Do documentaries always have to be "fair"? Does ignoring erroneous points of view make a documentary "unfair"? Why do we need to be "fair" to nutjobs? Can't we just point out the clear fact that the Sarah Palin wing of the Republican party is not only heavily populated with nutjobs, but they (and their talk-radio puppetmasters) appear to be running the national GOP (or what's left of it)?
I caught the tail end of it and was aghast at the ridiculousness of the people she chose to interview. Total whack-jobs and so extreme. One lady completely broke down when discussing that Obama doesn't wear a flag pin. A pin. A little tiny American flag pin brought her world D O W N. Many of them said they'd move to Spain or Canada if Obama won, which is funny because socialism is way more the norm in those places.
Just made you wonder where they get their information and how they base their opinions - revealing thinly veiled bigotry and fear of the unknown.
The fact that there are more than 2 million people willing to sit through Glenn Beck's expressions of penis envy for hours at a time is cause for pride for exactly no one. It simply means suicide is not nearly prevalent enough.
The only person Alexandra Pelosi is in the tank for is herself. Back in the early part of the decade, when everyone was nuts about W, she made that awful "Journeys With George" movie about what a fun-lovin' regular guy our First Dude was. Now that she's smelled a shift in the wind, it's all-Obama from HBO's favorite opportunist.
@DavidWatts: From what I remember about discussions and interviews about "Journeys with George" was that she points out through the documentary how insubstantial his credentials are, his determination to condescend to women and many male reporters and just how he was a jackass in general. He knew she wasn't on his side.
@bjonston: Well yes and no. He seems to have won the popular and electoral vote but we're pretty sure he can't prove he's a citizen of the United States.
this schism of "two americas" or whatevs she wants to call it has always existed, and it's not even as ridiculously virulent and bad. and yeah, we in the south sure as shit have a large population of stupid, hateful people, and even smart, hateful people, but so does every other state in america. just how it is. and there are actually many, many more nuances of this shit than just batshit crazy right and the enlightened left.
@southernbitch: That would have been an interesting documentary. To show how politically disagreeing neighbors get along.
I suggest anyone who doesn't agree with southernbitch's points get the Southern Poverty Law Center's periodical and note the amount of hate crimes in supposedly liberal havens like California and New York.
It would be fun to put the two pillars of Republican support -- idiot racist mouthbreathers and rich greedy executives -- in the same room and see how much they have in common.
DO NOT let up on the Republicans. They have repeatedly proven they care everything about power and nothing about governing. If we let them, they'll slink back in and we'll be right back where we were. Be vigilant, people, and call a Republican spade a Republican spade every chance you get. You may even shame some of them into owning up to their backward beliefs and growing a little.
If Smithhimself wanted to hear people like this, he would just hang out with his relatives.
On the other hand, they are fun at a BBQ or floating a raft down the river. They don't talk about "their therapist" and they know how to fix a broken car engine.
So we drink beer, talk about their kids, drink more beer, play dominos, drink more beer (Smithhimself is good at this) and stay away from religion and politics.
@smithhimself: Smith, I have cousins who live in trailers in a red square state and they have too many kids and mean dogs. I can attest that they're really not that fun at BBQs. They don't talk about "their therapist" but they do talk incessantly about paintball and noodling. Paintball and noodling is, to them, therapeutic.
These are the people voted for the right wing douche-tard elitists who ruined our economy, got us into two quagmires, drove us into history's largest deficit, and tore holes in the wall between church and state.
In the past (or presently in other countries) this would have been cause for sectarian violence and potential civil war.
Instead they're allowed to continue regurgitate bullshit they heard Glenn Beck say last night.
So they're poked fun of in a documentary? Boovhoo I'm so sad for them.
@gawkimo: Nobody has problem with mocking idiots, on the right or left, but pulling a few clowns aside at street rallies and implying that they represent the view of most republicans or democrats is ridiculous. Michael Moore has more objectivity than Pelosi.
@Mediahohoho: I haven't seen the movie, the Washington Post called it slanted crap, and based on the clips I've seen and reviews I've read that seems to be the general consensus. Of course, I know how much you like slanted crap, to each his own.
@What I Meant Was...: Urg. Thanks. I make the weirdest typos anymore. I have no idea what happens between my brain and the keyboard; of course, "intention" was what I intended to type. I need to pay attention.
The point of the documentary is that this is the new base of the Republican party: dudes in Khakis with decent jobs who will tell you that they saw "666" on Obama's forehead.
@VoxPopuli: Yeah, kinda. I'm a big ole angry liberal myself, and I can't really stand Maddow. Too many nerdy-smarty attempts at wit...hilarious, I'm sure, for those who do nothing but crouch by their hi-fi all day, listening to Air America and Terry Gross.
@VoxPopuli: I've never taken to Rachel Maddow. Yeah, she's cute/hot and gay and probably a lot more intelligent than the usual corporate parrot, but she's still a parrot.
@Balsa Wood: Increasingly, I'm with you. And I didn't care for the way she wouldn't listen to Pelosi at the end. She wouldn't even entertain the idea that she's wrong.
To be fair, Salon has an interview (wish I could hyperlink: [www.salon.com]) with AP in which see seems to be saying that she went out of her way to show how nice and normal many of the 58 million who voted for McCain are. I suppose one could always just watch the doc and decide if it's what the Post says or the filmmaker. Interestingly, though, she says she did try to get a guy to back off the "Obama is the anti-Christ" spiel he was giving and he decided that's what he was sticking with, so...
Political rallies really do attract lots of ignorance on both sides. A good percentage are always 'joiners' of the sort that could just as easily end up in a cult.
@Almostbanned: I was gonna say the same thing. when you're looking for clowns you can usually find them. we know they exist and that they're ignorant. whats the point of all this?
@Almostbanned: As somebody who attended a couple of these anti-war rallies, I can attest that there were, in fact, a lot of middle class families who drove to the city to attend the marches in their tan minivans and packed lunches.
Now, of course, if you watched cable news to get your view of those anti-war marches, then absolutely -- that's because the patriotic shit bags holding the cameras for Fox News tried to marginalize the anti-war movement by focusing on the stoned white kids in dreadlocks doing street theater.
The freaks get the attention on both sides, I guess.
@Almostbanned: I will give you that their are idiots on any side of an issue but I think in the anti-war protesters favor, they are looking to change something.
And I think the people featured in Pelosi's doc are fervently holding on the desire that power in America should always reside in the hands of white people.
@IamnotStarJones: Exactly. This is not the most inspired of documentaries, period. But let's not be quite so agnostic about the beliefs featured therein.
@IamnotStarJones: At least they're looking to change something? Really? So change for change sake is good? Hitler was looking to change things too.
I've been to anti-war rallies here in NY where groups of people broke out into chants of 'long live the intefada' and other such peaceful gems.
I used to be very active politically and organized many rallies myself, thinking I was helping out by 'doing something'. I eventually got out of it all after becoming extremely disillusioned with the people who actually tended to show up to these things. Usually not the intelligent, open minded idealists (or even reasonably intelligent average-voter type) I was hoping for, but mostly a smattering of hardened ideologues, ignorant fools and people who just needed a friend or two. It's like that on both sides of the spectrum, trust me.
@Almostbanned: of course those people are short sighted and we know they don't represent the majority otherwise you would not have been participating by organizing rallies -- focusing on change for countries to stop resolving conflict with war is a preferred goal than someone saying
someone saying I don't want a black person to be president because it screws up my self-concept.
now these people may not reflect why so many people supported mccain/palin but it's enough of them to warrant pelosi's gaze.
and I'm not going to be mad at Pelosi for exploiting them. No one held a gun to their head and said hey talk to Pelosi's daughter -- they are willing participants.
@IamnotStarJones: I don't personally care that they were exploited and I don't think its a case of which sides crazy people are worse I just feel like the whole thing is so superficial. Its a cartoon. It's a cartoon when Fox does it at anti-war or anti globalization rallies and its a cartoon when pelosi does it. the lack of depth out there is depressing, I feel talked down to.
@IamnotStarJones: My impression is that she gave them the opportunity to temper their statements, as in the "he's the anti-Christ" claptrap she cites in the Salon interview.
Look, dickwad, if you seriously think Obama is the anti-Christ, you need to shove a gun up your mouth and pull the trigger now, because you're not part of the problem, you are the problem. On every fucking level.
@Mediahohoho: The problem is not the people in the the clip, there are irrational fools on both sides, they get far more attention than they deserve and have very little impact on the outcome of elections. Pelosi made a film of no consequence about people of no consequence. If she made a film about people in power, who actually make policy, like her mendacious mother, that might be interesting.
@GoFish: If you think that the fact that there are educated people getting involved in the political process and voting who actually believe that one of the candidates for President is the incarnation of Satan, more power to you. Ignorance and superstition like that scares the living shit out of me. Especially while America's leading indicators for education--our science and math scores--are at the bottom of the developed world's and falling fast. Personally, I wouldn't care to watch a movie about Nancy Pelosi made by her daughter any more than I would a movie about John "How's my fucking tan?" Boehner made by his progeny. What's your point?
@Mediahohoho: I was kidding about Pelosi making a film about her mother, obviously that would not be objective.
My point is, the lunatic fringe doesn't scare me, unless they are the violent type (Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, radical Islam, William Ayers, etc.), but a few nuts at rallies are harmless and should not be taken seriously. And, I think you are really on thin ice in trying draw significant conclusions or correlations to larger events based on opinions of fools.
I read a lot of your comments on this site, and find some of your posts thoughtful and provacative, but I also think you have a tendency to be alarmist, and overestimate the significance of minor events simply because you find many things offensive and let your emotions override your analysis from time to time..
@GoFish: I've spent enough time (the first 20 - 30 years of my life) with religious fundamentalist to know a) how much clout they have politically (Sarah Palin), in the media (hello, CNN on the line for Mr. Pat Robertson, again) and what their objectives are (circumventing the constitution--oh, hai there Mike Huckabee). My point throughout this thread has been that the Washington Post review notwithstanding (their reviewer probably didn't see the film either), Pelosi says she tried to show the ordinary, non-wingnutty aspect of McCain supporters, while at the same time letting the nutters hang themselves rhetorically. She also made the point in the Salon interview that her subjects felt that the media had totally ignored and marginalized them and their candidate and she agreed with them.
@FeodoraSable: Well, I certainly didn't wish to make anyone cry or deprive anyone of sleep. But really, what's life for? Listening to this guy? Here's a smattering.
"Every night I get down on my knees and pray that Dennis Kucinich will burst into flames." (2003)
"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it." (2005)
"When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh shut up' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining." (2005)
"The only [Katrina victims] we're seeing on television are the scumbags." (2005)
Gem like these are broadcast (apparenlty quite successfully to read the comment on the previous page) to people who apparently have nothing better to do with the minds their creator gave them to fill them with garbage. So...should people who get off on sentiments like this kill themselves? Porbably not. It seems like it would be redundant.
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Just made you wonder where they get their information and how they base their opinions - revealing thinly veiled bigotry and fear of the unknown.
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I suggest anyone who doesn't agree with southernbitch's points get the Southern Poverty Law Center's periodical and note the amount of hate crimes in supposedly liberal havens like California and New York.
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DO NOT let up on the Republicans. They have repeatedly proven they care everything about power and nothing about governing. If we let them, they'll slink back in and we'll be right back where we were. Be vigilant, people, and call a Republican spade a Republican spade every chance you get. You may even shame some of them into owning up to their backward beliefs and growing a little.
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On the other hand, they are fun at a BBQ or floating a raft down the river. They don't talk about "their therapist" and they know how to fix a broken car engine.
So we drink beer, talk about their kids, drink more beer, play dominos, drink more beer (Smithhimself is good at this) and stay away from religion and politics.
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Okay. Just found out. "Noodling" is trying to catch a large catfish with your hands.
So it resembles an auction situation that used to exist in pre-2009 book publishing.
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[www.imdb.com]
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In the past (or presently in other countries) this would have been cause for sectarian violence and potential civil war.
Instead they're allowed to continue regurgitate bullshit they heard Glenn Beck say last night.
So they're poked fun of in a documentary? Boovhoo I'm so sad for them.
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I'm feeling servicey today. hyperlinking:
(a href="URL")text that you want to turn into a link(/a)
Except > and < instead of ( and ).
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Political rallies really do attract lots of ignorance on both sides. A good percentage are always 'joiners' of the sort that could just as easily end up in a cult.
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Now, of course, if you watched cable news to get your view of those anti-war marches, then absolutely -- that's because the patriotic shit bags holding the cameras for Fox News tried to marginalize the anti-war movement by focusing on the stoned white kids in dreadlocks doing street theater.
The freaks get the attention on both sides, I guess.
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And I think the people featured in Pelosi's doc are fervently holding on the desire that power in America should always reside in the hands of white people.
02/16/09
02/16/09
I've been to anti-war rallies here in NY where groups of people broke out into chants of 'long live the intefada' and other such peaceful gems.
I used to be very active politically and organized many rallies myself, thinking I was helping out by 'doing something'. I eventually got out of it all after becoming extremely disillusioned with the people who actually tended to show up to these things. Usually not the intelligent, open minded idealists (or even reasonably intelligent average-voter type) I was hoping for, but mostly a smattering of hardened ideologues, ignorant fools and people who just needed a friend or two. It's like that on both sides of the spectrum, trust me.
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someone saying I don't want a black person to be president because it screws up my self-concept.
now these people may not reflect why so many people supported mccain/palin but it's enough of them to warrant pelosi's gaze.
and I'm not going to be mad at Pelosi for exploiting them. No one held a gun to their head and said hey talk to Pelosi's daughter -- they are willing participants.
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Look, dickwad, if you seriously think Obama is the anti-Christ, you need to shove a gun up your mouth and pull the trigger now, because you're not part of the problem, you are the problem. On every fucking level.
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My point is, the lunatic fringe doesn't scare me, unless they are the violent type (Timothy McVeigh, the Unabomber, radical Islam, William Ayers, etc.), but a few nuts at rallies are harmless and should not be taken seriously. And, I think you are really on thin ice in trying draw significant conclusions or correlations to larger events based on opinions of fools.
I read a lot of your comments on this site, and find some of your posts thoughtful and provacative, but I also think you have a tendency to be alarmist, and overestimate the significance of minor events simply because you find many things offensive and let your emotions override your analysis from time to time..
02/16/09
02/17/09
02/17/09
"Every night I get down on my knees and pray that Dennis Kucinich will burst into flames." (2003)
"I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it." (2005)
"When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh shut up' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining." (2005)
"The only [Katrina victims] we're seeing on television are the scumbags." (2005)
Gem like these are broadcast (apparenlty quite successfully to read the comment on the previous page) to people who apparently have nothing better to do with the minds their creator gave them to fill them with garbage. So...should people who get off on sentiments like this kill themselves? Porbably not. It seems like it would be redundant.
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Heavy Metal Parking Lot was biased against thoughtful, articulate metalheads.