“He Thought It Would Be Dramatic”

by digby

Everyone will be writing remembrances and elegies for Jerry Falwell today because he had an enormous influence on American life of the past quarter century which will continue to be felt for some time to come. In his favor, I can say that he always seemed to be a man of good humor and calm demeanor who seemed to know on some level that he was playing a role, whether political or theatrical. But his rather placid personality can’t make up for the fact that he was at the epicenter of some of the most “uncivil” and unseemly political hit-jobs of the past couple of decades.

Steve Benen has a nice round-up of his greatest hits at the Carpetbagger Report, but there’s one episode that I think most aptly symbolizes his legacy. If you want to see one of the more vivid examples of where the discourse went directly into the sewer, look no further than this:

“The Clinton Chronicles: An Investigation into the Alleged Criminal Activities of Bill Clinton,” is a 1994 film created by Patrick Matrisciana. This video explored the deaths of Vincent Foster and an alleged cocaine-smuggling operation. These deaths were part of the debunked conspiracy theory known as the “Clinton Body Count”, which grew as years went by, as connections to Clinton were added with varying degrees of allegedly suspicious circumstances surrounding the deaths.

[…]

VHS copies of the film were promoted and distributed via television infomercials by Moral Majority leader Rev. Jerry Falwell, who also appears in the film. Falwell’s infomercial for the 80-minute tape included footage of Falwell interviewing a silhouetted journalist who was afraid for his life. The journalist accused Clinton of orchestrating the deaths of several reporters and personal confidants who had gotten too close to his illegalities. However, it was subsequently revealed that the silhouetted journalist was, in fact, Patrick Matrisciana, the producer of the video and president of Citizens for Honest Government. “Obviously, I’m not an investigative reporter,” Matrisciana admitted (to investigative journalist Murray Waas), “and I doubt our lives were actually ever in any real danger. That was Jerry’s idea to do that … He thought that would be dramatic.”

[…]

In a 2005 interview for The Hunting of the President Falwell admitted, “To this day I do not know the accuracy of the claims made in The Clinton Chronicles,” but nevertheless failed to condemn the poor research and false statements.

“The Clinton Chronicles” (which were also sold in churches throughout the nation)was just one note of the din created by the cacophanous rightwing noise machine during the 90’s but it was well-known and significant. And this lowest form of scum-sucking smears was pushed relentlessly by this alleged man of God and believed by millions of people who watched his Sunday sermons and saw that informercial. It, and other rightwing conspiracy theories about the Clintons, (which I’m starting get in recycled Hillary form in my email box) were calumnious beyond anything I’ve ever seen and they fed the nonstop drumbeat that found its way into the mainstream, tabloid cable culture of the times. Jerry Falwell and his rightwing cohorts spewed these lies and rumors with a glee usually seen only in the eyes of five year olds on Christmas morning. And they did it with an unctuous phony sanctimony that was enough to turn the stomach of the most seasoned con man.

If Falwell’s beliefs about the afterlife are correct, I think he may have just had very big surprise.

Update: Perlstein has more:

“He was, of course, a monster.”

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