Publicity still for Patrick Dollard's upcoming film, "Young Americans"
In Sharon Waxman's May 6, 2006 New York Times story on pro-war/pro-military filmmaker Patrick Dollard, the reportedly "most corrected" journalist at the newspaper writes:
Mr. Dollard's exploits have been praised on right-wing radio, as well as on the blog, edited by Mark Ebner, which tends to conservative views.
Funny - if Waxman had even bothered to crack "Hollywood, Interrupted", on the very first page of the introduction, concerning my politics, she would have read this:
As passing professional acquaintances (Ebner being a 20-year, bleeding heart investigative journalist, and Breitbart a conservative, first generation internet news junkie working for Matt Drudge) our political differences kept us at a distance until we discovered we had one thing in common: our mutual disgust with the state of popular culture.
Waxman's obvious disdain for what she incorrectly assumed was my political viewpoint was preceded by an inquiry she made to a colleague of mine while rushing to file a follow-up story on my South Park/Tom Cruise story broken right here.
When my colleague suggested Waxman contact me about the South Park story, Waxman reportedly responded, "Oh - He wrote that conservative book." Needless to say, Waxman never called me. Instead, she waited until she was stymied on the Dollard story, and - in another rush to file - piggybacked off this blog to fill some weekend page space with a story aiming to disgrace Patrick Dollard as a drug addicted Hollywood failure pushing his crazy conservative agenda regarding the war in Iraq.
In her piece, Waxman maintained that she was in e-mail communication with Dollard.
Dollard responds: "Part of the reason I refused to speak to Waxman [was because of] how she shades things. In the article she says I was speaking to her by email and then suddenly stopped. What in fact happened was that she emailed me, and then I sent her two emails strictly insulting her for once having been a serious journalist who now was nothing more than a gossip columnist. She fails to mention that her only contact with me was me insulting her; to do so would have given away her bias, so she doesn't mention it.
Here is the extent of his e-mail correspondence with Waxman:
From: Patrick Dollard
To: Sharon Waxman
Date: Fri Apr 14, 2006 04:03:12 AM PDT
Subject: Re: where are you?
I'm out of the country. Are you still interested in doing something? Are you still just a gossip columnist for the NY Times or are you doing serious journalism again?
On Wednesday, April 05, 2006, at 04:36PM, Sharon Waxman wrote:
my eds want this story sooner rather than later. call me: [phone # deleted], or cell: [deleted]. and ps can i get that famous (infamous) photo of you with your head shaved, from last iraq visit?
s.
From: Patrick Dollard
To: Sharon Waxman
Date: Fri Apr 14, 2006 04:05:52 AM PDT
Subject: Re: where are you?
Did you ever do that earthshaking, groundbreaking, world-changing story on Harvey Weinstein and hookers you were so excited about? If you did, I missed it. Can you send me a copy. Wasn't it you who coined the term "mainlining history"? Was that about your work at the Times, or was it about what you used to do?
So there you have it: the architecture of a news story for the paper of record - the same newspaper that failed to review its own official best-seller, and neglected to include "Hollywood,Interrupted" in its "Roundup of books on Hollywood" for 2004.
Is it any wonder why this bleeding heart liberal has warmed to the conservative viewpoint when it comes to Hollywood liberals and consequently, the biased (yes, I said "biased") liberal media?
So... Who is Patrick Dollard?
I don't know - I've never met the guy. I suppose we'll have to wait for journalist Evan Wright's 20,000+ word opus planned for the September issue of Vanity Fair. In the meantime, an unidentified family member writes in attempting to explain Dollard:
He is not a brave person merely self serving, usually loaded on good drugs and from a lifetime of abusing said drugs definitely insane (he was committed at one point and has been in and out of rehab), he has made physical threats against his 72 year old mother, alienated himself from his entire family due to his abuse and ruined quite a few lives. As far as risking his life he has spent a lifetime doing that overdosing so this is hardly a stretch for him.
The family member continues:
Responsible?
I'd also like to add that how anyone could go and spend time in the hell that is the war on Iraq and its civilians and come to the conclusion that Michael Moore and Cindy Sheehan (a grieving mother) are responsible and to blame for the chaos and carnage is one of the most ludicrous and unintelligible conclusions an individual can come to and this alone should give anyone pause as to who this gonzo whatever actually is. Mind boggling! It is no wonder he wasn't and isn't one of the many reporters who were actually focused on the real issues who have since been killed over there- and that list is shockingly long. It was five just last month. In my mind he has survived for one of two reasons 1. He is too evil to die and or 2. He is pumping so much propaganda horseshit he's actually serving a purpose directly in the military and government's best interest.
To blame?
To that, Dollard responds that he'd "rather not turn this into the Jerry Springer Show."
Another report coming in to Hollywood, Interrupted from two journalists references a young cameraman named Dan McCormick who briefly assisted Dollard in Iraq. Now back in Los Angeles, McCormick is publicly claiming that he and Dollard were "raped by three marines, and then tracked them down and killed one of them."
McCormick has not responded to repeated phone inquiries, but Dollard has this to say about him: "He lasted about 3 weeks in Iraq, broke his arm, left and never came back. Long story....I only worked with him about a day before we parted company....it's my understanding he was recently admitted to some facility for his crystal meth and possibly other mental problems."
Dollard also confirms that McCormick has indeed been making shocking Marine rape claims: "He [McCormick] gave the same download to my wife Megan, who said he was obviously insane during the conversation she had with him, but more fun, is that he told her that the only other person who knew all this and was involved was Robert DeNiro."
Were Dollard and his cameraman raped by Marines?
In jest, Dollard responds, "No, but we massacred countless civilians."
When Dollard returned from his second tour in war-torn Iraq, he was greeted by some tragic family news: Last February, his 18-year-old step-nephew Eric Andrews was shot and killed by police in Riverside County, CA.
According to a family member (and various news reports), police were called to an attempted suicide at the residence of Eric's girlfriend. Eric and his girlfriend were breaking up at the time and he was distraught, suicidal and hurting himself with a knife. Not knowing what to do his mother and girlfriend called police. The girlfriend had the knife when the police arrived and dropped it on the ground outside the apartment when the officer ordered her to. The police officer then walked up into the house (against his mother's who pleas to talk to Eric) and wasn't up there for more than a minute or two before he shot at Eric killing him. No one but the cop and Eric know what happened. The police now claim there was a second knife and Eric was holding it.
The family member tells Hollywood, Interrupted: "Eric is a big guy but wouldn't harm a fly. Considering how quickly they moved in without fully questioning everyone present they didn't take time to fully suss out what was going on and rushed in and killed him then asked questions later. I guess this is the way police now handle suicide attempt calls."
Dollard has not responded to questions about his nephew's death, but his producer Tim Serda writes: "Pat suffered a family tragedy... in which a member of his family was shot to death. Pat handled what needed to be handled with his family. That death, on top of the unending death in Ramadi, seemed to put Pat into a withdrawn and quiet state in the likes I've never seen before."
With all this weirdness and tragedy surrounding Dollard and his adventure in Iraq, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that the man is making a movie.
According to his producer, Dollard - who has picked up a video camera maybe a half dozen times in his life, and never edited a film - is currently locked away in a remote editing room, pushing buttons pretty much round the clock.
For those who have been following Dollard's dispatches as carried here, (Entries 1, 2, 3, and 4) it's no secret that his film "Young Americans" will include shocking, grunts-eye-view video of the Iraq insurgency. [As a morbid joke, the above pictured "publicity still" of a Marine holding an insurgent's severed head was sent to programmers at the Sundance Film Festival.]
"Young Americans" will also include graphic footage of mortar attacks, firefights and Marines bowed in prayer while under attack. The amazing part about the "making of" Young Americans is that Dollard managed to get himself cleared by the Department of Defense.
It has been reported that Dollard is planning one last visit to the front-lines, but, according to his producer, "He's blind in one eye [from an untreated cataract] and has shrapnel in his leg. He needs to get well. "
Dollard needs to get well to finish his film the way he wants to, and he needs to stay alive to witness how -- as the inevitable consequence of Evan Wright's forthcoming Vanity Fair story -- a New York Times-described drug addicted Hollywood failure's life will become a major motion picture.
* Coming up next: Dollard Dispatch #5...
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Sharon Waxman’s portrayal of Patrick Dollard as a propaganda mouthpiece for the far right, brings to mind something which has been troubling me for a long time and would really benefit from some clarification, from someone who lives in America.
I live in England and my main news sources are the BBC and the news on Channel Four, both of which are reasonably impartial, although I imagine, in the U.S., they would be regarded as leaning marginally to the left.
Because much of what America does has global repercussions, there are always reports on what is happening over there. These includes the views of various American groups and individuals towards the ongoing situation in Iraq.
I increasingly get a sense that, with regards to Iraq, the fighting; the casualties, on both sides; the kidnappings; the corruption; the sabotage; etc, are being gathered up and used as ammunition in a war of ideology that is being waged between liberal and conservative sources in the media.
Also, that these heated exchanges of fire, between the right and the left, are increasingly taking place within the mainstream media; often to the point where the arguments become less about Iraq itself and more about who can shout the loudest, while simultaneously dragging their opponent's credibility though the dirt.
This concerns me, because it speaks of a near future in which we hitch our wagons to those news sources which best parrot our worldview. I never want to watch the news and find myself nodding my head in agreement, or shaking it in disagreement, since that implies a singular viewpoint is being put forward. In reality there are no tidy answers; no occasions in which all the testimony and opinion clearly points in one direction.
Posted by: backwards7 at May 22, 2006 08:11 AM
Pat Dollard is the new Hunter S. Thompson, there is no question about it. Telling the real story-- Gonzo, Gonzo, Gonzo.......... Can you no talent assclowns stand it?
Posted by: Anonymous at May 25, 2006 08:14 AM
Is this site for real? or is this some kind of joke? I hope this isn't your day job.
Posted by: WTF? at November 8, 2006 07:51 AM
It is interesting that this guy --who turned to the good side, finally!-- is being attacked, while a congenial liar like Michael Moore has been deified by the Leftwing media. Goes to tell the media does not report, but wants to tell us how to think. Tough!
Posted by: Milla at March 31, 2007 09:14 AM
"Pat Dollard is the new Hunter S. Thompson, there is no question about it. Telling the real story-- Gonzo, Gonzo, Gonzo.......... Can you no talent assclowns stand it?"
Except that the "New hunter s Thompson " was Hunter s Thompson. If Hunter S. Thompson was an intolerable Right wing freak who jacked it to war and images of the flag.
Posted by: Chris mankey at May 18, 2009 09:55 PM
