Posted on 07/05/2004 10:34:29 AM PDT by Undertow
VIN SUPRYNOWICZ: Not exactly an air-tight case
It's unfortunate -- but typical -- that Michael Moore begins his new semi-documentary film, "Fahrenheit 9/11," with a lie.
The film instructs viewers that every legitimate media outlet that sent reporters to Florida after the 2000 election concluded Al Gore really won the popular vote there -- and thus the presidency.
The truth is just the opposite. Every mainstream media outlet that went and looked -- including far-left East Coast papers that had endorsed Gore -- reluctantly concluded George W. Bush won the popular vote in Florida, no matter how you counted it.
But what do the facts matter? The "stolen election" of 2000 is now as much a rallying cry among the faithful of the American Left as the refrain in 1920s Germany that they'd been "stabbed in the back by the international Jewish banking cabal."
Hey, as long as it gets the faithful out in the streets ...
Where "Fahrenheit 9/11" is most effective is when it shows the Leader of the Free World continuing to sit in class and listen to the children read "My Pet Goat" -- at an elementary school photo op in Florida -- for seven minutes after news of the second plane hitting the Twin Towers was relayed to him on Sept. 11, 2001.
He does not look like a decisive and dynamic leader. He looks like a clueless retard. This is indeed the kind of moment that can cost an election.
Moore's film is effective and amusing when he plays us a few snatches of Eric Burdon's "We Gotta Get Outta This Place" as a number of Osama bin Laden's relatives flee the country in fear of reprisals, shortly after Sept. 11
Moore reports the bin Ladens flew out of the country while all other flights were grounded, on specially chartered planes provided by the Bush administration, without the FBI being given a chance to question them.
Unfortunately, it turns out they left days later -- after regular air travel had been restored ... and there's no evidence Bush or his administration paid for their flights ... and someone did check first with the FBI, which (whether wisely or not) signed off on letting them go.
This has all been confirmed by the bipartisan Sept. 11 Commission -- and by former White House counter-terrorism chief Richard Clarke (no friend of Bush) in an interview in Vanity Fair magazine.
Moore asks -- given that the taxpayers pay Bush only $400,000 per year in salary whereas the Saudis in the past two decades have "given" $1.4 billion to the Bush family, their friends, and "related companies" -- to whom we should expect him to show loyalty?
But you don't have to be a CPA to wonder whether by the word "given," Moore here means "invested."
Through my 401(k) plan, I probably own shares of stock in a number of companies in which Saudis have invested ("given"?) billions of dollars. Does that make me a tool of Saudi interests?
Perhaps this country has been ruled for generations by leaders who owe an unhealthy level of fealty to international investment banks and oil companies, the Bush family ranking right up there with the Lodges, the Rockfellers ... and even such nouveaux riches as the Kennedys, the Gores (who sit on the board of Occidental Petroleum), and the Heinz/Kerrys.
But how is electing a different empty-suit frontman with a "D" after his name going to change that?
Are we to believe that instead of attacking Iraq, a President Al Gore or a President John Kerry (who voted to fund the Iraq war) would by now have launched a war against ... Saudi Arabia?
The best moment in the film -- other than "My Pet Goat" -- comes when Britney Spears is allowed to serve as spokeswoman for that unfortunately huge slice of the modern American populace who rationalize, "George Bush is my president and I think we should just trust him to do the right thing."
This is indeed the kind of mindless faith that bred the Third Reich.
"Fahrenheit 9/11" attempts to blame the events of Sept. 11 on George Bush, based on the fact that he spent a lot of time on vacation in the summer of 2001 and didn't pay enough heed to warnings -- buried in the chaff of a thousand other security briefings -- that al-Qaida was planning an attack on these shores.
Given the ineffectiveness of the Clinton administration's response to earlier al-Qaida provocations, why should we believe President Al Gore somehow could or would have prevented the events of Sept. 11?
The only way the events of Sept. 11 could have been partially prevented was if law-abiding Americans had been allowed to carry their own firearms onto those planes.
Would Al Gore have restored that right to self-defense during his first year in office? Does Moore -- author of the anti-self-defense screed "Bowling for Columbine" -- favor such a reform, even today? Does John Kerry?
Give me a break.
Films that portray any sitting politician as a posturing, cynical buffoon are well worth making -- and watching. George Bush should not be immune just because he's ginned up a badly planned and counterproductive war.
I just wish Michael Moore had more competition from real journalists -- the kind with fresh research, more cohesive critiques, and the professional scruples to get their facts straight.
Vin Suprynowicz is assistant editorial page editor of the Review-Journal and author of the books "Send in the Waco Killers" and "The Ballad of Carl Drega." His Web site is www.privacyalert.us.
Fahrenheit 451.
Congressman Billybob
I think Vin is in violation of the federal "Excessive Consonants In Surnames" law.
1) Apparently, ANY sitting politician is automatically a buffoon? Or, even if not, ought to be shown as a buffoon? What kind of stupid statement is that?
2) The war was badly planned? We gained control of Afghanistan is a matter of weeks. The Left had said it couldn't be done. Then we gained control of Iraq in a matter of weeks. The Left said it would be a bloodbath. We lost a few hundred soldiers. Badly Planned? What war are we talking about?
3) Counterproductive? Afghanistan is no longer a threat. Iraq is no longer a threat. And, oh yeah, just as a bonus, Libya is no longer a threat. No terrorist attack in the US since we started fighting back, either. Counterproductive? What kind of stupid statement is that?
I've counted several bits of fraud in Michael Moore's ad campaign as well (including the thinner body seen under Michael Moore's head). The best thing though was seeing quotes from reviews from the LA Times, NY Times, and USA Today which have ALL run their own fabricated news items (frauds); taken their recommendations of documentaries with a big grain of salt.
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What an crashingly ignorant thing to say.
Bwhaaaaaaa! Flying Pig Alert
It may help to know that Vin is a libertarian.
I'm no fan of Britney Spears, but the author's comment is over the top. She's no less qualified than any of the lefties are in the entertainment world are to speak about politics. But Michael Moore (and the writer of this column) aren't mocking their ignorant comments. I wonder why.
The author totally ruined an otherwise balanced article with the obligatory ad-homenim Bush-bashing.
I've seen the look on Bush's face after he was told of 9/11...the look in his eyes could've melted stainless steel.
Amen, Vin, Amen, so very true
The deaths of 3,000 citizens on Sept 11, 2001 is the sole responsibility of all of the politicans, judges, and citizens who elected and/or supported these politicians and judges in the past and now, who enacted the unconstitutional laws prohibiting the private property owners of the airlines from inviting their customers to be armed on their aircraft to assist in preventing hijackings.
If you were ever looking for the real world example, exemplifying the truism of the following quote "They that can give up essential liberty (Amendment II) to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." Benjamin Franklin - 1759," the Sept 11, 2001 aircraft hijackings used as missiles to destroy property and kill citizens is it.
Either way, the left would have criticized him. If he had excused himself the very second he learned of the attacks, Moore and the left would have went: "Look at him! Leaving the class so suddenly like that! He upset the kids! How often do they get to meet the President, and he cuts out on them after only a few minutes when he was scheduled to be there for a couple hours! I mean, what did he think he was going to do about the hijackings at that very minute? Change into his superman suit, fly to the planes at supersonic speed and catch them with his bare hands? He couldn't stay a few more minutes?"
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