| How
Viacom and Showtime are Smearing The Reagans
Excerpts
from exclusive story by Jim Rutenberg
October 21, 2003
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As
snippets about the television movie circulate in Washington and
Los Angeles, friends and relatives of the ailing Mr. Reagan are
expressing growing concern that this deconstruction of his presidency
is shot through a liberal lens, exaggerating his foibles and giving
short shrift to his accomplishments.
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That
the part of Mr. Reagan is played by James Brolin, who is married
to the conservative bete noire Barbra Streisand and who makes no
secret of his own liberal politics, only intensifies their fears.
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The
details the producers do choose to stress -- like Mr. Reagan's moments
of forgetfulness, his supposed opinions on AIDS and gays, his laissez-faire
handling of his staff members -- often carry a disapproving tone.
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Nancy
Reagan, who is played by Judy Davis, does not get light treatment
either. “…the script portrays Mrs. Reagan … as
a control addict, who set the president's schedule based on her
astrologer's advice and who had significant influence over White
House personnel and policy decisions.
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The
script also accuses Mr. Reagan not only of showing no interest in
addressing the AIDS crisis, but of asserting that the patients of
AIDS essentially deserved their disease. During a scene in which
his wife pleads with him to help people battling AIDS, Mr. Reagan
says resolutely, "They that live in sin shall die in sin"
and refuses to discuss the issue further.
Elizabeth
Egloff, a playwright who wrote the final version of the script,
acknowledged there was no evidence such a conversation took place.
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Another
likely controversial moment in the television movie comes in a scene
that implies strongly that President Reagan's inspiration for the
Star Wars space-based system was a 1940 movie in which he starred,
"Murder in the Air." Some experts have said that the film
may have influenced Mr. Reagan's decision to sign off on the program.
Others have dismissed such claims as overemphasized by liberals.
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Mr.
Zadan and Mr. Meron, acknowledge their liberal politics, as do the
stars of the television movie, Mr. Brolin and Ms. Davis. But Mr.
Meron, said: "This is not a vendetta, this is not revenge.
It is about telling a good story in our honest sort of way. We all
believe it's a story that should be told."
"With
the climate that has been in America since Sept. 11, it appears,
from the outside anyway, to not be quite as open a society as it
used to be," Ms. Davis said during an interview at her hotel
in Montreal. "By open, I mean as free in terms of a critical
atmosphere, and that sort of ugly specter of patriotism."
She
added, "If this film can help create a bit more questioning
in the public about the direction America has been going in since
the 1970's, I guess then I think it will be doing a service."
Mr.
Brolin said he, too, hoped that the film would prompt Americans
to be more suspect of their leaders. "We're in such a pickle
right now in our nation," he said, "that maybe if learn
something from this."
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CLICK
HERE TO READ DRUDGE’S WORLD EXCLUSIVE
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“Former
first lady Nancy Reagan has reached out to Hollywood heavyweights,
including Merv Griffin, to somehow stop an upcoming CBS-TV movie
about her life and times with Ronald Reagan.”
Actress
Judy Davis's portrayal of Nancy Reagan appears to be inspired by
the Joan Crawford camp biopic MOMMIE DEAREST; wild mood swings,
dramatic lighting, and tart-mouth insults are hysterically delivered
by Davis. |
Smearing Reagan's legacy
Ronald Reagan's legacy is under attack.
For
years, liberal academics have tried to explain how the Soviet Union collapsed
without giving credit to the U.S. president who challenged communism head
on and won.
Now
Hollywood is opening up another front. Next month, Mr. Reagan will be
tarred and feathered in a made-for-TV docudrama by CBS. It is a transparent
attempt to obscure historical fact with Tinsel Town glitz.
CLICK
HERE to read the rest of the Washington Times OpEd.
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The
Heart of Ronald Reagan
Making
Sense By Michael Reagan
Ronald
Reagan, about to be portrayed as an unfeeling, forgetful conservative,
had the biggest heart of any President in America’s history
– so big that CBS had no trouble finding it when they decided
to plunge a dagger into it.
CLICK
HERE to read the rest of Michael Reagan’s column.
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