Edward Jay Epstein is in my opinion our greatest living journalist. Given his three books on the Kennedy assassination, I don’t think there is anyone who knows more about the subject than he does. As I saw what Hollywood did with Rathergate in the film Truth this past fall, and how credulous reviewers took it at face value, it occurred to me to ask Ed what he made of Hollywood’s treatment of history. Thinking back to Oliver Stone’s treatment of the Kennedy assassination in JFK, in which Stone turned the reprobate Jim Garrison into the hero of the story, I asked Ed what he made of it all. Ed even debated Stone at the time.
Ed responded concisely to my question: “Everything Hollywood produces is fiction, including documentaries.” I call it Epstein’s Law.
Ed’s Law may have an exception or two, but it certainly covers the case of the disgusting HBO docudrama Confirmation, the story of the Clarence Thomas confirmation battle rewritten to conform to the party line. George Orwell, call your office.
Attorney Mark Paoletta has set up the excellent site Confirmation BIASED to document the film’s falsity. Paoletta’s site is a service to truth and to history. The video below is one of the many resources accessible on the site.
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