The Smearing of Michael Moore

June 21 2004
Counterbias.com
Robert Furs

Just before the upcoming release of Fahrenheit 9/11, backers of George W. Bush and the mess he’s brought to America are attempting to undermine Michael Moore’s credibility, taking great effort in smearing his name.

We have now heard from many sources about how many liberties Moore takes with the truth—this was true in some respects with Bowling For Columbine, which was an entirely different movie—but they truly do over exaggerate. Stretching Moore’s stretches, to put it mildly.

Some are brushing him off as an America-hating traitor, a terrorist sympathizer, a disgusting, filthy, Commie anti-American homosexual. Of course, these are the usual suspects who mistake criticism of a government and their terrible past and present policies, with hatred of an entire nation. Such thinking is obviously false to anyone who knows the meaning of the term ‘constructive criticism’. One who wants change and criticizes deficiencies in a project at work, for instance, doesn’t hate their job, their company, their boss and their coworkers—they simply want better performance for the sake of all involved.

Michael Moore is a leftist, and out of step with many Americans. But also out of the mainstream are Richard Perle, Paul Wolfowitz, and the many extremists running America right now. Are they anti-Americans? Were the millions of Americans angry with Bill Clinton after his scandals anti-American? Was Ann Coulter and the Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy who held a goal of taking down a President in the nineties, anti-American? Coulter began her career by bashing Clinton. Now, she’d be the first to call Michael Moore an anti-American traitor for “bashing” Bush.

No, Moore is, in fact, not a traitor. He is a patriot, in the sense felt by Thomas Jefferson when he stated that “dissent is the highest form of patriotism”.

But some Americans—oddly enough, those that are most attached to and reliant on the Bush administration’s grasp on power—would disagree with Moore’s form of patriotism, one that doesn’t equate with the Republican “Bush equals Patriotism” motto of recent years.

Moore’s new film is "political propaganda” and “anti-American”, according to California-based organization Move America Forward, which has GOP Assemblyman Howard Kaloogian at its head. The group adds, “'Fahrenheit 9/11' should be shown as a recruiting video for Al-Qaeda, not in our movie theaters."

Contrary to such an inflammatory statement, some would argue that Bush’s own alienating policies are doing a remarkable job of building up Al-Qaeda’s recruitment numbers on their own.

Ann Coulter, on the June 14 Hannity & Colmes, called Moore “nuts” (along with George Soros and Al Gore)—strange for a woman that, just one polemical book in the past, was complaining that Democrats had nothing to offer but name-calling, and is now spending her on-air time using old-school Communist methods of labeling her political opponents as mentally insane.

Just the next day, Newt Gingrich (also on FOX News, this time on The O’Reilly Factor), said that Fahrenheit 9/11 “was picked at Cannes, at the French film festival because it was the most anti-American film being shown. And that's what he represents is sort of the anti-American wing of America…He would like us to be Sweden with longer summers”.

Not as inflammatory a statement as many Moore-bashers have offered, this quote still serves to show how easily Moore is titled “anti-American”—as if Gingrich has the deciding vote in what makes one “American”, or pro-American.

Bush-lover Dennis Miller recently stated that “Moore represents everything I detest in a human being." On another show, he called Moore “utterly, completely wrong” and a “stupid moron”. With people like this actively campaigning for Bush, how can he possibly lose?

Stupid moron.

On May 31, Suzanne Fields, in the Washington Times, called Moore “a celebrity propagandist” “short on intellect”. She continued, saying that Moore is “Leni Riefenstahl with a scruffy beard”. Riefenstahl, of course, was Hitler’s favorite film propagandist.

A more balanced newspaper could never get away with comparing a conservative filmmaker to a propagandist that helped Hitler rise to power and slaughter millions. Who’s the modern-day Hitler that Fields is implying Moore is working for? John Kerry? George Soros? Maybe Kim Jong Il or Osama bin Laden?

George Bush Sr. has called Moore “a slimeball”.

Oh, and get prepared for the upcoming documentary, Michael Moore Hates America. What an apt title. Look for the sequel, Michael Moore Hates America Hates Michael Moore Because He’s A Stupid-Head Traitor!

Just to complete things, Tucker Carlson, one of the less reliable Bush supporters in the media, called Moore “loathsome”.

Carlson was then asked, “Whether you like Moore as a person or not does not negate the reality of his work. As I see it, this administration and its minions attack anyone that tries to bring the truth out, but can not actually refute the allegations themselves.”. Tucker’s answer: “Who's attacking the messenger?”

All of your chums on the Bush bandwagon, Tucker. That’s pretty clear.

Meanwhile, a majority of Americans don’t feel as negatively about Moore as Bush’s political allies do. You won’t hear much name-calling of Moore coming from people who aren’t deeply Republican.

"Moore's film is incredibly patriotic," said Eli Parser of MoveOn, who has it correct. “Organized Republican attempts to pressure theaters not to show the film are intimidation and censorship, pure and simple. We need more dialogue, not suppression ... what are they afraid of?"