Spinning Boris Page #9

We don't have anything.

They'll kill the rich...

then the rich will hire people

to kill communists.

God forbid the communists win.

The last thing we need

is another war.

Bingo.

That's it

It's civil unrest, stupid

Tatiana,

we have five weeks left

We gotta go negative. Not only

negative, double negative.

We have to hit hard.

Create a drumbeat.

War is an overwhelming fear

in this country.

We gotta let them know that's

exactly what they have to expect...

if the communists win.

Civil unrest, bloodshed,

millions will die.

That's the message.

But we don't know

if it's true.

In this business true

is sometimes not.

But right here right now

the only true is...

we gotta scare the crap

out of everybody...

or we're probably

gonna lose.

Our only hope is in the battle

between somebody they hate...

and somebody they fear. Voters will

hopefully choose somebody they hate.

Your father.

No! No!

My father still has dignity.

And we cannot stoop...

To that level.

We cannot stoop

to that level.

Clinton, Bush, Reagan they all

stooped to that level.

That's the name

of the game, Tatiana.

Everybody knows it, everybody

plays it, everybody stoops.

Mr. Gorton, in this group,

you do suggestions...

and I do decisions.

And my decision is no

Love me sweet and tender

Darling

She's not stooping?

That's her answer. She actually

said that, "I will not stoop"?

That's right.

No stooping for that girl.

Maybe it's a good thing.

How's that, George?

What do we do, spin it?

"Vote Yeltsin for he will

not stoop"?

They have a culture here,

you know, history...

a way of doing things.

Maybe not stooping is part of it.

Who are we to come in

and tell them what to do?

It's not our country.

Why are we messing with it?

What are you talking about,

not our country?

It's not like you know.

Russia's Snow White...

and we're the evil stepmother.

No, we're Uncle Sam.

Damn straight. Sam I am

and I'm proud of it.

I mean, democracy

is our biggest export.

But that doesn't give us

the right to manipulate...

and corrupt

their political process.

Corrupt? When did you turn

into Ralph Nader?

These people don't need any help

corrupting their process.

As far as I can see, they've

managed that all by themselves.

- Am I right, Elvis?

- That's right. Very right.

Boris marches around, says

the back wages...

got repaid.

And I say, bullshit!

Bullshit, Boris!

Me, I don't remember last time

I got paycheck.

And most people I know,

the same.

Zero.

What about that foreign relief

money, where did that go?

I'll tell you where.

I was stolen.

Neatly divided between Yeltsin's

drinking buddies. Come on.

Watergate was preschool

compared to this place.

Guys, forget about Russia.

We have a much bigger problem.

If we do not go negative, there is

no way in hell we'll catch Zyuganov.

What are you suggesting?

That we ix-nay

on the Lukoil-lay?

I think that would be

the prudent thing to do.

We doubled our oney-may.

Let's not get reedy-gay

- Dump all of it.

- The Russian stock...

If it's not too much of a loss,

we should let it go.

- I gotta call you back.

- All right. I gotta go.

What's going on?

This is bad.

This is very bad.

What's the matter?

What's very bad?

Boris Nikolayevich

is missing.

What do you mean missing?

Is he dead?

Who is to know?

All his meetings are cancelled.

Tatiana doesn't return my calls.

- Nobody's talking.

- Give us a minute...

we'll find out

what's going on, Lisa.

Thank you.

Lugov is unavailable.

Braynin's number in Sausalito

has been disconnected.

The net is flooded with rumors.

Nothing confirmed.

Hang on one second.

One sec.

What?

This is the CIA. They wanna know

if Yeltsin's alive.

What kind of freaking spies are they?

That's their job to know.

I can't tell them I don't know.

We're Yeltsin's personal consultants.

They'll think

I'm hiding something.

They're gonna think we're idiots.

I don't want these guys

on our ass.

It's nice to hear your voice too.

Could you just give me a second?

Richard Morris wants to know

where Yeltsin is.

What do I tell him?

- Not that we don't know.

- Gotta tell him something.

Hi, Mike. We were actually

just talking about that.

Mike, could you hold on

a second, please?

It's Kramer.

He wants to know about Yeltsin.

- What are we gonna do?

- There's only one thing we can do.

Remember that thing we did

in Iowa that time?

No, George, no.

One, two, three...

- Yeah, Dick...

- Hi, Mike, I'm back.

Look, you know apparently

everybody down here. Hello?

I'm sorry? We're breaking up.

I can't hear you. What?

Oh for God sakes,

this damn battery.

Damn battery, Mike?

Hello?

I can't hear. I think

we got a dead battery or something.

- I' sorry. I'm gonna lose you.

- I'll call you.

Okay. I'll call you back.

Papa had infarct.

Papa had what?

Heart attack.

Infarct.

- I'm so sorry. Is he...

- It was mild.

He will maybe live.

Probably.

But we don't know

if he can campaign anymore.

So, what do we do?

How we spin this?

I think the first thing we do is

we kill the rumors.

And we kill them fast.

We say that...

Papa's been campaigning

very hard and he needs rest.

Yeah. Stay away from the flu

and cold stuff.

Everyone knows that's

Russian code for deathbed.

It might not be enough...

There's five weeks to go and

Zyuganov and his goons are...

on every corner

waving a red flag.

His lead is tiny

but it's holding.

Can't afford to have

empty airwaves.

They will not be empty.

We are going negative.

Ads, slogans,

truth squads...

I want everything.

Let's make the drum beat.

When did that happen?

What?

- She's become...

- A politician.

Don't blame me.

Blame capitalism.

- What does that mean?

- It's Russian for bullshit.

Dick, wait a minute.

Vasso, why don't you give us

the latest poll?

Did you sell it

to somebody else?

I neither confirm or deny.

Who is to know?

I've had enough of this sh*t!

Give us our f***ing poll.

If you don't give us the poll,

we don't give you the money.

You think you know so much,

do you gentlemen?

You think you can come here and

play us like some baseball?

Pardon my English, but

you don't know sh*t.

That's where you're wrong.

We do know sh*t. You're full of it.

The Yankee arrogance.

This is precisely why

you're so despised everywhere.

Now step aside.

You're blocking the show.

It's the commies, it's the bottom

and they're getting desperate?

Vasso'd never sell out to them.

He may be greedy, but not insane.

What about the Chechens? They'd

do anything to sabotage Boris.

Doubt it. He's too patriotic

to deal with the enemy.

You figure he's out

fifteen grand for the polls...

now he's walking away from our 60.

He's gotta be dealing with somebody.

It's obvious. It's got fingerprints

of the Party of War all over it.

Front page.

Vasso's poll.

Yeltsin is behind Zyuganov

by twenty points.

What? Ridiculous.

Yeltsin's ahead.

Mr. Shumate, how can you

be so sure?

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