Uproar as soap fails to clean up Reagan's image

[Khephra]

Uproar as soap fails to clean up Reagan's image

Liberal left accused of hijacking Hollywood as TV prepares to run warts-and-all biog of former US leader

Julian Borger in Washington
Wednesday October 22, 2003
The Guardian

Facts are stupid things, as Ronald Reagan once observed. They can also be extremely difficult to pin down, particularly when they concern the ever controversial former president.

That is what CBS television has found since taking the risk-laden decision to make a mini-series about the life of the US actor turned president.

The show has already started an uproar a month before it is due to be broadcast. While Mr Reagan sits at home in California in the grip of Alzheimer's disease and unaware of the struggles swirling around him, the battle lines in America's latest culture war have been drawn.

Conservative Republicans, for whom Mr Reagan is a living icon of a golden age, are deeply suspicious of the biographical soap opera, entitled The Reagans, convinced that it will turn out to be a liberal hatchet job. They point to accounts from leaked scripts which play up the former president's absent-mindedness, laziness and moral righteousness, and question their factual underpinnings.

more..............

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1068199,00.html

[It was not a pretzel]

1. Right-wing freaks

don't like the truth.

[The Zanti Regent]

20. You think CBS isn't gonna sugar-coat it?

Look at "See B.S." Snooze, er, "News"

NOBODY kisses Bush's ass like Dan Rahter does. Nobody!

NOBODY lies as much for the GOP as Dan Rather does. Nobody.

[RuB]

2. I imagine Ronnie will die right before the 04 elections

If he's not dead already and their holding him on ice until right before the 04 elections. Ok, I know thats totally outrageous and ultra tinfoil territory.

[SoCalDem]

4. Nov 1st,2004.. "Thaw the Ronsicle Day "

:tinfoilhat:

[RuB]

6. Funny! eom.

[ClintonTyree]

3. They'll deep six it somehow..............

we can't have the truth about St. Ronnie broadcast into every home in the nation. Like in everything else, the Cons want to perpetuate the myth, not reveal the truth. If the myth is shattered, anarchy ensues. All of their plans for after St. Ronnie's death are put into turmoil. You know, the Mt. Rushmore project, the Reagan Memorial in the ellipse and St. Ronnies picture on a newly minted $500 bill would be in jeapordy.

[cyclezealot]

5. So easy to document corruption/conflicts

My question is how can we chip away at this con job.. I fear with a Republican take over of the federal government,they might rename Washington DC to ReaganTown, DC. Never has an Administration had so many early departures due to conflicts of interests and outright corruption. We must post this sorry record before they make Reagan a saint.
Republicans are such in step zombies, like they have all had the same brain transplant.. Maybe, they will have Reagan stuffed and keep him in full public view the way the Commies did Lenin.
He never served could they have him in full view at Arlington National Cemetery. He is on the 20 dollar bill, I will have to refuse them -when at the bank.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

7. The man was a dolt and he ran one of the most corrupt administrations

I can remember.

The RW has made heros out of the lawbreakers that thumbed their noses at congress, they want to act as if he were a god. Remember the interest rates? Remember October Surprise? Granada?

[0007]

12. It's not hard to forget, 'eh?

The same batch of cockroaches are in the White House with a few new bugs.

Let's call Tom Delay to exterminate the WH, 'eh?

[radwriter0555]

17. ACTUALLY, that crooked admin was run by bush senior. He was the freak

pulling the strings on the geek.

The bush regime runs deep.

[Born Free]

8. Usual tactic..cry until they get the version they want

This is usual they will cry "liberal bashing" until the thing is filled with so much fluff and so far to the right that you will swear the guy was GOD - and they will still bitch. Meanwhile the liberals will say, just lets get along, it's ok we don't want to upset anyone, it doesn't matter.

[SoCalDem]

9. Tweety soiled his Pampers on Hardball today

He was aghast that the LIBERAL Hollywood types would DARE to make a miniseries that made Reagan look bad.. He was furious, and said he would "stay on it"..

Take a chill pill, Chris.. your ole pal Rush probably has lots he didn't gobble up yet.. Maybe his housekeeper can hook you up :evilgrin:

[sendero]

22. damn....

... that is depressing, but unfortunately probably pretty much correct :(

Stupid people want a stupid leader. Anti-intellectualism runs deep in America, the same people who counter charges of "greed" with cries of "envy" are envious of one thing their money will never buy, a fully functional brain.

[alphafemale]

10. Will they show how he sold arms to terrorists to fund other terrorists?

Will they show how ignored AIDS for years refusing to even mention the name?

Will they show how he fired all experienced air traffic controllers and how this resulted in a staggering amount of crashes?

Will it show the "glorious" Club Med War? (Grenada)

Will it show his contempt for anyone not white, straight and Christian?

A sure judge of people is who they regard as heroes.

That one is not a hero of mine.

[Kolesar]

11. & the illegal war in Nicaragua, in defiance of the Boland Amendment

That led to the overthrow of Daniel Ortega's government after Reagan left office. (Gee, that sounds a lot like Venezuela & Iraq & George W Murderer Bush.)

[teryang]

14. Will they show how his administration

...encouraged and then covered up the $350 billion dollar looting of the nations savings and loans and banking industry?

These was the biggest coordinated swindle of the American people until the chimp administration. Now the BFEE has moved on to bigger swindles.

[tlb]

16. It is fair to show Reagan not leading the fight against AIDS, but

it's not fair to manufacture a conversation between Reagan and Nancy inventing dialogue to say this was done because they deserved to die. I'd like a little more docu and a little less drama in these television docudramas.

[emad]

13. They're planning re-runs of 'The President's Brain is Missing'

to co-incide with Dumbass's State Visit next month, according to my local radio station this morning

Some of us have LONG memories here in the UK and are not averse to bashing the revisionists and history - rewriters just because of a surge of paranioa in the US Republican movement about their 'greatest living treasure' hemhem...

[Democat]

15. Liberal Hollywood, like Arnold, Dennis Miller, Bruce Willis, James Woods

Which Hollywood liberal are they mad at now?

[BiggJawn]

18. You forgot Mel Gibson, Jay Leno, and Drew Carey....

Hell, we'd be here all day if we were gonna "out" all the "Babylon ReTHUGS"....

[BiggJawn]

19. Reaganites are like Rastafarians..

And the "Great Defecator" is their Haile Selassie.
He is God. He was the best thing to ever happen to these thugs (they made BUTTLOADS of money during his reign).

Will they short-circuit after Ronnie Ray-Guns goes to his dirt nap? Who knows?

[havocmom]

21. uproar is just winger projection again

They accuse others of what they are guilty of. The assign motives to others which are projections of what they have done, are doing or would do if given the slightest opportunity.

[BeFree]

23. Will they tell us about Lebanon?

When several hundred plus Marines died in a truck bombing at an un-barricaded barracks? And that meanwhile the first barricade was being finished at our Whitehouse just to protect Ronnie? And that the U.S. then pulled out of Lebanon, posthaste? I'd have to tune in if C? B.S. shows the true history of that elite, corrupted adminstrator.

PS: Can't wait for the expose on the current puke elite leader---

George Worst Bush

[GinaMaria]

24. Their screaming has an effect

Look what's happened to the media since they've been screaming unfair, bias! They are pushing this in their favor. They want a propaganda piece. It's time for us to push too. Demand a realistic portrayal. Demand they not sugar coat Iran Contra. Start writing now. I'll get the addy. brb

Edit:
http://www.cbs.com/
click the feedback link at the bottom of the page. I'm looking for a viacom addy.

[GinaMaria]

29. Here's mine

It's not great but it gets the job done. I hope you all write to CBS. I tried to keep it polite. Attract more flies with suguar than with salt sort of thing.


Dear CBS,
I read recently that you are doing a miniseries on Ronald Reagan. I also read that right wing politicos are screaming and trying to push your network to create a propaganda piece about the former president. I write today to encourage you to adopt a fair and balanced look at the man's life. I hope you will include information on Iran Contra, his position on the AIDS epidemic, Grenada, Nicaragua, and the Savings and Loan scandals, to name a few. Please do not cave to recent political pressure. There are those who benefit if the media believes that telling the truth about a republican is anti-american. Middle America needs balanced media. I hope we can count on you to stand strong and present facts. Thank you for taking the time to read my comments.

Sincerely,
GinaMaria

[goforit]

25. May the "good guys" protect CBS!!

Remember, that this information war could get uglier.

I guess it just has to.

[demdave]

26. I hate mock-u-mentaries no matter who the subject is.

I didn't like the one about Washington a few years back and I haven't seen one worth my time since.

[kentuck]

27. I think they could probably tell the truth about Reagan and...

it would probably be more devastating than this movie will be? They don't have to "make-up" stories about the Gipper. The truth is strong enough.

[kskiska]

28. But it's okay for relatives of White House officials

to write books about LBJ as the purported killer of JFK.

[rocktivity]

30. Are they similarly upset about the Jessica Lynch movie?

Are they worried that Hollywood liberals will do a hatchet job on her, too?


rocknation

[DivinBreuvage]

31. The "Media Bias" Trigger

I'm not a psychologist, so with that disclaimer let me offer my useless opinion (and I'm not going to say anything that a lot of folks here don't already know):

A while back a psychological study revealed that as a general rule conservatives are driven primarily by fear, hence the occasional eruptions of greed, rage, and hatred to which the baser of them are prone. This also explains why many of them embrace authoritarianism and fundamentalist religion: such systems offer a safe, secure, stable worldview in which someone (which is to say, someone else) is always firmly in control. In their own lives they frequently focus on minding the business of others lest unmonitored behavior lead to something unforeseen (although I think this has also a repressive function, i.e. "if I can't enjoy it you can't either"). People with such a mindset have a difficult time dealing with complexities because they are confusing, unpredictable, and uncertain, and therefore frightening. Complexities threaten the reassuring worldview in which everything is clearly defined and everything is known. Good things work best when they are entirely good, and a messenger that relays a negative image of a cherished icon -- no matter how true -- provokes complexities that it is less painful to categorically dismiss.

I've long thought that the trigger for such people in accusing the news media and entertainment industry of liberal bias (and I'm talking now about people who truly do believe it, not politicians who have admitted using it as a tactic to secure advantages) is not so much that they really do perceive a bias that favors their opponents and disparages their friends, but simply that they occasionally encounter negative truths about things which are not allowed to have negative truths. In other words, such a person could read an article that contained five paragraphs of vituperation damning Bill Clinton and the Democratic party for every crime and perversion known to man, and one sentence matter-of-factly stating that Ronald Reagan was sometimes absent-minded, and go away convinced that the author was a liberal because he had said something bad about Ronald Reagan.

Françoise

[MadMan]

34. Please please please provide a link

"...not politicians who have admitted using it as a tactic to secure advantages."

Please link me to articles where cons have admitted to using the "liberal press" myth to gain an advantage. I need some good ammo to beat some conservative friends about the head and face with.

[DivinBreuvage]

35. Here It Is, MadMan

http://www.fair.org/extra/0108/fox-main.html

The article is: "The Most Biased Name in News: Fox News Channel's extraordinary right-wing tilt", by Seth Ackerman

Here's the relevant quote:

Years ago, Republican party chair Rich Bond explained that conservatives' frequent denunciations of "liberal bias" in the media were part of "a strategy" (Washington Post, 8/20/92). Comparing journalists to referees in a sports match, Bond explained: "If you watch any great coach, what they try to do is 'work the refs.' Maybe the ref will cut you a little slack next time."

Hope it helps. Give 'em a little smack for me.

Françoise

[rocktivity]

32. Are they similary upset about the Saving Private Lynch movie?

Mr Reagan's supporters are hardly likely to be reassured by the cast. The former president is played by James Brolin, a liberal actor who is married to the Democratic party's fundraising diva, the actor Barbra Streisand.
So that's it--the spouse of the quintessal Hollywood liberal is going will be playing the quintessal 70's conservative. That's the real reason why they're spitting nails!

The former president's son, Michael, host of a radio talkshow, complained in an online column: "I haven't seen the script, which I understand has been leaked around Hollywood and is anything but friendly to my dad. Hollywood has been hijacked by the liberal left."
It's going to be a drama, not a documentary. And maybe he SHOULD see the script before he shoots his mouth off. That's what professional journalists do.

Nancy Reagan is played by the celebrated Australian actor Judy Davis, who has said she expected attacks from the right and welcomed them. In one interview about the series she said: "If this film can help create a bit more questioning in the public about the direction America has been going in since the 1970s, I guess then I think it will be doing a service."
Well, now I have a reason to watch. I like very few present-day actors, but I'll sit through anything Judy Davis is in--even PBS costume dramas, which I normally loathe. She, Hugh Grant, and Bernadette Peters were fantastic in Impromptu!

[Hell Hath No Fury]

33. Judy as "Nancy"?? WOW!!!

I will tune in just to see that! I think Judy Davis is one of the best working out there today. And yes, "Impromptu" is one of my very favorite movies -- TOTALLY underrated and underseen by the public.

[swinney]

36. reagan recod in spades

--------------------------RONALD REAGAN RECORDS AS FIRST---------------------------
(1900-1989)

(Peggy Noonan pay attention)

1.First to turn America into a DEBTOR nation
2. First to increase DEBT faster than growth of national income in eight years
3. First to increase DEBT faster than growth of gdp over eight years
4. First to double the deficit in just eigh t years
5. First to “almost”: triple the national DEBT in just eight years
6. First to increase SPENDING by 80%--over 8 years.
7. First to SPEND more in eight years than was spent in prior 50 years.
8. First to have “real” INTEREST RATES of 8% after averaging 1% over 35 years.
9. First to keep PRIME INTEREST RATES at 20%.
10.First to over value the dollar to the yen at rate of 262 yen to 1 dollar.
11.First to have served as Governor and increase STATE SPENDING by 112%
12.First to have HOME LOAN INTEREST RATES as high as 16%
13. First to CUT TAXES by 60% for his rich pals
14. First to allow the SAVINGS AND LOAN INDUSTRY to be raided after signing a deregulatory bill and proclaiming “I think we have hit the jackpot”. Come and get it the vaults are unguarded.
15. First to deal with TERRORISTS
16. First to send an AUTOGRAPHED BIBLE to a man he called “The Satan of Terrorists”.
17. First to have an ADMIRAL plead the Fifth Amendment.
18. First to have a stealing, lying, gutless wife abusing MARINE LT. COLONEL plead the Fifth Amendment.
19. First to have a “sitting” CABINET MEMBER INDICTED
20. First to have an ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE INDICTED.
21. First to have an ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF DEFENSE SENT TO PRISON.
22. First to have over 100 MEMBERS OF AN ADMINISTRATION CHARGED WITH CRIMES..
23. First to have more members of his administration charged with crimes than CUMULATIVE TOTAL OF ALL OTHER PRESIDENTS in the twentieth century
24. First to set a record for the LARGEST ONE DAY PERCENTAGE DECLINE in the DOW in history. 10-19-87
25. First to have over $10,000,000 INCREASE IN WEALTH from serving for 8 years as president.
26. First to testify ”under oath” 130 times that ”I DON’T REMEMBER” .
27. First to have an Admiral with a photographic memory testify 128 times “ I DON’T REMEMBER”.
28. First to undergo BRAIN SURGERY a few months after leaving office. No pain no gain.
29. First to, repeatedly, FALSIFY HIS WIFE’S AGE. As tho anyone cared.
30. First to promote his religious faith and never have an ACTIVE CHURCH MEMBERSHIP.
31. First to never use the term JESUS CHRIST in speeches.
32. First to seek GUIDANCE FROM THE STARS not from God
33. First to have had a SHOTGUN WEDDING.
34. First to have worked as a SHILL in Las Vegas.
35. First to call a Stealing, Lying, Psychotic, wife abusing Marine a “LIAR.
36. First to have been OPENLY ALIENATED from his children.
37. First To have served with ALZHIMERS
38. First to have UNEMPLOYMENT AT 10.8% since great depression.
39. First to attack a small unprotected nation with 88,000 inhabitants and 10,000 bb guns then PROCLAIM -“America stands tall again”— “we have whipped the Vietnam Syndrome”-we have defeated communism”. Gosh! What if we had whipped Cyprus?.
40. #1-in FARM FORECLOSURES
41. #1-In BANK FAILURES
42. #1-In SAVINGS AND LOAN FAILURES
43. #1-In Percent increase in PERSONAL BANKRUPTCIES
44. #1-In recorded MISSTATEMENTS
45. #1-In never having a single press conference in which he did not make at least one or more INCORRECT STATEMENTS.
46. #1-In needing a staff person standby during press conferences to tell the press “WHAT HE REALLY MEANT”.
47. #1-In having SERVICEMEN KILLED during peacetime.
48. #1-In largest DROP IN POPULARITY in one week.
49. #1-In being first to HONOR NAZI STORM TROOPERS by calling them” Innocent Victims”
50. #1-In being first to be labeled “BRAIN DEAD AFFABLE DUNCE’ by this writer.
51. First to lie-over and over-to reporters “I DO NOT DYE MY HAIR my barber uses a special shampoo”
52. First to have a wife who ”forced” him to WEAR THREE SUITS in one day
53. First to boast “Not bad for a DUMB GUY who worked only 20 hours per week”.
54. First to have his wife sit nearby and WHISPER ANSWERS to questions
55. First to FALL ASLEEP while the Pope spoke
56. First to invite the Pope to visit the White House and “BRING THE WIFE AND KIDS”
57. First to have his press secretary remove him from the microphone because he could not answer questions. Then, as the reporter
yelled out “answer my question” he replied “MY HANDLERS WON’T LET ME SPEAK”. Quick get the white coat.
58. First 20th Century president to have historians RATE HIM BELOW every president of the 20th except for Richard Nixon. 1994 Poll.
59. First to give us a First Lady with a past reputation for giving the BEST BJ in Hollywood.
60. First to suggest his eldest son undergo PSYCHIATRIC examination
61. First to have been voted in British polls (twice) as the ”MOST FEARED LEADER IN THE WORLD” sic em Rambo.


62. First to serve as Governor on a ”conservative” platform and INCREASE SPENDING BY 112%.
63. First Governor TO INCREASE personal income taxes by 60%, tax increase on cigarettes by 200%, state tax collections by 152%.
64. First to have a Special Assistant say on national TV “sometimes you had to HIT HIM ON THE HEAD with a 2 x 4 to get his attention”
65. First to have his official biographer state on national TV ‘After he was shot in 1981he GOT SLOWER AND SLOWER EACH YEAR. His speech got slower. He deliberated more and he hesitated more when he spoke. He lost his physical quickness and would not make decisions on the spot. It was a very, very slow and steady mental and physical decline”.
66. First to have a POPULARITY RATING OF ONLY 35% after his first two years in office.
67. First president to have been DIVORCED
68. First president to have the Geriatrics Department of a major
university study his behavior and conclude that AFTER THREE YEARS IN OFFICE HE HAD ALZHIMERS.

------------------------------------ THE TRUTH SHALL SET YOU FREE-------------------------------------------
[e-mail]

[Art_from_Ark]

37. You'd better re-check #10

I have been involved with the yen/dollar exchange rate almost since the first day that Reagan took office. I do not know where you got your figures, but they look wrong to me. The yen was artificially pegged at 360/dollar from the post-war era until the Nixon era, when it was made to float and quickly rose to about 260/dollar. By the time Reagan became president, the yen was trading at around 200/dollar, and remained at that level, more or less, until 1985, when Regan pressured the currency markets and the Bank of Japan to artificially increase the value of the yen to about 160/dollar.

[maxanne]

38. one thing's for sure

there isn't enough soap on the planet to clean up Ronnie's image.