Patterico's Pontifications

6/6/2011

#Weinergate Documentary Project

Filed under: General — Stranahan @ 4:56 pm



[Guest post by Lee Stranahan]

I’ve been gathering materials for a quick turnaround Weinergate Documentary…and if I can raise the funds needed in the next 10 days, I’ll be able to get it out by July. (I have two other docs I’m finishing, so I need to knock this one out quickly)

The focus is Weinergate as seen as a media event – the triumph of the right-wing bloggers and the total crash and burn of the left wing. I’m calling it Weinergate: The Impotence of Liberal Journalism.

Click here for more info and please consider donating. There are some cool rewards, including credits, special edition DVDs. It’s on Kickstarter, a service for funding project – if I don’t get the total funding I need to do the project, you don’t pay.

Email me – Lee@Stranahan.com -  if you have any questions, too.

– Lee Stranahan

36 Responses to “#Weinergate Documentary Project”

  1. Maybe you can get some backing from NOW seeing as there is a tremendous power differential between a sitting U.S. Congressman and a 19 year old Community College student.

    They are always interested in things like that.

    Or maybe not.

    Huey (ddf1a4)

  2. I don’t know about donating, but one of the more egregious vids of Weiner lying over this last week is this one at ABC:

    http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video/flashback-weiners-web-lies-13776485

    Sorry bout the ad. But in that video, Weiner so twists the reporter’s words and common knowledge about how Twitter works- purposely confusing “following” from “followers” for example- that this vid can pretty much stand alone as an indictment of Weiner’s credibility.

    The incredulous look on the reporter’s face is priceless. He should have followed up more with known facts and common sense. It’s a little bit too much merely recording the “he said” side of things.

    (I’m looking forward to how Rachel Maddow handles this too- she acted as his vessel last week. She oughtta be plenty angry.)

    Brian OConnell (e09ea9)

  3. How much total and what is the equity distribution?

    Sponge Bob Square Pants (fccc6f)

  4. she acted as his vessel last week.

    She wasn’t acting.

    If she’s mad, it’s probably because he actually apologized to Andrew Breitbart.

    Dustin (c16eca)

  5. Emily Miller should be focused on. Could any conservative get away with the way Weiner treated her? Hell, even NFL football teams get in trouble for that type of behavior.

    JD (29e1cd)

  6. Reality check: There are scum on BOTH sides of the aisle and there is scum journalism everywhere … not just as you call it “Liberal Journalism” which tells me that you label every news report “liberal” that doesn’t adhere to your own conservative views, even if it is even-handed.

    Documentary film is supposed to be factual, not propaganda hidden behind the integrity of the word “documentary.”

    Anita Busch (a025dd)

  7. Also, and I pushed this elsewhere, Weiner apparently used an Iran-based website to cover himself. This site claims to be be able to help with “hiding your images from others”, which apparently includes Yahoo! profile photos. (Based on what I’ve read, I think Yahoo! is where the killer photo exists, but that’s neither here nor there.)

    Not a lawyer of any kind, so I don’t expect that this is illegal. However, a sitting member of the US Congress voluntarily submitting potentially blackmailable info about himself to a website based in a US enemy country, well it’s interesting.

    His .ir webpage is at http://www.invisible.ir/rockoh77.

    Brian OConnell (e09ea9)

  8. well, so much for stranahan’s unhelpful, bullshit theories about the weener case.

    baby giraffes (3914b8)

  9. Anita,

    I’m not conservative…

    I watched this unfold — and it was a total route of biased, liberal journalism.

    Watch the film. You’ll see.

    Lee Stranahan (708cc3)

  10. Where is the reporting on the reaction from Democrat leadership?

    GOP reaction to that fool with his top off was swift and forceful.

    Where is the outrage from Nancy Allred and NOW?

    From a practical point of view, it is probably best for Weiner to run for re-election. The GOP may gain a seat it would never otherwise win.

    Ed from SFV (52d4be)

  11. *Gloria Allred. oops

    Ed from SFV (52d4be)

  12. Yes Anita, Michael Moore sets the standard for factual documentaries.

    Yup.

    Huey (ddf1a4)

  13. Brian, I’m not sure that the URL really means it’s Iranian. I am not saying you’re wrong, but some people just take URLs like that because they are memorable and cheaper than a .com.

    I think it would be foolish to have a documentary on this topic come out so quickly, before the dust settles. Lee’s work has really been the paradigm of rushing and attention grabbing, with limited corrections offered later.

    I think the really interesting aspects of this story include what happened to Patriot USA and the ramifications for future sources that people like Breitbart are dead in the water without. I also have not yet heard how PatriotUSA’s email to Breitbart was leaked. That’s an interesting aspect too, given the complete rush to blame him in virtue of his weirdness.

    I think a good documentary on this subject should have Lee on the other side of the camera. I’d love to hear interviews with Cannon, Johnson, Stranahan, and perhaps a few MSM folks. Perhaps I misunderstand what this is… is it just taking the broadcasts of the MSM and a few blog posts and making a video?

    Lee sees the big picture, though. The MSM, insofar as it’s a hack democrat operation, was unable to save Weiner. Thanks entirely to Andrew Brietbart, IMO. I’m sure Lee’s coverage will be insightful, even though it’s probably not the focus I find interesting.

    Dustin (c16eca)

  14. Donated and re-tweeted. Hope you make your goal – good luck.

    tdpwells (67b04b)

  15. that is ok Mr. S I’m conservative enough for both of us

    carry on

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  16. Anita, can you name some examples of objective factual documentaries? I watch a lot of docs, and none springs to my mind as fully unbiased. Have you seen any?

    gp (12651d)

  17. this documentary might could be fully unbiased I think!

    I habn’t seen it yet but it looks too esoteric to be biased

    The narrator says stuff like: “The interstate does not serve. It possesses.”

    Okey dokey my brother.

    here’s the trailer – it’s kind of an untrailer cause I still have no idea what the movie is about – you can see the whole thing in pieces on youtube if you want

    ok that is the story of the unbiased documentary

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  18. Anita @#6 seems a little confused as to Lee’s political ideals. She’s confusing honesty and fact based analysis with being a knuckle-dragging wingnut…

    You know, like me, But I prefer happyfeet’s choice of characterization. So instead, I’m just staunch instead.

    Bob Reed (5f2db5)

  19. You guys _must_ see that abcnews video linked above @2. Must, must, must see.

    gp (12651d)

  20. OOOOh. On twitter, cooed just deleted a conversation with Stranahan and SarahWW where she pretty much admitted she’d been having a conversation w/Weiner before The Tweet.

    MayBee (081489)

  21. I saw “The Lottery” last nite, a doc about charter schools vs public ed. It seemed pretty even-handed. It allowed people on all sides of the issue to say stupid and false things. Recommended.

    gp (12651d)

  22. hf, I have added “General Orders No. 9” to the Saved portion of my Netflix queue.

    Here’s a “documentary” you should _not_ watch: “Mondo Cane.” Not recommended.

    gp (12651d)

  23. Yes, I have seen many unbiased documentaries. The best that comes to mind is My Brother’s Keeper. Others that I thought were wonderful was Food, Inc. (full disclosure, I worked on press materials for it), Out of Brothels, The Decline of Western Civilization, March of the Penguins, When We Were Kings, American Dream, and Mad Hot Ballroom. Just to name a few that I really thought were well done, factual and UNBIASED.

    Anita Busch (a025dd)

  24. And thank you for the other documentaries. I have not watched General Orders No. 9 nor The Lottery.

    Anita Busch (a025dd)

  25. But the proposed title, in itself, already shows a very emotional bias, Lee. Can you not really see that?

    Anita Busch (a025dd)

  26. Dustin: fair enough. Here’s the whois info for that .ir domain.

    http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=whois&host=invisible.ir

    Invisible.ir maps to 82.192.84.94.

    http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=dnsrec&host=invisible.ir (“A” record.)

    The server at 82.192.84.94 is in the Netherlands.

    http://network-tools.com/default.asp?prog=network&host=82.192.84.94

    But the site’s under the control of an Iranian citizen- apparently this guy, who seems like your average code monkey:

    http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=601104611

    County code top level domains (ccTLD’s, like .us, .uk, or .ir) are generally given out the way the country wants, so not anybody can get any ccTLD. The .ir domain is governed by these folks:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute_for_Studies_in_Theoretical_Physics_and_Mathematics

    Brian OConnell (e09ea9)

  27. Weiner confessed.

    Anita Butch hardest hit.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  28. hah! I have Mondo Cane. It’s sort of a campy Baraka I think.

    happyfeet (3c92a1)

  29. I liked and remember My Brother’s Keeper, Born Into Brothels, March of the Penguins, When We Were Kings. I rated American Dream highly but don’t remember it.

    I guess I don’t see any particular bias in non-issues docs like Helvetica, The Modernism of Julius Sherman, Some Kind of Monster, Fast Cheap & Out of Control.

    I was reluctant to watch Food Inc, thinking that it would be a hit job, but I will watch it this week on your rec.

    There should be another film award category created for “polemic,” so that advocacy films don’t get awarded as docs.

    (Don’t bother with GO#9, that was kind of a joke, although I promise I will watch it.)

    gp (12651d)

  30. Meanwhile Leno is still mocking Palin.

    Leno loves Weiner’s cock.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  31. @DohBiden, I don’t get it, but your comment about Leno is sophomoric.

    @gp, I hope you enjoy it. I doubt you will eat the same foods after you do. I grew up in farmland and was glad that someone finally told the story, esp. the part about Monsanto hiring private investigators to go after this nation’s farmers.

    Anita Busch (a025dd)

  32. Oops, not IN farmland like a potato, but AROUND farmland.

    Anita Busch (a025dd)

  33. You don’t get it.

    don’t expect you to you humorless jackwagon.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  34. BTW your actually right about monsato.

    DohBiden (15aa57)

  35. I saw in a different doc that Monsanto sues farmers whose crops are accidentally wind-pollinated from adjacent fields planted with Monsanto GM seeds. Which strikes me as ridiculous, but IANAL. OTOH, environmental and health-scare docs about GM bore me.

    gp (72be5d)

  36. Anita, I just now finished watching Food Inc. It’s clearly an advocacy film: it even ends with a list of suggested things the viewer should do! It has a clear POV: anti-corporate, pro-organic, pro-locavore. I can’t cite any errors of fact, but it is low-key green-marketing “propaganda.” If objectivity is an important standard of doc film, Food Inc does not meet it.

    Most of the material is familiar from Schlosser’s earlier work Fast Food Nation, which I read a few years back. I won’t be changing my diet because I’ve seen Food Inc.

    gp (91e0c3)


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