Regardless of one's political persuasion, I think fairness should be the chief political virtue.
Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are not fair. Molly Ivins is not fair. And Michael Moore has not been fair.
"...Moore also can't seem to keep from playing the schoolyard bully, hurling spitballs for the hurtful hell of it. Much has been made of the found footage in Fahrenheit 9/11 that shows a stressed-out Bush inside a Florida kindergarten classroom the morning of Sept. 11, thinking for seven long minutes about how to react to an aide's whispered news that a second jet has struck the World Trade Center, and a terrorist war on America is underway. I think back to how confused I felt that morning, and it took a lot longer than seven minutes for me to take on board what was happening."
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
It kind of makes me wish we had footage of the seven minutes following when Michael Moore learned of the World Trade Center attack.
A lot of people who dislike Michael Moore do so because he disagrees with them. But probably more people--on both sides of the political fence--dislike him because all he offers is cheap and hypocritical cynicism. His bitter messages only tear down, without building anything new. And his cynicism is only directed at his enemies. His world is overly simplistic, all white hats and black hats, even while his conspiracy theories are overly complex.
I read two things about reactions to Moore's movie that stayed with me, one apt, the other sad. A reviewer, and I don't have the link now, said that one of his peers turned to him and said, "I hate him because he makes my arguments badly." And one moviegoer's reaction on the way out of a screening for Fahrenheit 9/11 was, "I don't even want to live in America anymore."
Here's a good test of fairness, and then I'll be done with politics. What does George W. Bush do well? What did William Jefferson Clinton do well? If you can't come up with an answer to both questions, you probably don't have much intellectual integrity in the political arena.
Rush Limbaugh and Ann Coulter are not fair. Molly Ivins is not fair. And Michael Moore has not been fair.
"...Moore also can't seem to keep from playing the schoolyard bully, hurling spitballs for the hurtful hell of it. Much has been made of the found footage in Fahrenheit 9/11 that shows a stressed-out Bush inside a Florida kindergarten classroom the morning of Sept. 11, thinking for seven long minutes about how to react to an aide's whispered news that a second jet has struck the World Trade Center, and a terrorist war on America is underway. I think back to how confused I felt that morning, and it took a lot longer than seven minutes for me to take on board what was happening."
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
It kind of makes me wish we had footage of the seven minutes following when Michael Moore learned of the World Trade Center attack.
A lot of people who dislike Michael Moore do so because he disagrees with them. But probably more people--on both sides of the political fence--dislike him because all he offers is cheap and hypocritical cynicism. His bitter messages only tear down, without building anything new. And his cynicism is only directed at his enemies. His world is overly simplistic, all white hats and black hats, even while his conspiracy theories are overly complex.
I read two things about reactions to Moore's movie that stayed with me, one apt, the other sad. A reviewer, and I don't have the link now, said that one of his peers turned to him and said, "I hate him because he makes my arguments badly." And one moviegoer's reaction on the way out of a screening for Fahrenheit 9/11 was, "I don't even want to live in America anymore."
Here's a good test of fairness, and then I'll be done with politics. What does George W. Bush do well? What did William Jefferson Clinton do well? If you can't come up with an answer to both questions, you probably don't have much intellectual integrity in the political arena.