Hillary the Movie

March 26, 2009


While there are some speculating about who will play the lead roles in"Obama the Movie", this week, the Supreme Court is viewing "Hilliary the Movie". The question is whether government can regulate a politically charged film as a campaign ad.

"Hilliary the Movie" is a Citizens United Productions film calling itself the "first and last word on what the Clintons want America to forget". The film presents 40 in depth interviews of people who have locked horns with the Clintons and others of note, e.g. former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, author and frequent t.v. guest commentator Ann Coulter, nationally syndicated radio host Michael Medved and former Clinton supporter Dick Morris to name a few.

David Bossie, producer, wanted to air television ads advertising the film during the 2008 Primaries. The federal courts said the ads would violate the McCain-Feingold Law , the popular name for the 2002 revisions to the nation's campaign finance laws. Judges called the movie a 90 minute political attack ad, ruling that as such, it would require financial backers to be named. The conservative group Citizens United appealed to the Supreme Court denying that the movie was a political ad. The group argued that their rights should be protected under the First Amendment as "precisely the type of uninhibited robust wide open debate and discussion the First Amendment protects and encourages". The case is Citizens United v.FEC 08-205.

Regardless of what the Supreme court decides, expect to see more politically charged movies from Citizens United. After Barack Obama secured the Democratic nomination for president, Bossie's organization came out with "Obama, the Hype Effect" and ran into the same legal problems. The group inserted free DVDs into local newspapers in Columbus (Dispatch), Cincinnati (Enquirer), Cleveland (Plain Dealer), Palm Beach, FL (Post), and Las Vegas (Review-Journal). Citizens United expects to produce 15 movies by the next presidential election in 2012. Among them, Bossie says, will be "Stimulate This", an indictment of the recently enacted economic stimulus package.

Information from Associated Press Writer Jesse J. Holland March 21, 2009 article spear headed this article. Links below offer more information on the subject:

http://www.hillarythemovie.com/ (Hillary the Movie)

http://www.citizensunited.org/ (Citizens United)

http://www.fec.gov/ (Federal Election Commission)

http://tinyurl.com/cfltxp (Background on this case)