The Mouse That Whored

Is there a stupider television critic than Alessandra Stanley (now that Jeff Jarvis is out on permanent disability)? I say no.

Consider this passage from Stanley's review of ABC's "Pathological Lies About 9/11":

"'The Path to 9/11' is not a documentary, or even a docu-drama; it is a fictionalized account of what took place.

But if it's a fictionalized account, it's not about "what took place." It's an account of what didn't take place.

Stanley seeks confused about the difference between reality and fantasy:

"The outside pressure was intense enough to persuade ABC to re-edit one of the more contested made-up scenes in the film. In the version sent to critics, it depicted C.I.A. operatives and their Afghan allies armed with guns and night-vision goggles creeping in the dark to snatch Mr. bin Laden from his compound in 1998. The men are told to stand by, in harm's way, as the C.I.A. director, George J. Tenet and the national security adviser, Samuel R. Berger, cavil by videoconference. Rather than take a firm decision, Mr. Berger flips off his videophone, and Mr. Tenet aborts the mission. (Among other things, ABC agreed to excise Mr. Berger's hissy fit.)

"In reality the C.I.A. got close, but never that close...."

So if the program's version is indisputably fiction, there's no "contest." The show is indisputably a lie. And since there was no conversation, there was no Berger "hissy fit." Yet Stanley treats it as fact ("Mr. Berger's hissy fit") while acknowledging it's a fraud.

Perhaps Stanley's most moronic statement is this:

"In 2001 President Bush and his newly appointed aides had ample warning, including a briefing paper titled 'Bin Laden Determined to Strike in U.S.,' and they failed to take it seriously enough, but their missteps are not equal. It's like focusing blame for a school shooting at the beginning of the school year on the student's new home room teacher; the adults who watched the boy torment classmates and poison small animals knew better."

Bush was fully informed about the threat from Bill Clinton himself, Richard Clarke, etc. and did nothing. If Bush had "ample warning," then how did the Clintonites "know better." What the fuck was the Clinton administration supposed to do, refuse to turn over power until all terrorists were eliminated? Stay in office until Bush passed a reading comprehesion test? If Bush was not prepared to deal with terrorism from day one, he should have never stolen the election in the first place.

And Stanley, like her NYT pals, again demonstrates her endless fascination with Bill Clinton's cock:

"The Sept. 11 commission concluded that the sex scandal distracted the Clinton administration from the terrorist threat."

Well, not in the real world, but don't tell Stanley.

Stanley is as dishonest as ABC, The Mouse That Whored. Her article is a fictionalized account of what didn't take place. But that's good enough for the paper of Judy Miller, Jeff Gerth and Bobo Brooks.