It must be tough being a Democrat. After all, they don't really have any respectable leaders to look up to. The nine presidential candidates are lackluster, Terry McAuliffe is the worst strategist since Maginot and Bill Clinton is too busy criticizing the president to lead the party in a new direction.
It should come as no surprise, then, that the Left has taken to smearing Republican leaders to level the playing field. Their vicious and personal attacks against George W. and John Ashcroft (calling them stupid, dictatorial or, worst of all, Nazis) are just some examples of the great Democratic smear campaign that has been going on for a couple of years.
Their next target? Ronald Reagan. CBS recently produced a miniseries depicting the life of our 40th president. It was billed as being "meticulously researched," although I had my doubts as to its historical accuracy when they gave the part of Ronald Reagan to James Brolin, husband of arch-liberal Barbra Streisand.
But I could never guess how absolutely nasty the miniseries would get. In order to heighten the drama, the writers decided to put signals of Reagan's Alzheimer's Disease throughout his presidency. Of course, this has been a persistent smear on Reagan for years now, despite the fact that it is known to be false. Those who knew him throughout his presidency attest to his sharpness of mind.
The writers of the miniseries have also decided to portray Reagan as a raging homophobe. During the beginnings of the AIDS crisis, the series depicts Reagan as saying, "They that live in sin shall die in sin." This, despite the fact that no one ever heard Reagan say anything at all like that.
I understand artistic license, but portraying Ronald Reagan as a believer in this sort of ugly, ignorant crap is just plain revolting. Why would they depict Reagan as a man who wished death on thousands of unfortunates inflicted with one of the worst epidemics this world has ever seen?
There are also glaring omissions. The writers decided not to include the fact that Reagan delivered us from the awful, incompetent leadership of Jimmy Carter. They also failed to include the near-miraculous economic recovery that Reagan steered us into.
The writers of the series, not being content with smearing our president, also decided to take aim at Nancy Reagan and her parents. Nancy's parents are shown as anti-Semitic and homophobic. Nancy herself is shown as a pill-popper. Oh yeah, and she slaps her 5-year-old child on the face.
And to top it all off, the series depicts Ronald Reagan as saying that during the Iran-Contra Scandal he is "the anti-Christ." Yes, you read that correctly. Ronald Reagan declares himself the anti-Christ. How could CBS bill this as "meticulously researched" when quotes like this show that it is absolute liberal trash?
Now, I am not saying that it is OK for people to get all of their history from television. If that is the case, then they get what they deserve -- ignorance. But in an age when people believe rubbish like Oliver Stone's movies JFK and Nixon, the media certainly have an effect on how people perceive history. Media giants like CBS have a responsibility to keep things within the bounds of historical accuracy, or even just within the bounds of artistic license. This miniseries on the Reagans went far outside either of these bounds.
As a result of protest from both conservatives and other people concerned with historical accuracy, CBS has agreed to pull the series from its schedule. Instead, it will be shown on CBS's sister network, Showtime (hopefully with a disclaimer: "The persons and events in this production are purely fictional. Any resemblance to characters real or imagined is pure coincidence.").
And, of course, liberal groups all across the country are up in arms over the "censorship" of CBS. Personally, I fail to see how the voluntary withdrawal of the series due to the fact that it caused bad publicity is "censorship" -- sounds like smart business to me. Of course, these same liberals are nowhere to be seen when the Anti-Defamation League and other left-wing hack groups, motivated by the Left's pure anti-Catholicism, raise hell against Mel Gibson's The Passion.
On the other hand, I can't imagine a company like CBS putting out something that told the truth about liberal heroes, much less a brutal smear piece. Could you imagine a miniseries about Robert Byrd? The first episode could be about his stint in the KKK. The last episode could include him saying "nigger" twice on national television in 2001.
Or what about Ted Kennedy? I envision a scene where Kennedy drives into a lake in a drunken stupor, then flees the scene while the innocent woman in the car with him drowns. Or Bill Clinton? You could have a scene where his advisers are gathered around, trying to decide whether bombing Iraq or the Balkans would distract the public more from his impending impeachment.
CBS made the right decision in pulling the miniseries from its lineup. Although business probably made the difference, ethically it just wasn't fit for television. Next time, CBS should "meticulously research" its projects and actually read the scripts. It sure would have saved them this embarrassment.
Dan Gomez is a junior History major from Wayne, Pa.
