Baloney, Moore or Less (Finally, a liberal columnist tells the truth!)

The Washington Post ^ | July 1, 2004 | Richard Cohen

[Dems_R_Losers]

I brought a notebook with me when I went to see Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" and in the dark made notes before I gave up, defeated by the utter stupidity of the movie. One of my notes says "John Ellis," who is a cousin of George W. Bush and the fellow who called the election for Fox News that dark and infamous night when the presidency -- or so the myth goes -- was stolen from Al Gore, delivering the nation to Halliburton, the Carlyle Group and Saudi Arabia, and plunging it into war. A better synopsis of the movie you're not likely to read.

[Dems_R_Losers]

Wow. Very significant. I'll bet Terry McAuliffe is gonna choke on his Wheaties when he reads this one!

[swilhelm73]

A pretty good article, BUT...one serious problem near the end;

I did questioning the stated reasons for invading Iraq -- weapons of mass destruction and Hussein's links to Osama bin Laden. This was stupid of me, but human nature nonetheless

Neither was the primary reason we went to war. Specifically, Hussein was in violation of the terms he agreed to, to end the first Gulf War - the vaunted UN resolutions he was breaking.

Breaking the terms of an earlier peace treaty is perhaps the oldest casus belli known to man.

[xm177e2]

Washington Post articles should be excerpted, right?

[SpaceBar]

Actually the boxoffice success of Moore's film says good things about the economy, where so many clueless individuals have the disposable income to spend on such dreck.

[thoughtomator]

The author needs to face the fact that Moore's screed is not only characteristic of the Left, but the epitome thereof. All the Left has done since the Clintons took control of the Democrat party has been along the same Marxist, big-lie, tantrum-throwing lines. All the no-WMD arguments are just as flimsy as Moore's fabrications.

[randog]

I'll bet Terry McAuliffe is gonna choke on his Wheaties when he reads this one!

I'll betcha McAwful is the one that sent out the DNC memo to the party faithful asking them to write columns excoriating Moore just as this one does.

The dems realized shortly after the release of the movie that Moore's blunderbuss blew up in their faces. Last weekend the DNC sent party leaders to all the talk shows trying to distance the party from the movie. Too late--we've got pictures and statements from them after they attended the preview last Thursday.

I've always said that Moore is a pure capitalist--he's out for himself and no one else. He could care less if Bush won or lost; all that matters is that he made his cash, to hell with the "cause". Will he make more money? Of course--his audience is no better than Manson's family. They'll follow him to the brink of Hell and thank him for the opportunity as he kicks their sorry asses over.

As for the dems: what's that saying? You lie with dogs expect to get fleas?

[TheCrusader]

"I fear how it will play to the undecided."

So do I.

I was speaking with a man just today who saw the movie, and he said it moved him to dislike President Bush, and distrust Dick Cheney. When people see the 'documents' being flashed on the screen, supposedly to 'substantiate' the producer's allegations, it does tend to produce in the uneducated or uninformed mind a feeling of uncertainty or suspicion. This, I'm certain, was Mr. Moore's devious intention. And I do mean devious, because nobody knows better than Michael Moore that the political messages in this movie are based largely on deceptions, half-truths and lots of smoke and mirrors.

[TNdandelion]

I threw away $8 yesterday and watched it myself. I was disappointed because for all the hype, I expected Moore to be some wonderfully talented filmmaker.

If people are drooling over this film, liberals are alot worse off than I originally thought!

[VRW Conspirator]

I've always said that Moore is a pure capitalist--he's out for himself and no one else. He could care less if Bush won or lost; all that matters is that he made his cash, to hell with the "cause".

Bingo! I thought there was no one else who pegged Moore for what he really is-an opportunist(a capitalist in the broadest sense). Moore has found a few buttons to push and he is making a mint at it.

But, Moore is also typical of the leadership of the Democrat party! They are a bunch of opportunists! Look at Kerry-married two rich women and says whatever a particular audience wants to hear just to get elected. Look at Hillary-rides the coat tails a sociopath to obtain power. After all, if you are going to be an opportunist and enter politics, which party would be most conducive? -The "Guvment will give you whatever you want" Democrat party, that is.

[L.N. Smithee]

Moore's depiction of why Bush went to war is so silly and so incomprehensible that it is easily dismissed. As far as I can tell, it is a farrago of conspiracy theories. But nothing is said about multiple U.N. resolutions violated by Iraq or the depredations of Saddam Hussein. In fact, prewar Iraq is depicted as some sort of Arab folk festival -- lots of happy, smiling, indigenous people. Was there no footage of a Kurdish village that had been gassed? This is obscenity by omission.

Well, this guy wins my Stopped Clock Award, for a liberal that is right two minutes out of twenty-four hours.

[L.N. Smithee]

I'll betcha McAwful is the one that sent out the DNC memo to the party faithful asking them to write columns excoriating Moore just as this one does

I doubt it. McAuliffe himself was challenged after the Washington premiere as to whether he really believed Moore's contention that the entire war was done for the benefit of Unocal, and he said, "I do now!"

[Billthedrill]

...the stunning box-office success of "Fahrenheit 9/11" is not, as proclaimed, a sure sign that Bush is on his way out but is instead a warning to the Democrats to keep the loony left at a safe distance.

Too late. Way, way too late. But I will certainly credit Cohen for realizing that it really does matter what a monster Saddam was, and that it may matter more than the results of the next presidential election.

[L.N. Smithee]

I was speaking with a man just today who saw the movie, and he said it moved him to dislike President Bush, and distrust Dick Cheney. When people see the 'documents' being flashed on the screen, supposedly to 'substantiate' the producer's allegations, it does tend to produce in the uneducated or uninformed mind a feeling of uncertainty or suspicion. This, I'm certain, was Mr. Moore's devious intention. And I do mean devious, because nobody knows better than Michael Moore that the political messages in this movie are based largely on deceptions, half-truths and lots of smoke and mirrors.

And I think that is why it was so important to MOOre to get the PG-13 rating. Children are not political by nature, and this is the great controversy of our time. MOOre wants to swing the new voters of 2006 and 2008.

Don't be deceived by the fact that MOOre is further left than the DNC. Like most of the far-left, MOOre, IMHO, has a long term goal. America can't shift to his direction unless they first stop drifting right.

From Slick Willie to Hilliary to MoreOn.org to Michael MOOre, I think we have a bad habit of underestimating our opponents.

OK, OK..."misunderestimating" them.

[Hazzardgate]

Agreeance!

I couldn't believe how boring it was. I was expecting a lot more from the lard-ass.

Politics aside, F 9/11 is a very poor "documentary"/"film". If thats the best they have, let them holler from the rooftops.

[Steel Wolf]

This movie is about to drop off the radar. I just saw Spiderman 2, and it'll blow the doors off of anything else playing right now. ESPECIALLY up against something as deeply screwball as F911.

Moore's had his 15 minutes of fame.

[NutCrackerBoy]

I was speaking with a man just today who saw the movie, and he said it moved him to dislike President Bush, and distrust Dick Cheney.

I haven't seen the film, but we would be nuts not to acknowledge that propaganda works. It's the same concept as Arab leaders blaming the Joooos. Here in USA, show up authority figures as fascists who, oh, pick a couple of things: pollute the environment and lock up potsmokers.

[End_Clintonism_Now]

FAT-N-HYPE 9/11

[weegee]

Moore stands to make more money on the lecture circuit with President Bush re-elected but at this time he is not putting his eggs all in one basket. His next film will take on the health care industry, so he will still be trying to move the political football.

[weegee]

Sounds like the same way that Oliver Stone's JFK just overwhelmed the audience with wave after wave of BS that eventually they stop trying to resist. That movie clocks in at around 3 hours. If it were like an epic movie of old and came with an intermission, the audience would get too much of a break and begin questioning what they are watching.

[T. Jefferson]

Moores fiction comedy did $22m. Gibson's factual documentary "Passion" did $81m first weekend. You decide which is a blockbuster.