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Politics : Just the Facts, Ma'am: A Compendium of Liberal Fiction -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: sandintoes who wrote (6008)	4/3/2004 1:15:39 AM
From: sandintoes	Respond to of 90947

Part 2...It's hard to tell that Hollywood and the NYTimes hate The President...and they say Rush is prejudice? One man against how many? Hollywood had better remember most of the country is Pro Bush...and their hatred of the USA is showing. Ms. David and her like-minded peers are putting a lot of money behind the push. She, for one, has given $100,000 to the Media Fund and America Coming Together, Democratic groups using unlimited donations to run television commercials and to motivate voters against the president. Marcy Carsey, whose production house Carsey-Werner-Mandabach produces "Whoopi," has given $500,000 to the Media Fund, federal election records show. Ms. Carsey declined to be interviewed for this article. On Wednesday night alone, Senator John Kerry's campaign was estimated to have raised $2.5 million at a fund-raising event in Beverly Hills attended by powerful studio executives like Sherry Lansing, the chief executive of Paramount Studios, and stars like the actors Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson. Mr. David, who declined to comment for this article, performed at the fund-raiser. Saying he had a lot in common with the president, Mr. David described himself as "a nincompoop, a chicken and a liar." Republicans, conservatives and campaign aides to the president said they expected money to flow from Hollywood, a place they consider a bastion of liberalism, to the Democrats. But they said they were surprised by how much partisan sentiment seemed to be seeping onto television. Mr. Graham said the anti-Bush sentiment coming across in prime time was more troublesome than usual because it was woven into scripts across so many of the major networks, and not restricted to sketch comedy. "It's different when you're really involved in `NYPD Blue' or `Law & Order,' and to you it's, `That's my man Sipowicz and he doesn't like Bush,' " Mr. Graham said. "This can be seen, and certainly is seen, by conservatives as Hollywood's in-kind contribution to the Kerry campaign." Matthew Dowd, the president's chief campaign strategist, said he was not planning any moves to combat such scripted critiques. "I do acknowledge every bit of information that's communicated on things has some effect," he said. "But I don't think it's something you run against. It's something you acknowledge that exists, it's just something that's there." Some producers said they were simply raising important questions as part of a larger national debate. Dick Wolf, the executive producer of the troika of "Law & Order" series, said that his characters' critiques of Mr. Bush were in his programs' long tradition of equal-opportunity provocation. "Virtually everyone who lives in the lower 48 states at one time or another has been offended by `Law & Order,' " Mr. Wolf said in a statement. But other producers are more pointed in their questioning. "Why does it have to become unpatriotic to do something that is our inherent right, which is to debate issues?" said Tom Fontana, the creator of shows like "Oz" and "Homicide." Mr. Fontana said he wrote a film for HBO called "Strip Search" to explore the merits of the USA Patriot Act. The film, which has not been shown yet, tracks the parallel experiences of an American woman being held for questioning by the authorities in China and a Muslim man being held for questioning in the United States, both on suspicions of terrorism. "The real question is, if it's wrong for a white American woman to be mistreated in a repressive country, is it O.K. for us to mistreat a Muslim male in this country?" he said. "I don't know the answer, but when does the humanity stop and the fear take over?" Robert Breech, an executive producer of "The Practice" on ABC, said his show was trying to spark debate and entertain while presenting both sides. In one episode, a lawyer gave an impassioned speech to a jury in which she referred to the use of a "free speech zone" that kept protesters away from Mr. Bush. "What is happening to this country?" the lawyer asked. "We're really just inviting people to think about these things," Mr. Breech said. "How far is too far in seeking security?" nytimes.com