Seeing Less, Slamming Moore

August 31, 2004

I missed McCain's speech, but from the news reports afterwards, his comments about Michael Moore, who happened to be there, were among the big moments:

Our choice wasn't between a benign status quo and the bloodshed of war. It was between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise...

Certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker who would have us believe, my friends, who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace, when in fact -- when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children inside their walls.

That break is when the crowd booed Moore. After the convention wrapped, I saw McCain interviewed by Chris Matthews. No transcript yet, but Matthews asked McCain about his criticism of Moore and "Fahrenheit 9/11," with McCain reiterating his point about Moore painting a false picture of Iraq. Then Matthews asked McCain if had actually seen the film...

Well, he hasn't - he's only seen clips. And when Matthews pointed out how one of the points of the film is how the military recruits the young, poor and disadvantaged and sends them to war. McCain, apparently unaware of that, said he agreed with that point.

It's not the first time I've seen someone tear down Moore and his film, and then admit he hasn't seen it. I'm not saying the film is perfect or wholly correct, and I often don't agree with Moore, but if you're going to rake him over the coals, especially in front of a convention and a nationwide (cable) TV audience, watch his film first.