Michael Moore Rages: GOP Promotes 'Hate-triotism'
By Marc Morano
CNSNews.com Senior Staff Writer
July 28, 2004
Cambridge, Mass. (CNSNews.com) - Left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore
attacked "right-wingers and Republicans" as "hate-triots" who "believe in
the politics of hate-triotism" during a speech to a "Take Back America"
event on Tuesday. The event was hosted by the Campaign for America's
Future.
A sometimes screaming and impassioned Moore told an overflow crowd of
nearly one thousand people at a Boston hotel that the country is
overwhelmingly liberal.
"Most Americans, in their heart, are liberal and progressive. It's just a
small minority of people who hate. They hate, they exist in the politics
of hate, they don't believe two consenting adults should have the right to
be in love and share their lives together and be legally protected by the
state," Moore said to applause.
"They are not patriots; they are hate-triots, and they believe in the
politics of hate-triotism. Hate-triotism is where they stand, and
patriotism is where real Americans stand. And that is the truth and that
needs to be reported," Moore added.
Moore, dressed in his familiar baseball hat and jeans, reveled in the
audience reception.
His film Fahrenheit 9/11 recently earned more than $100 million, making it
the highest grossing "documentary" in history. Moore, who has been
ubiquitous at the Fleet Center, has received a superstar reception from
Democrats, even sitting in former President Jimmy Carter's VIP box on
Monday night.
Moore lamented that conservatives and the GOP have 'hijacked' the symbols
of patriotism.
"I don't know what it is with right-wingers and Republicans," he said.
"They seem to have hijacked over the years the word patriotism and the
American flag -- these things -- and it's an odd thing because the true
patriots are those that believe the important thing is to ask questions."
Moore declared that conservatives in America are in the minority.
"The right wing -- that is not where America is at -- the majority of
Americans are liberal and progressive when it comes to the issues," he
said.
"Every poll shows that the majority of America believes in women's rights,
the majority of Americans want stronger environmental law, the majority of
Americans want gun control laws, the majority of Americans are pro labor,"
he added.
Moore did credit conservatives and the GOP with being better at promoting
their policies.
"They are better fighters than we are. You have to give them their props
for that.
They are up at six in the morning trying to figure out which -- you
know -- minority group they are going to screw today -- the hate that they
eat for breakfast," Moore said.
"Our side, we never see six in the morning, unless we have been up all
night," he added.
"So they are going to fight and they are going to smear and they are going
to lie and they are going to hate. And we have to get out there and
counter that with the truth," he said.
'Want Bush out of office'
Moore rejected any notion that the country is evenly split over the
presidential election and predicted a Bush defeat in November.
"I got to tell you, I have traveled across this country quite a bit in the
last year. It ain't a fifty-fifty country. People are angry, they want
Bush out of office, they want to be able to send their kids to college,
they want to be able to go to the doctor," Moore said.
"I believe we will have the largest percentage of people voting in our
lifetime come November 2nd," he added.
Moore ended his speech with a message to Sen. John Kerry:
"Here's my plea to the Democrats and to Mr. Kerry. You will not win this
election by being weak-kneed and wimpy and wishy-washy and lacking the
courage of your conviction," he said.
"Push for the liberal progressive agenda that the majority of America
already agree with," he urged.
Moore also took aim at the news media for serving as "cheerleaders" for
the Iraq war.
"Journalists fell asleep on the job, journalists didn't ask the tough
questions ... That is not un-American, that is pro-American, to ask the
questions. That is patriotic," he shouted.
Troops 'abused by the Bush administration'
Moore said that the U.S. military is being abused by the Bush
administration.
"Who are the troops? The troops are those that come from the other side of
the tracks, the troops are the people that come from families who have
been abused by the Bush administration," he said to applause.
"The way you keep the troops is when you send them off, some of them to
their deaths, so that your rich benefactors can line their pockets even
more, the Halliburtons, the oil companies, that is anti-American, that is
unpatriotic," he said.
'I got a memo on it'
Moore told the audience that a "well-known" morning news personality had
revealed to him that Vice President ***** Cheney put pressure on the
program because the "tone" of the newsperson's voice during the war
coverage was not to Cheney's liking.
Moore said he was a guest on the unnamed program recently, and he recalled
his conversation with the host, as follows:
"After we went to commercial, the person who was interviewing me said,
'You know, you're right. When the war started, it was very difficult here
to book the people we wanted to book and ask the questions we wanted to
ask. In fact, I got a memo about my tone of voice. Apparently, the brass
had received a call from ***** Cheney's office. They said they didn't like
my tone of voice. I got a memo on it.'"
Moore urged the newsperson to tell the story publicly.
"You've got to tell that story," Moore recounted from his conversation.
But the unnamed newsperson replied, "I can't."
"I said, 'They can't fire you. You're one of the most well-known people in
America. You've got to tell this story, and if you don't tell it, I'm
going to wait maybe another week,'" Moore said to laughter.
"That person is on notice now," he added.
Moore told the audience that he planned to name the newsperson on his
website if that person did not come forward.
Moore also revealed that he has not received any death threats despite the
controversial nature of his movie.
"You know, I think the reason I don't get death threats -- I think the
people who don't like me -- they take one look at me and say, 'He's not
long for this world anyways. We don't have to do anything to him. One more
drive-through at the McDonald's, that will be the end of him,'" Moore
quipped to reporters.
Moore, who plans to show his movie in Bush's home town of Crawford, Texas,
on Wednesday, apparently believes his movie is so powerful that the Bush
presidency is doomed because of it.
"It's all over but the voting," Moore said. "You gotta feel bad for George
W. Bush on some level, don't you?" he asked. "How does he recover?"
See Related Articles:
Michael Moore Backpedals on Key Premise of Documentary
'Guns, God, Gays' Losing Voting Appeal, Howard Dean Says
When Bush-Bashers Collide? Moore's Film at Odds with Clarke Remarks
Top Democrats Embrace, Distance Themselves From Michael Moore
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewPolitics.asp?Page=\Politics\archive\200407\POL20040728b.html
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