PBS Kicks Ass
March 26th, 2008I’e been watching this morning, transfixed and paralyzed. It doesn’t matter what side of the political fence you count yourself, this is a must watch. It lays out the perfect storm of misuse of power, hubris and lack of imagination that fueled the rush to invade Iraq.
Thanks to Kottke for linking and reminding me that this was posted.
Brilliant and compelling. o
Tags: bush, cheney, frontline, hubris, Iraq war, politics, rumsfeld
I recorded both parts of the episode on my DVR and am looking forward to watching. Thanks for the review.
I love Frontline with a passion deep and true. Unfortunately, our local PBS station’s analog transmitter went out and they’re not replacing it because the transfer to digital is already underway…which means us cheapskate nerds with bunny-ears are deprived of our favorite TV station for weeks (we’re waiting on that 50% coupon from the government for the digital-to-analog converter).
In the meantime, all praise be to the online streaming and Bill Moyers’ podcast to get us through these tough times.
(found you from dooce)
I saw that this week and it made me so sick. I’ve seen these documentaries before and they just get worse and worse. I hate to imagine what we don’t know, and that people as selfish and evil as this actually exist in our world. (Go ahead, Mukasey – add it to my file)
I saw it last night and it has not left my head since.
Several people have recommended it. I will be sure to watch. After American Idol.
I saw part I online this AM after watchign part II last night on TV. If you want to watch a scary movie, albeit sad, watch the series. It’s frightening.
I also recommend the documentary called Why We Fight. It was released around 2004 I believe and is very compelling. I did not tape the Frontline eps but will surely find them online somewhere. Maybe Hulu will have it.
Frontline is masterful at this kind of stuff that makes you think and want to go out and throttle someone at the same time. I wish more people caught these things then maybe the current administration wouldn’t have gotten away with so much stupidity.
Front Line is one of the few credible news programs left. They are amazing.
Cheney’s wanted to shut down PBS for years. They should investigate that, oh wait… that should be about the 5,875th thing the should investigate.
Just watched part one online. Thanks for the link. Within the first ten minutes, I was getting chills and literally had to put on warmer clothes. Wonder if anyone else had such a physical reaction to this program—even after years of reading and watching daily reports about the war, it still hits hard.
Thanks for the tip. I hope they show it again come election time when doofus McCain is campaigning to prolong ‘Bush’s War’ for another 100 years.
I caught about an hour of this the other night, and while it was truly great (ie, it skewered Cheney, Bush, et al with facts rather than “misunderestimation” and the like), it pissed me off so much that I had to take a hot bath and go to bed, otherwise I would have been angry for days. I’m going to try to watch the rest of it when my blood pressure has stabilized.
On another note, I propose that we do to McCain what Fox news has done to Obama, and what Dan Savage did to Rick Santorum. To wit, always, always, ALWAYS refer to him as John “Hundred Years War” McCain, or, in the interest of brevity, C-Note. Because, I mean, honestly! Let us not allow anyone to forget what voting for C-Note will mean.
it was just on my pbs channel here last 2 nights… got sucked into it as well
so well done… so scary all the behind the scenes dark side stuff goin on…
on a much lighter hollywood note i was surprised Charlie Wilson’s war made it to theaters…
pretty entertaining, good rental, supergreat performance by philip seymour hoffman
I heard Terry Gross interview director Michael Kirk Tuesday night on her show, Fresh Air. Compelling.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88764527
This was the greatest doc since Why we Fight. I told my dad it was on and he should watch it. He’s a devout Bush supporter…today we talked about the documentary and it seems this doc has made him rethink things. I hope it comes out on DVD because I will add it to my collection.
Vote Obama. Please.
Thanks for the post. I’ll check it out. You might want to also check out Reuters’ take on the war called “Bearing Witness.” It’s more informational than anything.
http://iraq.reuters.com/
hubris…exactly the word that came to mind so often watching this…
Thank God for PBS and shows like Frontline; it’s about the news and it’s about making you think. Too bad too many in this country won’t think for themselves…
Thank you.
My husband and I watched the whole thing, and all I could think was “Incredible”!
So much incompetence, and so much hubris (you are exactly right, JA)! And, Im sorry to say…evil!
I wonder if this documentary was shown internationally – if so, how much worse the feelings against the U.S. must be NOW!
FUBAR! sums it all up.
Thanks for recommending this series — I’ve been watching it since you posted about it. Have you seen the documentary ‘No End in Sight’?
http://imdb.com/title/tt0912593/
Many of the same people are interviewed and/or discussed, but a few receive very different treatments in NEIS than they do in the Frontline piece. Interesting to compare, contrast, and try to make up one’s own mind.