Gird yourself for the latest right-wing disinfo campaign: the DVD of the slanderous doc Path to 9/11

..... is being "suppressed."



from OurFuture.org:


City of Angels
Submitted by Rick Perlstein on September 7, 2007 - 2:47pm.
Did someone say "Party of Nixon"?

Recall the words of the Republican right's original Voldemorte, Nixon guru Murray Chotiner, quoted from 1955 on The Big Con on how to answer an attack, even (or especially) an attack that's true: "when you answer it, do so with an attack of your own against the opposition for having launched it in the first place." Thus was whiny martyrdom enshrined forever more as foundational right-wing principle.

Case in point: remember Path to 9/11?

The ABC "docudrama" was claimed by its producers to be "based on the 9/11 Commission Report," though crucial scenes contradicted said report, in order to boom the fantastic conspiracy theory that the Clinton administration punted on opportunities to nail Osama bin Laden. His source instead was Robert "Buzz" Patterson, host of the right-wing radio show "The Buzz Cut" and chief operating officer of the David Horowitz Freedom Center. Two FBI agents consulted by the filmmakers quit in disgust. ("They sent me the script, and I read it and told them they had to be kidding," one said.) The screenwriter was a down-the-line right-wing hack ("probably more of a libertarian than a strict conservative," he describes himself—a move one penetrating commentator describes as "always a sure give-away that yes, of course you’re a conservative, but too ashamed to identify as such, given the gigantic clusterfuck conservatism has been in practice") and an apparent associate of David Horowitz. The program itself was rolled out via a right-wing noise machine public relations strategy, released early to conservative talk show hosts and bloggers, while embargoed from viewing by the figures it slandered: President Clinton and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

I review the sordid details as background to a yet-more-sordid development.

What could have been a successful disinformation operation to degrade the Democratic Party (the show ran on September 11 and 12, 2006) ended up an embarrassment for all concerned (it ran with frequent disclaimers that undercut the movie's claims, and sans advertising, sponsors having sensibly scattered for the hills). Now, lo and behold, timed for the 9/11 anniversary, with an exquisite touch that screams "PR campaign," Path suddenly "finds" its way back in the news—in a scurrilous L.A. Times piece that reads like something out of the "Arkansas Project" heyday of the American Spectator, or perhaps even Pravda:


Among the nearly two dozen television DVDs slated for nationwide release on Sept. 11 is the second season of "Bones," the third season of "Grey's Anatomy" and the miniseries "The Starter Wife" that aired earlier this year. Not on the list on that day or any other in the near future is last year's highly controversial "The Path to 9/11."

The $40-million, five-hour ABC miniseries, which recently received seven Emmy nominations and drew a combined two-night audience of more than 25 million viewers, is for now on the path to nowhere. Its Amazon page reads: "Currently unavailable. We don't know when or if this item will be back in stock."

With no date for the release, questions are being raised about whether political pressure is behind its current status as a stalled or discarded DVD project. The reasons are murky, but the miniseries' writer, Cyrus Nowrasteh, believes it's crystal clear: Powerful forces are out to protect Bill Clinton's presidential legacy and shield Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) from any potential collateral damage in her bid for the White House.

Nowrasteh, also one of the miniseries' many producers, said he was told by a top executive at ABC Studios that "if Hillary weren't running for president, this wouldn't be a problem." .........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://commonsense.ourfuture.org/city_angeles?tx=3