Political Punch

Here is a question for ABC and viewers to ponder: Why is ABC so incredibly intent on showing this fiction, written by an avowed conservative activist and friend of Rush Limbaugh, with its inherent risk of corporate self-mutilation for both ABC and parent Disney.

It certainly isn't, as ABC claims, a "public service" since that would mean adhering to at least some semblance of truth.

Once this show is broadcast, I plan to contact my cable company immediately to elminate all ABC and Disney-owned programming, even if it entails cancelling cable altogether.

Along with many others, I will _never_ again see movies produced by Disney, Miramax, Touchstone, etc. ABC "News" will forever be tainted, after finally gaining respect thanks to Peter Jennings.

Clearly Disney cares not a whit about its stockholders, or about making a profit, since the profit lost by showing this piece of right-wing propaganda will overwhelm the $40 million it cost to produce such trash.

So what is ABC's goal in showing this piece just prior to the midterm elections? I would argue that the answer is obvious.

Australians just viewed part 1 of Path to 911; I am an American and have lived here for more than 35 years. I saw the towers hit on tv and have followed the news like all of you. I thought the ABC entertainment did a huge favour putting these events together because it certainly displayed the gap between those doing the hunting and those in the offices. My Australian husband said Clinton's morals were to blame for Gore losing the vote to Bush. This Path to 911 puts the big issue of terrorism and cultlural problems into a shape that gave words and history to the war. It is escalating. I would thank the ABC for this project and those who are criticized finally always worried they would be. I hope Americans and the allies can grasp the essence without worrying too much about who is offended.

What CRAP! I just re-programmed the channels on my TV. No more ABC in my house!

You Guys Suck

Were ABC to alter, edit, or totally scrap "The Path to 9-11," it's credibility would descend to a level below that of CBS and the incredible fabrications of Dan "Blather" Rather!
HLJ

exactly when did ABC become the motion picture arm of Fox News?

exactly what "truths" are people searching for before, and especially since, 9/11?

in wiser times, our airwaves would avoid pouring gasoline onto a fiery, divisive, and particularly political, period of our country’s struggle, especially when our blogist admits they’re still editing the product for accuracy. You may not be crazy about the messages in the Michael Moore or Al Gore films but no one, to my understanding could show that the content wasn’t factual or fact checked.

is there an ABC News division any more or did that die off with Roone Arledge and Peter Jennings? For a network that constantly drones on that "more Americans get their news from ABC News than from any other news source," doesn’t that news source feel any responsibility to help correct inaccuracies or errors in it’s company’s “entertainment” products?

the writer and director of this product can spin there spin anyway they want on their own blog, but like their political bedfellows at Fox News, they can never ever get it be feel as if it is “fair and balanced.”

(please pray for all the survivors, the heroes and the lost of the attack who often go ignored the other 364 days of the year.)

/J
-thanks for posting this directly unlike your buds on the product's blog.

Cheap political lies. ABC and Disney now go along with Fox Network as untrustwkorthy and biased.
Bye. That means boycott ABC and Disney.

I am really distressed to read so many comments here, especially the one from Carol who wants the network to show the "original" version of "The Path to 9/11".

It is clear that conservatives who are posting here supporting this film support a media that engages in slander, libel, defamation and putting blame where it isn't due. The film was written by a right-wing fanatic out to disparage Bill Clinton.

I remember the conservative hypocrites here have no problem with CBS pulling "The Reagans" off the air, yet, they have no problem with a film based on right-wing lies.

ABC has stained and damaged itself beyond repair by participating in the showing of this film. The least they can do is yank this project altogether.

ABC is acting like a state-controlled network under the direction of the Bush administration. Stuff like this makes me ashamed of this country.

i am truly horrifed that abc would even think of airing this movie! how can anyone use 9/11 in this way! i am a proponent of freedom of speech but this is in no way something that should be used in this manner. 9/11 was and is a very deep wound. to show a movie that is not as close to the real truth as possible shows that the network does not understand what this event in our our history really means to the american citizens. i will have NO RESPECT for abc news! DO NOT SHOW THIS MOVIE!!! WILL NEWS/NETWORKS NOT SHOW RESPECT TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVES THAT DAY AND THOSE THAT CONTINUE TO SACRIFICE THEIR LIVES EVERYDAY IN OUR MILITARY? ABC AND DISNEY SHOULD BE ASHAMED OF THEMSELVES!

Jake, Thank you for bringing to the attention of the American people the many times that the Clinton admin. had Bin Laden in the cross hairs. Please ABC, do not cave to the political pressure from the Dems or the Clintons to keep this information from us. We who want to know what happened before 9/11 leading up to that horrible event want to thank you for having the courage to air this program. I heard ABC was "editing" things out that the Dems did not want in there. What about free speech? Micheal Moore sure got to tell his side of what he thought about it in his "Docudrama". Not one Dem said anything about that. What a double standard there is! So much for freedom of the press and the Democrats are a bunch of hypocrites! Thank you Jake for your courage to air this!!! Carol

I hope that ABC will have the courage to show the "original" version of The Path to 9/11 and stand firm against all the pressure being exerted to make it "politically correct" or, heaven forbid, cancel the showing. Surely the American public have enough intelligence to view an historical presentation using their own common sense as to its factual accuracy. THE WORLD WILL NOT STOP SPINNING BECAUSE OF THIS TV PRODUCTION. Hazel

Concerning the 9/11 mini series
If you believe you have the essence of what happened correct, please do not cave to the political pressure out there. Do not pull this broadcast. My college daughter knew the morning of September 11th that BinLaden was probably behind the attack because she had taken a Middle East History class in high school. It appears to me our elected and appointed leaders did not have a better grip on reality than a 19 year old. This needs to be examined by all of us.

I hope ABC will not cave to the Clinton pressure to not show this film. What are they so afraid of? Clinton and the Democrat's actions to me is very telling!What does this film represent to them that they will go to this extreme to see that the American public will not see this film. After all they seemed to love the Michael Moore "911" film. I did not see the Bush administration try to stop that film.

I'm very disappointed that the Clinton admin. should have the power to alter a free speech movie. Where were all these so called people that wanted to tell the truth when they are behind a person like Michael Moore that continues to spread lies about our current President. I will think twice before I put on ABC now with them caving into the Clintons and their threats. Think of all the people that they are threated in the past with all their cover ups. It's a sad day in our society that we have such people that want to change history. I'm very concerned and scared that they (Hillary) could get into this powerful position as president.

I have been a faithful watcher of ABC News and have found them to be deacated to the facts. That is why I cannot understand why you are showing the two night political trash called "Leading up to 9/11".
If you proceed with this I, and I am sure, many other Americans will loose confidence in your news and programing and will go to another news coverage(i.e.) NBC for the truth. When you loose the confidence of your viewers you loose a coustomer. Think about it?

To air a program about such a historically significant event claiming, it to be based on the 9/11 report, and add fictional content is evil. Plus to do this with the country as divided as it is with an election close at hand makes it doubly so.

ABC/Disney holdings are being removed from my channel lineup as we speak.

Shame. On. You.

All the decent stuff is on cable anyways, welcome to irrelevancy.

Michael Scheurer verifies ABC's version of story about Clinton failure. Here's his comments in Washington Times.

Mr. Clinton's failure to capture or kill bin Laden on any of the eight to 10 chances afforded by CIA reporting. Mr. Clarke never mentions that President Bush had no chances to kill bin Laden before September 11 and leaves readers with the false impression that he, Mr. Clinton and Mr. Clinton's national security adviser, Sandy Berger, did their best to end the bin Laden threat. That trio, in my view, abetted al Qaeda, and if the September 11 families were smart they would focus on the dereliction of Dick, Bill and Sandy

Jake, there is a fine line that ABC is crossing to bring this "docu-drama" to the public. Putting all politics aside this is a travesty of ABC's journalistic ethics. Mixing facts with fiction then trying to pass it off as a dramatized documentary on the most devastating event in our lives should have any decent broadcaster or journalist screaming "No way!"

It's obvious that this isn't designed to present the facts to the public, or to be entertaining. It's a highly unethical attempt to spin public opinion for political gain and I hold ABC and Disney to blame for the fallout.

Good Luck trying to sell stock after this!

Jake--I hope that ABC runs the documentary as edited rather than make it politically correct. Anyone that does any serious reading can determine what is fact and what is fiction. You don't get the truth, watching the entertainment channels. Wise up, folks, before it is too late.

Micheal Moore does "Farenheit 9/11" loaded with inaccuracy and is applauded by the Democrats going into the 2004 election. That film was wrongly termed a documentary. Why demand accuracy now? Maybe if Sandy Berger hadn't shoved loads of documents down his pants, there would be more info for ABC to have worked with.

In either case, I think any movie/series/show dealing with 9/11, should be factually accurate no matter which party you are with.

ABC is showing it's true colors. From the sorry WMD coverage, to the democrat bashing in ABC News The Note, to this Path to 911 howler. ABC's bias is clear.

Now, can we finally put a rest to the 'liberal' media canard? The MSM is driven by large corporations who are beholden to the Bush administration.

j First off, the distribution of the film was given only to the rightwingers. 2nd I've seen enough of clips to know that this film is based on lies and political propoganda. If you read pg 118 of the 9/11 Commission report, you will see that there are blatant misrepresentations in this film. (This is only one of many examples)

This was a tragedy for all Americans, not just Bushites. It is a tragedy that will continue to live with us and for any Media to politicize it and to present fiction as fact, is an injustice to every American. I don't want fairy tales. All I ask for is for the "facts" to be presented and let the responsiblity fall where it belongs.

i am very disappointed in your'STILL EDITING" this film. it's a shame the free press is gone when it aplies to the democratic party. needless to say i shall never again watch abc guess i should have know better no trust in the DRIVE BY MEDIA

The film is nothing but a pack of lies. First of all, it was not Bill Clinton who de-emphasized counter-terrorism. That was George W. Bush. Read Richard Clarke's book "Against all Enemies." Second of all, the claim in the film that Bill Clinton could have killed Bin Laden but failed to give the green light are utter non-sense. In fact by all accounts, Bill Clinton gave explicit permission to take out Bin Laden if and when he was found. Even Bill Bennet has come out and admitted that the film is innacurate and should be pulled.

Additionally, the complaints about democrats condemning the movie without seeing it is just a red herring. Only right right wing political hacks like Rush Limbaugh were allowed to review the movie, I guess so that they could flog the partisan propoganda on their radio shows. No members of the progressive media have been allowed to view the moview despite repeated requests.

I would ask anyone who views the mixing of fact with fiction in order to propogate a partisan spin to what happened on 9/11 as permissible to consider whether they would hold the same view if a major network did a "docudrama" that propogated the many conspiracy theories floating around the web concerning the events of 9/11 falsely suggesting that 9/11 was an inside job.

Finally, ABC should know that if this documentary airs, I along with my extended family and many of my friends will never watch ABC, Disney, ESPN, ect. again. Additionally, we will all boycott your sponsors because I don't want a Republican corporation getting a single dime of my money!!!!

IfABC news falls into step with the lead of Bill Clinton,etal,it will only prove the networks bias support and fear of the left ...Be brave and show the Path to 911 in it's entirity as shown in Washington..M deMayo.

Jake,

Democrats now appear to be resorting to the same tactics as the Republicans over the new controversial docudrama, 'The Path to 9/11'.

Personally, I don't see how anyone can expect a practical person to condemn something that they haven't seen based on the opinions of others - whatever their political persuasion.

And, what really disappoints me is the apparent 'censorship' of postings on the official Democratic blog that do not fall into the spirit of the party line which is now demanding that ABC scrap its airing of 'The Path to 9/11'.

This behavior smacks of 'censorship' and 'fascism'...of the same ilk that some in the Democratic Party have been accusing the Republicans of.

Personally, I don't want anyone denying me access to anything so controversial until I've seen it myself and I've had a chance to make my own decision about it.
Without this freedom, there is no democratic principle with regard to 'freedom of the press', or 'the media'.

The reality is, if you don't like something, one can easily reach over and turn the TV set off and not watch!

Seeing how some of the Democrats are now behaving over this matter makes me wonder what would happen if they actually did win the next Presidential election and actually did take over management of the Iraq War and the War on Terror from the current administration...the results of which may be something like that period in history when we took over the role of the French in the French IndoChina War (which later evolved into the Viet Nam Conflict)...what did Bernard B. Fall (I think it was this author) have to say about this: ...that 'the Americans were dreaming different dreams and talking a different talk...but walking in the same footsteps as the French'...wasn't it something like this?

Maybe the Democratic Party isn't the party for the future afterall.

It seems to me that an element of fascism permeates the thinking of both our major parties.

It's ominous to think of the implications of having a former Democratic President like Bill Clinton (who is also a nortorious liar and who now has a near-adopted (son) relationship with the Bush clan) standing up on behalf of Democrats to demand that the docudrama be scrapped for its lack of honesty.

Weird...but isn't this a lot like 'the pot calling the kettle black'.

This is a sad, sad, day for America.

9/11 seems to have brought out the worst in both our major political parties...or is it that neo-fascism is attempting to take over the management of both parties?

Maybe now is the time to start looking for some independent candidates...

If this behavior continues by both parties, I'm sure that many more Americans will be thinking the same thing between now and the next presidential election.

Jim Carder - alias...'the Lonely Professor'

I have to firmly protest against the airing of the fictional version of the very real and tragic story of the events that led up to and happened on 9/11. They may call it a docu- drama but ABC is promoting it to schools and teachers. Unless they have a big red flag that pops up during each lie or “stretch of the truth” people will not be able to distinguish between truth and the parts made up by someone who has a political agenda. Only those people who have read the entire 9/11 commission report would be able to tell the difference.

The broadcast of this program is very irresponsible and I would not be able to support a station that put these lies forward. I could not trust their news, local or national. I could not support the regular programs, so I will simply delete the ABC channel off of my remote. When I surf through the channels it will skip over ABC. I will miss Desperate Housewives, Grey’s Anatomy, and any other show supported by commercials (that pays the bills).

I truly hope they reconsider the broadcast.

When ABC presents a major two-part show shifting the blame from the Bush administration to the Clinton administration for something that clearly happened on Bush's watch, two months before the mid-term election which was shaping up to be less than a success for the Republicans, and in line with President Bush's new-found interest in ben Laden, it's just a coincidence, right? wrong! This is not about Clinton or Bush, this is about ABC trying to tilt the midterm elections. This is why Democrats are angry, and why they are not likely to forget it.

I now understand something that has left me shaking my head for years. Basically, why the three networks promote ad nauseum so-called reality shows. It all makes sense now; by dumbing down programming, entities such as Disney/ABC can put forth major distortions to promote what is obviously a dangerous agenda on an unsuspecting public. A viewing public who already confuse what is real with "reality" shows. I, for one, will never view or listen to another Disney/ABC vehicle. How can one trust the news from such a company? One can't - one mustn't!

Jake,

Saw your piece on World News and was disappointed. As a long-time reader from Salon (I even bought Down & Dirty on Amazon), I was particularly disappointed that you and ABC did not address several of the most important issues. The totally fraudulent scene dealing with the Afghan/CIA capture plot and the failure to let the movie be vetted by any Democratic members of the 9/11 commission. Not to mention the right-wing blogger marketing campaign.

Since this will be seen by most Americans as being produced by ABC News, are you ready to have your reputation damaged by this association? Do you think this is accurate enough to back?

If not, you should speak out.

Ed Kennedy

To justify inaccuracies in The Path to 9-11 as just dramatic license because this program is a docudrama is a cop out and the executives at ABC know that. They are quite aware that many people will view it as fact, despite those disclaimers. This subject is too painful and too important to toy with for the sake of ratings. It is an incredible abuse of the public trust for a major network to broadcast anything about 9-11 that doesn't represent an accurate and fair portrait of the subject and it undermines the credibility of ABC and also of ABC News. If the entertainment division feels it is ok to play fast and loose with the facts for ratings advantage, then perhaps the news department feels the same way. CBS, here I come!

Disney/ABC has been promoting "The Path to 9/11" as being based upon the 9/11 Commission Report. Now Disney/ABC admits it's mixing fact with fiction. So how will viewers know what is fact and what is fiction? Disney/ABC ought to portray a national tragedy accurately, instead of using 9/11 to defame and dishonor the truth in order to serve a political agenda two months before national elections.

Jake, I am very much looking forward to what you can tell us about the series. I must admit I am worried, for if the various (news) media aren't asking the necessary tough questions of our government, what hope do we have that they will do the same with their own parent companies?