Boycott launched
of CBS' 'Reagans'
Targets
advertisers of miniseries that 'smears' former president, wife
Posted:
By Art Moore
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com
An upcoming CBS miniseries that
reportedly casts former President Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy in a
negative light has prompted a boycott.
A former chief of staff to a U.S.
congressman has teamed with colleagues to set up a website
urging television viewers not to watch the two-part series and boycott its
advertisers for 30 days during the peak of the holiday shopping season.
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"This time,
The miniseries, set for airing Nov.
16 and 18, includes
scenes of Reagan cursing at his staff and his wife slapping her daughter,
according to script excerpts published by the DrudgeReport.
Other scenes, according to Drudge,
show the former president declaring
he is the anti-Christ and, in response to AIDS, stating, "They that
live in sin shall die in sin" – though there is no record of him saying
such things.
The reports, coupled with one
published by the New York Times, increases speculation among Reagan supporters
it will be a politically charged hatchet job disguised as entertainment.
It already has been denounced by
Michael Reagan, the former president's adopted son and radio talk-show host.
"It's horrendous, it's
absolutely horrendous," said Michael Reagan after viewing eight minutes of
excerpts of the film. "They paint my father as a buffoon," he told
talk-show host Sean Hannity. "They also have my dad taking God's name in
vain in an angry, angry way. ... They have him calling another person in anger
an S.O.B. I've never seen my Dad that angry and I've never heard him use the
'G-D' word in my life," Reagan complained.
Boycotter Paranzino said companies
have "every right to finance this TV show's hate speech, and Americans
have every right to punish those companies that support this cultural
pollution."
Paranzino told WorldNetDaily he
realizes boycotts of networks usually have little impact, and so he
intentionally narrowed his effort.
"It's designed to say you can
watch 'Everybody Love's Raymond,'" the popular CBS show, he said,
"but you can defeat the left here simply by not watching this series and
making the network and its sponsors pay a price."
Since launching his site yesterday,
he's received a strong response, he said, including e-mails from people who say
they're willing to go beyond his focused effort and boycott the entire network.
"There is a lot of anger out
there," Paranzino told WND. "Doctors, lawyers, retirees, homemakers –
people are just furious at this obvious smear."
A woman from the East Coast, for
example, forwarded him her letter to CBS executives, which said:
Well, now it is
payback because, not only will I and every person I can personally touch
through my vast Internet connections, no longer frequent your vile programming,
those who contribute to the distribution of this despicable excuse for viewing
through their advertising, will be boycotted, not for thirty (30) days, but,
forever.
One man said he will "never
watch CBS again because of their intention to broadcast the Reagan smear
movie."
Another said: "I will boycott
everyone and everything associated with this disgrace."
A
A retired U.S. Air Force colonel
also signed on to the campaign.
Paranzino said sponsors of the
program have not been announced and might remain unknown or undetermined until
just prior to the airing.
Elsewhere around the Internet,
contributors to message boards are urging a boycott of advertisers of other CBS programs.
Some commentators expect the
controversy to boost the ratings of the series, but Paranzino disagrees.
"Sure, a little controversy
sometimes helps, but there is a sense out there that CBS has crossed a
line," he said. "These people are such cowards. They couldn't beat
Ronald Reagan at the ballot box and they never forgave him for standing up to
the Soviets, so now, as Alzheimer's disease ravages him in his 90s, they decide
to pick on him and his wife. For that spineless cruelty, they will pay a
financial price."
The miniseries will be broadcast
during "sweeps week" when garnering high ratings will allow networks
to charge higher rates for advertising.
Paranzino is a political consultant who worked for former Rep. Matt Salmon,
a Republican from