Truth, the cinematic attempt to make heroes out of the agenda-driven journalists who produced and broadcast the fraudulent 2004 CBS News story about George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard service, went into wide distribution this past weekend, with utterly disastrous box-office results.

Readers, in between moments savoring the film's apparent descent into oblivion — though it will almost certainly be revived in left-controlled high school and college classrooms for years to come — really should read William Campenni's writeup at the Daily Signal. It puts the final stake in the heart of any attempt by anyone with an ounce of sense to claim that Dan Rather's and Mary Mapes's 60 Minutes report has any remaining credibility whatsoever. After the jump, let's have some fun looking at the movie's weekend attendance figures.

Robert Redford and Cate Blanchett gushed over disgraced journalists Dan Rather and Mary Mapes on Monday's New Day on CNN. Michaela Pereira interviewed the Oscar winners about their new film, Truth, which is adaptation of Mapes's account of the Memogate scandal. Redford underlined that the apparent loyalty between Rather and Mapes "made a big impression on me." Blanchett hyped that "they're both compelling, fascinating, vital, intelligent, hilarious people."

The New York Times has not merely climbed aboard the bandwagon of Truth, which exalts the fraudulent September 2004 CBS 60 Minutes report about President George W. Bush's Texas Air National Guard Service. It's now serving as the film's de facto lead apologist.

The most recent example demonstrating how deeply in the tank the Old Gray Lady has gone is Stephen Holden's Thursday film review published in Friday's print edition. Holden's praise comes from an alternative universe where genuine "truth" clearly doesn't matter, and uses a tortured analogy which in reality disproves his attempt at making a point (bolds are mine throughout this post):

In a softball interview on Monday’s NBC Today, co-host Matt Lauer teed up liberal actor Robert Redford to push propaganda about his latest role as disgraced CBS Evening News anchor Dan Rather: Redford dismissed the scandal: “The whole thing unraveled over what was a small technicality at that time that was blown into major thing. And the bigger story was of course the story that Dan and Mary Mapes were working on about the Air National Guard. And suddenly that got pushed away in favor of this small glitch that became the scandal.”

A Tuesday USA Today preview of the movie Truth, which presumes Dan Rather’s 2004 “Memogate” hit piece against President George W Bash was accurate, conveyed the hostility of actor Robert Redford, who plays Rather, toward Bush. But Redford also undermined the “truth” premise by relaying that “loyalty” was Rather’s main motivation in defending his flawed story.