not screw up. amend.
"isn't perfect"? dick, your bill's the incumbents protection act! how can you even call it an ethics bill?
but it's got no teeth! it won't change a thing, and you know it.
i see. we close the bank, we stop the rubber checks, we raise the prices in the barber shop, we stop fixing parking tickets, and abracadabra! we say we've cleaned up congress. well, i don't think the american people want what this place has become.
not anymore! this new congress is full of new faces.
eight point six.
you can't bribe me, dick.
not if it means supporting your bill. all you want is the perfect platform to campaign for speaker. dick dodge. mr. clean. what a joke!
we haven't met. eli marshall.
i know. the florida upset. well, now that you're here, what are you going to do with it? you gonna feather your own nest, or are you gonna make something of your office?
exactly what does that mean?
no, do me a favor, don't tell me. i try not to get depressed until the second week of a new session.
i need your help on the ethics bill, leon. i want you to co- sponsor my amendments.
that wasn't a yes.
he took six hundred dollars off you that last hand, didn't he?
if i didn't know better, i'd say you lost to him on purpose.
you fit in real well up here. too well.
give it a rest, tommy. you've got a great jump shot. but everyone knows you're dick dodge's boy.
don't waste your outrage on me. i know what you are.
that's not true. some people here actually try to do something besides save their own ass.
oh, really? how so?
aren't you going to vote?
the wages of sin is death! and to the man who values gold over goodness. the lord allows no exemptions! reveal tommy and celia in the front pew. marshall appears to be preaching directly to tommy, who wears a slightly sick smile.
to the man who shows no respect for the privilege of walking this earth, god allows no deductions!
hello, darling. glad you could make it.
my niece says you're not half as slimy as i thought.
that would put you somewhere between a lizard and a toad. quite a step up. tommy looks from marshall to celia and back again.
you shafted me on the ethics bill.
it's a closed rule. i can't get my amendments on the floor. i can't get a recorded vote. i can't get squat.
this is the u.s. congress! the american people deserve better than --
i've got news for you, dick. i'm going to run against you for speaker. i may not have a rat's ass of a chance to beat you. but i sure as hell can tell the world the kind of sleaze you stand for.
the honorable dick dodge. -- raises a big wooden mallet, and smashes it on the crab, smiling.
that man's a walking quid quo pro -- prid quo -- quid pro quo, and you know it. he put you up to this, didn't he?
don't shit me, tommy. you're dick dodge's yes-man. i know what you're up to. this is damage control.
you know why no one on the hill drops a dime on anyone else? mutual assured destruction. our little gentleman's agreement. everybody has something on somebody, so nobody has anything on anybody, because everybody wants to save his own ass.
they think i'm a pompous ass.
shit, this place isn't about passing laws any more. it isn't about doing good any more. all it's about is.  being here.
entirely mine.
would you care for a drink?
well, when a pretty lady shoots him down, an old man knows it's time to go home. marshall rises, pulling out his car keys.
you kids have a good time.
ah. the good samaritan.
hello? no. you're joking. you mind if i put on c-span?