The Republican Party has saved the American public, again. CBS
pulled its made-for-television movie “The Reagans” off its lineup
after outcry from conservatives voices called for a boycott of CBS.
According to reports, Republican Party chief Ed Gillespie told
reporters that he’s worried the biopic will be a smear job and
asked the network to let the GOP’s handpicked historians review the
film before it airs, or else run a crawler every 10 minutes
acknowledging that the movie is fictional. Gillespie made this
comment before he even saw the biopic. Everyone knows what to
expect from made-for-television movies; bad acting, a cheesy script
and to be overly overdramatic.
Shame on the Republican Party for trying to overstep its
boundary and shame on the spineless CBS for caving in so
easily.
And before people label me a radical liberal, I would shake my
finger at the Democratic Party if they tried to pull the same
stint. This is not the first time a past president has been subject
to a controversial movie. Oliver Stone has dabbled with past
presidents with “Nixon” and “JFK” and both of those movies made
both parties cry “foul.” The Democratic Party had to sit through
the book and movie “Primary Colors” that, without saying names,
portrayed the Clinton administration as snobs and full of
corruption.
I have no doubt “Reagans” was bias towards the Gipper but what
else did the GOP expect from the same network that brought you “The
Elizabeth Smart Story”? Gillespie’s petition that either the
network let handpicked historians review the movie for accuracy
(talk about being biased) or having CBS run a disclaimer at the
bottom was completely out of the question and is clearly
censorship. The fact that CBS pulled the movie off its lineup so
late only shows a yellow belly, CBS simply folded to the Republican
demands when they sold the movie to premium cable channel Showtime
(both are owned by Viacom). The movie was scheduled to be broadcast
on Nov. 16 and 18. A statement from CBS said, “(the) decision is
based solely on our reaction to seeing the final film, not the
controversy that erupted around a draft of the script…we believe
it does not present a balanced portrayal of the Reagans for CBS and
its audience.” As expected, CBS did not return the phone calls of a
small college newspaper column when trying to get an additional
statement.
This decision was made after the film already wrapped and with a
script approved by the network and its lawyers. According to a
story in Entertainment Weekly, all broadcast-network telefilms are
vetted by Standards and Practices and network attorneys.
If this caused the GOP any headaches, they better pull out
aspirin when Michael Moore comes out with his documentary
“Fahrenheit 911” about the supposed connection between the Bush and
bin Laden families, just in time for reelection. Moore is purposely
putting out this propaganda – I mean, documentary — to defame Bush
and hurt his chances for re-election. Moore, who gives real
liberals a bad name, is misusing his celebrity clout to change the
course of politics. If Moore has real news about the Bushes and bin
Laden doing business together, he should go through legitimate
media and let the public know but he shouldn’t try to persuade
people one way or the other with his films.
CBS was wrong in the first place to run with a slanted depiction
of the former president. In the film, the president utters the
line, “They that live in sin shall die in sin” when referring to
homosexual AIDS patients, according to people close to the
president and the author of the screenplay, the president never
said that line. The GOP was in the wrong with trying to censor
CBS.
But at least the GOP has the reliable Fox News Channel to show
the fair and balanced side of things.
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