# From the Ministry of Truth: 9/11: The Movie! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 5, 2006, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572 "2006-09-05T23:58:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/61 "2006-09-07T10:23:40Z")
[Democratic Parrty response, via Atrios](http://atrios.blogspot.com/2006_09_03_atrios_archive.html#115759679783280518) [This morning’s WaPo story](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/06/AR2006090601819.html) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 12:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/62 "2006-09-07T12:10:29Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] Anybody think that might happen to _The Path to 9/11_, which is airing on the anniversary of the attacks? If not, why not? [/QUOTE] No, it won’t happen because corporate interests rule the US media, and smearing the Democrats near election time is at the top of their agenda. In the Reagan case, you also had the sympathy factor as old Ronnie was suffering from Alzheimer’s and couldn’t exactly defend himself. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/63 "2006-09-07T14:13:00Z")
[QUOTE=bluethree] **Terrifel** , awesome. _clap clap clap_ [/QUOTE] Well, thank you; I’d hoped that others might find my little attempt at satirical overstatement mildly amusing. However, that was before I found out that the film itself apparently goes out of its way to concoct an entirely fictional scene in which the Clinton administration prevents the CIA from going after bin Laden, yet does not bother to depict Bush’s very real actions during the actual attacks. I can’t compete with that. ---
**Author:** ![Gadarene](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Gadarene](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gadarene)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/64 "2006-09-07T14:14:40Z")
I thought your post was brilliant, **Terrifel**. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/65 "2006-09-07T14:35:50Z")
I would ordinarily suggest that we boycott the sponsors, but… ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/66 "2006-09-07T14:54:02Z")
[QUOTE=Rune] Anyway the movie sounds to me a bit like the British movie Road to Guantanamo. Apparently the Brits are also making a tv-series featuring Bush get martyred. But apparently I missed the SDMB pitting of either of them. [/QUOTE] I haven’t seen Road to Guantanamo, so I can’t comment on that, but there was a thread about the progam on Bush getting assassinated. I don’t see your link, though; Bush being killed and the aftermath doesn’t sound to me as though it’s highly partisan. As someone in the thread said, if however it’s going to be a “Bush is dead! Hahah! He deserved it!” film, then doubtless there’d be a pitting. ---
**Author:** ![light\_strand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a6a055/32.png) [@light\_strand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/light_strand)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/67 "2006-09-07T15:09:00Z")
[QUOTE=Bricker] Shockingly, this new-found demand for accuracy in filmography from the Left arises now, and not after the release of _Farenheit 911_. What a coincidence. [/QUOTE] Certainly, because the Right didn’t have any problems with “The Reagans” docudrama, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/68 "2006-09-07T15:31:43Z")
I wonder if the film will have some scenes detailing how Bush explicitly undermined the recommendations of the Hart-Rudman commission, and how he put Cheney in charge of a task force to study the issue that never once met, and how he gave FEMA responsibility for handling terrorism, under the leadership of Bush’s former campaign manager Joe Allbaugh. Will those things be in the movie? > [@](#): > > Bush administration officials told former Sens. Gary Hart, D-Colo., and Warren Rudman, R-N.H., that they preferred instead to put aside the recommendations issued in the January report by the U.S. Commission on National Security/21st Century. Instead, the White House announced in May that it would have Vice President Dick Cheney study the potential problem of domestic terrorism – which the bipartisan group had already spent two and a half years studying – while assigning responsibility for dealing with the issue to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, headed by former Bush campaign manager Joe Allbaugh. > > The Hart-Rudman Commission had specifically recommended that the issue of terrorism was such a threat it needed far more than FEMA’s attention. > > Before the White House decided to go in its own direction, Congress seemed to be taking the commission’s suggestions seriously, according to Hart and Rudman. “Frankly, the White House shut it down,” Hart says. “The president said ‘Please wait, we’re going to turn this over to the vice president. We believe FEMA is competent to coordinate this effort.’ And so Congress moved on to other things, like tax cuts and the issue of the day.” [http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/09/12/bush/](http://archive.salon.com/politics/feature/2001/09/12/bush/) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/69 "2006-09-07T16:11:13Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] That’s true, although the Democrats are now trying to put a response together. I think it might also have to do with ABC being more successful at keeping the contents of the movie a secret. [/quote] And remember it ain’t over yet. Didn’t the Reagan mini-series pretty much go down to the wire before it get switched over the Showtime? There was a front page article in my paper today about the uproar that _Path to 9/11_ was generating not only in the lefty blogosphere but among Democrats in Congress. Seems to me that if they want to make a docudrama and include “composite” scenes then they should at the very least have fictional characters in those scenes. Having Berger do or say something that vehemently denies and that is not in the 9/11 report is just sleezy. > [@](#): > > Speaking of which, do you find it confusing at all that ABC reached out to conservative blogs in pitching this movie? Does that make it sound like they had an agenda, or make you a teeny bit curious? There was some reference to that in today’s newspaper article, but there were no details. How does one go about reaching out to a -sphere? I’d also be quite curious to see how they handle the stuff concerning Bush. There’s plenty of material to portray him in a not-so-positive light, too. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/70 "2006-09-07T16:19:57Z")
I’ll bet that the [anti-terrorism effort by Clinton in 1996](http://www.cnn.com/US/9607/30/clinton.terrorism/) will be ignored. > [@](#): > > “We need to keep this country together right now. We need to focus on this terrorism issue,” Clinton said during a White House news conference. > > But while the president pushed for quick legislation, Republican lawmakers hardened their stance against some of the proposed anti-terrorism measures. > > … > > Hatch called Clinton’s proposed study of taggants – chemical markers in explosives that could help track terrorists – “a phony issue.” > > “If they want to, they can study the thing” already, Hatch asserted. He also said he had some problems with the president’s proposals to expand wiretapping. Kind of funny how the Republicans were resisting Clinton’s anti-terror initiatives in 1996, but the attacks nearly 8 months after leaving office were his fault. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/71 "2006-09-07T16:53:30Z")
Back to ‘docudrama’ land: if ABC is admitting this is nothing like a documentary, and shouldn’t put too much reliance on the factual nature of this abomination, then [why are they spending a lot of money to incorporate it into school lessons?](http://mediamatters.org/items/200609060008?src=item200609060008) > [@](#): > > In conjunction with the September 10 premiere of ABC miniseries The Path to 9/11 – a six-hour “docudrama” reportedly based on the findings of the 9-11 Commission Report – ABC has teamed up with Scholastic to create a “Discussion Guide for the Classroom” to urge high school teachers nationwide to “[e]ncourage your students and their families to watch The Path to 9/11 and use the accompanying” discussion guide as part of their lesson plan. ABC and Scholastic have reportedly sent out letters to 100,000 high school teachers informing them of the miniseries and accompanying discussion guide. A Media Matters for America review of The Path to 9/11 “resource sheets” and “discussion guide[s]” provided to teachers has found that the material omits critical information regarding the Bush administration’s pre-Iraq war weapons of mass destruction claims; falsely suggests a tie between Iraq and the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; gives upbeat accounts of reportedly dire conditions on the ground in both Iraq and Afghanistan; suggests that military responses to Osama bin Laden by the Clinton administration could have “hinder[ed] the U.S. stance on the war on terror”; and asks students to debate whether the media “hinder our national security.” Lots more details at the link. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/72 "2006-09-07T17:07:38Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Lots more details at the link. [/QUOTE] Including links to [student resource sheets](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_1.pdf) and [discussion](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_3.pdf) [guides](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_4.pdf). ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/73 "2006-09-07T18:03:39Z")
I have no intention of watching this piece of dreck, but I ask of any Dopers who might, a small favor. If there’s a shot from _inside_ the towers of a plane heading towards it, get me a screencap of that, would you? I happen to think that would be a breathtakingly dramatic shot. ---
**Author:** ![RTFirefly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c77e96/32.png) [@RTFirefly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RTFirefly)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/74 "2006-09-07T18:31:51Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Lots more details at the link. [/QUOTE] Including links to [student resource sheets](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_1.pdf) and [discussion](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_3.pdf) [guides](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_4.pdf). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/75 "2006-09-07T18:40:38Z")
[QUOTE=RTFirefly] Including links to [student resource sheets](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_1.pdf) and [discussion](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_3.pdf) [guides](http://content.scholastic.com/content/collateral_resources/pdf/a/ABC_pdf_4.pdf). [/QUOTE] I get “url not found” on all three links. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/76 "2006-09-07T19:00:00Z")
I got an e-mail from the DFC or Democratic Party or some such thing that mention this Scholastic partnership. That’s serious, Pitworthy scuzz even if the movie itself isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/77 "2006-09-07T19:22:43Z")
> [@John Mace](#): > > I get “url not found” on all three links. Weird, me too. Yet according to the quotes and comments posted on Tuesday on [this Daily Kos site](http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/9/5/9739/49902), several people accessed and read the educational materials that Scholastic had posted, and contacted Scholastic about them. Apparently there was a lot of parental reaction, and a poster on that comment board who claimed to work for Scholastic said that the complaints were being brought to the executives’ attention. Later posters noted that (at least some of) the links to the educational materials were now missing from the Scholastic site, and I can’t find a trace of them anywhere. Did Scholastic pull the formerly-linked items off their site on further investigation (and/or out of fear of bad publicity)? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/78 "2006-09-07T19:43:17Z")
Wandering about, I’ve seen several references to those sites being up, being down again, leading to rumors that they were bailing, then counter-rumors that they weren’t, and so on and so forth. Anybody seen anything to reference how much money this splendid excercise in patriotic fervor is costing ABC? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/79 "2006-09-07T19:50:30Z")
Now [cnn.com](http://cnn.com)’s reporting as their [lead story](http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/07/911.film.clinton.offic.ap/index.html) that senior Clinton administration officials are demanding that the movie be pulled unless or until egregious falsehoods involving them get straightened out. This could get interesting. Will we see the Republicans who screamed for the Reagan movie to be deep-sixed now stoutly defending ABC’s right to show this historical reenactment? ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2006, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572/80 "2006-09-07T19:51:36Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Anybody seen anything to reference how much money this splendid excercise in patriotic fervor is costing ABC? [/QUOTE] From the CNN link I just posted: > [@](#): > > The five-hour miniseries is set to run without commercial interruption. Director David Cunningham said it was a massive undertaking, with close to 250 speaking parts, more than 300 sets, and a budget of $40 million. Cunningham has said he shot 550 hours of film. Among the actors in it are Harvey Keitel, Patricia Heaton and Donnie Wahlberg. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/from-the-ministry-of-truth-9-11-the-movie/371572.md?page=5)