# Senate Dems To Disney CEO: Cancel 9/11 Docudrama (or else?) **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [September 8, 2006, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873 "2006-09-08T03:05:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**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 9, 2006, 10:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/161 "2006-09-09T10:41:05Z")
Even conservatives with multiple brain cells are admitting the film’s slanderous revision of history. [From John Podhoretz](http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/path_missed_real_9_11_story_opedcolumnists_john_podhoretz.htm) > [@](#): > > Ex-Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s anger is unquestionably justified. The version that I saw has her self-righteously owning up to actions that effectively tipped off Osama bin Laden to a strike against his Afghan training camp. “We had to inform the Pakistanis,” the movie’s Albright insists. > … > The portrait of Albright is an unacceptable revision of recent history and an unfair mark on a public servant who, no matter her shortcomings, doesn’t deserve to be remembered by millions of Americans as the inadvertent (and truculent) savior of Osama bin Laden. [From James Taranto](http://www.opinionjournal.com/best/?id=110008907) > [@](#): > > The Clintonites may have a point here. A few years ago, when the shoe was on the other foot, we were happy to see CBS scotch “The Reagans.” Indeed they were. From [Richard Miniter](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/07/sitroom.02.html) > [@](#): > > BLITZER: Hold on. We’re not hearing you. Start again. Was Sandy Berger defamed in this scene? > > MINITER: Well, that’s a legal question. But certainly if I was the producer I wouldn’t have gone with this scene because there’s no factual basis for it. It seems to be drawn from an Internet myth. From a profound misunderstanding of what actually happened. > > If people wanted to be critical of the Clinton years there’s things they could have said, but the idea that someone had bin Laden in his sights in 1998 or any other time and Sandy Berger refused to pull the trigger, there’s zero factual basis for that. [From Bill Bennett](http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0609/08/ltm.03.html) > [@](#): > > Look, “The Path to 9/11” is strewn with a lot of problems and I think there were problems in the Clinton administration. But that’s no reason to falsify the record, falsify conversations by either the president or his leading people and you know it just shouldn’t happen. Conservatives have to be consistent Soledad, when the Reagan’s that show about the Reagan’s, CBS show came out, had all sorts of distortions and misstatements. Conservatives went crazy and had it relegated somewhere, I don’t know, it never appeared on CBS. And so I think they should be consistent. And when ABC comes out and has conversations taking place among cabinet members on recent history, on matters that are still before us, I think they should correct those inaccuracies. > … > But if you want to make the case against the Clinton administration on this regard, make it on the basis of facts not on made-up things. And it is fair enough to say, too, if people are going to be looking for accuracy in these kinds of presentations then people should be looking at “Fahrenheit 451,” you know the Michael Moore movie, as well. But I’m going to defend them on grounds that they shouldn’t put words in the mouths of cabinet members that were never said. And if you have been there you know how seriously you take that sort of thing. I had comments about Noriega, I had comments about Pablo Escobar, you know when I was in the drug czar position, I wouldn’t want people distorting that. And I think its right to ask for that. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 12:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/162 "2006-09-09T12:05:11Z")
**John** , out of curiosity, how often, when you dig your heels in like this and insist on eliminating all possibility whatever of other explanations, beyond the point of reasonability at which most people stop, do you find that there actually _is_ one? If the evidence is enough for you to vote to convict if you were a juror, why do you insist on more as a faceless message board poster? The real 9/11 story is dramatic enough to make a great movie. ABC’s motivations and mthods in producing this crap are most certainly open to inference by _reaonable_ persons. ---
**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 9, 2006, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/163 "2006-09-09T18:52:24Z")
[QUOTE=Apos] I said correct me if I’m wrong, (and you did on only) but the deference and care to conservative punditry: even caring about hyping the things to pundits at all: that doesn’t seem odd? How about sending reassuring emails out to conservative pundits telling them not to worry, the changes still bash clinton and will be mostly unchanged? Why are they reassuring them of anything? [/quote] OK, I took your statement about “stop me…” as rhetorical, but that’s fine if you weren’t sure. I said the same thing-- I really don’t know much about this guy and the background for the film. [quoteAs for activist, well, your careful parsing of of words to avoid any hint of exagerration might be worthwhile if it wasn’t your constant device of sidestepping the larger issue.[/quote] Oh, bullhsit. I haven’t parsed any words. I just asked you why you thought he was an activist. If you don’t think he is, then you shouldn’t have said it. There are enough problems with this film that it shouldn’t be necessary to make stuff up about it. [And U]you are the one who brought up these other issues, so don’t complain when another poster asks about them. ---
**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 9, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/164 "2006-09-09T19:06:37Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] [http://www.libertyfilmfestival.com/](http://www.libertyfilmfestival.com/) Liberty Film Festival web site. Offered without comment. [/QUOTE] Creepy indeed! But did you go to the home page? Govindini Murty is \*tres \*hot! ---
**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 9, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/165 "2006-09-09T20:16:23Z")
[QUOTE=Shayna] No, that’s not the point. The point is that, according to the New York Times reviewer, the film portrays Clinton as not paying the necessary amount of attention to OBL and/or terrorism because he was too focused on the Lewinsky scandal. The simple fact is that that’s entirely untrue. The fact that he spent time – any amount of time, be it a little or a lot – dealing with the Lewinsky mess, does not in any way mean he didn’t take the time to pay attention to terrorism, too. [/QUOTE] No, the reviewer is inserting his own person thoughts on that into the review, and note where he places the blame for that distraction (emphasis added): > [@](#): > > As the terrorist threat mounts, one of the more jarring moments is a real-life clip of President Bill Clinton addressing the nation about Monica Lewinsky. > > The Sept. 11 commission concluded that the sex scandal distracted the Clinton administration from the terrorist threat. But in hindsight, surely the right-wing groups who drove for impeachment must look back at their partisan obsession with shame, like widows sickened by the memory of spats about dirty dishes and gambling debts. I think it’s entirely relavent to the story that while this terror plot was being hatched, what was the country’s focus on? Monica, and a partisan inspired impeachment effort. The simple fact is that neither Clinton nor Bush stopped the terror plot. So claiming that either of those guys focused on it enough is clearly false. > [@Shayna](#): > > It’s got nothing to do with wagging the dog. The stuff you quoted from the 9/11 report certainly does. Did you read the whole thing? > [@9/11 Report you cited](#): > > At the time, President Clinton was embroiled in the Lewinsky scandal, which continued to consume public attention for the rest of that year and the first months of 1999. As it happened, a popular 1997 movie, Wag the Dog, features a president who fakes a war to distract public attention from a domestic scandal. Some Republicans in Congress raised questions about the timing of the strikes. Berger was particularly rankled by an editorial in the Economist that said that only the future would tell whether the U.S. missile strikes had "created 10,000 new fanatics where there would have been none. The parts you quoted were intended to say there was no _Wag the Dog_ type effort by Clinton. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/166 "2006-09-09T20:36:09Z")
[The Official True Story](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHgbeJu1WGk) Promo video. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/167 "2006-09-09T21:17:14Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] …The parts you quoted were intended to say there was no Wag the Dog type effort by Clinton. [/QUOTE] Which is precisely what she said, no? ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/168 "2006-09-09T21:23:39Z")
And this just in… > **[Daily Kos](https://www.dailykos.com/)** > > Daily Kos is a progressive news site that fights for democracy by giving our audience information and resources to win elections and impact government. Our coverage is assiduously factual, ethical, and unapologetically liberal. We amplify what we... > [@](#): > > Daily Kos diarist STOP George has uploaded one of the foreign trailers for the Disney/ABC conservative fan fiction to YouTube, and the advertisement makes it very clear just what sort of Limbaugh-style political porn this thing was intended to be. Featured prominently? The words: “OFFICIAL TRUE STORY”…Disney/ABC’s stuttering statements aside, this advertisement and the others make it crystal clear. The fictionalized scenes weren’t just accidental – the movie was (and still is, apparently) being advertised based on them. Go to Daily Kos for linkety-links. (Cross posted to the Pit thread…) ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/169 "2006-09-09T21:33:48Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] And this just in… [/QUOTE] Nah, it was just in nearly an hour ago. Did you notice that they explained the slogan in really teeny tiny letters at the bottom of the screen? [sub][sub][sub]-Official 9/11 documentary of the Philadelphia Eagles and Superbowl XV.[/sub][/sub][/sub] ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/170 "2006-09-09T22:36:01Z")
Hey, whaddaya want from me?! Got an Amish modem, 1K per hour upload… ---
**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 9, 2006, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/171 "2006-09-09T22:38:28Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] And this just in… > **[Daily Kos](https://www.dailykos.com/)** > > Daily Kos is a progressive news site that fights for democracy by giving our audience information and resources to win elections and impact government. Our coverage is assiduously factual, ethical, and unapologetically liberal. We amplify what we... Go to Daily Kos for linkety-links. (Cross posted to the Pit thread…) [/QUOTE] Much the same as what I had linked to in post 76 that didn’t draw any response from anyone. ---
**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 9, 2006, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/172 "2006-09-09T22:48:34Z")
[QUOTE=elucidator] Which is precisely what she said, no? [/QUOTE] No, not in the context of the discussion she and I were having. * * * As I said in the Pit thread, it ain’t over yet. Maybe there will be enough of an outcry that ABC will pull it, or try to save face by “delaying” the broadcast and either shelving it or running it on a cable channel. They even have the excuse that Bush wants some air time Monday night that will interfere with the currently scheduled broadcast. If even half the accusations being raised in this thread are true one has to wonder what the executives at ABC were thinking-- you just can’t keep that kind of stuff under wraps these days. ---
**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 9, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/173 "2006-09-09T22:54:54Z")
[Historians are weighing in now](http://www.tpmcafe.com/blog/electioncentral/2006/sep/08/schlesinger_wilentz_and_other_historians_to_abcs_iger_yank_dangerous_film) > [@](#): > > We write as professional historians, who are deeply concerned by the continuing reports about ABC’s scheduled broadcast of “The Path to 9/11.” These reports document that this drama contains numerous flagrant falsehoods about critical events in recent American history. The key participants and eyewitnesses to these events state that the script distorts and even fabricates evidence into order to mislead viewers about the responsibility of numerous American officials for allegedly ignoring the terrorist threat before 2000. I think the only question is how will ABC polish the turd when they pull the broadcast which I believe they will do. ---
**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 9, 2006, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/174 "2006-09-09T22:54:56Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] The simple fact is that neither Clinton nor Bush stopped the terror plot. So claiming that either of those guys focused on it enough is clearly false. [/QUOTE] Not necessarily. You’re assuming that there’s some level of focus that would have stopped the plot; that with enough resources it would have been uncovered, and that that amount of resources were avaliable to Clinton or Bush. We can’t know that one way or the other, so it’s not clearly false. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/175 "2006-09-09T23:08:43Z")
[QUOTE=Revenant Threshold] You’re assuming that there’s some level of focus that would have stopped the plot; that with enough resources it would have been uncovered, and that that amount of resources were avaliable to Clinton or Bush. We can’t know that one way or the other, so it’s not clearly false. [/QUOTE] Doesn’t our inability to bring bin Laden to justice in the five years since 9/11 strengthen the argument that the attack was unstoppable? Unless of course anyone wants to argue that the search has been run incompetently. ---
**Author:** ![elucidator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8edcca/32.png) [@elucidator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elucidator)\ **Post date:** [September 9, 2006, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/176 "2006-09-09T23:09:45Z")
Hell, the plots would have been foiled if the goddam cockpit doors were locked! We weren’t done in by a cabal of evil geniuses, this was a stupid plan that Tom Clancy would have laughed out of the room! Secondly, why should we assume that if we got Osama, the plan would not have gone forward? ---
**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 9, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/177 "2006-09-09T23:39:39Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Doesn’t our inability to bring bin Laden to justice in the five years since 9/11 strengthen the argument that the attack was unstoppable? Unless of course anyone wants to argue that the search has been run incompetently. [/QUOTE] Again, that’s assuming there’s an amount of resources avaliable which would involve his capture. Having said that, I think there would be; there’s certainly been enough captures of higher-ranking AQ people, and 9/11 changed a lot (I feel so wrong using that as a phrase ;)) with regards to avaliablity of anti-terrorism resources. I’d say more that capturing bin Laden is no longer the top priority, allowing for a considerable difficulty in finding him plus a dash of incompetency, as there is in all things. [QUOTE=elucidator] Hell, the plots would have been foiled if the goddam cockpit doors were locked! We weren’t done in by a cabal of evil geniuses, this was a stupid plan that Tom Clancy would have laughed out of the room! [/quote] I’d say it was an excellent plan; it made use of weak points, and generally is a good example of lateral thinking. Why take the time to smuggle in/create bombs, physically move to the location, and set them to go off, when you can do all of those things in one fell swoop. All that without a chance that a suspicious package could be found before it went off. And, of course, it did work. Pretty good plan, really. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/178 "2006-09-10T00:06:41Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] I think the only question is how will ABC polish the turd when they pull the broadcast which I believe they will do. [/QUOTE] At least their sponsors won’t be pissed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Apos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/179 "2006-09-10T00:43:56Z")
> [@](#): > > I just asked you why you thought he was an activist. If you don’t think he is, then you shouldn’t have said it. I don’t think it’s unfair to call someone an activist when they are not only conservative personally, but also make it a point of putting what they do artistically in a political context. There is a difference between being an artist who is a conservative and being a conservative artist who sees his art as part of a movement for conservatism to create a conservative pardigm shift in the industry. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [September 11, 2006, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873/180 "2006-09-11T00:43:25Z")
[QUOTE=Apos] Looking even more like a mess. Turns out the FBI agents hired to oversee the accuracy resigned in protest. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/us/08cnd-path.html?hp&ex=1157774400&en=fa4b23ad7c9d5353&ei=5094&partner=homepage](http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/08/us/08cnd-path.html?hp&ex=1157774400&en=fa4b23ad7c9d5353&ei=5094&partner=homepage) [/QUOTE] Maybe because the FBI comes out looking stupid? Which is directly reflected in his statement \*\*: “They sent me the script, and I read it and told them they had to be kidding,” Mr. Coleman said. “I wanted my friends at the F.B.I. to still speak to me.” \*\* [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/senate-dems-to-disney-ceo-cancel-9-11-docudrama-or-else/371873.md?page=10)