MILLHOUSE: A relevant film in the wake of the Obama controversy.

Time to mention something from the past that's relevant in the wake of the controversy over the Obama cover of THE NEW YORKER and the ensuing "righteous progressive" noise about how "this is an important election and THE NEW YORKER should be ashamed if their irreverent cover deters one voter from voting for Obama and against John McCain:".

Earlier this week, I watched Emile de Antonio's somewhat irreverent 1971 documentary of Richard Nixon's life and career--MILLHOUSE: A WHITE COMEDY.

Nixon was so offended by the film that he managed to ensure its nonshowing after early and successful NYC runs--and de Antonio was included on Tricky Dick's infamous "Enemies List."

Moral: Ensuring political correctness through censorship is a very bad thing--whether from the left or the right.

MILLHOUSE is available for rent on Netflix or for sale as part of a boxset of de Antonio films from HVE Entertainment--a subsidiary of Criterion.

Update (7/19/08): Here's a link to SLATE columnist Jack Shafer's column on the NEW YORKER cover: http://www.slate.com/id/2195317/

Tags: THE NEW YORKER, MILLHOUSE: A WHITE COMEDY, Emile de Antonio, POINT OF ORDER, Barack Obama, John McCain, Richard M. Nixon, Nixon's enemies list, Watergate, Vietnam, the Checkers speech, Alger Hiss