ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A SECOND-RATE FILMMAKER?(Ann Coulter)

Yahoo ^ | 11-16-05 | Ann Coulter

[smoothsailing]

ARE YOU NOW OR HAVE YOU EVER BEEN A SECOND-RATE FILMMAKER?

By Ann Coulter1 hour, 1 minute ago

As noted here previously, George Clooney's movie "Good Night, and Good Luck," about pious parson Edward R. Murrow and Sen. Joseph McCarthy, failed to produce one person unjustly accused by McCarthy. Since I described McCarthy as a great American patriot defamed by liberals in my 2003 book, "Treason," liberals have had two more years to produce a person -- just one person -- falsely accused by McCarthy. They still can't do it.

Meanwhile, I can prove that Murrow's good friend Lawrence Duggan was a Soviet spy responsible for having innocent people murdered. The brilliant and perceptive journalist Murrow was not only unaware of the hundreds of Soviet spies running loose in the U.S. government, he was also unaware that his own dear friend Duggan was a Soviet spy -- his friend on whose behalf corpses littered the Swiss landscape.

Contrary to the image of the Black Night of Fascism (BNOF) under McCarthy leading to mass suicide with bodies constantly falling on the heads of pedestrians in Manhattan, Duggan was the only suicide. After being questioned by the FBI, Duggan leapt from a window. Of course, given the people he was doing business with, he may have been pushed.

After Duggan's death, Murrow, along with the rest of the howling establishment, angrily denounced the idea that Duggan could possibly have been disloyal to America.

Well, now we know the truth. Decrypted Soviet cables and mountains of documents from Soviet archives prove beyond doubt that Lawrence Duggan was one of Stalin's most important spies. "McCarthyism" didn't kill him; his guilt did.

During the height of the Soviet purges in the mid-'30s, as millions of innocents were being tortured, exiled and killed on Stalin's orders, Murrow's good pal Duggan was using his position at the State Department to pass important documents to the Soviets. The documents were so sensitive, Duggan had to return the originals to the State Department before the end of the day. Some were so important, they were sent directly to Stalin and Molotov.

On at least one occasion, Murrow's dear friend Duggan sat with his Soviet handler for an hour as the handler photographed 60 documents for the motherland. In other words, Duggan was the kind of disloyal, two-faced, back-stabbing weasel you rarely see outside of the entertainment industry. (He certainly was perceptive, that Murrow.)

All this time, people Duggan knew personally were being falsely accused and executed back in the Soviet Union. Duggan expressed concern about Stalin's purges with his Soviet handler, but he didn't stop spying. As Allen Weinstein describes it in "The Haunted Wood," Duggan was mostly concerned about being falsely accused by Stalin himself someday.

Because of Murrow's good buddy Duggan, innocent people were killed. Not just the millions murdered during the purges while Duggan was earning "employee of the month" awards from Stalin. At least one man was murdered solely to protect Duggan's identity as a Soviet spy.

Ignatz Reiss had been the head of Soviet secret police in Europe. As such, he was aware of Soviet agents in the U.S., including Duggan. But unlike Duggan, Reiss was stunned by Stalin's bloody purges. In 1937, Reiss defected from the Soviet Union, threatening to expose Duggan if they came after him. It was his death warrant.

Two months later, Soviet secret police tracked Reiss to a restaurant in Switzerland. According to the official memo describing Reiss' murder, Soviet agents dragged Reiss out of the restaurant, shoved him in a car, shot him and dumped his body by the side of the road. (Or, in Soviet parlance, he was "debriefed.")

Soviet officials later happily informed Duggan's handler in America: "(Reiss) is liquidated, (but) not yet his wife. ... Now the danger that (Duggan) will be exposed because of (Reiss) is considerably decreased." Despite all Clooney's double-sourced fact-checking, he missed the part about Murrow's good friend Duggan being an accomplice to murder.

To hear these liberals carry on, "McCarthyism" was the worst thing that ever happened in the history of the universe. No one has ever been so persecuted or so heroic as Hollywood actors in the '50s.

At the exact same time as these crybabies were wailing about McCarthyism, there was much worse going on in the parts of the world so admired by the Hollywood left. It's not as if we have to go back to the Peloponnesian War to find greater suffering than that of Hollywood drama queens during the BNOF under McCarthyism.

I believe anyone would find it preferable to have been a "target" of McCarthy in the '50s than to have been an ordinary citizen living in the Soviet Union, Hungary, Poland, the Ukraine or any nation infected by the Red Plague.

Thanks to McCarthy, and no thanks to Murrow, the worst horror to befall an American citizen in the '50s was the dire prospect of losing a movie credit -- although, since then, I suppose having to watch a George Clooney movie would run a close second.

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[nopardons]

McCarthy was a SENATOR and never, NOT EVER, went after anyone in Hollywood, or any place else, outside of the Govesrnment.

HUAC, or THE HOUSE ON UNAMERICAN COMMITTEE went after the "Hollywood Ten".

Hollywood blaming McCarthy for anything, is akin to a child saying my dog ate my homework.

[Blind Eye Jones]

I think that Oliver Stone was also 'outed' by the KBG files... nothing wrong with that.

[Zeroisanumber]

Stalin was a monster, McCarthy was a drunken opportunist. There, argument's settled.

[MarkL]

What was the name of the movie about Stalin? The one that talks about his rise to power and his purges and famines.

Anyone else remember the interview where "Red Ed" Asner said that he thought that Stalin was "misunderstood?"

Mark

[MarkL]

No need to root them out. They all belong to the DNC.

Not all of them... There are plenty in the republican party as well... In the house and senate.

Mark

[Cautor]

I think it was called You are There or something like that. I watched that too. Recall him visiting Conrad Hilton on one show. I think he also interviewed Castro.

[MarkL]

And there's always the usual contingent of liberal fat chicks who like to jump into Ann Coulter threads so they can ignore Ann's column and make some irrelevant comment about how Ann should eat a cheeseburger or whatever.

Well, I'm neither liberal or a chick, but I think that Ann needs to eat something! I've got a good friend who's naturally VERY skinny. I know for a fact that she doesn't have any sort of an eating disorder. But she rarely broke 98 pounds. Size 0 jeans were sometimes a bit loose on her! She used to claim that she weighed 105#, but I used to tease her that might be when soaking wet, getting out of a shower, holding a bag of flower! She's finally gained a little bit of weight. Now, she does weigh about 110, and she looks SO MUCH BETTER! Ann could use a little bit of weight too. JMHO.

But then I LOVE Ann for her mind too! For some reason, she's never replied to my many marriage proposals. I can't imagine why...

Mark

[GodBlessRonaldReagan]

An interesting aside on this film: Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, was an executive producer. Guess I know what NBA team I'm rooting against this year!

[wtc911]

btt

[wizr]

"You are There" was Walter Cronkite with an important event in history. He would interview actors enacting roles at battles, Declaration of Independence, etc.

Too bad we aren't allowed to watch these old programs. Some film deteriorated over time, but it's probably the cost of restoration to profit that's keeping these programs in the can.

[Rummyfan]

I don't think it is in wide relase and probably will not be unless it receives a bunch of award nominations. Given the subject matter that seems like a sure thing.

[Rummyfan]

But see ... their hatred of McCarthy is totally misplaced. McCarthy got the ball rolling but it was the HOUSE UnAmerican Activities Committee (HUAC) that did the Hollywood interviewing. Further, the dreaded blacklist wasn't instituted by the Congress or the government, but by the studio management.

[trisham]

This is Ann at her best, without some of the less than admirable attitude she displayed during the Miers nomination.

[Cautor]

You know, you are absolutely right about that now that you mention it. That was in the 50s so I'm pretty foggy about some of my recollections. Thanks for the correction.

[rcocean]

"I know a lot of FReepers don't like AC",

Mostly, Bushbots.

If tommorrow, Bush was to nominate Ted Kennedy for SCOTUS, the Bushbots would support him. They would write supportive posts about how "clever Bush was" and "how complex political factors forced Bush to nominate Teddy - who is really a secret conservative" and "how Bush had nominate Mass Fats because only he knows the whole situation". Blah, Blah, Blah. Hugh Hewitt would lead the charge.

The Bushbots hate AC for opposing Bush, now they more or less like her, but the second she fails to support Bush 100%, they'll be back on the attack. My 3 favorite Babes:

[wizr]

I just got lucky. Sometimes, I have difficulty remembering my own name. My favorite line is "I've slept since then.".

[smoothsailing]

...McCarthy was a drunken opportunist.

How so?

[weegee]

Ed Asner: 'Hannity's next ... just like we went after Limbaugh'

"Mr. Asner, I do have a question – unrelated to the film," I said. "In your long and distinguished acting career, going back to your earliest days in Chicago all the way up to present days working with Will Farrell on 'Elf', you have had the chance to do almost anything you could ever wish to do. But if you had the chance to play the biographical story of a historical figure you respected most over your lifetime, who would it be?"

Remembering the sad story he had told about the poor kids in Chicago, I half expected him to come out with a political name of some sort.

"I think Joe Stalin was a guy that was hugely misunderstood," said Asner. "And to this day, I don't think I have ever seen an adequate job done of telling the story of Joe Stalin, so I guess my answer would have to be Joe Stalin."

[2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten]

OK philosophical question - has their ever been a bad Ann Coulter column - it seems that such a thing would be like going faster than the speed of light or violating the second law of thermodynamics i.e. IMPOSSIBLE.

[smoothsailing]

LOL! She is a good writer.

Speaking only for myself, I found her recent columns on SCOTUS nominees to be a bit tiresome. She was stuck on that for too long,IMHO.Although her arguments were sound, I thought she was not at her best.

I find her to be to my liking when she's exposing the lies and hypocrisy of the Democrats, the media and the left in general.That's when here biting commentary and devilish wit are in full blossom.