"Captain of the defense" strikes back

Not only has Harry Reid made a veiled threat regards ABC's broadcast license, now a legendary lawyer for Clinton has penned an interesting letter suggesting the entirety of the show might be better left on the cutting room floor. Lawyers don't do this stuff for fun, the letterhead itself carries the message.

Bruce Lindsey's name should be familiar. He's been known to show up everytime Clinton gets in trouble, bringing back memories of the so-called Clinton mafia, who worked hard to smear anyone who smeared.

As we noticed with the Reagan docu-drama on CBS, anytime delicate feelings, egos and legacies are at stake threats and lawyers are bound to follow, so the fact Lindsey was called in sounds like they percieve a significant threat to the legacy. While most probably remember Clinton for the finger-waving lie about sex with an intern, that's certainly better than being known for dropping the ball on terrorism leading to 9/11. It's a DNC thing, too.

The Bush folks have fallen silent, probably because they'd just as soon not have another reminder of Richard Clarke and his Paul Revere story again, but media "wingers" have responded by calling on Colonel Buzz Patterson, one of the Air Force attaches in charge of holding Clinton's nookular football and the writer of a book called "Dereliction of Duty". No surprise on his views of the film, but he hasn't seen it either.

This might be one of the biggest knee-jerk reactions of all time. Hugh Hewitt described a lefty caller to his radio show vociferously complaining about the inaccuracies in the film (he hadn't seen it either) but didn't even know who Ramzi Yousef was. The Grand Canyon is wide and deep, and everyone seems content with that.

Lindsey's letter states:

As a nation, we need to be focused on preventing another attack, not fictionalizing the last one for television ratings. "The Path to 9/11" not only tarnishes the work of the 9/11 Commission, but also cheapens the fith anniversary of what was a very painful moment in history for all Americans. We expect that you will make the responsible decision to not air this film.

Just a tad overstated, but then again, I haven't seen the film, either. It's one thing to suggest the film's dialog was fictionalized in support of events, but quite another to say the events themselves are fictionalized. Wonder what Lindsey thinks of the Bush part?

Perhaps ABC should just cave and air cartoons instead. Pinocchio might be a good starter.