
to the White House in Washington.
She was 10 years old.
They looked at the White House,
she said I want to be there.
She was on a mission
from her earliest age
to prove to her
father, to her mother.
Rising up in those very
tough years in Birmingham,
her mission was to get to the top,
to get to the top politically
and that's exactly what she did.
So this time we need
a dedication to I think which is really
tender and warm and sweet.
Action!
Hi, it's Devin Ratray again.
This song that I wrote for--
No.
See in the lens.
See Condi's beautiful face.
I don't see Condi's
beautiful face in the camera,
I see my double chin in the camera.
Well, there's a difference
between what you see in the lens
and what I've got.
And you're looking great.
You're looking very slim
- and very fit.
- Good.
And I have to say,
rather attractive.
- Good.
- Okay. So let's go.
Take two, and action!
Hi, it's Devin Ratray again
and this is a dedication of a song
that I wrote for you, Condoleezza.
Cut.
So a couple of notes.
A little bit warmer please,
a little bit more tender.
Hi, it's Devin Ratray again.
I wrote this song thinking
of you and thinking about
you returning to your roots,
walking through
the streets of Birmingham.
Walking in your
footsteps really inspired me
and I smelled the same air
that filled your sweet lungs.
So I hope you enjoy it
and I hope you get to tell me
in person someday
what you think of it.
Alrighty.
Thanks.
[music]
Standby and...
Action!
I dreamed I took
you back to Alabama
I saw you running
barefoot in the breeze
We sat on the piazza
in each other's arms
In the shadows
of the old orange trees
And I was guiding your hands
Teaching you my song
And to me you were all humanity
Somewhere in my dreams,
my Condoleezza
Where the last leaves
are falling from the trees
You'll never know
you had this power over me
You'll never know
you had this power over me.
We've landed in Colorado.
Condi moved here when
her dad got a job teaching
at the University of Denver.
She entered 10th Grade
when she was only 13.
She's two years younger
than everybody else.
In the last year here,
she was already applying
and taking classes
at Denver University.
She was at both at the same time.
It was amazing.
So we're gonna go talk to
some of her former teachers.
[piano]
Hello.
Hello.
Sorry,
I didn't mean to startle you.
Oh, god.
I'm sorry.
How are you?
- I'm Devin.
- And I'm Ann.
- Hello, Ann, hi.
- I'm Louise.
If you had a classroom
full of Condoleezzas,
you'd think you'd died
and gone to heaven.
She was a senior in my class
and she was going
to DU at the same time.
She was an excellent,
excellent student.
Very serious. Quite astute.
- She aced all of her classes.
- Oh yeah.
All of them.
College as well as high school.
There was no bad subjects.
She was good at
everything she did?
Well, she had
a very academic background.
Her father became
the assistant dean
at the Graduate School
of International Studies
and I think it was
just in the whole family,
they were very, very
dedicated and directive to her.
I think what's happened
to me is 90% upbringing.
I really do believe that my
parents were extraordinary
in what they provided for me
and the kind of self-confidence
that they gave me
and they never said, no,
you shouldn't do that
or you shouldn't try that.
They really had high
expectations for me
and they passed them on.
You know, I think that was
hard on her to be so young
and I think she probably felt,
"What am I getting into here?"
and the only black girl in the class.
I understood that something
was deeply wrong
in Birmingham, Alabama
when I didn't have
a white classmate
until we moved to Denver, Colorado.
It didn't take her long to,
you know, acclimate to it,
but she was also practicing
the piano several hours a day.
She wanted to be a concert pianist
at the time she was here
and if she didn't make
that she was going to be
a professional ice skater.
I was a very,
very bad competitive figure
skater who worked
exceedingly hard at it
only to perform badly almost
every time that I competed.
But I think those experiences
did help me to have
a kind of discipline;
a kind of sense
of organization in life
and to do a lot of things well.
Very good.
Keep your knees bent,
waist back, because if you're
going to win her heart right...
- We've got to win her heart.
- You gotta learn how to skate.
- Gotta learn how to skate.
- You gotta become a champion.
Gotta be a champion.
- I gotta do this.
- There you go.
- You got it.
- I got it.
- You got it, you're going good!
- I got it.
[thud]
Ohh...
- I think I got it.
- You okay?
- I got it.
- Yeah?
- Just gotta get up.
- Okay.
You got it?
Ah!
Do you have any aspirin?
[orchestra]
It's hard to imagine
my life without music.
I certainly find it as a way to
completely transport
into another world.
Do you think music might
be the way to her heart?
Yes, because...
music is the way
to many people's hearts.
Do you think that serenading
could work today on Condoleezza
as a courtship technique?
It might very well,
particularly since she has
such an eclectic taste.
Yeah, I would say yes.
Go for it.
As a student, how was
she at taking direction?
In taking very specific technical
directions, she was very good;
emotional directions, she didn't
have an easy time doing that.
As long as it was
mechanical things: do this,
hold your hand
this way, or do that, fine,
but as soon
as I touched her inside,
there was a resistance.
She seemed not to be interested
in that aspect of music making.
Condoleezza Rice
ended her music career at 17
when she was a sophomore
at the University of Denver.
That summer she went
to the Aspen Music Camp
and there she saw prodigies
who could play from sight,
music that had taken her
months or weeks to learn.
She saw she wasn't good
enough and she dropped it
with no emotion,
no feeling whatsoever.
It's not just talent,
it's that intangible
that some people have
that just puts them over the top.
I knew I didn't have it
and I knew I probably wasn't
going to practice hard enough
to compensate for it.
This was a very important
turning point in Rice's life
and so in one of our
interviews I asked her about it
and she said to me,
"I don't do life crises. Period."
She says she does
not believe in regret.
She thinks life is too short and so
she doesn't look back on mistakes.
She keeps looking forward.
Self-reflection is not
something she does.
She believes it's a waste of time
and I think it had
a profound impact.
Her one goal that she had set,
she failed at.
I think she didn't
want to fail again.
Well, I was a lost music major
to be truthful about it.
I had decided that I was not going
to be a great concert pianist,
but I didn't know what
I was going to be.
I wandered into spring
quarter junior year,
a course in international
politics taught by Josef Korbel,
and he was a wonderful professor
because he was a great story-teller.
He could really put
you there in the Soviet Union
or in Czechoslovakia
or in Yugoslavia
and I was just taken with him
and with the history
and I remember the exact lecture
that won me over and it
was one about how Joseph Stalin
had consolidated his power
and I thought this is just terrific.
This is what I want
to study and I went to him
not long after that
and I said, "Dr. Korbel,
I think I'd like
to study the Soviet Union."
Josef Korbel was the professor
who turned her on
to international affairs.
He taught her the drama that
was inherent to global politics.
He made her want
to be a political scientist.
It was as she put it
"love at first sight."
She was fascinated
and she became smitten
with everything to do with
Russia and Russian politics.
We don't know really
what would have happened
if Lenin had survived.
It is really Joseph Stalin
that made the Soviet Union
into what the Soviet Union became:
militarized, secretive,
a Byzantine state
behind the walls
of the Kremlin,
a state with pretensions
to greatness
on the international scene.
Joseph Stalin,
that is really the legacy
of the Soviet Union, not Lenin.
Now the other extraordinary
thing about Josef Korbel
was that he was also
the father of Madeleine Albright.
So he actually
is a man who had the two
American female
secretaries of state in history,
who were both as they
both would tell you,
the daughters of Josef Korbel.
Albright literally
and Condoleezza Rice,
she says uh, figuratively,
he was her second father.
Well, Korbel was what
is known as a realist.
A kind of group
of foreign policy specialists
who believe you deal
with states as they are,
you know, great powers.
The internal dynamics
of those states doesn't
quite matter as much.
Realists don't believe
and don't trust moral aspirations.
They don't trust
countries that say,
"We're the moral ones, we're
doing-- we have God on our side,"
realists don't trust that stuff.
There is that belief
in the concept of America
that is an important part
of Rice's philosophy.
I think I have athlete's--
Athletes complex.
She once said, "I will
only marry a football player."
I've got to do
something about this.
Well, we need to get
you to meet these guys.
They're the people
who can teach you.
What about contacting
that ex-fianc of hers,
the football star, Rick Upchurch?
You can meet him, you can
say whatever you want to him,
I'm not gonna have anything
to do with it though.
We're setting up an interview.
You do the interview so
what's the problem with that?
You want me to do
an interview with the one man
that was engaged to her?
Don't even bother.
There's no way I'm going.
I'm not doing it.
I'm not doing it.
Hello, Devin, how are you?
Hello, Sebastian.
- It's a great pleasure.
- Honor and a pleasure.
Today is Condoleezza's birthday
and this is the first time
that I've had the opportunity
to tell the story.
There was tens
of thousands of young ladies
that were here in this stadium
and there was only one young lady
that I really wanted
and that was Condoleezza.
When Condoleezza first saw me,
I was in my second year
with the Denver Broncos
and I just remember I had
a fantastic year that year.
I had set a couple of records,
had returned two punt
returns, man, in one game
against the Cleveland Browns.
I ended up tying a record
for touchdowns in a season.
All of a sudden, everybody
was starting to recognize
that Rick Upchurch was here
and he was making some noise
out on the football field.
My first encounter was going
over to Condoleezza's house
and meeting Dr. John Rice
and talking with him about school
and she met me and says,
"Oh, you're that--
you're that guy that that returns
those punts and that whole deal."
and she says,
"You're a pretty good ball player."
She really focused
in on the football aspect of it
because she was really
interested in the game.
Condi's appetite
for football is just like war.
She likes to strategize
and put herself in a--
in a position of power
and a position of control
and being able to make decisions
and she would probably be
one heck of a football coach.
The thing that I knew
is that she had a lot
of smarts about her.
Very intelligent.
Some of the questions
she would ask
and the things that she would
talk about just let you know
that this was a lady with a lot
of class and a lot of poise.
She was truly
an American princess.
Okay, this is where
I first met Condoleezza.
This is where I first
courted Condoleezza
and this is where
I proposed to Condoleezza.
Now, where was it that you first
held Condoleezza's hand?
I first held Condoleezza's
hand in the house.
One night I was
getting ready to leave
and I just grabbed her hand
and just told her I said,
good night.
And where was the first
place that you kissed her?
The first place that I that
I kissed her was at the door.
As I was leaving,
I gave her-- I gave her a kiss.
When I said I loved her, she
actually looked at me and says,
"You know, I like you too,"
you know, and uh,
and at that point in time
um, I felt like, you know,
we could go some places
as far as our
relationship was concerned.
You know, I like cheeks
and she had big cheeks.
She had some juicy cheeks.
I just wanted to kiss 'em,
so I kissed 'em.
And was there
a lot of cheek action
in terms of touching
her cheeks and...?
Absolutely.
What I would do is I would put my
hand up and just touch her cheeks
and that whole deal
and I would kiss her on her cheeks.
[makes kissing sounds]
And where was the first time
that you had your first like
what is traditionally
known as a French kiss?
[music]
Never did.
Didn't have no
French kiss with her.
I never had
a French kiss with her.
You know,
Condoleezza had gone out on dates
and had seen other people uh, and,
and one thing
that she says is that she was--
she was respectful of her body
and that was
something that she was going to
to save for marriage.
She would date
and she would meet people,
but going outside of that,
she would not do.
She didn't feel like
she needed to give her body up
to show her love to anyone
and so she wasn't going
to have sex before marriage.
She's not married now.
Do you think that she's
kept that promise?
I think Condoleezza Rice today
is still holding on
to those same principles.
In England we had
the Queen Elizabeth I,
who was known as the Virgin Queen.
What do you think it means to
be the virgin secretary of state?
Yeah, I'm not-- yeah,
I'm not going there.
[laughs]
I'm not going there, Sebastian.
Here in this room here is where
I first proposed to Condoleezza.
Heres the ring and, um,
the ring wasn't a whole lot.
Imagine Condi is Devin and what
exactly would you say to him?
I said-- I said, "Condoleezza..."
I said, "Condoleezza Rice..."
I said, "Um, I'm in love with you.
Would you marry me?"
and she said yes.
So then I offered the ring to her.
I offered the ring
to her and she put it on.
But there was a roadblock there.
She had an offer
to go to Washington, D.C.
and work there.
And we knew at that point in time
that her job was important to her
and her career was important to her
and by me staying here and by
her going to Washington, D.C.,
that it wouldn't--
it wouldn't work.
She basically chose
Jimmy Carter over you.
She chose--
she chose power over love.
She chased her dream
and today she's living that dream.
Another year, another birthday,
but you keep on looking younger.
I am so impressed with you, Condi.
I'm so impressed.
Each new day I find
out more about you.
I am so impressed,
you've gone this long holding out
and sticking to your principles.
Good for you.
I hope you enjoy this next
love disc I made for your birthday.
Happy birthday.
[music]
Lonely girl
From another world...
Little Miss Rice
The Queen of the ice
She's too brave
For the King and the Knave
Just look at her eyes
She finds the tiny golden key
To everything she wants to be
In Wonderland
Condi,
In Wonderland
Where does she go
When she's feeling low...?
Inside the heads
Of the reddest of reds
She's too wise
For the Soviet spies
She could rip 'em to shreds
She finds the tiny golden key
To everything she wants to be
In Wonderland
All alone
In Wonderland
Alone and pure
I really can't believe
you got so busy
you would forget
your mother's birthday.
I went under
the knife to give you life,
that's why you have
a perfect shaped head.
You didn't get my flowers?
No.
Oh, well, you-- you should
be getting them soon.
You know,
like two days from now, right?
Uh, well it takes a while.
I don't need any flowers.
I don't need any more flowers.
I'll make it up to you, I promise.
If I-- and if-- I hadn't-- tried--
You're breaking up.
I love you, Mom,
I'll call you soon.
Okay.
Bye.
Yeah, bye.
I love you.
I'm not a good son.
[music]
[music]
[music]
I can't believe I let you...
What's Condi going to think
if I'm sitting there trying to
almost break into
her mother's house?
Clara Bailey Rice and Condoleezza
Rice today are very close.
Condoleezza Rice calls
her her second mother.
Uh, Clara certainly thinks
of Condoleezza as a daughter.
So they're still very, very
close and they talk most Sundays.
Oh my God, that's her.
That's her.
- Mrs. Rice?
- Yes.
- Hello.
- Hi.
My name is Sebastian Doggart.
This is Devin Ratray.
- Hi, Devin, how are you?
- Hi, Mrs. Rice.
- It's a pleasure to meet you.
- Pleasure meeting you.
I'm a very big admirer
of your stepdaughter.
Do you know if she's gotten any
of my discs that I've sent her?
I have no idea.
He's a musician and he's writing
songs for her, because he's in lo--
It sounds like it's
a wonderful thing, you know,
that you guys are positive
and it's about time something
positive is said about her.
But she is an American princess,
isn't she?
Yeah, she is.
Well, that's what we
want to show and who better
than the American queen who
she says is my second mother...
Yeah, yeah but, um,
I don't do that
without permission. Okay?
Please let her know
that I'm a huge admirer and...
I'll talk to her tomorrow and I'll
tell her that I talked to you...
Ask her to have
a listen to the discs
if she's gotten them, please.
You sent them to her?
- I have.
- Okay. I will.
Thank you so much
and your pansies are fantastic.
Yeah.
- I love your daughter.
- All right.
- Thank you.
- All right.
[dog growls]
You blindsided her.
You didn't even offer to help
her with her-- with her bags.
Look at that Mercedes.
She nearly bit my finger off.
You deserve it.
I was an associate dean
in the office of faculty affairs
when a faculty member came
to us and said that he had just
discovered a young scholar
who had given a pretty good paper
on Sino-Soviet relationships
and he thought that it
might be wonderful for Stanford
to use Affirmative Action
funds in this way
and so money was made
available for her appointment.
I'm sure there was a concern
not to miss
an extraordinary opportunity
to hire someone who was a woman,
who was black and who was also,
you know, stunning
personally and intellectually.
She discussed with me
how she was counted six times
as a black and a woman
for Affirmative Action purposes
in the Arms Control,
Disarmament set of
the Political Science Department
and one other unit, so she actually
showed up as six at Stanford.
So she was making fun
of the Stanford
Affirmative Action Program.
She's admitted at various
times that she's a beneficiary
of Affirmative Action,
yet she uses her personal story
to say I didn't need
government action.
I didn't need public
protest to advance.
I advanced, um, all on my own.
I'm clearly a package:
I'm black and I'm female,
but I've always thought
that the most important thing
is to do your job and do it well
and don't question other people's
motives for your selection.
Condoleezza Rice, uh,
in 1991 was made provost.
She's the youngest
person ever to get that job,
the only African-American,
the only woman.
Suddenly she's inheriting
a deficit in the budget
of some 20 million dollars.
For my 20th tenure at Stanford,
she called me in.
She said, "Oh, Cecilia,
I'm so glad to see you
and I want to thank you
because you really
were so helpful to my father
and that's why this
is a bit hard but, you know,
I know you're not happy
and I know you want to leave,
so I'm making it
possible for you to leave."
We were quiet,
I stood up, I walked out
and she said to her
secretary in a deep sort of--
she took a deep
breath and she said,
"Oh, good. Who's next?"
I always remember that little tone.
Cecilia Burciaga was the first Latina
to make it to the top of Stanford.
She was a super
popular Dean of Students
and she had a center
where students love to come.
This is a woman who
was simply cut down.
Her career destroyed.
This was sort of Condoleezza Rice's
step to advancement.
For her it was more
important to show she was tough,
show she could cut the budget
even when it came down
to cutting the most
advanced Latina.
It was a very contentious
decision at the Stanford campus.
The numbers show
that when she became provost,
she basically
reversed what had been
an institutional
commitment by Stanford
to try to diversify its faculty
and the upper levels
of its administrative staff.
She essentially kind
of pulled up the ladder,
you know, after she
had gotten that helping hand.
In education in particular
I continue to believe
that Affirmative Action
that is not driven by quotas
is an extremely
important thing to practice.
A college-based
committee formed a report,
produced a report about
the state of play of race relations
on the campus and the degree to
which the college was not obeying,
uh, that dictates, the demands
of Affirmative Action,
Condoleezza Rice's response
wasn't to try to figure out
what could be
done to make it better,
her response was
to debate the data very angrily.
Her name she says
means "with sweetness"
But, you know,
she says she speaks Spanish
so she always also
knows that her name means
Condolencia: "with pain."
Um...
Devin, do you have any questions?
Do you think her sense of fashion
has defined her as a woman
and as a politician?
[music]
Look at me,
I've got hooves
for hands, socially;
Oh, look at me,
'Cause I'm going to hell
in a basket
Cut it.
Cut it.
Good.
Look at me,
I've got hooves for hands,
I'm a forked beautiful animal
and I want to be your mate.
So just show her--
show your hands then.
It's very good.
Looks great.
Okay, let's go
for another take please.
[music]
Don't look at me,
I've got hooves
for hands, socially;
Oh, look at me,
because I'm naked,
and I have to be.
Cut it.Dont look
Dev, it's good, it's good.
- Yeah?
- How are you feeling?
Sorry, I just didn't
want to be boring.
And it's a little boring.
That's my only concern.
My only little concern here.
I think we just need to sort
of take it to the next level
and you're completely
in control here
so you can make
a decision about this,
but this line "look at me
because I'm naked,"
because I think it is--
this is really justified is to go--
is to perform this naked.
I don't want to show her naked.
I don't want to show myself to her
before our wedding night naked.
I wouldn't ask an actor
to do anything I wouldn't do.
Sebastian, I'm not an actor.
I'm not act-- I mean, I'm trying
to convince a woman that I love.
I know you're not.
Now take your shirt off.
Wha...?
Sebastian, please don't do this.
I think this is almost harassment.
Why am I so--?
And what about the earwig?
They'll see everything.
We're seeking truth here
and truth requires nudity.
Why does this require nudity?
Because it's nudity of the soul.
This is not what I wanted to do.
Sebastian, I'm feeling
like I'm being raped by you!
Stop it!
Stop!
Get the fuck out of here!
I'm done! I'm done! I'm done!
Are you an artist
or not an artist?
Are you going to stop at
this point with your boxers on?!
Tell the truth.
Are you ready?!
Are you ready?!
I can't do this!
I cannot!
Oh my God!
- No fucking way!
- You're gonna do this.
No.
I'm not looking.
I'm not looking.
No, Sebastian, don't do this!
Don't do this to me!
Get off of me!
Fucking get him away from me!
Fucking do something!
- Dev...
- No, no, no, no, no.
- I just come to say something.
- No, no.
I really-- no, I really--
I can't talk to you right now.
I'm trying to write something.
I definitely don't want
cameras on right now.
I really don't want
to deal with this, please.
I just want to say I'm really,
really sorry
for what happened
on the beach today.
I overstepped the mark.
I was-- I guess
a little bit stressed.
I was doing stupid things.
I'm just deeply sorry.
How's the music coming along?
It sucks, Sebastian.
I just feel like I'm drying up.
I've got an idea.
I've got this person I know in L.A.
Her name is Carol Connors
and she is a great songwriter.
I think you and she could
work really well.
How do you know Carol Connors?
I made a film about her cats.
She paid me forty thousand dollars
to make a film about her cats.
And for our final impersonation,
we will do...
[hums Star Wars theme]
Yoda from Star Wars.
[Star Wars theme]
[applause]
I'm gonna pretend
you're making that up.
No, I'm not.
I'm not.
She lives alone in
the Hollywood Hills with her cats
and she is still one
of the most amazing songwriters.
And that's my makeup
for what happened today.
Carol, nice to meet you.
Sebastian, good to see you,
sweetie, how are you?
Very well. Let me
introduce you to Devin Ratray.
- Hi.
- Devin.
He's the patient
you're gonna work on.
We have things to talk about.
Carol as you know the reason
we're here is because
Devin is on a rather
special mission
to meet a rather special woman
and I think you are
the person who can guide him
in the right way musically
and Elvis was gentle
with you the first time.
I mean, is that important...?
Oh he was gentle with me many,
many, many, many times.
I was so shy.
He was my first love.
He was just wonderful.
What kind of tips
do you have for him?
I think gentleness
is going to be your key here.
And remember, underneath the heart
of our secretary of state
beats the heart of a woman.
Okay.
Okay, I've written a song
for you because I really think
that this is important.
Condoleezza, Condi,
I think of you so fondly,
Sugar 'n spice, everything nice
Wedding bells
and a handful of rice
Remember,
this is the secretary of state
and she's on the world stage.
I mean,
it's very logical the song,
but there's a romantic feel to it.
I'll be in front of the--
No!
I'll be in front of the towers
At the Watergate
- Important word is Watergate.
- Hmm.
That's where
she lives and think of it as,
"Rapunzel, Rapunzel,
let down your hair."
I don't like her
hairstyles sometimes but...
- Why?
- I don't know,
but towers is very good
because she lives
in the towers at the Watergate.
Get it?
Your beauty's in everything
That I see,
Condi, you mean
the world to me.
To me...
God you're almost
as good as Plcido Domingo.
Thank you!
So, Carol, I know you have
another song which is your new,
Gonna Fly Now.
- Yes!
- That's what I need.
- A type of song like that.
- It's... It's...
it's very Rocky-ish.
It's a "Yo, Stallone!"
you know, that type of--
it's got tremendous energy.
I'll settle for that just
a measly snack
If that would make Condi mine!
Mine! Mine!
He's gonna win her,
win her, win her
When he is a little thinner,
thinner, thinner
Win her, win her, win her
When he's thinner
The trumpets are blaring.
Win her, win her, win her
When he's thinner,
thinner, thinner
Oh my god winner, dinner.
Oh my god, the brownies.
- Bravo! Bravo!
- Oh, thank you so much.
I'm so glad you like it.
The brownies smell
like they're burning.
How are you feeling?
It sounded kind
of like wet pieces of shit
sprinkled on a Jerry Lewis film.
Dev...
It's perhaps the most
insulting song I've heard thus far.
Excuse me.
Excuse me.
I don't-- I'm not an eavesdropper,
but what the fuck did you just say.
Devin, let me just make
something plain, okay?
When you become
an Academy Award songwriter,
then you can sit here and tell me
that I don't know what I'm doing.
- God!
- I am so upset...
Carol, this song
is making fun of me.
- It's telling me...
- I'm not making fun of you.
- It's genius.
- How can I...?
- I mean...
- Thank you.
- This is the secretary...
- She's a genius.
Have some respect.
It's a beautiful song.
It's well...
No it's a powerful song.
I don't want
to say it's beautiful.
- Powerful?!
- The other song is beautiful...
"Just the measly snack
would make me want her back"?
No.
That's not what it says.
Don't fuck up my words.
I-- don't talk to me.
Carol, I cannot possibly approach
The Secretary of State
of The United States
with this song and expect
her to take me seriously.
Why not?
You're denying her one of the
biggest gifts she can give you?
I'm not singing the song!
I'm not singing the song.
I can't do this.
You know something,
I don't want him to sing the song.
I don't want anybody to sing.
Read these lips,
I think George H. Bush said that.
- Your friend?
- Yes. President Bush.
Didn't you sing at
his inauguration?
I sang at George W.'s.
Both of his.
Read my lips.
Read my lips.
Read my lips.
Read my lips.
- Okay.
- Carol...
- He's doing it.
- Guys, together.
This is insanity.
I will sing the song together.
Why are you going
to sing the song?
Because it's a great idea.
He's your inner self and I have
to go check the brownies
and if you're not good you're
not going to get a brownie.
I'm like-- I can't
even have a brownie?
Peace and love.
Where are we?
Uh, my friend Adrian Grenier,
uh, his offices.
How do you know Adrian?
Uh, we were high school friends.
What do you think
he's talking about?
What do you think
he's talking about, huh?
She's dead.
You got to wake up.
Hey, what's up?
What's going on, man?
- How you doing?
- Good.
Really good.
How are you?
I think it's very important
that you make sure
that you prove
to her that you show her
that you are being a sincere,
honorable, loving human being.
Dude, come on secretary of state,
powerful woman,
boring old white guys all day,
she's got to be
a big dirty submissive
and you grab her by
the hair and you spank her.
Oh, Jim, whoa easy.
- I mean, you got to be delicate.
- Yeah.
- I mean...
- You don't.
Take what's yours.
Smack her around a little bit.
Spank her.
That's what she likes.
Oh, whoa.
No, no, no, no.
There's no smacking.
How could I ensure my sincerity?
Just humble yourself.
You have to be able to find some
way into a more tender part of her.
Yeah, but you got
to remember something.
You know, she was
a Democrat until the late '70s?
Yes.
And because Jimmy Carter
wouldn't invade Afghanistan
and attack the Russians, she left.
- That's true.
- She likes it when you go in.
She's with Bush Senior,
she's with Bush Junior.
She likes it when you go
in and take what's yours.
You're not going
to get her in the mind.
You got to get her on
like an emotional visceral...
- Yeah...
- Some...
Yeah.
So like I don't know if you like
maybe wore some lingerie
or something as simple as that.
Look, I don't want
to fight with you.
I don't want to fight with you,
but I understand the Condi thing.
I've seen her body,
she's fucking sexy.
That little gap between the teeth,
how sexy is that.
Just be careful of those teeth.
They can get caught in your bag.
- Watch those little...
- Fucking, Jim!
Honestly?!
My bag between her gap?!
Is that really advice that I need?
All right, man.
Good luck.
Let's play.
[music]
Man, these Hollywood
types have addlepated my brain.
I need some time home
to recharge the batteries
before that last push to DC.
- Hi.
- Hi.
Oh, honey-man, welcome home.
- Thank you.
- Oh, I missed you.
Hi.
I missed you too.
Hi, Dad.
I had to go to Duane Reade
last night.
I'm standing there at,
uh, on line last night
and here's the Enquirer:
"who's gay and who's not."
- Who's that?
- So she's not.
So she's one
of the ones that's not.
Well, let's see what
the National Enquirer has to say.
Oh, yes, let's see...
According to the buzz
among political insiders,
it's an open secret that Secretary
of State Condoleezza Rice is gay.
One in-the-know blogger
claimed that during her years
at California Stanford university,
Condi was
"Completely out as a lesbian
and it was not
a scandal, just a reality."
You're reading
the National Enquirer.
I totally agree at my
appalling purchase.
You're just trying
to get me upset.
I just walked in the front door.
I'm not trying to get you upset.
- Yes, you are!
- I'm looking for...
Hey, hey, hey.
You and she are both
interested in women.
There's something in
common that you have.
Devin, Devin, come here.
I'm going to sleep.
I'm going to bed.
- I've been up all night.
- We know.
Okay. It's all right.
It's all right. I'm going to bed.
No, no. Come here. Come here.
- No, no, no.
- You just got home...
I know I just got home.
and I can't deal
with this right now.
Guys, look please
disconnect the phone.
I'll unpack tomorrow.
You can't...
Welcome home, dear.
You don't know when to quit,
do you?
Devin, I'm sorry.
Dev?
All because I'm in love.
Doesn't matter.
It's just love.
Long before Condoleezza Rice
was part of the team
that brought us the Iraq war,
she was one of those who believed
that corporate
interests come first.
During the ten years
the Condoleezza Rice
was on the board
of the Chevron Corporation,
big oil developers.
They were exploiting
the oil off the coast
of the Niger Delta in Nigeria.
Home to some
of the world's poorest people
and indigenous people
like the Ogoni people;
who at that time were
fighting for some revenue
to come to them from
this oil that was being
drained out from
underneath their homeland.
Throughout that period, it was
the Nigerian government's policy
to suppress protest
and to arrest and, in some cases,
shoot down and kill the protesters.
The corporations that cut deals
with the Nigerian government
were complicit with that
and were sued for being complicit
with that in U.S court.
Now, the interesting thing
about your friend Condoleezza Rice,
Devin, is that she was
playing an active role
in turning shareholder
initiatives back
when the shareholders were saying
we want to be pushing
for more human rights
not ignoring abuses at
the Nigerian government's hands.
Wait. You're saying
the Nigerian government killed
its own people to ensure
Chevron had exclusive
oil rights to their country?
Yeah.
I hate to break it to you, Devin,
she picked empire and colonialism
over being a concert pianist.
I think you've got
to think about that, Devin.
There's an easy way
to Condoleezza Rice's heart.
You just need to promise her a few
oil contracts in the Caspian Sea,
maybe give her a few seats
on a few corporate boards.
Nothing she likes better.
How's he gonna do that?
Well, you've got your work
cut out for you, let's face it.
Great.
She became a member
of the Bush inner circle
when she was discovered
by Bush Senior's National Security
Adviser Brent Scowcroft
and brought into Washington
to be part of the National
Security Council.
Here among all these grand
men was this little slip of a girl.
I had never met her before,
but I soon found
that she held her own
with all these very senior people.
When he introduced her
to Gorbachev, he said,
"This is Condoleezza Rice,
she's taught me everything
I know about the Soviet Union."
Bush Senior wanted
his son George to meet her.
Of course she's
a foreign policy specialist
especially an Eastern
European specialist.
He had a lot of studying to do.
Can you name
the president of Chechnya?
No, can you?
Uh, the new prime
minister of India is, uh, uh...
No.
George W. Bush
and Condoleezza Rice hit it off
from the very beginning,
based on their common affinity,
uh, in things like, uh, their sports
and their Christian faith.
Uh, they had this instant as one
of Rice's best friends called it
"mind meld" that happened
from the very beginning.
During the course
of the 2000 election campaign
she'd really been President Bush's
tutor on foreign affairs.
President Bush had
been governor of Texas,
had very little
background in foreign policy
or national security.
She's the one who
taught him these issues
during the course of the campaign.
I advise him on how to take his
very strong principles and values.
What it is that he wants
to do in the world
and translate those
into policy initiatives.
Rice, when it came to Bush, saw
in this young Texas governor
the values, the strength,
the vision of Ronald Reagan.
At the same time,
the moderation and wisdom,
intelligence of Bush's
father for whom she had worked.
She thought with these
two personalities
combined into one president,
she thought they could
burst into Washington
and they were going
to remake the world.
Not only to promote
what was good for the world
but also to promote what's
good for American interests.
George W. Bush
believes that America
has a special responsibility
to keep the peace,
that the fair cause of freedom
depends on our strength
and purpose and I want
to assure you if the time ever comes
to use military force,
President George W. Bush
will do so to win because for him,
victory is not a dirty word.
[cheering and applause]
I realize how much
I have to learn about
the world of politics that I am
now thoroughly immersed in
the center of it all.
This Washington minefield.
Oh come on, you know!
Assholes!
[music]
So here we are, Omnicom.
This is Frank Luntz's dark empire.
Are you ready?
Whatever!
So just make sure
you're respectful to him.
This is the guy
who's responsible for
getting Schwarzenegger into office,
Jeb Bush into office.
Language is perfection,
because it is personal,
it is human.
The power of innovation
is that it helps people.
It allows them to
inspire and aspire
to things that are greater.
Frank Luntz, this is Devin Ratray.
How are you doing?
Pleasure to meet you.
- How are you?
- Good. Good to meet you.
If you want to actually court her,
I do know language and I do
no presentation, and that ain't it.
I'm taking diet tips from
Augustus Gloop here, man.
What is that shirt made of?
- What's the fabric of that shirt?
- Rayon.
Everything from
now on is 100 percent cotton
and wrinkle-free.
- Those shoes...
- Yeah?
Did you get them in the 1950s?
Are they your
father's bowling shoes?
I want shoes that have
a professional look to them.
Next thing, what is this?
What is that?
What do you call that?
- These?
- Yes.
These are my sideburns.
- Okay.
- My mutton chops.
Yes.
No sideburns.
Hold on.
This is my individuality, man.
Would you tell Elvis not to use,
not to...?
No, I won't tell Elvis
anything because he's dead.
What would you tell her about
the Middle East Peace Accord?
Um...
Palestinians need
to be represented.
Okay. We'll call the Palestinians
just for short "scum."
Where does she
stand on the Middle East?
Well, she believes
in a strong Israel.
Okay.
So she recognizes that
the Palestinians have to have--
Don't play with your hair.
- I didn't play with my hair.
- You just played with your hair.
- You just did.
- What is he talk...?
You've got the monitor.
Play it back.
What would Bush say
in terms of the Middle East?
Uh, we need strategery.
Strategery.
Excellent.
What would Dick Cheney say?
"Kill them all.
Fuck the Jews.
Fuck the Jews.
Fuck the Palestinians.
Kill them all.
I need blood."
That's what Cheney would say?
Uh, it was a tape recording.
I-- I-- I see.
- Pirated.
- Yes.
Do you think that putting them
down is gonna help your cause?
I mean, explain to me
here how this is gonna work?
You're gonna go in and you're
gonna say these things
flippantly or are you gonna say
this with convition-- conviction?
There are consequences
for everyone's accountability.
That's not conviction.
Conviction is:
"9/11 changed everything."
Let me hear you say it.
9/11 changed everything.
Even more emphatic.
9/11 changed everything!
Perfect.
That's conviction.
You're gonna get one shot.
You're gonna get one opportunity.
Do you have the words,
do you have the passion,
do you have the focus of someone
who can woo her?
You're such a beautiful woman.
Can you get him a breath mint,
please?
I can see that you're
a little nervous.
Your hands are clammy,
but I don't want
you to be intimidated by me
just because I'm a person
who knows what I want...
But you are a large person.
There's more of me to love.
I would strongly urge
that his first meeting
with the secretary
not be over a meal.
I'm taking notes here
from the Pillsbury Doughboy.
It's just not fair.
What you don't understand
is I'm not trying to court
the secretary of state,
the most powerful
woman on the globe.
This is Words that Work.
This book will help
you communicate.
Good language is like a great meal
and I assume that you'd
understand that metaphor.
Didn't see that one coming.
I'm pleased that you take
this so seriously.
The focus group
is going to tear you apart,
but it's not just words,
it's also appearances.
- Well. Devin.
- Devin.
This is your stylist.
I'm going to make
you a runway model.
Yeah, well you better
reinforce that runway.
He should run away very quickly.
Listen, once you look
at yourself in the mirror
and you see
this presidential transformation
that I'm going to create for you,
you're going to be mentally ready
and visually ready to meet her.
Condoleezza loves shoes,
so you must love shoes.
[music]
The shoes make the man.
That's very nice.
That's like I'm going to the prom.
All right.
I look like the Joker.
You have these in a 17?
[music]
Ever since I was
a little girl I liked to shop.
My father would go
to work on his sermons
on Saturday morning,
and my mother and I would head
downtown to go shopping.
I think she looks very powerful
despite the fact
that she dresses in a way
that is both feminine
and has a certain
degree of sensuality to it.
If anything I think it makes her
perhaps look even more powerful.
[music]
Oh, God!
That's the new Devin.
You have been transformed
into a presidential candidate.
I believe that children
are our future.
I will not be Bush-whipped.
9/11 changed us all.
Ma. Ma?
Hi, darling.
All good.
- Huh?
- Hello.
Hello.
What are you doing?
I just want-- I just
wanted to tell you that, uh,
I'm gonna be moving out.
What do you mean?
- For good?
- Yeah.
Yeah, I think.
Um, I could be gone for a while,
so I just wanted to thank you
for everything that you've done.
Uh, you've been very kind.
You've been-- you've
been everything that I
could possibly want.
- Everything I needed.
- Why are you so formal?
I don't know. I don't know.
I've never done this before.
I just gotta do it.
[cries]
Mom. Mom...
Well, you act like
you don't even care.
Mom.
Come on.
Don't do it.
Don't cry.
This is...
I know it's time to fly away,
but where are you going?
I'm going to Washington...
D.C.
Need I ask why?
You needn't.
Okay.
All right.
- So you're going to Washington?
- Yeah.
I should have known
that was coming.
You're going to see big
things coming from me.
Well, I hope.
I have no doubt
about your success.
I want you to do anything
that makes you happy
but stay out of trouble.
I always do that, Mom.
That wasn't so bad.
No, it wasn't, was it?
I suppose I'll hear from you.
Yes, you totally will, Mom.
When you want something.
You'll hear from me.
[music]
[music]
Got to your city
and I feel so alive,
I'm inching closer
to the heart of your mind.
Ev'rything I see is like
a monument to you,
Ev'rything I dream
of is finally comin' true,
I'm feelin'...
Free in the arms
of the brave and true,
Free in the place
where I've come to find you,
No one to tell us how
we're not meant to be...
Baby, we're finally free,
Baby, we're finally free,
baby, we're finally free...
I am honored, in fact, humbled,
uh, that President-elect
Bush has asked me
to serve as his
National Security Adviser.
In January 2001,
when Condoleezza Rice
took the oath of office
to be National Security Adviser
it was, uh,
the ultimate rise in political power.
This we're talking
about a little girl who grew up
in segregated Birmingham, Alabama
and yet she had gone
from that place in her life,
uh, all the way up
to literally the right hand
of the President of the United States.
I'm so impressed.
- Good to see you.
- Good to see you too.
- Perfect tie.
- Yeah?
- Nice suit.
- Thank you.
It's from Florence.
Well, you still got
the sideburns but, you know what?
Oh, this is so much improvement.
- Come on back.
- Thanks.
These are the people right there.
- Would you grab a seat?
- All right.
- Let's take the group.
- Thank you.
Boy, nothing to make
you relax like a bunch of strangers
judging everything you say or do.
I need a word or phrase
that you would use
to describe Condoleezza Rice?
Sophisticated.
Well-traveled.
- Regal.
- Captivating.
Hot.
- Together.
- Incompetent.
In some ways, this is the most
important part of the session
because Devin may not get
a chance to meet her personally.
She may only respond to
a video that he's put together.
We're going to measure
your second by second reaction
which is what Secretary Rice
would have as watching this video.
Love discs are love
letters in music and pictures.
Dude, love disc doesn't work.
Look at that.
- [laughter in background]
- Look at that response.
[laughter in background]
That's as low as it gets.
I'm sorry.
Wow.
I mean that's lower than when
Bill Clinton used the phrase,
"It depends on
the meaning of the word 'is' is."
I want a word or phrase
to describe Devin
based on what you saw.
We're going to start in the front.
Potential Cyrano de Bergerac.
- Terrible.
- Sad.
Uh, very sad, desperate.
Embarrassing.
I thought it was
sweet and genuine.
He's not my type.
It is a little unfortunate that
most people are very shallow
and will be put off by his
clear physical deficiencies.
[laughter]
What exactly do you mean by that?
- [laughter]
- Sideburns, his sideburns.
Sideburns?
How many of you would keep
the sideburns, raise your hands?
How many of you would
take them off?
Overwhelming.
I want you to put your dials
as to what you thought of Devin
at the end of that video.
Give him a rating
between zero and 100.
Now I want you to take
a look at the new Devin.
- Wow.
- Very nice.
Now give him a rating.
Laura what's the rating
for men and women now?
48/66.
Women are at 66.
How many women went up
based on looking at him now?
There you go.
Why?
Why'd you go up?
He looks great in a suit.
Looks more serious
and respectable.
Thank you.
She likes clean-shaven men.
The sideburns have to go.
She would never look at you.
The only thing that's
stopping me right now is me.
[dramatic music]
[dramatic music]
Ahhh!
[dramatic music]
Nothing of value is really
ever won without sacrifice.
[Sombre dramatic music]
[Sombre music]
A rebirth...
a re-Genesis.
A lot of people will tell
you that Rice was weak
and she was too weak
to be National Security Adviser
when she had these
titans on either side,
uh, Rumsfeld and Cheney on
one side, and Powell on the other.
Probably three
of the best bureaucrats
that have ever worked the system.
Huge egos.
Much more experience than she had
particularly in national security
issues and foreign policy.
So I think what you see
is when she realizes
that she can't beat Dick Cheney
or Donald Rumsfeld,
she learns how
to maneuver around them.
She decided to use her personal
relationship with the president
to gain power inside
the Administration.
Rice's relationship
with President Bush is very close.
She goes to Camp David a lot.
She stays in the main
house at Crawford.
So it is a very
unusual relationship
between the President
and his National Security Adviser.
Well, there's a famous
story about how, uh,
Condoleezza Rice
and George W. Bush are in the U.N
in the General Assembly
and he actually passed
a little note to Rice.
What the note said was,
"Can I go to the bathroom?"
You have
a President of United States,
the most powerful man in the world
who literally would
not go to the bathroom
without asking permission
of Condoleezza Rice.
This is not a woman who
thinks in seconds or minutes.
This is a woman
who thinks in decades.
I think she came to this conclusion
very early and she said,
"Well, I build my intimacy
with the president.
I become a very close
confidant of the president.
I build my power
and my eyes on the prize.
If I do this,
I'll be the next Secretary of State."
On to the White House.
[music]
[birds chirping]
[music]
Cometh the hour, cometh the Man.
I am that Man.
This is it.
The climax of all of our struggles.
Inside there
is where it all happens.
[music]
[cheering]
This is grassroots
democracy at its best.
- Hi. Devin?
- Hi.
- Yes.
- I'm Tracy.
Tracy, nice to meet you.
Are you ready to move today?
I'm ready to move the world today.
[applause] [cheering]
Okay, take positions, please.
[music]
I'll be standing there
When you're on the world stage
Standing there
if you're ever afraid,
Standing by,
when you're standing tall
For you, my love,
I'll always be on call
I'll be in front of the towers
At the Watergate
My very long-legged
Secretary of State
I'll stand up
When you sit down
Condi, you make my world go
round 'n round 'n round 'n round
Cause you're
my Condoleezza, Condi,
I think of you so fondly,
Sugar 'n spice,
everything nice
Wedding bells
and a handful of rice
Your beauty's everywhere,
In everything that I see
When you're splashed
In the headlines and on my TV
You're all I could want
When I'm in DC.
Condi, you mean,
you mean the world to me
Cause you're my
Condi Condoleezza once,
And you're my Condi
Condoleezza twice
Cause you're my
Condi Condoleezza true,
There's nothing I won't do
For Condoleezza Rice
[buzzer]
We're trying to deliver
this to the Secretary of State.
You know, she doesn't work here,
she's the Secretary of State.
This is the White House.
Might makes right
As you circle the globe
North Korea to Iran
They're shakin'
from head to toe
Don't mess with the
Good ole U.S. of A
Or you may get
Condi's boot up your derriere
America's countin on you, Condi
To fight the good fight
To be a champion of our people,
Tho' a hangin'
chad to the right
George W.'s a little
bush in your way
Condi for President
in 2012 we say...
I'll do anything
to please ya, Condoleezza
So please please let me
squeeze ya, Condoleezza
Please ya
Squeeza ya
Need ta tease ya
On my knees I'm
here ta please ya
Please please please,
Condoleezza!
Come out, Condi, please!
[music]
[music]
Being in love is very
close to being insane.
I ask you, Dr. Rice,
whether you recall
the title of that PDB.
I believe the title was:
"Bin Laden Determined To
Attack Inside The United States."
The August 6 presidential
daily brief was one of dozens
scores of intelligence reports
that reached the White House
in the spring and summer
of 2001 about terrorist threats.
The CIA, George Tenet
and Richard Clark,
Condoleezza Rice's
counterterrorism director
were really banging
on the door every day.
Her door every day saying,
there is this dire threat.
I cannot tell you that there might
not have been a report here
or a report there that reached
somebody in our midst.
She acknowledged
that she couldn't recall whether
she had discussed
the presence of Al-Qaeda
cells in the United States
with President Bush.
Condoleezza Rice
was the gatekeeper.
She was the person who
determined what information
got into the president.
It was a pivotal role.
I just don't buy the argument
that we weren't shaking
the trees enough and that
something was going to fall out
that gave us somehow
that little piece of information
that would have led
to connecting all of those dots.
Had photographs
of Midhar and Al-Hosni
been put on television,
would they have come to
the airports on September 11th?
There were people on
the 9/11 Commission and on staff
who would tell you it was both
incompetence and negligence.
[music]
[music]
9/11 was such a dramatic,
terrible, horrible event,
it forced her to reevaluate
things that she had
thought were true before.
More idealistic than
she had been before.
There are critics who say
that there was a Condi before 9/11
and a Neo-Condi after 9/11.
I believe what happened with
Condoleezza Rice after 9/11
was that we saw a Realist
transform into an Idealist.
This thing that Josef Korbel
had had such an important role
in sculpting in Rice's
own head came apart
and she found
George W. Bush's idealism.
We go forward to defend Freedom
and all that is good
and just in our world.
I don't have a good
feeling about this.
Isn't this a little stalker-ish?
It's gonna be fine.
Okay. Here we go.
Let's break into the Watergate.
[music]
You sure this is a good idea?
Sure, it's a good idea.
We've got to get into her world.
[music]
I have a package to deliver
to a resident here under Rice.
Okay.
I'll call them.
Thank you.
Um, we have come
with a gift for Secretary Rice
and was wondering if we
could give a, er, gift.
It's a-- some cake for her.
No, but I need to ask you
to leave right now though.
We tried.
Oh, look, there's Security.
Shall I try with the Security services?
Maybe that's not the best
thing to do, Sebastian.
I'll be over there,
away from Security.
You're not allowed
to be here, okay?
This is a love offering.
My friend is in love with
her and, uh...
I realize that.
It's very touching,
but you can't
deliver anything here.
It has to be delivered
to the PR department, okay?
Do you swear to tell the truth,
the whole truth
and nothing but the truth.
I do.
I think the general view
of Dr. Rice's testimony
was that she was filibustering.
I think Dr. Rice was well
aware of the restrictions of time
and was chewing up the clock
with long and rambling discourses.
The question is what did
we need to do about that...
And fuel-filled
investigations underway...
I also understood that...
that was what the FBI was doing...
that the FBI
I think her objective was
to say as little as possible
in as many words as possible.
I really don't remember.
I...
I don't remember...
I... I don't know...
I don't personally remember it.
Throughout the investigation
of the 9/11 Commission,
what you saw of Condoleezza Rice,
it appeared to many
people certainly on the Commission
was a tremendous
amount of word play.
You know,
a warning was not a warning,
intelligence wasn't
intelligence unless she said it was.
She relies on this word-play
to the point of being dishonest.
This study has found that you,
Madam Secretary,
made 56 false statements
to the American people.
Isn't it true
that you had intelligence
that cast doubt on
your repeated claims
that Iraq did not have
weapons of mass destruction?
I did not at any time
make a statement
that I knew to be false
or that I thought to be false
in order to pump up anything.
We don't want the smoking
gun to be a mushroom cloud.
None of
the intelligence community
said that he had a nuclear bomb.
That's really going
a long way with that talking point
when you're suggesting
to the American people
that it might go off
tomorrow morning.
I do believe in Rice's mind
she doesn't believe she lied.
I believe that.
I believe that she
believes that, you know,
she did what she had to do
and if she kept some things,
uh, strategically
absent from the public record,
I think that's how
she would see it.
I think she would see
that that's what she had to do.
She walked
in with all the credentials
for having principles,
and in the process
of joining that unholy
alliance for the crusade in Iraq,
I think she rose above principle.
Stop telling the same lies
Stop making the world cry
Be who you are inside
I'm a deeply religious person.
My life has I think unfolded
as it was supposed to.
Let down your guard tonight
Say you're sorry
cause it's all right
We all make mistakes
Who pays the price
for your decisions?
You're not gonna
pay a particular price.
I want to interview
Condoleezza Rice
when she was buying
Ferragamo shoes on Fifth Avenue
and went to see Spamalot
when people were drowning.
Boy, would I love her to face me.
What's a noble cause?
Tell me as a mother.
I want to know.
[protesters shouting]
Our love, our life, our dreams
Believe. Our love
I do pray every day
and in times of tragedy
and heartbreak
like the passing of my own
parents or September 11th,
I have found solace and strength
in the power of prayer.
Believe
[chatter and gunshots]
On September 16, 2007,
Blackwater guards who were
working for the State Department
opened fire in
the Central Square in Baghdad.
Witnesses say
that the guards did this
even though
the attack was unprovoked.
One of the armored cars hit my car
so I opened the door
and drop myself in the street,
because I thought they are--
they wanted to kill me.
What resulted in that day was
the death of 17 Iraqi civilians.
...I would remind
that this is a war zone
and that it is true that sometimes,
uh, incidents happened.
The State Department then
offered ten thousand dollars
to the families of the victims
in exchange
for an agreement not to sue.
I told them I refused
to accept any compensation.
First, I want the court system
to have the final word.
In this war zone
I don't think that people
- have been either reckless...
- [gunshots]
Jesus Christ,
it's like a fucking turkey shoot.
...Nor have they been trying
somehow to shield people
in this circumstance.
Secretary Rice granted
immunity to these contractors
for prosecution
in the United States.
Essentially,
pardoned these crimes.
The way that the State Department
responded to this
was to renew
a contract with Blackwater.
We would like to get
appropriate legislation
that speaks to the prosecution
of civilian contract personnel.
Well, I'm the sponsor of the only
bill I know in the House
that has dealt with this,
uh, issue
and she nor her staff has
ever talked with me or my staff.
I think it contradicts our values.
It makes us out to be hypocrites.
It compromises our mission.
It puts our military
personnel in jeopardy.
People make little distinction
between American troops
and American private contractors.
What if another incident occurs,
what if there's another
shootout in the middle of Baghdad?
This is reckless.
All I can see
is a dereliction of duty.
[music]
Virtually any level
you'd want to assess this,
it's a disaster for our country.
[music]
[fire crackling]
The United States does not permit,
tolerate or condone torture
under any circumstances.
After Abu Ghraib broke,
after the photographs
shocked the world,
the CIA was still pushing
for interrogations
and the use of torture
of specific detainees
and this group continued to meet
with Condoleezza Rice
chairing the group.
She sat in the White House
with these torture meetings
and decided what torture
to use on what person.
These "enhanced
interrogation methods"
included waterboarding,
fingernail extraction
and sleep deprivation.
And then the combination of those,
how often they could be used,
could they be used
together with each other,
the CIA would come in
and give a presentation
of what they wanted to do,
to the point where
they were choreographing
the interrogations and the torture
from the basement
of the White House itself.
According to White House insiders,
Rice signed off
on these techniques
by instructing the official,
"This is your baby, go do it!"
Let me try to be clear,
the United States doesn't
and can't condone torture.
I've talked to other people who've
said that there was an effort
made to try to keep the president
somewhat isolated
from these decisions,
because they were so
concerned about the possibility
of the president being
impeached someday.
They knew that what
they were doing was illegal.
They knew what they were doing
would bring shame to the world
if the world found out about it.
The United States does not
transport and has not transported
detainees from
one country to another
for the purpose
of interrogation using torture.
If you try to think about
American foreign policy
and that there are secret
sites to which people are sent
to be tortured
and that there are innocents like
Maher Arar who's
a Syrian Canadian engineer
who was sent to Syria
to be tortured
in a coffin-sized cell for a year.
When I was not being beaten,
I was put in a waiting room
so that I could hear
the screams of other prisoners.
The cries of the women
still haunt me the most.
Torture and conspiracy
to commit torture
are crimes under U.S. law
wherever they may occur in the world.
It is a tragic fact
that Condoleezza Rice
has massively committed war crimes.
You can be sitting in your
office in the White House
or the State Department, and
if you're making decisions
that are authorizing,
ordering, facilitating
a crime being committed,
you're responsible for that crime.
When you work
for an administration
you do sign on and there
is a question of loyalty
and then every
person has to decide
for himself or herself
where that line is.
You know,
how loyal are you before you,
you know, blow the whistle.
I don't think she ever understood
the seriousness of what it meant
to become as powerful as she is.
If Jesus Christ were
speaking to Condi Rice,
I think he would say that the idea
that you're saving
tens of thousands of lives
by torturing someone
the one doesn't weigh
more than the other.
If you do it to the least
of these you do it unto Me.
[glass shatters]
I think John Rice
would have been appalled.
I think Americans
should be appalled
that Dr. Rice was sitting there
giving the authority
to waterboard.
War criminal! Take her to the Hague!
I think Josef Korbel would
turn over in his grave
at what Condoleezza Rice
and the Bush
administration have done.
She has now done real horrors.
[Explosion]
When I first saw you,
You slipped into my dreams,
Too pure, I melted for you,
I screamed and I fought for you
Thought everything
you told me was true
Now I see what's really real
Shes a liar, a cheater,
a two-faced deceiver,
I saw what she did,
yet I still believed her.
Now it's time to pay the price
Stand up and be judged
Sentenced by your fears
Accused by all the drowning ones
It's time to pay the price
Pay the price!
Pay the price!
Pay the price!
Pay the priiiiiice!
Pay up!
[music]
What did you expect, honey?
I feel like a fool.
You were, uh...
You were trying to tell me
something and I didn't,
uh, I didn't pay attention.
You have greatness in you
and you will bounce back
and you have a lot of love
to cushion this fall of yours.
That's what families are for.
Families and friends.
I wish I was there helping, uh,
put up the tree with you right now.
I wish you were too, honey,
with your little red Santa hat.
Thank you, Mom.
I love you, honey.
- I love you too.
- Take care of that cold.
It sounds awful.
Yep.
I will.
I'm gonna take some NyQuil.
Okay, sweetheart.
I love you. Bye-bye.
Love you too.
Bye-bye.
God.
I'm such a pussy.
[music]
[music]
[music]
It is a trail of tears
that Condi has left behind.
[music]
She would have served
the American people,
uh, better if she had challenged
the man she worked for.
I think far more likely
to be on her tombstone
would be corporate interests first,
people second.
Her Shakespearean fault
was this ambition for Power.
I have no regrets.
The only thing
that I would have regretted
is if we hadn't tried
to help give people
a chance at a better life.
[music]
[music]
Here it is.
It's the first song
that I wrote since I got back.
[piano]
Don't worry about me, I'm good,
and I won't worry
about you either;
I did the best I could,
I tried
but couldn't please her,
drifting, turning,
slipping, burning;
thought by now itd stop...
You'd catch me, right?
Yeah.
Well, I'll hold you.
Thanks.
As she gets older
she's gonna really realize
there's some things
that she missed in life.
I have tried,
all my life to leave it behind
but something always turns
out there to make me...
We're headed back to Stanford
to a wonderful life in California.
nothing in my bed
except my broken grin
When silvers only second best,
you realize
that maybe this time...
She chose Power over Love.
I might be golden
He's gonna win her,
win her, win her
When hes thinner,
thinner, thinner
Gonna win her,
win her, win her
When he is thinner,
thinner, thinner
He's gonna win her,
win her, win her
When he is thinner, thinner.
Yo, I wanna see some sweat.
Oh, you gonna see sweat, baby.
You want love,
you got to sweat for love.
Love costs.
And this is where
you start paying.
Condi, me, Condi and me.
You've got the body
of a lady my age.
I'm a little over 50.
[chuckles]
Aren't you just...
I don't care.
He's gonna win her,
win her, win her
When he is thinner...
I'm a really avid sports fan.
[enthusiastic shouting]
And I took up golf
a couple of years ago,
so I'm really excited about that.
[music]
Look at the smile
on his fucking face.
He's gonna win her,
win her, win her
When he is thinner...
No breakfast, lunch,
not even dinner
You'll settle for that,
just a measly snack
High five...
Yeah.
If that would make Condi yours,
yours, yours
[celebration and cheering]
- Condi!
- Yes!
Goal!
[chuckles]
[music]
[music]
Oh, Condi, Condi,
I'm begging on my knees
Open up your heart
And let me in,
won't you please?
Got no money
but everybody knows
I love you, Condi,
And I'd never let you go
Sweet and dandy
pretty as can be
You be the flower
and I'll be the bumblebee
Oh, she loves me,
Oops, she loves me not
People say you're
cold but I think you're hot
Oh, Condi, Condi,
Oh, Condi, Condi,
[music]
Oh, Condi, Condi,
Oh, Condi, Condi,
Oh, Condi, Condi,
I'm talking to you, girl
What's it gonna hurt,
come on give me a whirl
Shake your body
and let me see you go
One time, my Condi,
I love you so