WP: With 9/11 Film, Kean Finds Tough Critic in Lee Hamilton

[DeepModem Mom]

With 9/11 Film, Kean Finds Tough Critic in Hamilton
By Dana Milbank
Tuesday, September 12, 2006; Page A02


Lee Hamilton, right, and Thomas Kean appear at a forum in connection with the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Hamilton, who worked with Kean on the 9/11 panel, strongly criticized the ABC film Kean helped produce. (By Manuel Balce Ceneta -- Associated Press)

There have been few political love stories as beautiful as that of Tom Kean and Lee Hamilton, the former chairman and vice chairman of the 9/11 commission.

So it packed even more punch when Hamilton, at the National Press Club luncheon, lectured his friend about the falsified Sept. 11 docudrama Kean helped ABC produce.

"It is either a documentary or it is a drama, and to fudge it causes me a great deal of concern and suggests to me that news and entertainment are getting dangerously intertwined," the former congressman from Indiana said of his friend's film. "And I do not think that that is good for the country, because an event of this consequence is very hard to understand, and to distort it or not to present it factually in this kind of a presentation, I think, does not serve the country well."

Kean, the "co-executive producer" of this disservice, stood at Hamilton's side, his hands clasped in front of him, grinning awkwardly.

In the past five days, the former New Jersey governor has infuriated many a Democrat who saw him as a nonpartisan truth-teller. In his work on ABC's "The Path to 9/11," Kean has blessed what has been documented to be a collection of falsehoods -- a disproportionate number of which make the Clinton administration look bad...."They didn't ask me to participate in this," (Hamilton) said acidly, adding that complaints from Clinton officials were "accurate in their criticisms of ABC."...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/11/AR2006091101084.html

[babylonsister]

1. So Kean got chastised by Hamilton, and Milbank wrote about it?

Sounds good to me, and it's about time someone 'chastised' Kean!

[Kurovski]

2. K&R

You're bringing us all kinds of good stuff tonight DeepModem Mom.

[DeepModem Mom]

3. Up too late -- but these stories just kept popping up! nt

[speedoo]

4. More from the article...

"Spontaneous applause followed Hamilton's criticism.

If Kean was surprised by the scolding, he shouldn't have been. Even before the ABC question came, Hamilton volunteered some stern remarks about the importance of truth. "Facts are not Republican and they're not Democrat," he said. "They're not ideological. Facts are facts."

On this point, Kean was silent."

Good for Lee Hamilton. Kean got the public rebuke he deserved.

Kean says he was "confounded" by the widespread criticism. What world does this ass-hat live in?

[Kagemusha]

5. One where his son needs Rove's support to win political office?

Just wondering.

[speedoo]

6. Certainly a possibility.

That would explain a lot, wouldn't it?

[Kagemusha]

9. His son IS running for political office, I just can't recall which...

I recall DeLay basically blackmailing a House member on a key vote by threatening to end his son's political ambitions. Even if Kean Sr. doesn't acknowledge it's a motivation, I can hardly believe it's not; maybe he's in denial, maybe not. Either way, Rove is a bad enemy to have for the son of a Republican political figure.

[speedoo]

10. Kean's kid is running for US Senate in NJ.

Against Bob Menendez, who was appointed by Gov. Corzine to fill the seat held by Corzine until he was elected Governor.

Menendez is a good man, but he's never run for statewide office before... former congressman.

So yeah, Rove would certainly want Kean's kid to win, and has shown himself to be capable of anything.

[bobbieinok]

11. wasn't that the medicare prescription drug law????

[Kagemusha]

17. It may well have been.

It's been a while and I don't have the info written down but, something like that.

[stopbush]

7. Kean is an absolute POS.

I heard him say this weekend that "the program shows what the Clinton administration did for 8 years and what the Bush administration did for 8 months."
The clear implication was that Clinton screwed up for 8 years and Bush had only 8 months to fix things.

Kean = Major Asshole

[JPZenger]

21. Clinton Never Blamed George Sr. for the 1st WTC Bombing

Clinton never blamed George Bush Sr. for the 1st World Trade Center bombing, even though it occurred soon after Clinton took office. Instead, the Clinton Administration went to work catching all the people responsible and putting them in prison for life, and making sure the WTC could withstand a bigger bomb. Many of the fire safety improvements made after the first bombing saved lives in the second attack.

[LostInAnomie]

8. About time someone from the 9/11 comission...

... publicly rebuked that bastard. It's sure a hell of a lot better than the hand-job his other repuke commission members gave him on TV this weekend.

Sadly, the 9/11 report's credibility is now destroyed.

[bobbieinok]

12. but wasn't the 9-11 commission and the report pretty flawed??

Weren't there many things omitted, etc??????

Didn't Kean have some financial tie to the towers??

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

15. Biggest whitewash since Tom Sawyer's fence...

Bi-Partisan meant they passed the blame out to everyone in general and no one in particular.

[lakeguy]

13. damn, why do they always have to use such WEAK words

when responding to right wing propaganda? put it in words that the public will understand without a doubt..."lie/lies", not "fudge/falsehoods". and how about "pissed off" instead of "concerned"? And then comes "distort"...which is just another word for lying again. Rethugs attack and the response is a weak, "well, maybe you shouldn't do those kinds of things and it makes me concerned when you do" BS. The film was full of LIES and should not have been shown on public TV because it was portrayed as a documentary when, in fact, it was propaganda. how hard is it to say that?

ABC should have their license pulled and Clinton, Berger, American Airlines, etc. should sue, end of story. Unfortunately, none of those things will happen and the abuse will escalate until all we have is trash propaganda, monday night football and the simpsons. the writers for the simpsons will have to be replaced though. too many anti-gov. comments.

rant off/

[KT2000]

14. Another point he made

was to make clear that he did not know about the movie and he did not know about Kean's participation. He said they usually participate on matters concerning the commission together but in this case he (Hamilton) was not informed.

[formercia]

16. Controlling the message

Lee Hamilton is just as guilty as Keane for putting out the bogus 9/11 commission report. By jumping into the fray, he helps to control the message and engage in damage control. Just try to put sanctions on Keane and watch Hamilton jump in to put on the brakes.

[tanyev]

18. "[It] suggests to me that news and entertainment are getting

dangerously intertwined."

Helloooooo!!! Where ya been for the last decade, Lee?

[Kber]

19. Will this hurt Kean Jr. campaign against Menendez?

One can only hope.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

24. Like-father-like-son minority vote suppression? Kean Sr's sordid past at

electiontime ought to be played up from now to Election Day 2006, now that Hamilton has gotten the ball rolling on tarnishing Kean Sr's squeaky-clean nonpartisan image. Kean Sr's tactics in 1981 still are the very definition of minority vote suppression, embodied in a 1983 consent decree wherein Republicans pledged not to do it anymore, anywhere in the country. Kean Jr is running against a Hispanic-surname Democrat. Is Dad counseling him to court the caucasian vote in NJ and try to keep the Hispanic vote down? If so, Dad's recent unscrupulous behavior on the 9-11 Commission provides a unique opportunity to associate the father's unsavory politics with the son's.

Kean Sr's willingness to put scruples aside at election time is legendary but largely forgotten. I was shocked when I first heard that Kean Sr. had been elevated to head a supposedly nonpartisan panel of such importance. Whenever Republicans engage in minority vote suppression, they're violating a consent decree settling a civil rights lawsuit against Kean's 1981 STORMTROOPER election tactics in New Jersey. Tom Kean evidently will do ANYTHING to win an election.

Before his PT911 lapses, Kean had managed to cultivate a popular, squeaky-clean image, with his sordid past far behind him. But this weekend's events, two months before a crucial election, harken back to an election 25 years ago: See also the GD thread at http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2115808 .

From http://www.democrats.com/node/59 :

"Voting suit revisits intimidation claims--Letters targeting Ohio minorities said to violate settlement after Kean-Florio race in'81;

Monday, November 01, 2004 BY ROBERT SCHWANEBERG, (Newark) Star-Ledger Staff

Armed guards wearing armbands patrolled polling places. Signs warned of criminal penalties for voting illegally. Hundreds of thousands of letters returned as undeliverable were used to compile a list of voters to be challenged at the polls....

It was 1981, during one of the closest elections in New Jersey history -- one that wasn't decided until a recount that dragged on nearly a month found Republican Tom Kean had defeated Democrat Jim Florio for governor by less than 2,000 votes.

State and county prosecutors launched probes into voter intimidation. Furious Democrats filed a $10 million federal lawsuit accusing the Republican state and national committees of depriving minorities of their constitutional right to vote. But the criminal probes went nowhere and the lawsuit was settled a year later for $1. The Republicans admitted no wrongdoing, but signed a promise never to target minority voters for special treatment -- anywhere in the nation...."

[brentspeak]

25. Kean, not Keane

[ProgressiveEconomist]

26. Oops! Thanks, will edit.

[jayfish]

20. Another "If You lay Down With Dogs, Your...

bound to get fleas", message for Democrats.

Jay

[tinfoilinfor2005]

22. The article starts out honest enough, but then as it goes on,

it concentrates on the groups of people present at the luncheon who are there with their conspiracy theories; example: a plane never crashed at the pentagon.

Kean responds that he doesn't know what to say about conspiracy theories.

The point of the article is lost or diluted when Milbank starts changing the subject matter from honest criticism of the program to the Twilight Zoners.

[Solly Mack]

23. Gee, Lee - remember the Iran-Contra inquiry? I do