As I recall, THE REAGANS ended up on Showtime.  I saw it and did not find it particularly objectionable.  I think the buzz about it created more ideological waves than the film itself.

I am not sure that any broadcast network has “a responsibility to remain politically neutral,” just as newspapers do not have that responsibility.  All that we can demand is explicit labeling of when content is (basically) factual and when it is speculative opinion.  ABC/Disney claims that they have so labelled their content; and, for the sake of fairness, we probably owe it to them to check out how explicit the labeling is.

On the other hand there have also been stories about distributing this program to our schools.  If that is the case, we ought to be looking into WHO will be doing that distribution and what impact it may have.  This moves the content into a different arena where we all have to be even more vigilant.

why should the purveyors of these attrocities not assume the public is stupid?  too much of the public is so stupid as to fall for the kind of inexcusable tripe proffered by abc. they fall for limbaugh, coulter, o’reilly. they watch fox news. in whatever numbers they fall or watch, any number is stunning given the rank and manifest badness of it all. when i hear roger ailes i can only agree, and how. most people accept as just and reasonable that a registered independent is excluded from a primary election. people accepted for years that separate but equal could be either in this, the land of the free. i have always understood the import of the phrase “home of the brave”. it means; if you live here, you’d better be brave. at this point in the game, one’s intelligence is insulted just by getting out of bed or, given the timing of “nightline”, getting into it.

OK, here the names, titles and email addresses for a number of key senior Disney decision makers I found, starting at the top
with the CEO and board of directors are at the bottom.

Let’s make our voices heard and see if we can get these guy to pull this blatantly obvious Bush propaganda.  ABC may profit from the predictable controversy but airing a film designed to obfuscate Bush’s responsibility for 9/11 will cause ABC to suffer greatly in the estimation of serious people.

Disney and ABC should leave the RNC propaganda to Fox, it’s not ABC’s demographic.

Robert Iger - CEO - robert dot a dot iger at disney dot com

Rich Ross - President of Disney Channel Worldwide - rich dot ross at disney dot com

Sean Cocchia - VP/Business Development, Disney Channel Worldwide- sean dot cocchia at disney dot com

Gary Marsh - Disney Channel Worldwide President of Entertainment - gary dot marsh at disney dot com

Sarah Shelton - Assistant to Gary Marshsarah - shelton at disney dot com

Scott Garner - SVP/Programming, Disney Channel - scott dot garner at disney dot com

Karen Myer - Assistant to Scott Garner - karen dot myer at disney dot com

Meredith Metz - Senior Vice President, Creative Affairs, Walt Disney Television Animation - meredith dot metz at disney dot com

Lisa Salamone - The Head of Animation Production, Disney Channel - lisa dot salamone at disney dot com

Joanna Spak - The Head of Finance, Planning, etc., Disney Channel - joanna dot spak at disney dot com

Mark Kenchelian - The Head of Business and Legal Affairs, Disney Channel -mark dot kenchelian at disney dot com

Jewell Engstrom - CFO and Executive VP for Disney-ABC Cable Group - jewell dot engstrom at disney dot com

Olivia Stafford - Assistant to Jewell Engstrom - olivia dot stafford at disney dot com

Albert Cheng - EVP/Digital Media, Disney-ABC Television Group - albert dot cheng at disney dot com

Karen Hobson - Digital Media Communications Office, Disney-ABC Television Group - karen dot hobson at disney dot com

George Bodenheimer - Co-Chairman Media Networks Group - george dot bodenheimer at disney dot com

Nicole Nichols - Senior VP of Entertainment Communications, Disney-ABC Television Group - nicole dot nichols at disney dot com

Aime Wolfe - Assistant to Nicole Nichols - aime dot wolfe at disney dot com

Patti McTeague - VP of Kids Communications - patti dot mcteague at disney dot com

Siobhan Kenny - Acting Head of International Communications - siobhan dot kenny at disney dot com

Paul Lee - ABC Family Channel - paul dot lee at disney dot com

Annie Fort - ABC Family Media Relations - annie dot fort at disney dot com

Alex Wallau - President of Network Operations & Administration - alex dot wallau at disney dot com

David Westin - ABC News President - david dot westin at disney dot com

Mike Shaw - ABC Sales and Marketing President - mike dot shaw at disney dot com

Fred Kuperberg - Disney/ABC Executive VP of Business and Legal Affairs - fred dot kuperberg at disney dot com

Kara Rousseau - VP of Ad Sales Marketing for Disney/ABC Kids Networks - kara dot rousseau at disney dot com

Kim Harbin - Buena Vista Media Relations - kim dot harbin at disney dot com

Anne Gates - Disney Consumer Products Executive VP & CFO - anne dot gates at disney dot com

James Fielding - Senior VP, Retail Sales and Marketing for DCP - james dot fielding at disney dot com

Deborah Dugan - President of Disney Publishing - deborah dot dugan at disney dot com

Graham Hopper - Senior VP and General Manager of Buena Vista Games - graham dot hopper at disney dot com

Angela Emery - Director of Public Relations, Buena Vista Games - angela dot emery at disney dot com

Chris Bess - Buena Vista Home Entertainment - chris dot bess at disney dot com

Peter Murphy - Senior Adviser to Mr. Iger - peter dot murphy at disney dot com

Judy Estrin - Board of Directors - jestrin at packetdesign dot com

John Bryson - Board of Directors - john dot bryson at edisonintl dot com

Monica Lozano - Board of Directors - monica dot lozano at laopinion dot com

John Chen - Board of Directors - john dot chen at sybase dot com

Gary Wilson - Board of Directors - gary dot wilson at nwa dot com

Leo Odonova - Board of Directors - leo dot odonovan at mbna dot com

Thomas Staggs - CFO/Senior V.P. - tom dot staggs at disney dot com

David K. Thompson - Senior Vice President - David dot K dot Thompson at disney dot com

Some right wingers are saying “Hey, you guys on the left had Fahrenheit 9/11, now we have this.”

Fine. Then put it in the movie theater. Make those who wish to see it pay for it.

But you do not put this on a broadcast network. ABC/Disney have a responsibility to remain politically neutral, but with this it would appear they are acting as activists on behalf of the GOP.

BTW, whatever happened to that “Reagans” miniseries?

Re: Comment #22018 by Stephen Smoliar on 9/06 at 7:22 am

“I would take issue over the reference to Damon Runyon.  The thing that made Runyon so enjoyable was the quality of language uttered by his characters.  (Only DEADWOOD has risen to that level of dialog.) There is no quality whatsoever in the language coming out of the Bush administration.  The rule is that, when your language is impoverished, you really do not have anything to say (or perhaps anything you dare reveal through your speech).”

You are absoulutely right! I overreached in the wrong direction. I should have just written “cartoon-like” chararacters.

Thank you for the correct insight.

Best,
Hilding

It is interesting that this film and the 9/11 Commission failed to mention the specific military orders issued during the Clinton admistration dealing specifically with terrorist air attacks and hijackings and readiness to respond and intercept “suspicious aircraft” even inside US airspace all of which was not done
on Sept. 11, 2001.
In 1999 NORAD completed a 2 billion dollar upgrade of the air
defense computer system at Cheyenne Mountain which is not
mentioned either.
From 1997 to June 2001 there were multiple NORAD exercises
dealing with the threat of terrorists firing cruise missiles at US cities, but the Bush administration claims total ignorance of such a threat of “domestic terrorist attacks” yet it is Clinton who is portrayed as not trying to protect US citiczens from terrorists.
Why are these hundreds of Clinton era documents that
correctly predicted terrorist air attacks on US cities, many profusely illustrated with graphics and photographs, not published or included in documentary films? They speak for themselves since Bush has no excuse for ignoring this body of evidence of the pre-9/11 “terrorist threat” .

As I have said before, the corporate media will do anything to push its corporate and rightwing agenda. It realizes the trouble that the GOP is in; hence the necessesity for this so called docu-drama. Its sheer purpose is to prop up GOP and damage opposition to GOP. What other conceivable purpose do these corporate media outlets have, to inform the public....haha, only the most naive person would believe that.

It’s time for the teachers and librarians out there to protest this indoctrination of the young and the spreading of false information to the public.

These people are specialists. They can do it. The librarians were some of the first, and were certainly the most vocal, citizens to make public the Bush administration’s illegal demands for library patron’s records.

Hilding Lindquist has hit the nail on the head.  Given that the House of Representatives is showing signs of coming under Democratic control and given that a Democratic House will at least be able to draw up articles of impeachment (even if the case never comes to trial in the Senate), the Republicans are committed to keeping their control “by any means necessary” (in the immortal words of Malcolm X)!  Do these guys really think the public is that dumb?  As far as I can tell, they are no different from the designers of television advertising, giving the impression that cars should be driven at unsafe, gasoline-wasting speeds over dangerous terrain by bodies slimmed down to a state of anorexia!  Republican politicians understand how to get the public to CONSUME, and they play the game very well.

I would take issue over the reference to Damon Runyon.  The thing that made Runyon so enjoyable was the quality of language uttered by his characters.  (Only DEADWOOD has risen to that level of dialog.) There is no quality whatsoever in the language coming out of the Bush administration.  The rule is that, when your language is impoverished, you really do not have anything to say (or perhaps anything you dare reveal through your speech).

WE HAVE TO GET OUT IN THE STREETS, OUR LIVES DEPEND ON IT.

The reactionaries are planning to take over every aspect of our lives. The Republicans and Democrats are contesting as to whom is more anti Muslim and are preparing for a world war against Islam. 

THEY ARE SICK, VERY, VERY SICK.

We on the left have to stop them.  The left is disorganized but one group is trying. It is called the World Can’t Wait. It can’t!  We have to drive out the Bush regime and keep the reactionary Democrats from getting power.

Hoo boy! The Neocons and their ilk are going nuts! The people are smoking ‘em out and they are pulling out all the stops ... we are DEFINITELY in for a bumpy ride up to and through the election.

If these brilliant idiots are willing to expose their duplicity in what seems to be an obvious admission of having something to hide ... well, then they are admitting they don’t dare lose this election ... and since they ARE going to lose it if the votes are counted ... well, mark my words ... they are gonna try their DAMNEDEST to make sure the votes ain’t gonna get counted.

These folks are sweating cluster bombs right about now. This is a HUGE overreach (based on what I’ve read) and the people are NOT gonna like it ...

God, do these Runyonesque characters (Bush - Cheney - Rice - Rumsfeld and assorted camp followers) REALLY think people are THIS dumb?!

This is just the thing to turn loose a tidal wave of people power to throw the bums out ... ‘cuz we are gonna have to choose now. Do we want to keep being lied to at this level of doing the people’s business? I mean, used car sales are one thing ... but this? When our best and brightest are dying in the sands of the Middle East for a lie?

Sadly—because this is my country I’m talking about—I think this is setting up to be protrayed as a Mel Brooks comedy rather than as an Oliver Stone drama.

Or the gang who couldn’t shoot straight ... who would have thought how perfect of an icon Cheney would become? And there are some of us who still don’t believe in a god, much less one with a sense of humor.