WaPo Rips Plame Film: 'Full of Distortions' and 'Outright Inventions'
The editorial board of the Washington Post on Saturday ripped to shreds the factual authenticity of the new film about the Valerie Plame affair.
According to the Post, "'Fair Game,' based on books by [Joe] Wilson and his wife, is full of distortions - not to mention outright inventions" (h/t NBer Beresford):
The movie portrays Ms. Plame as having cultivated a group of Iraqi scientists and arranged for them to leave the country, and it suggests that once her cover was blown, the operation was aborted and the scientists were abandoned. This is simply false. In reality, as The Post's Walter Pincus and Richard Leiby reported, Ms. Plame did not work directly on the program, and it was not shut down because of her identification.
Strike one!
The movie portrays Mr. Wilson as a whistle-blower who debunked a Bush administration claim that Iraq had tried to purchase uranium from the African country of Niger. In fact, an investigation by the Senate intelligence committee found that Mr. Wilson's reporting did not affect the intelligence community's view on the matter, and an official British investigation found that President George W. Bush's statement in a State of the Union address that Britain believed that Iraq had sought uranium in Niger was well-founded.
Strike two!
"Fair Game" also resells the couple's story that Ms. Plame's exposure was the result of a White House conspiracy. A lengthy and wasteful investigation by a special prosecutor found no such conspiracy - but it did confirm that the prime source of a newspaper column identifying Ms. Plame was a State Department official, not a White House political operative.
Strike three!
The Post's conclusion:
Hollywood has a habit of making movies about historical events without regard for the truth; "Fair Game" is just one more example. But the film's reception illustrates a more troubling trend of political debates in Washington in which established facts are willfully ignored. Mr. Wilson claimed that he had proved that Mr. Bush deliberately twisted the truth about Iraq, and he was eagerly embraced by those who insist the former president lied the country into a war. Though it was long ago established that Mr. Wilson himself was not telling the truth - not about his mission to Niger and not about his wife - the myth endures. We'll join the former president in hoping that future historians get it right.
We can only hope.
As for the film's reception, readers are reminded that MSNBC's Chris Matthews was so enthralled by this piece of garbage that he compared it to Humphrey Bogart's "Casablanca."
His employers must be so proud.
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Comments
There is no way a film with
Submitted by DWoSD on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 8:31pm.
There is no way a film with Sean Penn, made by Oliver Stone would have lies and distortions in it...that just can't be. One of the foremost communist ideals is to always tell the truth, so it is just not possible they would participate in unadulterated fables in order to make Bush, Cheney and American conservatives look bad.
Chavez bosom buddies
Submitted by Ozconservative on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 6:50am.
This is what you get from two losers who think Hugo Chavez is a wonderful humanitarian. Shame that Naomi Watts is in it. I would normally watch a film with her in it (VERY easy on the eyes, and a pretty good actress too). Not this one though.....
just like the duke thing
Submitted by michiganruth on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 8:44pm.
remember the falsely accused Duke lacrosse players? when it was discovered they were innocent, someone on the "victim's" side said "the facts were wrong, but the narrative was still correct." meaning that even though a young black woman was NOT raped by white oppressors, it's still ok to think she was.
it's the same thing here. it doesn't matter to Oliver Stone or Sean Penn or Chris Mathews what Bush and Cheney did or didn't really know or do. they are war criminals and will be forever guilty. don't confuse the Left with facts!
Libs love to dismiss 'inconvenient' facts
Submitted by Galvanic on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 9:56pm.
When Chris Matthews hails a Sean Penn film as one of the best of our age, you know that facts got abused.
When Chris Matthews does
Submitted by NL207 on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 9:23am.
When Chris Matthews does anything you know that a bottle got abused!
It's the seriousness of the charge...
Submitted by Red Jeep on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 11:48pm.
...doesn't matter what the facts are...etc...
Dan Rather said
Submitted by gfrrman on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 12:49am.
it best, "fake, but accurate". God help us all
G
Who would pay money to go see
Submitted by Van Halen on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 8:48pm.
Who would pay money to go see this? I'm curious to see how it does in the theatres. Will doe-eyed lefties sit through its two hours of thrills and revelations in order to convince themselves yet again that Bush was bad?
BO Mojo says . . .
Submitted by DoktorFranken on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 3:36am.
'Fair Game' (Fair? Really?) has GROSSED $6,336,084 since it was released on November 5th. Sounds like not too many folks give a rats patoot about this movie. Just like the movie, and the Left, doesn't care about facts.
This whole story sort of
Submitted by Captain Repus on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 8:52pm.
This whole story sort of reminds me of those who spend years talking about their heroic service in the Viet Nam war when, in fact, they never got anywhere west the California coast and the greatest danger they ever faced was a bouncer in a gay bar.
At what point do we get away from the phony media buildup of these two creeps and their hyped up heroics.
We've entered a new stage of
Submitted by Van Halen on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 9:13pm.
We've entered a new stage of Liberalism. Now that they've lost over 600 seats, they can't push their crap legislation through on nights, weekends and holidays so their forced to showing how bad the Republicans are over and over and over until they can get back into power.
But wait, there's more....
Submitted by Beresford on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 8:54pm.
This letter from the Washington Post Nov 12, 2010
In 1978, my CIA affiliation was exposed by Philip Agee in his book "Dirty Work II." I'm nothing special; more than a few colleagues have been exposed at one time or another. I went on to serve nearly 34 years.
As luck would have it, I was at one point charged with looking into possible damage in one location caused by Valerie Plame's outing. There was none.
So enough with the overwrought claims of injury that "Fair Game" suggests. Those claims devalue the resolve of the officers who have overcome truly dangerous exposure, and they cheapen the risk from laying bare their very real achievements.
It was wrong to expose Plame. It was ludicrous for her to claim that the exposure forced an end to her career in intelligence. In the words of my favorite poet, A.E. Housman: " 'Tis sure much finer fellows have fared much worse before."
R.E. Pound, Reston
The writer served in the CIA from 1976 to 2009.
Beresford.......Thank you. It was interesting reading a former
Submitted by Rush Fan on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 10:08pm.
CIA employee's take on the Plame incident. The Washington Examiner also noted Pound's comments. The Washington Examiner's Mark Hemingway writes:
I should add that rabid Left-winger Roger Ebert wrote the
Submitted by Rush Fan on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 10:19pm.
following at the end of his review of Fair Game:
And the movie is a box office stinker.
Submitted by drsamherman on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 8:58pm.
Sean Penn's mess, per http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=fairgame10.htm , is a flop.
The ultimate voting on any movie is the audience willing to pay to see it. Guess only the fringie liberals are the only ones willing to pony up the bucks to watch that kind of garbage.
GIve Jimbo from CNN a chance!
Submitted by gruyere cheese on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 10:37pm.
J. Acosta is young and probably trying to climb up the ladder at CNN -- earning his living. Of course, AMBUSH was written all over and the Palin team saw it coming. SMART on their part -- keep them guessing...
Wacky Post
Submitted by jaywl on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 11:10pm.
Gee, unless I am totally losing it, the WaPo was relishing the Inquisition that wasted millions and finally selected Libby to serve as the ultimate fall guy/stooge. I am sure the editors at the Post knew soon after Fitzgerald that Richard Armitage was the source of the leak. Armitage, a back stabbing weasel, kept his mouth shut when he could have stopped this travesty. I thought it telling about Armitage and the Post's relationship that when the truth finally slipped into public knowledge, the Post and other MSM dropped the whole thing with a big "Never Mind." I say "public knowledge" because I would bet my virginity that Fitzgerald, the Plames, the Post, the Times, the civil service types in the CIA, and maybe even the damn Federal judge who was supposed to be supervising Fitzgerald (who proved once again that a swelled head is always bigger that one's brain!) , all of those, knew the truth before it became public.
Don't forget about Colin Powell
Submitted by rwnewsnut on Mon, 12/06/2010 - 2:41am.
Don't forget about Colin Powell, He also knew it was Armitage who leaked the information to Novak. After I learned that, I lost a considerable amount of respect for General Powell.
Limited release
Submitted by SnapTie on Sat, 12/04/2010 - 11:23pm.
When a movie has been out more that three weeks,With no more movie theaters moving forward it's bullshit.
Sadly, it will live on.
Submitted by walleyehunter on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 1:41am.
But the lies will live on. Newspapers will be thrown in the trash or recycled, but the movie will head to pay per view and then to cable. It will live on. For the many on the left who hate President Bush, their video library is filled will Oliver Stone, Micheal Moore, Robert Greenwald, Gabriel Range, and now Doug Liman movies. Truth does not matter; they have there own truths.
Chris Matthews was so
Submitted by Chris Norman on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 1:48am.
Chris Matthews was so enthralled by this piece of garbage that he compared it to Humphrey Bogart's "Casablanca." Well, in one sense, Matthews was inadvertently correct in his dumb comparison. Neither film was based on a true story.If Naomi Watts can't get me
Submitted by Newsbusterbrown on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 9:19am.
If Naomi Watts can't get me to spend my money on this slanderous piece of crap, nothing will.
“There are no easy answers, but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
Let me guess: The word "Armitage" is not to be found...
Submitted by krendler on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 11:43am.
...anywhere in the screenplay.
Sometimes I think the left, like little kids, enjoy getting themselves worked up, even if they have to willfully ignore the facts. There can't be ultra-virtuous Super Heros and Victims-to-be-saved if there aren't any Arch-enemies around.
If the Left wants to see who
Submitted by 26CX on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 12:02pm.
If the Left wants to see who their arch-enemies are they should take a quick look in a mirror.
I'm waiting for the squeal to come out
Submitted by redright88 on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 3:25pm.
Joe and Val team up with The cast from the Jersey Shore in the next one, as they take on Washington DC Conservatives
In the four weeks this movie has been open,
Submitted by texasborngranny on Sun, 12/05/2010 - 3:32pm.
In the four weeks this movie has been open, it has ranked 15th for 1st and 2nd weekends. For the 3rd weekend - hold onto your keyboards - it jumped all the way up to number 10. Forth weekend it dropped to 12th.
The only people going to see this mis-named work of pure fiction are libbies who need their fairy tales reinforced.