Patterico's Pontifications

9/10/2006

Destroying the Myth That Right-Wing Bloggers All Received “The Path to 9/11”

Filed under: General — Patterico @ 4:15 pm



In recent days, lefties like Glenn Greenwald have been arguing that “Path to 9/11” was marketed to right-wing bloggers — “even” to “obscure” ones like the one you are reading right now.

In fact, “obscure” blogs like mine did not receive a copy — and neither did heavy-hitting conservative blogs, unless they are also connected with talk radio.

The lefty view that Disney and ABC marketed this movie to conservative bloggers appears to be a complete myth.

I asked Instapundit, Power Line’s John Hinderaker, and Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs whether they got advance copies of “Path.”

Each said no.

If publicists were going to market a movie to conservative bloggers, those three would certainly be on the list. (Instapundit is actually quite libertarian, but he supports the war on terror, and so lefties think of him as conservative on war issues.)

They didn’t get a copy. The idea that the film was marketed to conservative bloggers is a myth.

In the extended entry, I remind you of some of the people who spread this canard:

[Extended entry]

Recall what Glenn Greenwald said:

One of the most incriminating aspects of Disney’s conduct is that it made Path to 9/11 screeners available only to the likes of Rush Limbaugh, Hugh Hewitt and even obscure right-wing bloggers [a reference to Justin Levine guest-blogging here at Patterico — P] . . .

And what Think Progress said:

Big players like Rush Limbaugh have been provided copies, as have obscure right-wing bloggers like Patterico.

And what FireDogLake said:

Even relatively obscure right-wing blogs such as Patterico’s Pontifications, written by Los Angeles County attorney Justin Levine, have been favored with advance screenings.

I have already debunked the idea that this blog was provided with a copy. A guest blogger here, Justin Levine, was able to obtain a copy because he is a radio producer for a major L.A. talk-radio host — one who is not a doctrinaire conservative, by the way.

This myth that this film was sent to “conservative bloggers” is based on the fact that it was sent to people with talk-radio connections, some of whom are also bloggers — like Hugh Hewitt and my guest blogger Justin.

Major conservative bloggers who aren’t in the radio business didn’t get a copy.

It’s a myth. Don’t let it spread.

Any further than it already has, I mean. A Technorati search for language from the Think Progress link quoted above reveals 22 results.

P.S. I told a friend about this, and he said: “Don’t you see how brilliant they are? They only contact tiny bloggers! That way it looks like a grassroots campaign!”

Heh. He’s right that they’ll spin this somehow. It’s just a question of how.

UPDATE: Captain Ed didn’t get a copy either.

22 Responses to “Destroying the Myth That Right-Wing Bloggers All Received “The Path to 9/11””

  1. Sorry to hear you’re so out of the loop. Karl Rove personally came by my place last week with a 12’er and a copy of the DVD.

    Leopold Stotch (a02f23)

  2. Yeah, you are really out of it. They sent a copy to my household, in Brazil.

    Ellersburgwhoresonellis (169cd2)

  3. (ps my best-selling housemate Gigi says “Hi” and “Good Day, Sir!”)

    Ellersburgwhoresonellis (169cd2)

  4. ABC is still a for-profit biz (hard to tell sometimes, I know). They really don’t wanna help out the blogs if they can avoid it, nor give them the least extra credibility.

    ras (a646fc)

  5. A guest blogger here, Justin Levine, was able to obtain a copy because he is a radio producer for a major L.A. talk-radio host one who is not a doctrinaire conservative, by the way. – Patterico

    You must mean the “major L.A. talk-radio host” whose finds Patterico a blogging maestro.

    https://patterico.com/2005/01/04/2528/kfi-radio-host-mentions-patterico/

    [Check the comments and you’ll see Justin was responsible for that mention. Because, you see, producers have input on content. Thanks for helping me make the point. — P]

    steve (5da20b)

  6. I didn’t get one, either. Haven’t seen it, and probably won’t anytime soon, as I’m busy both nights.

    Captain Ed (c274d4)

  7. From Greenwald, redux:

    According to Hewitt, it was audience size which determined who received screeners, not ideology. Currently, the average number of visitors to Hewitt’s blog is 41,000.

    I love it how Greenwald somehow fails to mention that Hugh Hewitt’s radio show is broadcast in over 40 markets. To recap: this is a blatantly false comparison perpetrated by the blatantly mendacious sock-puppeteer. When Firedoglake has a radio show that plays to 60 markets, and they’re not sent an advance copy of such a program for screening, then perhaps I’ll think there’s a bit of merit to Greenwald’s argument. But the dude is a hack.

    What would a patriot do? Greenwald’s just about the last person I’d go to for the answer to that question. I guess, if you were a sockpuppeting crapmonger, you might move to Brazil and offer up tendentious paranoia as cutting edge analysis for the reason-challenged, and call that patriotism. And you might find an audience of flying trollmonkeys to defend your genius against anyone who dares to breathe a word against your sanctimonious gibberish. Guess what, man? I get Handell here, too, and I live in Vermont.

    Instapundit? Yeah, he’s green with envy about being outsold on Amazon. Wonder how many reviews there are on his book as versus yours, Glenn. Wonder in five years how many other books will cite yours as against his. Patterico? Would that he were as gainfully employed as you are.

    Dan Collins (76d7c1)

  8. Dan Collins:

    …and I live in Vermont.

    I’m sorry to hear that. On the upside, we get Handel’s Saturday show (Handel on the Law) here in Virginia, too.

    Xrlq (1f259f)

  9. Naw, Jeff, it’s alright. It’s a beautiful place, and there are so few reasons to talk to anyone anyway. Also, I’m all for skinnydipping hippie chicks.

    Dan Collins (76d7c1)

  10. Hmmmmm, skinnydipping hippie chicks.

    Hey, I’m all for that too!

    Bill M (d9e4b2)

  11. What are you left with when your silly myth of a liberal media goes BOOM?

    What are you left with when you claim to be all about truth and full disclosure and the media is doing a demonstrably false smear of the Clinton administration?

    Oh yeah … Pat’s obsessive Greenwald fixation.

    Priorities for whackjobs 101.

    Macswain (2aadc0)

  12. Macswain: you think one network miniseries that is as critical of the Clinton administration as of the Bush administration somehow proves that the media is not in the tank for the Democrats?

    Amazing. Reams of documented evidence including party affiliation of media people, political views of media people, demonstrations of double standards on what they cover and how they cover it, and outright cases of endorsing Democratic views do not convince you that the media is biased, but a single show on the other side of the argument is conclusive. You don’t think this may be a slight case of you believing exactly what you want to believe, do you?

    Doc Rampage (4a07eb)

  13. I saw it Saturday AM at my house because I have a friend at Disney who was in on the distribution of the CD and he stole one. If he stole one everybody managed to steal one, or compress the file and email it. Apparently nobody inside the Democratic mental case elite has seen the second half, which goes after Rice and Bush big time. My opinion: boring as hell, confusing, containing some of the worst acting I’ve seen in years (Madelene All Right), and only interesting to the ignorant. I cannot understand why the loopy left got so worked up about something that would have died a quiet death otherwise. Reminds me of the bad old daze when the “Legion of Decency” could be counted on to ban a movie, thus supplying a guarantee of a big box office.

    Howard Veit (28df94)

  14. Apparently now, this myth is going to be achieving the status of legend. After all Gleen Greenwald mentioned it. That means it’s going to be that much harder to unwind. Well, that is, for those who blindly accept fairy tales.

    Joel B. (a51051)

  15. Liberal TV host Charlie Rose was just on The Tonight Show (worth watching for the guest before him – James Woods) and Rose said he watched Path To 9/11 on DVD before it aired, so apparently he was sent a screener.

    LoafingOaf (71415b)

  16. What are you left with when your silly myth of a liberal media goes BOOM?

    You, holding one of these.

    Jim Treacher (ab39fa)

  17. […] Greenwald also has an update finding great significance in the fact that liberal bloggers were unable to obtain a copy. Apparently he missed my post that Instapundit, John Hinderaker, Charles Johnson, and Captain Ed didn’t get copies either. […]

    Patterico’s Pontifications » Ellensburg/Ellers Mangles the Facts Again (421107)

  18. I wonder what do people left (or right) of center think about the movie in it’s entirety, if they watched it and listened.
    Assuming the noble intent of “getting it right” was more or less true:
    Among Heroes:
    -Muslim informant on 1993 bombing
    -FBI contact to above informant
    -Phillipines female police officer
    -Muslim informant in Pakistan
    -Pakistani Colonel and his men
    -“Lion of Pashtar” (maybe not exact)
    -US contact to the Lion (CIA?, NSA?, ???)*
    -Border Patrol officer in Washington State
    -A few of the flying instructors
    -One Immigration official in Miami airport
    -John O’Neill
    -Many individuals from flight attendents to family of loved ones of United 93 who did what they could for others

    Among those who should be held responsible:
    -The State Department, especially the Ambassador to Yemen who stonewalled the Cole Investigation; and Madeline Albright for dooming the Tomahawk Missle attack without at least informing the Counterterrorism folk they were doing it, so the retaliatory strike against the Lion could have been prepared for
    -The CIA “bureacracy”
    -The FBI “bureacracy”
    -The guy (what was his position/agency?)who judged the airlines were not to be warned of the impending attacks “because the information wasn’t actionable”
    -The FISA court? or whoever? blocked getting info from the confiscated laptop computer of the “20th hijaker”
    -Security officials who let people get on airplanes in spite of their names being flagged as dangerous

    Additions or corrections, anyone?
    Amazing/intertesting how individuals doing their jobs with integrity, no matter how routine, prevented more casualties, and indifferent performance enabled disaster.

    MD in Philly (3d3f72)

  19. Sorry to have to tell you this but Karl Rove and Scooter Libby invited me to watch the filming..

    ReaganConservative (b65905)

  20. What are you left with when your silly myth of a liberal media goes BOOM?

    It’s not a myth, nor has it gone “BOOM”

    What are you left with when you claim to be all about truth and full disclosure and the media is doing a demonstrably false smear of the Clinton administration?

    Except nobody said or is saying the movie was the literal truth.

    You were outraged about the Rather/Mapes hit piece on 60 minutes I’m assuming then, right?

    The Ace (8154cd)

  21. According to Hewitt, it was audience size which determined who received screeners, not ideology. Currently, the average number of visitors to Hewitt’s blog is 41,000.

    Mind you, this guy is a “thought leader” for the left.

    Unbelievable.

    The Ace (8154cd)

  22. Bonjour! What a super websight! Very refreshing to peruse from where we live in Paris (France). I eat frogs and drink wine. Woold like more informatons on this. Best regards! Mikael.

    trmadol (a44b32)


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