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Daschle's un-Reagan-like cowardice: Jon Dougherty nails senator, CBS for hateful attack on Reagan
WorldNetDaily.com ^ | Friday, November 7, 2003 | Jon Dougherty

Posted on 11/07/2003 12:48:25 AM PST by JohnHuang2

Daschle's un-Reagan-like cowardice

Posted: November 7, 2003
1:00 a.m. Eastern

© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com

You have to hand it to Sen. Tom Daschle. If anything, the Democrats' minority leader is predictable – no matter the issue, he can always be counted on to take the wrong side. But maybe he can't help it. Maybe he's just been a member of a party with no morale compass for so long, he is unable to distinguish right from wrong. Democrats, you know, rarely make such black-and-white distinctions – unless, of course, they're disparaging white people as racists in order to court black votes.

The most recent example of Daschle's mindless, predictable liberalism comes at the expense of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, in the form of supporting a film reviewers have described as a disgusting, unfair and hateful attack on a man who, at this point in his storied life, can't even defend himself anymore.

Earlier this week, CBS executives decided to pass on their own production of a miniseries called "The Reagans," a film which, over two nights, was bound to serve as an embarrassing hatchet job of a good man and woman who did great things for our nation, and whose primary faults, in the eyes of Hollywood and D.C. liberals, were to be conservative in values and Republican in political affiliation.

This is no small deal. Remember, CBS is the same network that looked the other way when its prime-time news reader, Dan Rather, spoke at a Democratic fund-raiser in Austin, Texas, in April 2001. (Rather later apologized, said the gig was "an embarrassing and regrettable error," but given his longtime Democratic connections, you have to suspect it was an "embarrassing ... error" because he got caught).

But recognizing the economic consequences due to befall it if the Nov. 16 and 18 telecast went forward, CBS decided to pass on the project to its sister pay network, Showtime. It would have been much braver if a) CBS killed the film outright or, preferably, b) never made the film in the first place. But conservatives have to take mainstream media victories where we can get them.

Daschle, of course, doesn't see it as a victory. He sees it as some sort of loss for free speech. He sounds as if the production is something on the scale of "Ben Hur" or "Gone With The Wind," an instant classic that was intentionally destroyed.

Regarding CBS' decision to cancel the telecast, Daschle said, "It smells of intimidation to me. It sounds to me like they were intimidated and making decisions that reversed earlier ones. And I'm disappointed."

"I think any time occasions arise when the essence of the judgment made by television producers is influenced by outside forces, we have to call into question whether that level of intimidation is appropriate," he moaned. "Clearly, we're all paying the price."

You have to wonder if Daschle's phony outrage would be the same if, say, a network made a disparaging, unfair film about Bill and Hillary Clinton (or an accurate one – the truth about the Clintons is bad enough). Were that to happen, voiced opposition would no longer be "intimidation," but instead would be hailed as an "exercise of free speech."

Instead of piling on the anti-Reagan bandwagon, why aren't Daschle and Co. asking questions that should be asked in the wake of this cinematic disaster? For instance, why is no one asking CBS why it made the film now? Why not a decade or more ago, shortly after Ronald Reagan left office? Why wait until the man is too incapacitated to correct the record?

Did CBS think audiences have been so desensitized by all the garbage the networks regularly broadcast no one would care about a factually incorrect movie that wrongly disparages a former president? Are liberal filmmakers at CBS trying to put a popular Republican president in a bad light to, say, upset the re-election of another popular Republican president (Mr. Bush, are you watching?) Or are they just too afraid of conservative thinker-fighters like Ann Coulter, Sean Hannity, Larry Elder and David Limbaugh to take them on instead?

Liberal Hollywood's hatred of all things Republican is legendary. Daschle's behavior, on the other hand, is inexcusable. By failing to come to the defense of a fellow elected official – especially a president – because that president belonged to a different party makes Daschle more than just a two-bit political opportunist. It makes him a coward.



TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cbs; daschle; thereagans
Friday, November 7, 2003

Quote of the Day by jeannineinsd

1 posted on 11/07/2003 12:48:25 AM PST by JohnHuang2
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To: JohnHuang2
Tom Daschle seems to be of the mindset that any press is good press.

He's a complete baffoon out there, and looks more pathetic with each passing day.

2 posted on 11/07/2003 3:51:35 AM PST by Northern Yankee (Freedom.... needs a soldier !)
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To: Northern Yankee
Maybe it's hard to be positive after you've dug your own grave.
3 posted on 11/07/2003 3:56:35 AM PST by freeangel (freeangel)
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To: JohnHuang2
of a party with no morale compass for so long

Go Team!

Editors have been replaced with spell checkers.

4 posted on 11/07/2003 4:10:45 AM PST by Grit (Tolerance for all but the intolerant...and those who tolerate intolerance etc etc)
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To: Northern Yankee
There's an axiom in politics...."I don't care what they say about me as long as they spell my name correctly and publish it often."
5 posted on 11/07/2003 4:13:43 AM PST by CIBGUY
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To: JohnHuang2
He's saddened, deeply saddened at the news of the CBS cancellation.
6 posted on 11/07/2003 4:14:55 AM PST by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop
I kind of hoped CBS would air the show. Then someone could do a show on the Clinton's featuring his WC Fields nose, Hillary's upside down legs, the sink, Hillary using a dildo that looked like Eleanor Roosevelt, Bill throwing Buddy in front of the car, Bill ordering someone to kill Linda Willey's cat, Hillary stealing the furniture, etc.
7 posted on 11/07/2003 4:20:32 AM PST by afz400
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To: afz400
When was the last time the press did an investigative report on Linda Daschle and her lobbying the same Congress that her husband Tom has so much control over.
8 posted on 11/07/2003 5:15:31 AM PST by gunnedah
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To: gunnedah
When was the last time the press did an investigative report on Linda Daschle and her lobbying the same Congress that her husband Tom has so much control over.

Shhhhh, we are supposed to be talking about supposed non government "censorship" and how much the liberals in America are victims of a growing Right Wing Conspiracy (Trademark), and then you inject something that undoubtedly throws them off track. Stop asking difficult questions.

As Reagan would say "There you go again."

9 posted on 11/07/2003 9:16:13 AM PST by PeoplesRep_of_LA (Treason doth never prosper, for if it does, none dare call it treason)
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To: JohnHuang2
By failing to come to the defense of a fellow elected official ? especially a president ? because that president belonged to a different party makes Daschle more than just a two-bit political opportunist. It makes him a coward.

Amen, a snivelling little bastard comes to my mind.

10 posted on 12/06/2003 6:36:28 PM PST by BobbyK (The Truth Is Out There.)
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