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Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate"

By Jeralyn, Section War on Terror
Posted on Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 06:00:58 PM EST
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(Guest Post by Big Tent Democrat)

Just remarkable:

I think what they're trying to do is to take the fact the specific scenes portrayed were fictional and to try to refute the underlying reality that the Clinton administration just didn't get it. And by the way, before 9/11 neither did the Bush administration," - 9/11 Commissioner John Lehman.

Believe it or not, Bill Bennett gets it right on the principle, if not the conclusion:

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.

The point is simple - if you believe Clinton was faulty in his approach to terrorism and Al Qaida, then cite the FACTS to argue your case. Frankly, I think the problem is the FACTS say otherwise. That is precisely why fiction (or more bluntly, lies) must be used to smear the Clinton Administration's work on terrorism.

The bottom line is that a Wingnut producer made a "docudrama" intended to indict the Clinton Administration but the facts did not support the thesis. The truth is that since the intention was to indict Clinton, and since the facts did not support the intended indictment, what ABC's "Path to Truthiness" really proves is that Clinton apparently was quite serious about terrorism and the Bush Administration was not.

Ronald Reagan said "facts are stubborn things." They certainly can be. Let's hope they are here.

< Spreading Presidential Propaganda | Bush Requests Airtime for Speech During Path to 9/11 >

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    Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate" | 17 comments (17 topical)
    Re: Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate" (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 06:36:58 PM EST
    If you are outraged about ABC and need good laugh, check out this report by Assimilated Press, "ABC Feeds off Bones of Dead and Disdains History"

    Re: Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate" (none / 0) (#1)
    by Strick on Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 07:27:26 PM EST
    To think, Shakespeare made up whole scenes in Richard III. What's the world coming to? I admit what I've read of the scene with Berger on the phone was outrageous. On the other hand, that's the way Hollywood is. Welcome to the world of business men, conservative Christians and anyone else they make up crap about all the time.

    Re: Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate" (none / 0) (#3)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 07:31:25 PM EST
    hmmm, let's see... Covertly funded to the tune of 40 million dollars by a recently discovered far right-wing operation - operating in Hollywood (allegedly for cover) Secretly sent advanced copies to Rush Limbaugh and other far right-wing operatives who just so happen to stridently advance the exact same inaccurate views as portrayed in the film. Denied the parties actually depicted in film advanced copies of the film, including the former President of the United States. Condemned as, defamatory, slanderous, improvised, contrived, and grossly inaccurate by most, if not all experts involved in the actual supervision of the production, political pundits on both sides of the aisle - not to mention the former government officials who were actually depicted in the film and even actors themselves. Condemned by all of one of the Commissioners of the 9/11 Commission itself, the purported and advertised basis of the legitimacy film. (the one exception, Tom Kean gave a changing opinion of his views of the film -and did not openly deny the inaccuracies, but instead pointed out that Bill Clinton, the primary target of the slanderous inaccuracies was currently campaigning for the opponent of his son in an upcoming New Jersey mid-term Congressional election.) Several FBI experts terminated their employment on the project either immediately after reading the grossly inaccurate script - or shortly after they were told their recommendations for major script changes in order to correct the gross inaccuracies were not going to occur. Planned to be aired on the anniversary of the event itself, September 11th, a date with serious emotional ties to the vast majority of the people of the United States of America, when thousands of innocent (Democratic, Republican, Independent and Apolitical) men, women and children were brutally murdered in one of the most serious and traumatizing events in American history. Planned to be aired on Public Airways a month before a major mid-term Congressional Election - and directly misrepresenting serious issues currently being discussed in the political discourse pertaining to such elections. Free copies planned to be distributed en masse to our Educational System, particularly at the High School Level, where political orientation is still at an impressionable stage. Emails disclosed from officials involved in the project to far right-wing pundits stating that the (implied deliberate) slanderous inaccuracies were still "in tact" and all was still going as planned. An actual "news" article on ABC NEWS labeling all who expressed their disagreement, distress or anger with the gross inaccuracies in, and controversial origins of the film as "Clintonistas", a slang term also frequently used by the aforementioned far right-wing political pundits. Repeated fraudulent misrepresentations and advertisements of the film as being based on the 9/11 commission - even AFTER the 9/11 Commission itself had publicly condemned the film as a grossly inaccurate representation of their bi-partisan findings. ....did I miss anything? 900 lb Gorilla | 09.08.06 - 10:25 pm | # --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Re: Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate" (none / 0) (#4)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 07:35:18 PM EST
    Wingnuts cite the fact that several of the terrorists entered the US on Clinton's watch as reason for their belief that he was responsible for 9/11. They are angry with Clinton for not having done EVERYTHING possible to stop terrorist attacks, while simultaneously not holding Bush responsible for not having done anything. Bizarre but true. There was no chattering about the planned event during Clinton's term. The plan was not yet complete - in fact, it wasn't complete until around July 01. And Bush, of course, ignored the warnings of multiple nations and our own intelligence agencies. Clinton didn't anticipate a loophole and he's as guilty as Bush who ignored every warning and made not a single attempt to prevent the attack they knew was coming. Just remember - in the 90s, rightwing American terrorists killed more Americans than Islamic terrorists did. Fewer than 40 Americans died from Islamic terrorism (yes, that includes the Embassy and the Cole bombings) during Clinton's presidency. But around 180 Americans died from rightwing terrorism during Clinton's presidency. After the initial WTC attacks, there were no more AQ or Islamic terrorist attacks on American soil. Clinton busted up their cells and drove fundy Islamic terrorism against Americans overseas. They tried again in 2000, but were stopped once more. They waited until Bush took office, whom they apparently saw as far more hospital to their cause. Here's the list of Americans killed by terrorism during clinton's presidency. Pass it around. Two Americans killed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir_Aimal_Kansi Six Americans killed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Trade_Center_bombing 168 Americans killed by rightwing nutbag here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing 19 Americans die here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khobar_Towers_bombing 1 American dies from rightwing terrorism Olympic park: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centennial_Olympic_Park_bombing 12 Americans killed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_U.S._embassy_bombings 17 Americans killed here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Cole_bombing Dr. David Gunn killed by rightwing terrorists: http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/murders.asp Dr. John Britton and James Barrett killed by rightwing terrorists. http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/murders.asp Shannon Lowney and Leanne Nichols killed by rightwing terrorists: http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/murders.asp Officer Robert Sanderson killed by rightwing terrorists: http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/murders.asp Dr. Bernard Slepian killed by rightwing terrorists. http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/violence/murders.asp

    Re: Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate" (none / 0) (#5)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 07:37:42 PM EST
    Obviously, that should say "hospitable to their cause".

    Re: Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate" (none / 0) (#6)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Fri Sep 08, 2006 at 07:46:26 PM EST
    Jeez, here's the correct formatting for the URLs. Two Americans killed by Islamic terrorists here: linked text 6 Americans killed by Islamic terrorists here: linked text 168 Americans killed by rightwing terrorist here: linked text 19 Americans die from Islamic terrorism here: linked text 1 American dies from rightwing terrorism Olympic park: linked text 12 Americans killed by Islamic terrorists here: linked text 17 Americans killed by Islamic terrorists here: linked text Dr. David Gunn killed by rightwing terrorists: linked text Dr. John Britton and James Barrett killed by rightwing terrorists. linked text Shannon Lowney and Leanne Nichols killed by rightwing terrorists: linked text Officer Robert Sanderson killed by rightwing terrorists: linked text Dr. Bernard Slepian killed by rightwing terrorists. linked text

    Re: Sully and Lehman Embrace "Fake But Accurate" (none / 0) (#7)
    by john hors