‘Path to 9/11’ tells a sad, riveting tale~ ...is unsparing, and its viewpoint draws criticism

MSNBC ^ | Sept 7, 2006 7:05 a.m. PT | FRAZIER MOORE - AP COMMENTARY

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

NEW YORK - "The Path to 9/11" will break your heart. It will leave you unnerved, even more than before. And angrier than ever. A five-hour miniseries that dramatizes a decade's worth of events leading up to the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, this film is plenty gripping. It doesn't forgo artistry for polemics.

Even so, it drives home, step by step, a message any viewer can understand: The people in charge of keeping you safe failed the nation monumentally. Systemically. Shamefully. And continue to, five years after what should have been a terribly sufficient wake-up call.

Then "The Path to 9/11" leaves the viewer with a chilling coda: a recap of the "report card" issued last December by the 9/11 Commission, which accused the government of failing to protect the nation against another attack, and assigned failing grades in five areas, with a dozen Ds and just one A (actually, A-minus).

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

And :

ABC's "Path to 9/11" Still Clear

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by Natalie Finn
Sep 8, 2006, 8:00 PM PT

Don't believe the hype. Or believe it. Either way, don't decide either way until you've watched all five hours.

That's pretty much the gist of ABC's message to potential viewers of the network's two-part miniseries The Path to 9/11, which airs commercial-free Sunday and Monday. (Ironically there will now be a 20-minute break Monday at 9 p.m. to accommodate a speech from President Bush.)

While ABC has stated that the $40 million production is still in the editing process and is being slightly tweaked in response to concerns that it unfairly attacks the Clinton administration for failure to act on terrorist threats in the years leading up to the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the network has not bowed to pressure from former Cabinet members and left-wing groups to "dump," "yank" or otherwise pull the movie from the schedule.

The Democratic National Committee, for one, submitted a petition signed by 200,000 people calling for ABC to drop the "right-wing, factually inaccurate mocudrama." The Center for American Progress Action Fund announced it had collected 25,000 letters asking for either a heavy edit or a cancellation. "The miniseries presents an agenda that blames the Clinton administration for the 9/11 attacks while ignoring numerous errors and failures of the Bush administration," the advocacy group said in a statement.

Conservative blogs, meanwhile, are putting up a spirited defense. And Rush Limbaugh seems to have high hopes for the miniseries, saying during his radio show last week: "From what I've been told, the film really zeros in on the shortcomings of the Clinton administration." He said today, "What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a mob-like reaction from partisan hacks to intimidate an American broadcast network."

[A.Hun]

I saved the whole page so when the Clintonistas see it and bury it, we will have a record.

By the way, a pig just flew by my window...

[bpjam]

I'd rather see the entire project scuttled than a sanitized version while only blames us and leaves the Clinton Keystone Cops blameless. It isn't exactly 'art' if politicians get to edit it, now is it???

[A.Hun]

At this late stage, other than cosmetic changes (maybe dropping some lines), there isn't a whole lot that could be done to a 5 hour mini-series. IMHO.

I hope so.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

AND:

Democratic Bloggers Plan to 'Google Bomb' Controversial 9/11 Docudrama

[beckysueb]

Very odd, too, that the news of sadaam's "innocence" came out this morning. Its all over TV this morning that the CIA says there was no connection between 9/11 and Iraq. Dim talking points for the next few weeks to take the heat off from Path to 9/11.

[LibLieSlayer]

"And Rush Limbaugh seems to have high hopes for the miniseries, saying during his radio show last week: "From what I've been told, the film really zeros in on the shortcomings of the Clinton administration."

This is a friggin' lie. Rush not only has seen the original version, he is one of a few that has a copy on DVD! Lies, Liars, dims and the press... all the same!

LLS

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ABC is gonna "cash in"...the execs must be loving the hype.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I'd pay for a collectors copy of a DVD....

[LibLieSlayer]

What is really sad is that the 400 page report that states this is NOT the 1200 Page Bipartisan Senate report, but a 400 page addendum report stating the dim's view of what the "REPORT" should have said. It's political lies, and there is a letter in the press dated 1 year ago, written by Rockefeller that states they would do exactly this before the election. It will be outed next week.

BTW, Bush NEVER used al qaeda in any way as justification for war. Lying POS dims lie... that's the truth!

LLS

[LibLieSlayer]

Me too!

LLS

[OldFriend]

I suspect that the allocation of time towards the two presidencies is going to allow the documentary to savage the Bush presidency which was 234 days prior to the attacks. The eight years of klinton presidency getting the same amount of time?

Methinks we've been had.

[OldFriend]

Cyrus insists NO ONE has seen the entire documentary.

Something smells here.

Since I haven't watched ABC in many years I don't intend to start now.

[FlingWingFlyer]

The boys and girls on FNC are really trashing this film this morning. They are relieved that the Clintonistas are on the verge of having this film pulled. Whether the film is shown now is irrelevant. The DemocRATS are editing out anything critical of the DemocRATS. They were able to get their lawyers Dick Benveniste and Jamie Gorelick on the laughable and very hilarious "911 Commission" and now they have Willie Clinton himself in ABC's editing room. What a joke. Welcome to the DemocRATS' New America.

[engrpat]

If I remember right, didn't the NY Times come out with an editorial in support of this series? Does anyone have a link to it?

[A.Hun]

Yep...guaranteed to get their 40,000,000 worth.

[EDINVA]

Did you hear the writer on Sean Hannity's radio program yesterday? He seemed disappointed, but said that no matter what editing was done, the "heart" of the message would be impossible to edit out.

.. in other words, they can tweak it and try putting lipstick on that pig (that just flew past your window), but guess what? it's still a pig!

I also heard night 2 has a scene that isn't flattering to Condi Rice but not a peep outta this mob on that.

Can't wait to see it.

[A.Hun]

Methinks we've been had.

I hope not OldFRiend, but it is certainly possible. I hope most of the second night is dedicated to the terrorists in country, and how they managed it.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

MORE:

ABC's "Path to 9/11" Treads on Clintonites' Feelings

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by Josh Grossberg
Sep 7, 2006, 3:45 PM PT

Safe to say that Bill Clinton won't be TiVo'ing ABC's The Path to 9/11 this weekend.

Several of Clinton's minions, including former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger and the former President's personal attorney and Clinton Foundation head Bruce Lindsey have put pen to paper this week asking Disney CEO Robert Iger to yank the ballyhooed miniseries.

According to press and marketing materials, the two-part docudrama, airing commerical-free Sunday and Monday, is based on the 9/11 Commission's sweeping review of what led to that national tragedy five years ago. But according to the Clinton crew, the miniseries plays fast and loose with history to wrongly cast blame of the terror attacks on Clinton officials.

"The content of this drama is factually and incontrovertibly inaccurate and ABC has a duty to fully correct all errors or pull the drama entirely," wrote Lindsey. "It is unconscionable to mislead the American public about one of the most horrendous tragedies our country has ever known."

As the pressure mounted Thursday, with additional attacks from left-leaning sites like Media Matters and ThinkProgress.org and liberal bloggers, ABC said it would not pull the $40 million miniseries starring Harvey Keitel and Patricia Heaton and Donnie Wahlberg, releasing a written statement asking viewers to take a wait and see approach.

"The Path to 9/11 is not a documentary of the events leading to 9/11. It is a dramatization, drawn from a variety of sources including the 9/11 Commission Report, other published materials, and personal interviews," the network said.

"No one has seen the final version of the film, because the editing process is not yet complete, so criticisms of film specifics are premature and irresponsible...We hope viewers will watch the entire broadcast of the finished film before forming an opinion about it.