What with the show having been on and over by now I guess it is ok to talk about this without being a vector for free promotion, yes? Did you hear anything about this show on ABC? They did a 9/11 "docu-drama" that makes the Clinton people look like hicks and W look like the greatest thing since sliced bread. For the month or so various people from the Clinton administration and from the 9/11 commission (on who's report the movie was "based") have been lobbying ABC and Disney to either re-edit the film or just shitcan it rather than air something that is just quite frankly factually wrong.
Apparently the height of the farce is a scene in which an operative has Bin Laden in his gunsight, phones the White House for permission to fire, and is told not to by the then National Security Advisor. This scene is in fact, fiction.
The movie was apparently produced by right wing evangelicals with the mission of "changing Hollywood."
I'm having one of those moments. Is this the level we have sunk to?
Interestingly, when people are online or on TV quoting the record there doesn't seem to be anyone defending the content of the film. Mostly they criticize the messenger for bullying the film maker and accuse them of not being able to take criticism.
Remember that scene in Aliens: "Did IQ's just drop while I was away?"
These are the same people that pitched a hurricane of a fit over the Reagan movie years ago. They were actually more successful then the current complainers as the Reagan film got chased right off of network television and had to air on Showtime. So I guess it is ok to bully a film maker who doesn't depict your icon in a golden glow, but when you do it you are supposed to be left alone.
Just when did everyone in the public sector become such incredible hypocrites? And why on Earth do we stand for it?
By the way, when special forces did pop off a shot a Bin Laden during the Clinton administration, remember they tried to get him with a cruise missile in the Sudan, the people that just made a movie saying he didn't do anything were all over the airwaves screaming "NO WAR FOR MONICA!!!"
Pricks.
Really though part of me feels good about a gloves off battle for the soul of Hollywood. If the righties think that Michael Moore or the West Wing is bad to them I cannot wait to see what kind of projects get the green light in the wake of an active campaign. For the time being its been a real high ground (West Wing) or high brow (Daily Show) kind of thing - that and batshit crazy (Michael Moore). But Michael Moore could be made to appear much more reasonable, much more widely palatable. And I believe that argument need not be limited to high ground and high brow. Be nice to see the "George Bush the College Years" movie from Matt Stone and Trey Parker. Maybe "National Lampoon's Dick Cheney Safari" would get some laughs. For the most part Hollywood has given these guys a free pass. Let's not forget that this is the industry that made a movie of Primary Colors during the second Clinton White House. How many kinds of apeshit do you think we would see if Bush got the same treatment.
I mean really, I know truth is stranger than fiction and all, but so far when someone has gone after Bush all they have used is - the news. Hard to get too pissed about people doing that. Turn the Reno 911 people loose on it for a week and see what you get. I mean if they want it to be on I am sure there are a ton of people in media just waiting for someone to say "it's on!"
Buckle up.
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Path to 9/11
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I watched the movie just to see what all the fuss was about. However inaccurate some scenes may have been, the underlying point of the movie remains true: both the Clinton and Bush administrations were woefully lax in their duty to the American people when it came to addressing the looming threat posed by al-Qa'ida. Also, while the movie was indeed harsh with Clinton folks, it sure wasn't a love-letter to the Bush folks, either. Rice was shown as demoting and transferring the one guy who was trying to do something about the problem because she (and presumably) Bush didn't want to hear what he had to say. On the day of the attacks, Bush was shown to be MIA and Rice and Cheney were staring in slack-jawed, frozen impotence at the TV screens while the guy they demoted for trying warn them of exactly this sort of thing had to take over and tell them what needed to be done.
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