Michael Moore on the RNC and John McCain...

Galvatron · Post by **Galvatron** » 2004-09-01 07:07pm

The Ebert and McCain show - by Michael Moore

Michael Moore wrote:NEW YORK — Poor John McCain.

Here's a guy I've always sort of liked, a courageous war hero reduced to carrying water for the Bush campaign. (Related stories: Moore index page)

So it was Monday night, as I sat in the press section — unbeknownst to Sen. McCain — when he switched from pro-war convention speaker to film critic. Out of nowhere, he began to attack my movie, Fahrenheit 9/11, calling me a "disingenuous filmmaker." The problem is, he hasn't seen the movie, a fact he later admitted to Chris Matthews on MSNBC.

I know Republicans are mad that my film may have convinced just enough people to tip the balance in this election. Yet with all the serious issues facing our country, and right smack in the middle of an important speech about the need to catch the terrorists and continue the war in Iraq, McCain decided to turn the convention into the Ebert and McCain Show. He claimed that I portrayed Saddam's Iraq as an "oasis of peace."

Some of the 20 million who have seen the film must have wondered, "Did I miss that scene? I knew I shouldn't have gone out for those Goobers." All I can imagine McCain was referring to was a brief cutaway just as President Bush announces the commencement of the bombing of Baghdad on March 19, 2003.

Human-rights groups say thousands of civilians were killed because of our bombing. I thought it would be worthwhile to show some of the faces of Iraqi people who might soon meet their death.

I felt really bad for McCain standing there on the stage. The man wanted to be president. That dream was snuffed out during the 2000 primaries, when George W. Bush's supporters spread nasty rumors about what five and a half years in a North Vietnamese POW camp might have done to McCain's sanity.

Then there were the calls to potential white voters in South Carolina to inform them that McCain had a "black baby." (He and his wife adopted a child from Bangladesh.) The Bush supporters also spread other rumors that questioned McCain's patriotism, even though the man was a decorated war hero while W. chose to oh, let's not get into that again.

Still, McCain has offered to soldier on for Bush. So how does Bush's campaign treat him? It doesn't tell him I might be in the press section, officially credentialed.

It has him say some gibberish about my movie. Everyone then sees me, I start laughing my ball cap off, the crowd goes bananas, and poor McCain must think he said something funny or cool, so he says, "That line was so good, I'll use it again."

Agghh!

Thousands of Republicans turned to me chanting "Four more years." I thought, "That's strange, Republicans are usually good at math, but they're off by a few dozen months. Bush only has two months left." So I held up two fingers to correct their miscalculation. But that just drove them into more of a frenzy.

If you have never had this happen to you, I insist you try it at least once in your life. It is better than an angry mosh pit at a Slayer concert. As a quiet salute to Beavis and Butthead, I held up my index finger and thumb in an "L" — the international sign for loser — which is what I hope their candidate is about to become.

As for McCain, he had to beg the mob to be silent and listen to the rest of his speech. He must have wondered why a party that promises to protect us from terrorists booed my name more loudly than Saddam's or Osama's. Actually, no one mentioned the "O" name Monday night because, well, that would acknowledge that they have failed to find him.

Perhaps that is why Bush told Today anchor Matt Lauer that we can't win the war against terrorism. Perhaps that is why they were more mad at me than the bad guys. I'm much easier to remove.

Maybe I'll call up McCain and treat him to a movie down the block, one I know he will enjoy, considering he agreed that I was right when Chris Matthews said a main point of my movie is that "war is often fought by people without power."

If he will join me at the movies, he'll see brave soldiers like himself face the camera and tell the truth to the American people about what is going on in a place called Iraq.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-09-01 08:44pm

Why was Moore at the RNC of all places?

Elfdart · Post by **Elfdart** » 2004-09-01 08:48pm

Gandalf wrote:Why was Moore at the RNC of all places?

He's a guest columnist for USA Today. They hired Ann "thrax" Coulter to do the same thing in Boston, but she's such an obnoxious Nazi female impersonator (she claimed Max Cleland didn't deserve his medals) that they got Jonah Goldberg to do it instead.

Post by **Gandalf** » 2004-09-01 08:55pm

Elfdart wrote:
Gandalf wrote:Why was Moore at the RNC of all places?
He's a guest columnist for USA Today.

Really? How long has this been so?

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-09-01 08:58pm

I felt really bad for McCain standing there on the stage. The man wanted to be president. That dream was snuffed out during the 2000 primaries, when George W. Bush's supporters spread nasty rumors about what five and a half years in a North Vietnamese POW camp might have done to McCain's sanity.

Then there were the calls to potential white voters in South Carolina to inform them that McCain had a "black baby." (He and his wife adopted a child from Bangladesh.) The Bush supporters also spread other rumors that questioned McCain's patriotism, even though the man was a decorated war hero while W. chose to oh, let's not get into that again.

Still, McCain has offered to soldier on for Bush. So how does Bush's campaign treat him? It doesn't tell him I might be in the press section, officially credentialed.

Always good to be reminded how Bush & Co. treated McCain.

Pablo Sanchez · Post by **Pablo Sanchez** » 2004-09-01 09:04pm

Elfdart wrote:(she claimed Max Cleland didn't deserve his medals)

You're talking about Max Cleland as in "Hi, I'm Max Cleland and I earned the Silver Star for administering first aid under fire to American soldiers just four days before I lost both legs and my right arm," right? Naturally he didn't deserve those medals. Sacrificing yourself for your country and your comrades is not meritorious at all.

Fucking bitch.

Temjin · Post by **Temjin** » 2004-09-02 12:11am

Pablo Sanchez wrote:You're talking about Max Cleland as in "Hi, I'm Max Cleland and I earned the Silver Star for administering first aid under fire to American soldiers just four days before I lost both legs and my right arm," right? Naturally he didn't deserve those medals. Sacrificing yourself for your country and your comrades is not meritorious at all.

Fucking bitch.

She wrote two articles on the subject, here and here

In them, she deliberatley ignores the fact of him administering first under enemy fire and instead focuses them on how he picked up a live grenade and got his limbs blown off. She doesn't even mention the silver star he earned.

Hell, her seceond article is even titled: File Under: Omission Acomplished.

Marksist · Post by **Marksist** » 2004-09-02 12:47am

Ann Horrible-evil-spawn-of-satan Coulter wrote:Moreover, if we're going to start delving into exactly who did what back then, maybe Max Cleland should stop allowing Democrats to portray him as a war hero who lost his limbs taking enemy fire on the battlefields of Vietnam.

What a fucking horrible bitch. I hope she loses her gag reflex while sucking satan's thorny cock in hell.

SyntaxVorlon · Post by **SyntaxVorlon** » 2004-09-02 01:02am

Not a bad article from Moore, those Republicans are ravenous.

Ann Coulter is an evil bitch who must be destroyed.

Loner · Post by **Loner** » 2004-09-02 01:12am

I want to pistol whip that bitch until she's ugly on the outside as she is on the inside.

Iceberg · Post by **Iceberg** » 2004-09-02 01:19am

Loner wrote:I want to pistol whip that bitch until she's ugly on the outside as she is on the inside.

I'd hit it. WITH MY GUN

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-09-02 07:45am

Moore's got a point on how this kind of sucks for McCain. I felt bad for McCain up there too, for about the same reason. McCain is being used for the RNC because he's got so much integrity and everyone seems to like him, so they trot him out, even after all the bad shit the Bush Administration has spread about him. I'm serious when I say that at some point last year, he must have gotten a sharply phrased memo telling him to knuckle under or else.

Post by **Edi** » 2004-09-02 08:06am

Gil Hamilton wrote:Moore's got a point on how this kind of sucks for McCain. I felt bad for McCain up there too, for about the same reason. McCain is being used for the RNC because he's got so much integrity and everyone seems to like him, so they trot him out, even after all the bad shit the Bush Administration has spread about him. I'm serious when I say that at some point last year, he must have gotten a sharply phrased memo telling him to knuckle under or else.

Getting sick might have been an optionif he could have wangled it somehow. A good fever or something else that leaves you bedridden for a few days would have been just the thing. Of course, he's probably too much of a party loyalist o have done that and it would have raised questions if he had been sick (feigned or real).

Edi

Sharp-kun · Post by **Sharp-kun** » 2004-09-02 09:45am

Gil Hamilton wrote:I'm serious when I say that at some point last year, he must have gotten a sharply phrased memo telling him to knuckle under or else.

If I was him I would have towed the line until the RNC, then once up there let all hell loose.

Captain Cyran · Post by **Captain Cyran** » 2004-09-02 10:33am

Sharp-kun wrote:
Gil Hamilton wrote:I'm serious when I say that at some point last year, he must have gotten a sharply phrased memo telling him to knuckle under or else.
If I was him I would have towed the line until the RNC, then once up there let all hell loose.

That would just make things worse for him. Besides, he has so much loyalty to the Republican party I don't see him actively trying to screw them over. The republican party should burn for what they are doing to McCain.

Jade Falcon · Post by **Jade Falcon** » 2004-09-02 10:52am

SyntaxVorlon wrote:Not a bad article from Moore, those Republicans are ravenous.

Ann Coulter is an evil bitch who must be destroyed.

She's apparently attractive in some way though, so all is forgiven.