Ya...it was campy bad! I can't believe ABC put this on like it was a serious film. It was as if Rush Limbaugh decided to write a 9/11 movie.

I'm no longer angry, i'm embarrassed for them at this point.

The camera shakes gave me a headache. It was grossly overacted. I kept waiting for someone to say, "wait until George Bush becomes President." The dialogue was THAT BAD and contrived.

Someone definitely needs to be fired over this.

You're watching it?

well at least they give  bad entertainment- that means hopefully the ratings will suck- plus they had competition from all the other 9/11 porn fest

time. going. by. so. slow. ly.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

and why is everything green?

Here in Seattle, I: (1) locked all ABC/Disney/ESPN channels out of my house; (2) watched Sunday nite football on NBC, then (3) The Simpsons to round out my viewing pleasure.  Why should I let this pornographic movie sully - to quote Babs Bush - "my beautiful mind"?  It sounds like that handheld jerking motion is going to leave viewers with a headache...I bet Monday's show won't even get the first nite's audience total.  I think NBC was the sweeps winner tonight with a good football game to start off the NFL season.  That's how you beat ABC/Disney - low household ratings.

Wow, that was a really horrible film, a really big disconnected mess of scenes that wasn't a "path" at all.  It was also chock full of bad actors and copy that was no unnaturally delivered that I think it'd be hard to mistake the film for anything but a fictional drama.

Besides, tomorrow the show is competing with football, and everytime Americans have a choice between sports and politics, sports wins.

You can't re-educate the public if you're putting them all to sleep.  Unless you're trying to do it subliminably.

Enjoy these new Disney logos:

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/ captnjaq/Disinformation.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n260/ captnjaq/Disgusted.jpg

Man this really is a piece of shit.

I'll have to take your word for it since I didn't watch it (and wouldn't have anyway even without the Clinton BS in it). I'm so sick of 9/11 and its constant exploitation for commercial and political gain that I've tuned it out almost completely. Tomorrow is going to be so maudlin and revolting that I'll just take the entire day off from news.

I kind of liked it. I thought the cinematography and acting were pretty good for a network TV miniseries. (Which isn't saying much.) But my jaw dropped at all of the unjustified Clinton-bashing. I thought it was going to play a minor role. But it was basically the point of it all.

The part about search warrants really pissed me off, too.

Yeah, a pretty lousy movie, which is not a surprise.  Very weak story-telling, dreadful pacing, and lots of confusing, moody patches that left me thinking the filmmakers really had to stretch to fill the allotted time.

What's worse, of course, are the many fabrications.  Some have been documented, and many more will probably be noted in the next few days.

The Nightline special tonight was very odd.  Cynthia MacFadden and Brian Ross had a segment that seemed highly rehearsed.  Well, what do you know, they came up with the brilliant idea that U.S. during the Clinton years did have several opportunities to take out Bin Laden, and didn't.  (So why complain about this movie, you silly liberals?)

There was of course no mention of the Aug 6 PDB that Bush received in Texas.  And there was no questioning of Bush's resolve to get Bin Laden; about Tora Bora, all Ross said was "Bin Laden slipped away."

Which proves that ABC News doesn't need to make things up to be shilling for the right wing.  It just has to be selective about what facts it wants to tell, or not.

The completely unspoken assumption through all this propaganda, saying that Clinton should have taken out Bin Laden and he's to blame for 9/11, is that the country was willing to go to war to get Bin Laden.  That's probably what it would have taken if you really wanted to get him.  The attempts to get him on the cheap were either very iffy, or were tried and failed.  But before the attack on the WTC, the country would not have supported the idea of going to war.  It just wasn't a possibility.

So war is what we got after 9/11.  And five years later, what have we got?  Nothing.  The trail is cold.  Bush has even said he doesn't think much about Bin Laden any more.  That would have been an impeachable offense, if Clinton had said it.

Somehow they'll blame Clinton for the last five years too.  I don't see how, but it'll probably be in tomorrow night's show.

This swiftboat hit peace is right out of KARL ROVES play book,ROVE and the truith parted company years ago. It is sad to see ABC parting COMPANY with the TRUITH just as ROVE did but as they say if you run with a pack of LIARS you become one. Now lets see if we can make LIFE very bleak for ABC,and DISNEY. THEY are now just ROVES swiftboat hit COMPANY.

I didn't watch it, either. However, it sounds like "Path" completes the second pillar of GOP-TV: FOX and ABC. Notably, the assimilation of MSNBC and CNN/CNN-HN from "mainstream" into GOP-TV is nearly complete.

The obviously fictutious scenes slamming Clintoin officials have garbered all the attentiion. And with good reason.

But there were far more insidious bits of propganda all throughout the thing.

Like the offhanded comments about how a laptop seized in a raid from Ramzi Yousef couldn't be used in the US because of that poesjy ole due process of law.

Or that suggestion that only pre 9/11 ninnies have a problem with the Gvt spying on their phone calls.

This was nothing but sick, twisted agitprop that could have been written by the White House or the RNC.

No wonder all those conservatives said the "innacuracies" we attacked should be fixed. They wanted this top run. Because they knew that the real propaganda was embedded in the film. It validated every single Bush and GOP talking point for the fall campaign.

It was disgusting.

Watch these video excerpts from the film for examples of what I am talking about.

I'm telling you all, we got taken to the cleaners. We focused on the anti-Clinton administration stuff and missed the REALLY bad, Goebbelsesque, pro GOP agitprop.

We must refocus on the distortions and lies in this proram with renewed effort, now that it's been broadcast.

DUE TO SUBJECT MATTER, VIEWER DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

THE FOLLOWING POST IS A DRAMATIZATION THAT IS DRAWN FROM A VARIETY OF SOURCES INCLUDING THE 9/11 COMMISSION REPORT AND OTHER PUBLISHED MATERIALS, AND FROM PERSONAL INTERVIEWS. THE MOVIE IS NOT A DOCUMENTARY.

FOR DRAMATIC AND NARRATIVE PURPOSES, THE MOVIE CONTAINS FICTIONALIZED SCENES, COMPOSIT AND REPRESENTATIVE CHARACTERS AND DIALOGUE, AS WELL AS TIME COMPRESSION.

I watched Ted Koppel's piece on Discovery about security and civil liberties.    It was really good with a solid balance of opinions although Ted couldn't resist a zinger against the Bush Admin policies here and there.  I like the type of indepth stuff Koppel does which is very rare on TV today.  I miss the old Nightline.  Yes I am a bit of a nerd.

He had a fantastic ending noting that the only country that was completely secure from terrorism was North Korea and they had achieved it through complete domestic repression and cutting themselves off from the rest of the world which really isn't a viable solution for the US or the rest of the world.  

Did anyone else watch Koppel?  Thoughts?

Unless lawsuits follow then "The Path to 9/11" will have been a coup for the right wing. They got their message out to some millions of people, most of which won't know fact from fiction. For many of those viewers the movie will be the basis for their beliefs about 9/11.

The blogs bitched, politicians bitched, even President Clinton bitched. That's nothing to be proud of unless Disney learns there is a steep cost to airing right-wing propaganda. So far, I don't see there will be much of a price to pay. The furor will die down, Democratic leaders will not follow-up, and blog interest will soon disappear. This is what Disney counts on and unless recent patterns change Disney will be correct. Their share price won't suffer and their investors won't notice this event.

What lesson will Disney learn? Ignore the pressure and forge ahead because no effective boycotts will materialize and Democratic politicians won't follow through.

This cynical view isn't certain to come to pass. Some of the libeled "characters" in Disney's drama may file lawsuits and keep alive the bad publicity for Disney. Liberals may organize an effective boycott of Disney. Democratic politicans may take every opportunity to interfere with Disney's vision of a consolidated media landscape where they only need compete against a few, often like-minded megacorops.

My own money won't be coming Disney's way in the future but it won't be missed. I won't visit Disneyworld and won't be buying Disney DVD's or other Disney merchandise but the losses from my puny personal boycott can't possibly register on their bottom line. So absent follow-up action it's hard to see how you can score this any other way.

Disney won.

What was up with all "music" the shots during the action scenes.  Like the kid playing the drums as one of the guys is captured in Kenya, and the guy singing karaoke in the Philippines? (Not to mention the new-years scene)  Really annoying.

I agree with Matt Stoller, the author of this thread.  This thing was so boring and so bad that I had to fight to stay awake.  This smelly excuse for a movie zig-zagged back and forth from officials in the U.S. to one or the other terrorist outfit in different countries that it would make one dizzy trying to figure out what the hell story they are trying to tell.

Honestly, at less than an hour into this mess I wondered if they used George Bush speeches as inspiration!  

Those dumbed down supporters of Bush will need someone to explain it to them!   I am guessing that this is the reason they released this pile of crap to all the right wing blogs, etc., to publicize.

Wait, this movie already aired?  I had no idea.  I was watching football.

To sum up this article:

Let's just forget about blatant right wing propaganda being broadcast over the public airwaves by a commercial television network. Because it was boring and stupid.

The same thing Dems did with Iran/Contra.
The same thing Dems did with Nixon.

Wake the fuck up. This is appeasement. If we can't walk (elect Dems in November) and chew gum (punish Disney until they fire/scapegoat the right-wing operatives) at the same time, progressives are not going to get anywhere.

Disney/ABC put out a crappy made for TV movie?  I'm shocked shocked I say!

"the issue is Bush and Bush alone."

Wrong, wrong, wrong.  The issue is Republicans and Republicans alone.  Bush is gone in two years.  We have to damage the Republican brand, as well as the conservative movement just like the way Republicans damaged the "liberal" and "Democrat" brand.

    The movie, the events of 911, and the uses the Bush Administration have made of those events illustrates the extent to which America has become a Corporatocracy.  

    The qualities of the corporation have become the qualities of government.  

    The issue is not the Republicans, and it is also not the Democrats.  The issue is not Iger or Eisner.  These parties and these people have succumbed to the ideals and operating principles of the corporation.  

    All the commentators act as if persons should experience shame or guilt at their atrocious lying.  If these were persons and not corporate lickspittles, we might reasonably expect admissions of responsibility and displays of shame.  You will not ever see Cheney's face redden with the shame-display or his eyes look down and his shoulders hunch.  

    "The Path to 9/11" and the events it was based on illustrate principles of corporatism.  Only individuals who are true human beings can feel shame.  The elegance of the corporation and its relative the bureaucracy is that they create a fictional entity that does not feel disgust, shame, or guilt.  When Cheney speaks for the Corporatocracy he feels no revulsion over his role in murdering tens of thousands of human beings.

    I urge you commentators to widen your perspective.  Democrats won't help the nation, because Democrats (Lamont is a perfect example) are Corporatocrats.  I want a political party that celebrates people, not corporations.  Our Constitution says only human beings have inalienable rights, not corporations and bureaucracies.  Among the rights of human beings are "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."  These rights have been seized by corporations, and they're being denied to us human beings.        

Whichever channel we watch, we're helping the Republican'ts -- or those Democrats whom the corporate media owns.

Three words:

Turner Classic Movies.

It is the only reason we still have cable.

McCain is sponsoring a bill to allow people to pick their cable channels a la carte.  I predict it is a winner with the voters.  Why isn't a Democrat sponsoring this legislation?

NBC, who employs Olbermann, is as pro-GOP as Fox and Murdoch? Really?
by Lucas O'Connor

Yes...but just a bit less so. The Simpsons are Fox Entertainment division which is quite a bit different than the "Faux News" division. NBC is a General Electric company, "Infotainment" at it's best. Is NBC pro-GOP? Sure! Do I watch their "News"? Hell no! Do I watch Olbermann? Yes when I can.

I'll go with Gen. Patton's only standing order ... "Attack!"

We need to bloody ABC'sDisney's nose on this one.   We need to make it visibly obvious that siding with one half of the electorate against the other half of the electorate COSTS a media outlet half their viewers.

We need to bombard both ABC and the affiliates with our disgust that this movie was created and aired.

We need to make it clear to both ABC and the affiliates that this isn't going away. That we intend to boycott all ABC local and national news because its obvious that there's a severe right-wing slant to ANYTHING associated with Disney.

There's a great scene in an old West Wing episode, where they are talking about Bill Russell and the NBA, and how if he threw one big elbow on national tv, then everyone would know he could throw that elbow and they'd leave him alone.

This should be our chance to throw a big massive elbow not only on national tv but against national tv.  All the media is concerned these days with attracting right-wing viewers.  We need to make it painfully obvious there's a cost to this in that the other half of the electorate gets mad and leaves.

Lets see the ratings of every ABC show and every ABC affiliate start to head into the tank.  Lets make this a major crisis for ABC.  This needs to be at least as big a deal for ABC as the Dan Rather/Bush Nat. Gd story was for CBS.  We need to put a lot of heat on ABC.  We need for there to be big protest crowds again and again outside every ABC affiliate.  We need to let ABC see their ratings tank right at the start of the fall season because half the nation is @#$@# po'd at them.  

If we put heat on the affiliates and could tank ABC's ratings right at the launch of the season, then we'd be throwing that elbow on national tv.

BTW, while I love the Disney mouse ears stuff on the internet, we need to be attacking the ABC brand directly.

Ratings:  "Sunday Night Football" got a 12.7 rating and a 20 share.  In the 18-49 demo, it got a 7.9 rating and 19 share.  "The Path to 9/11": 7.9 rating/12 share; in the young adult demo, 4.0/10.  So, half what football got.  CBS's own 9/11 docu got 6.9/10 and 3.5/8.  Fox finished second among young adults and third overall...with cartoons.

I was busy early in the evening and then watched football; I'm told the ABC show was a lot like "24," with the plot revolving around a hyped-up, fictitious, blow-'em-all-away agent.  It sure sounds like a remake of one of those Red Scare films like "Red Dawn," with everything black-and-white and the virtuous American hero standing tall.

This show was not targeted to change the mind of the typical American.  It was intended to enervate the Republicans' conservative hard-core.  They are very depressed about the way things are going; like the rest of us, they can't pay their bills, and they know people who know people who've lost friends and relatives in Iraq.  They may not bother voting in November.  It was important to vilify the Clinton Administration, to remind those voters even though we could all pay out bills in the 90's and the US did not stage military occupations, how WEAK we were back then.  How other countries LAUGHED at us.  How they WEREN'T TERRIFIED of us.  Do you want to go back to those days?  Of course not.  Now, be sure to vote.

is what I kept thinking from the little I watched.

I wonder how you all square this "How dare they make such a film" away with Freedom of Speech.  Can someone make that argument?  Or the 1st going the way of the Second and 10th amendments?

Dear Repub DanFM: I don't remember your concern for the Freedom of Speech when Dan Rather was running his Bush AWOL from TANG story in 04.  I also don't remember your concern when Repubs killed the Saint Ronnie docudrama on CBS.  Why is only when Repubs are trying to get lies on the air that you concern yourself with Freedom of Speech?

From: "Frizzell, Roger" <Roger.Frizzell@aa.com>
Date: Mon, 11 Sep 2006 13:11:12 -0500

Ms. Robinson,
 
I think it is important for you to know that the Disney/ABC television program, The Path to 9/11, which began airing last night, is inaccurate and irresponsible in its portrayal of the airport check-in events that occurred on the morning of September 11, 2001. A factual description of those events can be found in the official government edition of the 9/11 Commission Report and supporting documents.

Please know this was a tragic event in our company's history and we hope you will be sympathetic to our employees and our airline on this day. Again, we are outraged by this situation, and we alerted ABC about its gross error. It is very unfortunate.
 
Roger
 
Roger Frizzell
Vice President, Corporate Communications & Advertising
American Airlines

Well that was a well reasoned and thoughtful response Crablaw...but this:

"Claiming that Reagan died in a skydiving accident or that Eisenhower lost the 1952 presidential election and retired to Gettysburg would also be fraudulent"  

...is a long way from what was shown in PT911.  Numerous documentations show that yes Clinton did avoid taking down OBL.  That is true.  It certainly is more accurate than FH 9-11, not to mention that a docudrama is much less defamating than a news broadcast or a Mooreumentary.  

And more accurate than the forged Rathergate documents...

And certainly in better taste than the Virgin Mary smeared with elephant shit, or this snuff film your people are putting out, or piss Christ

....and incidently, the party actually in power, which actually can revoke a license does not raise near the ruckus your party has.  

We are all about the 1st amendement.  Hate speech, bash the President, make a movie where he is assassinated...fine do it all, thats what America is all about.

Let me finish with this:  I do recall the Islamofacists having stong feelings about the defamation of their top dog as well.  And it caused a week of riots and outrage in the civilized world.  Defamation is a bitch.

..."Defamation" is a bitch but it doesnt make it any less true that Islamofascism's god is a murderous god.  

I didn't think it was possible.....

The second half was worse than the first!!