|
|
|---|
|
American Politics Journal Atrios Barry Crimmins Betty Bowers Buzzflash Consortium News Daily Howler Daily Kos Democatic Underground Disinfotainment Today Evil GOP Bastards Faux News Channel Greg Palast The Hollywood Liberal Internet Weekly Jesus General Joe Conason Josh Marshall Liberal Oasis Make Them Accountable Mark Morford Mike Malloy Political Humor - About.com Political Wire Randi Rhodes Rude Pundit Smirking Chimp Take Back the Media Whitehouse.org More Links |
Subject: Man of the Year movie - I'm glad they made it
Hey Bart,
(spoilers ahead)
I took the wife and daughter to see this film
and I have to say, I'm glad that they made it.
Yes, I could have done without the stale Monica
references, but the two that stood out
the most seemed to be pointing out how the issue
should have been handled at the time.
Do you recall Darrel Hammond's SNL opener right
after the impeachment, when he
(as Clinton) told Congress to suck it?
Along those lines.
I also could have done without the tired claims
that the Dems and Repubs are exactly
the same, because we all know that's bullshit.
My biggest criticism of this film is that it
may encourage the more stupid to vote independent,
even though it's stated outright
that there's no way that Dobbs should have been
able to win that race.
I did like the way Williams (as Dobbs) slammed
the media, refusing to buy campaign ads,
constantly reminding people that candidates who
accept millions of dollars for their
campaigns then owe their contributors.
But what I especially liked about the film was
the way in which Dobbs was elected - via a
computer glitch in electronic voting machines
that had no paper trail. This, in my opinion,
effectively plants the meme that such machines
cannot be trusted, without going so far as to
accuse the manufacturers of conspiring to elect
one candidate or the other. However correct
I feel that accusation is, to put it in the movie
would have given the wing-nuts the excuse to cry
"conspiracy theory!" and "Michael Moore!"
I thought that this was elegantly done, and might
have been the main reason for making this movie.
When Dobbs learns that his victory was false,
he seriously considered keeping it anyway.
The reps from the Diebold-clone company certainly
gave him that option by publicly verifying
that there was absolutly nothing wrong with their
terminals, and the audience is given the
impression that he would actually have done a
better job than either of the other two candidates.
But that way lies corruption - right away he
would have owed his office to a corporate entity,
and set foot on the same path as those he despised.
So, in true Bartcop (by which I mean
non-whore) fashion, he steps aside.
The audience, a bit older on the average than
I would have expected, was very receptive,
and I could see this becoming a cult classic.
When the scene cut to Chris Matthews saying,
"A comedian has been elected President of the
United States," a woman sitting behind us
loudly proclaimed, "That's no change!"
Ain't it the truth?
John (in Omaha)