chickenshorts
26.05.04, 05:50
Has anyone seen Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11"?
(...)
"Just as hatred of Bush can mobilise Democrats, so loathing of Moore may
motivate Republicans. Moore-bashing has become something of a cottage
industry, with websites such as Moorewatch.com - who "watch Michael Moore's
every move" - posting regular diatribes against the film-maker. At times, the
criticisms get personal. Speaking of Europeans' love for Moore, Christopher
Hitchens said last week: "They think Americans are fat, vulgar, greedy,
stupid, ambitious and ignorant and so on. And they've taken as their own, as
their representative American, someone who actually embodies all of those
qualities."
On CNN last week, rightwing pundit Tucker Carlson said: "Michael Moore
alleges the following things: that President Bush is responsible for the
terrorist attacks of September 11; that Bush's family is connected to Osama
bin Laden in some important, sinister way; and that Bush intentionally caused
the deaths of thousands of people in the war with Iraq simply to enrich his
friends in the oil industry." Referring to the former Clinton and Gore
advisers on the Miramax team, he asked: "What happens when the lunatic fringe
and the mainstream of the Democratic party become indistinguishable?"
It was not clear whether Tucker had seen the film or not, but Pikser points
out that Republicans don't have to have seen it in order to misrepresent
it. "They're very good at that. Just as many liberals didn't see the need to
actually watch Mel Gibson's The Passion in order to know that it was anti-
semitic, so Republicans don't need to see Moore's film to hate it, or him,
and use it accordingly."
For the time being, conservatives' attentions are elsewhere - focusing on the
calamitous situation in Iraq and Bush's equally calamitous plunge in the
polls. Several were asked to comment for this article, but none responded.
But for liberals, Moore's forthcoming film is one more reason to imagine
what, until a few months ago, they thought was unimaginable - that Bush could
lose.(...)"
film.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,12589,1224711,00.html