GOP Strikes Back at Michael Moore

NewsMax ^ | 6/17/04 | Carl Limbacher

[wagglebee]

While the White House and the Republican National Committee have taken an official "no comment" approach to Michael Moore and his new anti-Bush documentary Fahrenheit 9/11, some conservatives have mobilized a letter-writing campaign and crafted ads that slam the film and its maker.

Fahrenheit 9/11, which won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival, attacks President Bush's rationale for the war in Iraq and accuses him and his administration of manipulating the Sept. 11 terror attacks and fostering fear for political gain.

It is set for release on June 25, debuting on at least 500 screens, with plans to expand to hundreds more in the coming weeks.

One of the organizations rallying against Moore is Move America Forward, a pro-Bush group that evolved months ago from the letter-writing campaign that led CBS to drop its controversial TV movie The Reagans.

The group has received several thousand e-mails of support for its Moore campaign, said executive director Siobhan Guiney, a former Republican lobbyist. But she did not know how many were sent to the various theatre chains.

"Since we are the customers of the American movie theatres, it is important for us to speak up loudly and tell the industry executives that we don't want this misleading and grotesque movie being shown at our local cinema," the group says on its website, above a listing of phone numbers and e-mails for various cinema companies.

Said Guiney: "(Moore) is critical of what's happening right now, and there's no problem with being critical - but his movie is not a documentary, it's a piece of propaganda."

So far, however, Move America Forward's letters about Fahrenheit 9/11 haven't changed anything.

"There has been some communication, but not an overwhelming amount. And we do intend to play the film," said Dick Westerling, spokesman for the theatre chain Regal Entertainment Group, which has 6,020 screens in the United States.

Move America Forward is funded through private donations, not the Bush campaign or the Republican National Committee, Guiney said.

Who is behind the group?

Howard Kaloogian is the chairman, a former California assemblyman who helped organize the Gray Davis recall campaign and made a failed bid for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination.

And who is behind Moore?

One of the filmmaker's press strategists is brass-knuckles political operative Chris Lehane, a former press secretary to former vice-president Al Gore and frequent Democratic aide who worked on the presidential campaigns of John Kerry and Wesley Clark. Lehane earned a reputation in 2000 for gathering information on political enemies and bringing it to reporters.

Neither Lehane nor Moore would comment for this story.

Another independent conservative group, Citizens United, is crafting video ads for television and the Internet that slam Moore.

The group's head, David Bossie, is a former Republican congressional aide who was one of President Bill Clinton's harshest critics. He was fired in 1998 by then-Speaker Newt Gingrich for withholding the public release of testimony transcripts favourable to the Clintons in a campaign fundraising probe.

Bossie said the ads would target Moore and George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist who donated nearly $13 million US to various groups seeking to defeat Bush.

"Look, this guy (Moore) is simply producing and advertising this movie at this time to try to affect the election," Bossie said. "And so clearly organizations like mine ... it seems to be left to us to make sure that the media is educated, as well as the American people are educated, as to just what they're up to."

The liberal advocacy group MoveOn.org is trying to counter the conservative campaign with mass mailings asking members to "pledge to bring their friends, relatives and neighbours" to Fahrenheit 9/11 on opening night.

Supporters also are sending letters to theatres on Move America Forward's list, urging them not to give in to pressure to block the film.

"My guess is that their efforts will backfire and only rally support for the film, which will be terrific as far as I'm concerned," said Tom Ortenberg, president of Lions Gate Films, which is distributing the movie. "We need less censorship in this country, not more."

[wagglebee]

I just despise this stupid, fat f*&%.

[SolitaryMan]

Of course, you can contribute to them also: http://www.moveamericaforward.org/

[Ron in Acreage]

Give them a piece of your mind. Time to boycott these theaters. Hurt them where it hurts.

brian_blatchley@loewscpx.com
michael_norris@loewscpx.com
kerry_moots@loewscpx.com
John_mccauley@loewscpx.com
john_walker@loewscpx.com
maura_Campbell@loewscpx.com

dgurin@regalcinemas.com
mcampbell@regalcinemas.com
amiles@regalcinemas.com
gdunn@regalcinemas.com
pbrandow@regalcinemas.com
barry.brown@regalcinemas.com
rwinograd@regalcinemedia.com
robbya@regalcinemas.com
kevink@regalcinemas.com
ddelaria@regalcinemas.com

[cripplecreek]

I wish newsmax hadn't worded it that way. The GOP had nothing to do with this boycott garbage and it just hands ammo to the left.

[Humidston]

"The liberal advocacy socialist/communist group MoveOn.org is trying to counter the conservative campaign...."

[wagglebee]

You should message Carl Limbacher and tell him. I'm not going to change the title of a copyrighted story. But yeah, I agree that NewsMax's titles are often sort of sensational and deceptive.

[jwalsh07]

IS this who I think it is? :-|

[Eva]

I agree, take a lesson from the Clintons and just move on.

[what i think]

Russo Marsh & Rogers

[Always Right]

Who cares. This movie will be done and forgotten in a few weeks. Moore will make good money on it because he was successful in creating publicity, but there won't be much staying power for this film except among the far-lefties.

[cricket]

"I just despise this stupid, fat f*&%."

Well said and my sentiments exactly.

[sgtbono2002]

Hamaaz has endorsed Fahrenheit 911.

Does that tell you anything.

[wizardoz]

Hopefully this (and The Day After Tomorrow) will end up on the ash heap of movies that shriveled immediately.

[ghostrider]

"Look, this guy (Moore) is simply producing and advertising this movie at this time to try to affect the election," Bossie said. "And so clearly organizations like mine ... it seems to be left to us to make sure that the media is educated, as well as the American people are educated, as to just what they're up to."

More importantly, this crook is circumventing the campaign finance laws with a blatantly obvious "like kind contribution" worth many, many millions of dollars to the Democrats.

[familyofman]

"...this crook is circumventing the campaign finance laws with a blatantly obvious "like kind contribution" worth many, many millions of dollars to the Democrats."

You do realize the same argument could be used in relation to talk radio & their overwhelming support for the GOP. Free speech is a wonderful thing that should not be messed with, especially for political reasons.

[ghostrider]

Yes, I realize that talk radio, the nightly news, the music industry, the movie industry, newspapers, book publishers are all involved. Some purely to make a buck, and others to subvert the country with pro enemy propaganda attacks. You are correct that free speech shouldn't be messed with, but how free is speech where the content is filtered through oligopoly control? Yes oligopoly control. The mega consolidations have turned the free world to an oligopoly world. Clearly oligopoly filtered free speech kept obvious (by President Lincoln's definition - anyone lending assistance and comfort to the enemy in time of war) traitors and seditionists like Hanoi Jane Fonda, the young bill clinton, the young John Kerry and the old Teddy Kennedy from accountability.

[Impeach98]

I strongly disagree.

"Hype" and "buzz" for Passion of the Christ worked to build box office proceeds because people when alerted to a movie about the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ found that to be a compelling and interesting story. That's why more than 3,000 theaters in the U.S. showed "Passion."

Michael Moore making a movie - which with more press exposure reveals not only inaccuracies but a political bias and intent to "politicize" the content of the movie - would be offputting to all but the far left activists who were going to see it anyways.

I think if this movie is highly debated - and facts like Hezbollah endorsing it get out to more and more people - then mainstream Americans who go to a movie theater will pick other movie fare to watch.

I believe my reasoning is backed up by the fact that the movie's distributors are having a very hard time getting the total number of movie theaters showing the film up to 500 (they hadn't gotten there yet as of today).

I appreciate you may look at it differently, but don't fall for the spin of Moore and his distributors that they like the spotlight on the controversial nature of the film. Even Americans who are not keen on how things are going in Iraq don't like the idea of someone trying to undermine the war on terrorism and our troops. And they certainly don't like the idea of a movie being viewed as good to the cause of a terrorist group like Hezbollah.

[Middle Man]

"Move America Forward is funded through private donations, not the Bush campaign or the Republican National Committee, Guiney said."

"Who is behind the group?"

Nowhere in any of this is it mentioned that moveamericaforward was started by a San Francisco-based political PR firm called Russo Marsh & Rogers.

That info was available on the WHOIS database until June 6, when it was published on the 'net and RM&R immediately had all references to themselves removed.