John Kerry tears Gop-TV and BushGov a New One

[Vyan]

Crossposted on Truth 2 Power.

Last night on Firedoglake I caught a unique post, following Bill Clinton's slicing ABC open like a flailing trout Taylor Marsh put a call in to John Kerry's office to get his reaction.

The Senator called Taylor back on her cellphone and apparently turned the air bright blue with his response on the issue not only of "Path to 9/11", but also the sad and dangerous incompetence of of BushGov as they failed to contain al-Qaeda, failed to capture of kill Osama Bin Laden and turned Iraq and our foreign policy into a world-wide disaster.

What I find most stunning in all of this is that now five years after the real 9/11 - as if any fiction could somehow make more searing what each and every one of us lived with our own eyes and ears - is that we need less revisionism about the past and a hell of a lot more reality about what's going on now. Right now.

Instead of the fiction written to excuse the invasion of Iraq by exploiting the 3,000 mothers and fathers, sons and daughters who were lost that day -- they were attacked and killed not by Saddam Hussein but by Osama bin Laden - we need the truth.

Here's a little truth: The President pretends Iraq is the central front on the war on terror. It is not now, and never has been. His disastrous decisions have made Iraq a fuel depot for terror - fanning the flames of conflict around the world.

The terrorists are not on the run. Worldwide, terrorist acts are at an all-time high, more than tripling between 2004 and 2005. Al Qaeda has spawned a vast and decentralized network operating in 65 countries, most of them joining since 9/11. The Taliban now controls entire portions of southern Afghanistan, and just across the border Pakistan is just one coup away from becoming a radical jihadist state with nuclear weapons. The Middle East is more unstable than it has been in decades. Hezbollah flags fly from rooftops in Shiia slums of Sadr City and Iran is rebuilding Southern Lebanon. We have an Iraqi Prime Minister sustained in power by our forces, who will not speak against the Hezbollah terrorists, who will not say that Israel has a right to exist, and who will not condemn the Iranian nuclear program, who will not even as a national leader support the national army over the Shiite militia. In other words, the Iraq government that the administration cites as the front-line force in the fight against terrorism won't even take our side when we are fighting terrorists. No American soldier should be asked to stand up for an Iraqi government that won't stand up for the values and interests that draw them into battle every day. Oh, and the 9/11 commission recently gave our government a failing grade on implementing intelligence reforms.

I love watching movies, but with the world looking the way it is right now I think this is a good time to stick with just the facts. After Iraq, we've all had enough fiction to last a lifetime.

Senator John Kerry

Me thinks the attempts to silence Bush critics by Rumsfeld and the President himself have failed - like so many of his policies - miserably.

If BushGov thought that calling their critics "appeasers" would get real traction with the public, they thought wrong. If anything, with the pending debut of this five hour smear against the Clinton administration - their efforts are about to backire in a big way.

Starting initially with thinkprogress.org's comments from Richard Clarke on the films inaccuracies - this situation has metastisized into a full blown cancer on the Bush Administration and their enablers in Congress.

Madaline Albright, Sandy Berger and even several 9-11 Commissioners have all spoken out about about this project. Former Vice-President Al Gore has spoken up.

By all accounts, "The Path to 9/11″ is riddled with inaccuracies and contains material that directly contradicts the factual findings of the 9/11 Commission. I am deeply concerned that ABC is considering going forward with their plans to broadcast this so-called docudrama. The lessons from the events leading up to that tragedy are too important to trivialize, and it would be fundamentally irresponsible to air such distortions.

Two FBI Consultants hired to work on the project quit because of it's inaccuracies.

Even Conservatives who are openly critical of the Clinton administration such as Charles Mintner and Bill Bennet have pointed out that the truth is Clinton's failed attempts to capture and kill Bin Laden damning enough - you don't have to stoop to making shit up.

But - as I diaried on thursday - most of the right-wing still doesn't get it. They think this is a Free Speach issue - or somehow equivelent to the release of Micheal Moore's Fahrenheit 9-11. Although Moore did take some editorial liberties with his award winning documentary - he didn't have actors walk around and dramatize a bunch of crap that didn't happen. The Bush family really did have financial ties to the Bin Laden family. George really did spend seven minutes reading "My Pet Goat" as the World Trade Center Burned. Moore may have speculated in his commentary that these two issues were related, but he didn't make that up.

However the writer and director of "Path to 9/11" have been shown to be Conservatives with a specific agendy to transform Hollywood.

Cunningham Linked To YWAM. David Cunningham was contracted by ABC to direct Path to 9/11. Cunningham is the son of Loren and Darlene Cunningham, the founders of Youth With a Mission (YWAM), a Christian evangelical group that actively tries to get "youth into short-term mission work and to give them opportunities to reach out in Jesus' name."

YWAM Sponsored the Film Institute To Change Hollywood. YWAM created an "auxillary" group called the Film Institute, which was explicitly aimed at achieving a "Godly transformation and revolution TO and THROUGH the Film and Television industry."

Film Institute Began the "Untitled History Project." The Film Institute's first project was simply referred to as the "Untitled History Project" (UHP). In July 2005, Fox News reported that filming had begun on an ABC miniseries about 9/11 that ABC officials and producers were referring to it as the "Untitled History Project." A production company entitled "UHP Productions," which was co-founded with Disney began filming Path to 9/11 in late 2005.

UHP Became Path to 9/11. UHP Productions has only produced one movie. Harvey Keitel, who stars as FBI special agent John O'Neill in the movie, said that when he received the original script, "it said ABC History Project."

The words "Defamation" and "Slander" have been tossed around. Those are legal/fighting words. But on her show yesterday Air America host Randy Rhodes argued that ABC/Disney may be more than willing to take the Defamation hit - even if the suit costs them millions - if the result of airing "Path to 9-11" helps preserve the Republican Majority in Congress. The potential windfall in terms of tax breaks, Net Nuetrality and Media deregulation could mean $Billions for the company.

Being sued is just the cost of doing business.

So it looks like, even despite the backlash, ABC is going to air their little propaganda peice without any significant changes. But looking yet again at the comments by Senator Kerry - it just might produce the opposite result than that which they intend.

Democrats are enraged.

Just like the response to Rumsfeld's jabs, Democrats are punching back - hard. If Republicans want to talk failure - ok, let's talk FAILURE.

Where's Osama Bin Laden?

Why have the Pakistan Government just sign a peace treaty with the Taliban? I thought we were gonna "Smoke 'em out", and that "If you are with us, you're against us?"

Just as Republicans were able to have the mini-series about the Reagan's pushed from Network TV to Cable, the blowback from "Path to 9/11" is likely to embolden Democrats - like silence them. Like Kerry they're going to be taking scalps.

Republicans are running scared. We've already seen the John Bolton nomination process go down in flames - again. While the Congress is still under Republican control Bush is seeking to pull an ex post facto on the War Crimes Act, retroactively making his many violations of this law legal by changing the law itself.

This can not be allowed to succed.

Both the Supreme Court and Federal Judges have already poined out that Bush has violated this law. Since the current Attorney General has been directly complicit in these actions, only a Special Prosecutor could possibly bring charges - but this won't happen with a Republican controlled Congress. Only a Democratic Congress with Subpeona Power can possibly examine this issue, as well as the numerous other issues and crimes of the Bush Administration.

Gop-TV's mini-series ploy is about to blow up in their faces. All we need now is the popcorn.

Vyan

[saltpoint]

1. A searing address by John Kerry.

Make that by President John Kerry.

There.

That's much better.

[Phredicles]

4. He would be in the Whte House today if only he'd been so blunt

a couple of years ago.

I hear him speak now and I wonder, Where the hell was this guy in 2004?

[saltpoint]

6. I'm of the camp that believes Bush-Cheney cheated in Ohio,

depriving the country a chance at a far superior presidency.

That said, I am very inspired by Kerry's energy these days, and have never myself fallen from so high with as much to lose.

I admire the guts as well as the brains.

[Phredicles]

7. Of course they cheated, but I'm convinced that the Kerry we're

hearing now could've built a cheat-proof margin.

[saltpoint]

9. Ah. I misunderstood your emphasis.

What today's speech has me thinking is less about Kerry per se and more about what Bush thinks.

I know Bush knows Kerry whupped his butt in those debates. Hunter S. Thompson wrote that Kerry "steamrolled Bush" in all three; I agree. Thompson may be dead but his books and essays are still alive and breathing in me. Love the guy, ever since Nixon/McGovern days.

Anyway, Bush knows he lost. If RFK's team does the work I think it will do, a lot MORE people will know Bush lost more than just the debates.

If it takes a 'defeat' to fan the competitive flame for Kerry, I'll welcome the fire. And if the Republicans have no more sense than to nominate some hapless ninny like Bill Frist or Sam Brownback, and Kerry winds up our nominee in 08, I think the Democrats will sail.

Frist's incompetence and Brownback's psychosis are pretty frightening.

[blm]

12. 5 million votes SHOULD be cheat-proof.

But when your votes are counting as the other guy's, what good is ANY margin?

[Phredicles]

13. Whoa, 5 million? I had no idea it was that pervasive. But

what we've seen from Kerry these past several months still makes me wonder what they did with this dynamic, fiery speaker, and how they replaced him with that too-careful, too-bland, too-vague character we saw during the election.

What's a good source for the scale of the '04 fraud, incidentally?

[blm]

14. Read the RFK article in Rolling Stone.

.

[karynnj]

20. How much Kerry was shown on tv in 2004?

His 1 hour speech at the convention was excellent - and was reviewed as such at the time.
He was fantastic in the debates.

Don't remember the wonderful rallies - no surprise, very little of them was shown on network TV - instead you got their talking head, saying where Kerry was and what he said. Kerry's campaign designated an Iraq speech, a terrorism speech, a healthcare speech and an enviromental speech as major campaign speechs - how big an excerpt was shown. Almost none. Meanwhile, Bush got plenty of time - and errors were editted, rather than emphasized.

[Tigress DEM]

23. He kicked *ush's a** in the debates.

Even with *ush's ear ful of someone trying to edjumcate him to respond to what Kerry was saying, Kerry blasted *ush out of the water.

[fedupinBushcountry]

16. Same guy

but to bad you were listening through the MSM in '04. I hear the same guy, it is exactly why I chose him back in '03.

[msongs]

2. John Kerry, the words you want are LIAR or LIES....

talk like regular Americans.

Msongs
www.msongs.com/political-shirts.htm

[fedupinBushcountry]

17. He has used those words over and over

to bad you would rather cut him then really listen to him. Oh by the way the so called regular talking American is in the WH now, no thanks.

[TayTay]

18. He did say that.

I was in Faneuil Hall today. He was very direct and forceful and made his points in a way that everyone in the audience understood.

I saw that speech today and I saw how the audience responded. There was a not a single person in the room who had trouble understand what Kerry was say and appreciating the force with which he was saying it.

Lie was said. And a different vision of what we can do to make things better in America was articulated. And it was clearly understood.

[karynnj]

21. I was there too - and everything Tay Tay says was true

The audience loved what they heard - there was no difficulty understanding it.

[Unbowed]

19. I've heard him say the word LIES many times.

Of course, to hear something you first have to listen. The only way to do that is online or catch him on C-Span or in an interview. Or go see him in person when he's stumping for a local candidate. I have and do every chance I get.

Kerry isn't getting coverage on what he says. I hear him say something in my town, for example. Then they put a sound bite on the local news that chopped out of the context of the point he was making. And then I scratch my head and say, "WTF?" And you can bet your ass they never quote him on the good stuff.

I flew to Boston today for Kerry's speech and he said LIES and LIE loud and clear. And he said it more than once. It was a nice day in Boston, but I would have rather not have spent my weekend flying. Take it from someone who hates planes: Kerry was worth the trip. When he said LIES the first time I thought my ear drums were going to break cos I was sitting in front of a screamer. It was all good though.

[TayTay]

22. I wish we had met today.

I ws live-blogging this speech and was at the end of the hall, under the riser of TV cameras. BTW, there were around 15 reporters there today and about 8 camera crews. That was a lot of press and way, way more than for any other Faneuil Hall speech Kerry has given this year.

It will be interesting to see if all that press generates stories that are anything close to what we heard today.

Sorry I missed meeting you. I thought it was a great and very hard-hitting speech as well.

[Tigress DEM]

24. Fiction IS the right word at this time... "fiction" is ABC's own weasel...

Like Al Franken says, "Sometimes it's hard to tell a lie from a weasel"

Fiction is not factual and therefore even though it may or may not be a lie depending on how it contradicts factual events and if it is clearly labeled as fiction and not fact... ie even Stephen King who writes about cars that come to life, states in all his forewards that his characters are not based on any real person...etc..

BUT... trying to slap a fictional label on this FAUXudrama is a lie AND a weasel because ABC is trying to weasel around their lie by calling it a fictional portrayal.

[babylonsister]

3. Vyan, you almost convinced me to feel grateful this

crapumentary will be shown though I too hope it blows up in their faces. I'm bookmarking this and thank you for providing all this info in one handy post.
Senator Kerry is magnificent when he's angry; I hope he can maintain his anger level and do well-earned damage to the Mickey Mouse admin who so richly deserve it.

[Vyan]

10. Thanks...

We'll all see how this goes, but I think this mini-series has actually created <i>fuel</i> for the Democratic Party to barnstorm their way into November.



Vyan

[longship]

5. I agree. PT9-11 is dead, whether or not it gets shown.

Recommended and :kick:ed

[nebenaube]

8. * has...

* has constructed the largest terror training facility on the planet.

[Peace Patriot]

11. Well, it's an interesting theory and I hope you're right. Things can

happen that way in political affairs--like the buildup to an earthquake, where the tectonic plates slowly grind against each other for a long period of time, then--pop!, the whole landscape shifts.

But I continue to be mystified about Kerry's and the entire Democratic leadership's virtual silence on the Bushite coup over our voting system--Bushite corporations having gained control of the vote count, nationwide, with electronic voting systems run on TRADE SECRET, PROPRIETARY programming code, with virtually no audit/recount controls. Real Bushy Bushite corporations--one headed by a Bush-Cheney campaign chair (Diebold), the second (ES&S, a spinoff of the first) funded by rightwing billionaire Howard Ahmanson (who apparently believes in the death penalty for homosexuals, among other things), and a third player, Sequoia, which has a Republican former Sec of State peddling its election theft machines.

And, in this context, I am also concerned about Bush's statement (AP article posted at DU today) that he's quite confident that the Democrats won't re-take Congress.

I sometimes think I'm watching a "dumb show"--shadow play, mimicry--in corporate news media battles between Repub and Dem leaders. The one side goes on an extreme fascist binge, and pulls the opposition further and further toward the dividing line between left and right, then over to the right, then hand-gesturing like the right (we're better at "terra-terra-terra" than you are--us big prick, you little prick, etc), but, then, in the end, the puppet-master pulls the puppets, and what remains--and what is real--is that secret hand, that determines the size of the stage, the costumes, the music, the lighting, the story-line, and the nature of the dramatic "conflict." The "blue" puppets almost always lose; the "red" puppets almost always win (no matter how big the "blue" puppet's dick gets). And some day soon I expect they'll just cancel the show altogether, for lack of audience interest (or start requiring attendance on pain of waterboarding).

I really can't get past WHO is counting the votes, and HOW. It's such a mind-blower. And I think what we're seeing, in an event like "Path to 9/11"--as with the gay marriage gambit, and the brown immigrant gambit--is a post-election narrative, to explain their miraculous "comeback victory" this fall, that is being written NOW, as we go along. They did it in 2004. They're doing it now. And I just don't think that John Kerry and other Democratic leaders are all that dense, and don't see it. How can they not know WHO is counting the votes, and that all the votes are being counted under a veil of corporate secrecy?

It's true that Bushites cannot win with only 35% support, not even with the 5% to 10% "thumb on the scales" that Diebold, ES&S and Sequoia can give them without raising too many eyebrows (and jeopardizing this election theft system for future use). And so, there is something of a contest that has to be fought out--with the Democrats, like a handicapped horse, bearing a hundred pounds of weight in rigged electronic voting and rigged news coverage (controlled by 5 rightwing billionaire CEOs). I DO see WHY they have to come back with "Democratic terra-terra-terra" against "Fascist terra-terra-terra." They will be black-holed, swift-boated and famous-screamed in a cold minute, if they were to step out of the puppet show and be real. Some are capable of doing that (being real), and some have been puppets so long they have forgotten what it is like to be real. They all know it's rigged. Some are quite comfortable with that; others are chafing under it. I pity them all--the good, the semi-good, and the once good. I can't imagine that it's easy being a public official with any conscience at all, in the snakepit of BushWorld.

The encouraging part of the "Path to 9/11" controversy is the COOPERATION between the Democratic leaders and the Left Blogs. Just think what that cooperation could do if it addressed the matter of non-transparent, Bushite-controlled vote counting!

---------------------------

Bust the Machines--Vote by Absentee Ballot this November!

[ginnyinWI]

15. I have a theory about that

The Dem leadership knows that just to complain about voting machines and fraud will only make people less motivated to go out and vote or help with campaigns. What is needed most is action, not words. And I hope there is considerable action happening under the radar.

I think they are well aware of the problems with our electoral system--how could they not be? If publicity about it would serve a purpose they'd probably speak out more. As it is, Kerry responded and is quoted in RFK jr.'s article in "Rolling Stone". I don't think they are denying anything, but also don't want to discourage voting.

[Joe Chi Minh]

25. "The encouraging part of the "Path to 9/11" controversy is the

COOPERATION between the Democratic leaders and the Left Blogs. Just think what that cooperation could do if it addressed the matter of non-transparent, Bushite-controlled vote counting!"

Spot on!