TV Docudrama Blames Clinton for 9/11
An upcoming TV docudrama chronicling President Bush's actions in the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 attacks blames President Clinton's "weakness" for leaving America vulnerable to the disaster.
Titled "DC/9/11: A Time of Crisis" and set for broadcast Sunday night on Showtime, the film "rarely misses a chance to suggest that the Clinton administration's weakness was to blame for the disaster," reported the New York Times on Friday.
In one poignant exchange, Bush is shown telling Prime Minister Tony Blair, "I want to inflict pain ... bring enough damage so they understand there is a new team here, a fundamental change in our policy."
Besides blaming Clinton for 9/11, the film's positive portrayal of President Bush as a decisive commander in chief during America's darkest hour has rankled liberal critics, who complain that "DC 9/11" will likely give Bush a political boost heading into an election year.
"Simultaneously dull and disgraceful," fumed the Washington Post's Tom Shales on Saturday, "'DC 9/11' ... uses the tragic attack on America in 2001 as the basis for a reelection campaign movie on behalf of George W. Bush."
"The two-hour film often plays like a propaganda piece for the president," complained the Boston Herald's Amy Amatangelo.
In a particularly irksome development for Bush haters, Timothy Bottoms was chosen for the film's lead role. Bottoms' positive portrayal of Bush in "DC 9/11" is a far cry from his previous role playing the president before the 9/11 attacks, when he portrayed Bush as a stumbling ignoramus in the 2001 Comedy Central send-up "That's My Bush."
Beyond Bottoms' uncanny physical resemblance to Bush, "DC 9/11" offers dead-on physical impersonations of National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, played by Penny Johnson, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, played by John Cunningham.
The film was written and produced by Lionel Chetwynd, who purportedly had access to many White House insiders.
To hear ex-President Clinton admit that he turned down a deal for Osama bin Laden's extradition to the U.S., followed by Hillary Clinton's claim that her husband's account is wrong, |
