“Here’s the only political agenda I’ve ever had. When I was in — eleven years old, I had a crush on a girl in my sixth grade class named Jenny Lavin. And she was volunteering after school at the local McGovern campaign headquarters.

And so I thought it would be a good idea if I did, too.

And one Sunday they put us all in a bunch of buses and vans and took us over to White Plains which is the county seat in Westchester where I grew up, because the Nixon campaign motorcade was driving through. And we were going to hold up signs that said McGovern for President. And that’s what I was doing when a 143 year old woman came up from behind me, grabbed the sign out of my hand, whacked me over the head with it, threw it on the ground and stomped on it.

My only political agenda has been the slim hope that that woman is still alive and that I’m driving her out of her mind.”

– Aaron Sorkin, screenwriter,
at the Hotel Jerome in Aspen Colorado, June 29, 2015

This is a clip taken from the premiere episode of the American television political drama series “The Newsroom” created and principally written by Aaron Sorkin. It premiered on HBO on June 24, 2012. The clip features Jeff Daniels answering the question, “Can you say why America is the greatest country in the world?” with a very thought provoking answer.