Posted on 12/04/2003 6:26:42 AM PST by Tumbleweed_Connection
During Showtimes Monday night panel, Controversy: The Reagans, two liberals, Marvin Kalb and Lou Cannon, denounced the inaccurate portrayal of Ronald and Nancy Reagan in the movie switched from CBS to an airing Sunday night on Showtime. In addition, a co-producer of the film contradicted Showtimes CEO and admitted that the movie was not historically accurate, answering no when asked if the movie was meant to be historically true? Meanwhile, on FNCs Hannity & Colmes on Monday night, Ronald Reagans adopted son Michael condemned the portrayal he saw of his father, complaining: They made my father look like Mr. Magoo. And as for the repeated instances in the movie of Ronald calling his wife Nancy-pants, Michael Reagan revealed: I never heard my dad call Nancy 'Nancy-pants. During the 9pm EST panel show from Washington, DC on Showtime, and simulcast on C-SPAN, former NBC News correspondent Marvin Kalb, who is now with the Shorenstein Center at the JFK School of Government at Harvard University, asserted: The tone of it was insensitive, I think it was hostile in many places. I think when one realizes that President Reagan is in California in the tail end of a deep siege with Alzheimers, this is not the time to do this kind of a movie. After panel moderator Frank Sesno, a CNN veteran, ran a clip from the movie in which Holmes Tuttle, Mike Deaver and others in 1965 discuss how to convince Reagan to run for Governor of California, a scene in which they talk about how they can teach Reagan what to say and they suggest that theyve been talking to the wrong Reagan, meaning Nancy really decides for her husband, former Washington Post reporter Lou Cannon, who has penned several biographies of Ronald Reagan, rued: Later, Cannon added: Im sure everybody on this panel and that you remember the famous debate where Lloyd Bentsen says to Dan Quayle, you know, 'I know John F. Kennedy and youre no John F. Kennedy. Well I do know Ronald Reagan. This isnt Ronald Reagan. And I know Nancy Reagan and this isnt Nancy Reagan. For a look at some of Cannons books on Reagan, see these Amazon.com pages: For, Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power: www.amazon.com For, President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime: www.amazon.com For, Ronald Reagan: The Presidential Portfolio: History as Told through the Collection of the Ronald Reagan Library and Museum: www.amazon.com When Martin Anderson, a long-time friend of the Reagans and a domestic policy adviser in the Reagan White House, pointed how the producers and CBS had said the movie was historically accurate, Sesno put the question to Carl Sferrazza Anthony, an author of a book on First Ladies who carried the title of co-producer of The Reagans, but seemed to have little to really do with it: Speak for the film makers here for a moment: Was this, is this meant to be historically true? Sferrazza Anthony emphatically answered: No. But in a taped message which aired before the movie, Showtime Chairman and CEO Matt Blank had maintained: As you probably know, The Reagans has been criticized by those who have yet to see it as an unbalanced denouncement of Ronald Reagans presidency. We believe it is, in fact, an honest portrayal of many of the turning points in his life and in his political career....A diligent attempt was made by the filmmakers to have factual sources for every scene in this movie. For dramatic purposes, some dialogue has been embellished and some characters are composites. But nearly all of the historical facts in the movie can be substantiated and have been carefully researched. And last Wednesday morning on FNCs Fox & Friends, MRC analyst Amanda Monson noticed, Blank insisted we think it is when asked if the movie would reflect an accurate depiction of the lives of the Reagans. The November 26 exchange: Steve Doocy: Well, Im sure youre going to have a big audience because people are wanting to see what all the controversy is about. The big question though is, is the version youre going to run an accurate depiction of what the Reagans life has been like? Blank: Well, we think it is. Obviously some people will disagree. At the end of this movie youll learn that Ronald Reagan is a man who entered the Cold War, brought down the Iron Curtain. He also was a man involved in Iran Contra, who didnt mention the word AIDS for seven years of his administration. The Ron and Nancy Reagan story is one of the great love stories of our time and yes, Nancy Reagan was a very tough woman and a very demanding woman. And I think that itll be a very balanced portrayal of their life and Ronald Reagan's presidency. But, as Micheal Reagan, a nationally-syndicated radio talk show host, noted on FNCs Hannity & Colmes on Monday night: The reality of it is, if I can jump in for a moment, the only time you got anything positive out of this show last night was if you stayed awake long enough and you were willing to suffer through the terrible acting to get to the end when they scrolled at the end to show you what my father accomplished as President of the United States of America. Nowhere during the movie did they really, really get into what he did for America, what he did for the military. Indeed, the movie did not credit Reagan with winning the Cold War and only in a post-movie bit of text on screen did viewers learn: The MRCs Brad Wilmouth took down some of Michael Reagans comments: -- Sean Hannity: Did you watch the whole thing, Michael? -- Reagan: This was a 'trash Nancy movie. My goodness gracious. If Nancy, Nancy should have put her head under the covers last night when this movie was on. Alan Colmes: They made her, but, Michael, let me ask you something. Didnt they make Nancy look a lot worse than they made your dad look? -- Reagan: But the reality of this whole thing is, the way it was really, you know, portrayed, the whole thing, was just, it was just so disingenuous to my father. They made my father look like Mr. Magoo. And, listen, it wasnt Mr. Magoo running the White House. It was President Ronald Reagan. ... -- Hannity: I would say this isnt so much about one version or interpretation. This is about real character assassination. And as you once said, this really took your father, this affable, lovable man, and just portrayed him as a bumbling idiot who was- Monday morning on NBCs Today, Katie Couric allowed former Reagan speechwriter Peggy Noonan to run through what she found most inaccurate about the movie but then, MRC analyst Geoffrey Dickens noticed, Couric pointed out how many people bemoaned what happened, when Viacom, in the wake of conservative protest, moved the movie from CBS to Showtime, as a real loss for free speech in this country. Couric asked on the December 1 Today: In closing, what about, just a quick note about the brouhaha that ensued. Many people bemoaned what happened as a, as a real loss for free speech in this country. Other, others, I mean obviously this, sort of, brought up all sorts of different feelings. And Im just curious now after all is said and done what do you think about CBSs decision to move it to cable? Do you think they, they buckled under pressure that they shouldnt have buckled under or they did the right thing and it was a so-called moral decision? Noonan said she believes CBS Chairman Les Moonves did the right thing when he dropped it from CBS when he realized it was political propaganda and she marveled at the spontaneous uprising by the public when many saw the movie as unfair, and thats free speech. Showtime has scheduled three more airings of The Reagans: -- Thursday, December 4 at 8pm EST on Showtime East, 8pm PST on Showtime West
The Thursday one, any maybe the others, will be followed by a re-play of the hour-long panel show.
Its hard to imagine a cartoon that could be that bad. Here is a guy, Ronald Reagan, who has been in politics most of his life, hes been involved in a student strike as a freshman, hes been all through that gritty politics of the New Deal, the Democrats want him to run for Congress in the '50s. Hed given a speech for Barry Goldwater in '64. He was in politics....Its so bad, that I dont even know how they got there.
A year after Reagan left office,
the Berlin Wall came down,
ushering in the eventual
dissolution of the Soviet Union.
Michael Reagan: Yeah, I want my money back. I had to pay to get Showtime into my house, Sean. I called today and cancelled it. ...You know, after watching it, I got to tell you, Sean, after watching it, I would like to say we conservatives pressured CBS into moving over to Showtime. After watching it, we didnt have to pressure them at all. I think CBS looked at the show and saw the terrible job that they did, terrible acting job, the way it was portrayed, and said, 'This is a piece of trash, send it over to Showtime. Theyll buy anything.
Reagan: Oh, my good gracious, yeah, absolutely right. There was no redeeming qualities about Nancy in this movie at all. And Ill tell you, if I would have heard my dad call her 'Nancy-pants one more time, I would have shot the TV with a shotgun. I never heard my dad call Nancy 'Nancy-pants.
Reagan: Mr. Magoo.
Hannity: And that was the point because liberals wanted to rewrite history. And Barbra Streisands husband has a political agenda.
Reagan: And they also tried to infer through the whole McFarlane thing that somehow he had Alzheimers early on in the administration, which is something...the liberal left have always believed.
-- Saturday, December 6 at 8pm EST on Showtime Too East, 8pm PST on Showtime Too West
-- Wednesday, December 10 at 8pm EST on Showtime East and 8pm PST on Showtime West
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