----------------------------Original message---------------------------- ***Roger Ailes praises THE BIRTH OF A NATION.*** Last night producer/politico Roger Ailes went out of his way to laud the great film BIRTH OF A NATION during his interview with actress Elizabeth McGovern. (I believe the show is called STRAIGHT [!] TALK, and is on the new America's Talking cable channel, and also on CNBC). She mentioned D.W. Griffith's name in passing while discussing work she was doing with her director/husband involving 3-D TV (the need to develop a new language of editing, etc.). Ailes turned to the camera and in a lecturer's tone chided those in the viewing audience who might not know who Mr. Griffith was. He then praised the 'great film', BIRTH OF A NATION. McGovern politely remarked that yes, it would make sense that Ailes is a Griffith admirer since "he was a conservative, too." Ailes replied (paraphrasing here): "Well, I don't know if Griffith was a conservative or not. But he made a great film. Of course in this day of political correctness a lot people don't even want the movie shown, just because of some racial images. But it was a different time. A person can help the times they live in." It was as if he had said, "Boys & girls: if you don't know who Adolf Hitler was you should. He was a great, great orator." Quite an apologia. Quite a repesentation of the nature of the film. I'm still amazed at the staying power of BIRTH as a historical touchstone and the willingness of white men to continue proudly defending its representation of race. Comments? Dan Streible