So how was Michael Moore?


Pretty awesome

So, we had a good dose of bleeding-heart liberal passionate oratory, and it does a body good to be in a room of 2000 other people who agree with it too.

Michael Moore has a great self-deprecating style, seeming like an average-Joe who just happens to be a great, fiery orator. One great thing is that he seeks to inspire and urge you to action, not just leave you depressed and angry. He also wants to impart a message of hope. I really want to be as optimistic as he is that this country can right itself and get back on the right path, that the 'silent majority' today agrees with me, not the Ashcroft/Rove/Rumsfeld/Cheney/Bush crowd.

Moore did some fun stuff, like call the Republican husband of a woman in the audience to prove that he really believed in Democratic ideals for the most part.

I'm not sure I buy 100% of everything he says. He goes to great length to claim that America has a national ethic that leads to leaving the weaker citizens behinds...and goes so far as to claim that we're worse than pretty much any other nation.

I think the 10-12K elderly French people who died because the temperature got too high, and there was no one to check on them, might disagree. That, to me, is a SHOCKING event to happen. One that will helpfully galvanize that country into some action.

But mostly Moore is preaching to a choir here in my heart.

Here were some interesting ideas he put forth:

Re: The California Recall
The silver lining is that for once a Democrat wasn't running to the right to get elected, but rather a Republican had to run to the left to get elected. I mean what, exactly, is Republican about Arnold?

Re: The Democratic Presidential Candidates
We can't settle for anyone but Bush. We have to take the opportunity now during the primary season to convince each of these nine candidates to be better...to take stronger stands anywhere we feel they are waffling.

He also had some individual comments:

Clark: Admires him very much. Encouraged him to run, in fact. Wants to see a decorated military veteran up against an AWOL 'deserter' in a debate (FYI: that's Bush.) Likes the fact that he used to vote Republican and changed his mind, was convinced to the other side. Democrats shouldn't shoot themselves in the foot by saying, 'He voted for Reagan? he's not pure; he's not pure!' his one issue: Bombing of civilians in Kosovo. So he would like to talk to him about it.

Dean: Likes him, but has problems that he's so highly rated by the NRA and he's pro Death Penalty in certain cases.

Kucinich: Likes him; agrees with 100% of what he stands for, but there's a very big 'but.' I guess Kucinich used to vote pro-life for years, but eventually changed his mind, and now votes pro-choice. That's not Moore's issue; it's a good thing to grow, evolve, change one's mind. But now Kucinich uses the Cuomo statement: "I am personally opposed to abortion, but would enact no legislation to get in the way with a woman's right to choose." Moore has two points: 1) if the guy said he was 'personally opposed to inter-racial marriage, but etc. etc. etc. ' is that someone you would vote for? and 2) he is a man; what does it MEAN for him to be personally opposed to abortion? He can't HAVE one. So it's pandering and irrelevant.

Kerry, Edwards and Gephardt are OUT because they voted for the war.

He hates Lieberman (probably because he blamed Columbine on Marilyn Manson lyrics.)

Didn't have much to say about Braun and Sharpton, other than a rather condescending statement about how well Sharpton speaks and therefore what 'quality' he's adding to the race.

[On a personal note, I say "whatever". Yes Sharpton is a good speaker, and he's toned down his hair, but to me, he will always be the guy who exploited Tawana Brawley SHAMELESSLY back when I lived in NYC. I know it was a long time ago, but he was a grown-up, and she was a child, and he should be ashamed.]

Lastly, I have to mention how the show closed out. Moore did a Q&A session, and unless this question was from a ringer in the audience, this closing exchange really showed how impressive Moore is at communicating and firing up an audience:

A young woman asked Moore why he was anti-Israel. She, apparently, is active in her community Jewish youth group and agrees with everything he has to say, but has heard he is anti-Israel and his latest book is dedicated to a woman killed, according to Moore, by the Israeli army while trying to prevent them from bull-dozing an innocent Palestinian's house. [I have no personal knowledge of this case, so i can't comment there.]

Moore went into quite a long story about running into someone on the streets of NYC who leveled the same charge against him. So why do people think this:

He claims it is because:

1. He left a segment in 'Roger & Me' where Bob Eubanks (yes, the Newlywed Game's host) told an anti-Semitic joke. He says he left it in to expose that this was still a problem in America. Jewish groups apparently didn't get that. I haven't seen it in so long I can't comment on whether, in context, it plays that way or not.

2. 'Bowling for Columbine' was invited to the Jerusalem Film Festival. When Moore discovered that it would only be translated into French and Hebrew, not Arabic, he refused to participate. He says that it resulted in enough attention that someone put up the money and now the Festival translates everything into all 3 languages.

So he tells a story about going with a Jewish buddy to harass Reagan at Bitburg Cemetary (when Reagan laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier...representing among others dead SS officers.) So that's to give him some props with the Jews in the audience I guess.

And, then he closes by saying he told the Jewish man in NYC that he would 'stand in the trenches' with him to ensure that there was never, ever another Holocaust; that he would fight to protect his Jewish brothers & sisters against any such threat.

The Santa Cruz audience politely applauds such a notion.

BUT, he says, "how could you or anyone take that vow seriously if i don't also say that I would do the same for ANY people at risk, including the Palestinians. That I would stand in the trenches to defend them as well."

The Santa Cruz audience goes WILD.

And I, as a Jewish woman, however non-practicing, am still feeling a little pissed.

But then he really turned it around. He pointed out that the applause for the notion of never having another Holocaust was met by 'tepid' applause, while we, as an audience wildly applaud for the Palestinians, and this is why this young Jewish girl in the audience feels concerned, because she (and other Jews) don't BELIEVE we will stand in the way of another Holocaust. And Israel is full of people who are convinced that they are surrounded by peoples who want to wipe them out of existence, and convinced that the rest of the world really DOESN'T care, and this is why they make 'wrong' decisions, because they are 'crazy' with the idea that they will be annihilated again.

He was so impassioned; he really shamed us, as an audience, and rightly so. It was very powerful, and frankly...I cried a little.

So, he closed his show in a powerful way; it was truly impressive.

Afterwards he stayed to sign everyone's books. This is a picture of him signing Chris' book, and if you look closely, you can see Chris and my shadow on the door in the background. Chris is the tall one, and I'm about a foot lower :)

Posted: Mon - October 20, 2003 at 12:38 PM       EmailFeedback

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