Michael Moore: hopefully useful idiot

Re 'I think he's a big jerk': I agree with Hurwitz, the Republican Washington D.C. lawyer, regarding Fahrenheit 911:

... He does fear that Moore has unleashed ungovernable passions. 

"It is problematic. There are too many people who may take what he 

says as gospel and at face value, and that is dangerous," he says. 

"Let us put our mind in neutral, and let our imaginations run riot."

Michael Moore is a deceptive man, with no interest in revealing any truth that doesn't confirm what he already believes about any given situation. Fer cryin out loud, take a look at that public letter he released following Sept. 11; it's a sickening amalgam of sinister conspiracies (nearly as bad as "the Jews stayed away") and "we had it comin'." I'm willing to take the latter from Noam Chomsky, as I know he really believes it; I don't believe it coming from Mikey -- it's just a momentary spear to hurl at Bush, forgotten the next moment.

Do I believe Michael Moore should be mocked, despised, ostracised? Certainly. However, there is a certain element of the voting populace that can't be rallied by rational argument, reasoned discussion, measured criticism. The extreme right wing's use of Rush Limbaugh, the American Spectator, et al. -- not to mention the more moderate right wing's refusal to disavow them -- should be considered a tacit endorsement of cheap shot, unsubstantiated innuendo, and exaggeration to rally and energize the electorate. If Moore should be cast into the darkness, so should Bill O'Reilly.

I believe that George W. Bush and his associates are a real danger to the good portions of the American establishment (the EPA, caution regarding infringement of individual liberties, etc.), and are favorable towards many of the problematic portions (government subsidies for big businesses, big deficits, etc.). I do not agree with Kerry on everything (and disagree with Edwards on more points than I agree with him), but they're neither of them revolutionaries. THIS IS A GOOD THING.

BTW, the Declaration of Independence's list of grievances against King George III is full of exaggerations, half-truths, and a few full-on lies. Admittedly, its list of goals and principles far outclasses any and all thoughts that have ever rattled through Rush's or Mikey's heads, but it's still a rather dishonest document. And Jefferson disavowed more than a few of those ideas when he was president. For all his revolutionary talk (Time, listen up) he was a fairly level-headed and hardly revolutionary leader.