Connecticut congressman Mistaken about Lincoln Script

It’s definitely that moment in the Oscar race where people feel like they have to cheat to win – and that’s what chest-thumping negative campaigning is.  Cheating.  So big brave Rep Joe Courtney, whom Ben Affleck once campaigned for, discovered that Connecticut did not vote no against the 13th amendment, though in the movie it says they did.  A mistake, in a very dense painstakingly attended to script. A mistake gets turned into a crusade in hopes of securing the vote for his friend’s movie.    A mistake that has now been turned into negative headlines. Blood in the water and all of that: 

Not a mistake as it turns out.

In a statement to the Hartford Courant, Courtney recommended the movie, saying that the portrayals of major characters was brilliant. However, he said he felt it was a wrong that needed to be righted. Courtney proceeded to write a letter to Steven Spielberg, the film’s director, asking that the movie be corrected before its release to DVD.

“The state’s good name, I personally feel, was tarnished a bit,” Courtney told the Courant.

Tarnished a bit. Yeah, I’m sure that’s what people watching Lincoln were thinking: those assholes in Connecticut! Those assholes voted no! Connecticut racist bastards!  I will never go to Connecticut again.

I’m sure that anyone involved in the script, book or production would be happy to put this as a footnote, probably one among many.  A classy person would have simply sent an email to Tony Kushner but no, it’s Oscar season.  Time to puff up like an angry peacock and defend the honor of your state!  Or maybe try to give back to someone who once helped you win an election.  Someone should tell him Affleck needs no help winning at this point.

So this is what the Oscar race is to be from here on out? As filthy as a political campaign? That’s  how you want to find your Best Picture of the Year?  You’ll end up with winners as bland and gutless as our politicians.  I heard on Twitter that supposedly Tommy Lee Jones’ grumpy-cat face would cost him votes and that Robert De Niro’s crying on Katie would earn him votes. Guys, what the hell are we all doing here pretending this shit is about quality?  This isn’t quality, this isn’t about film achievement, it’s about politics.

At least the reporter over at EW realizes that every movie has been hit with something this year.