The sad fact was this was not a documentary but the propagandist delusions of an extremist. Fact was completely thrown out the window replaced instead with the infestation of hate this man feels for our President. Before I go further I am not a republican or a Bush supporter and yes I did see the movie.
In his film you had a mix of outright spoken lies and innuendo that was meant to convey a point without words. As with Columbine there was a magician?s slight of hand with film clips as well.
First let?s start with the scene in the school. As the events are unfolding our President sits stunned and useless for seven minutes and from the pictures it does in fact look like our President was doing nothing, however, there was really nothing to do until he had information to base his actions on. Acting out of impulse or anger would have solved nothing and the events of that day would have continued regardless. Jumping off his stool and running out of the room showing panic, fear or anger during a PR event wouldn?t have solved anything and most likely would have caused panic as the PR event was rushed to the carnivorous news media for early air play, aka ?This just in...?. The fact is unless GWB had a superman cape under his suit there was nothing he could do. The argument then arises that if the Bush admin hadn?t cut CIA spending this wouldn?t have happened. Fact is it was the Clinton admin that cut CIA spending. Then there?s the golf scenes and vacation time. Many presidents have given witty retorts to the press while they were golfing, Clinton did it many times. Many presidents have gone back to their home or Camp David to work so there is nothing uncommon in that either. Tony Blair appears in one of the shots slightly off camera for a brief moment so that would tell me, that in at least that clip, the President was in fact working. Then there is his daddy and the strings pulled for him. To lead one to believe that George W. Bush is the only person that has pulled strings in Washington is blasphemy. The accounts of people getting sweet deals from relatives in Washington would be an endless list. One of the most outrageous (aside from the numerous Kennedy family atrocities) was the then Senator Al Gore?s wife Tipper and her wonderful contribution called the PMRC. In 1985 it was Tipper that led other Washington wives on a crusade to censor (read remove 1st amendment rights) ?offensive? music lyrics. Actual US tax money was wasted on this pathetic effort which did nothing more then give us the music ?parental warning? label (which IMO sells more records). Even John Denver got a sticker for his song Rocky Mountain High because the daft Tipper thought it was a drug reference.
Let?s talk about Iraq. Several times on national television Bill Clinton made the statement that Iraq had WMD which means Bush isn?t the first one to make those accusations. There was a time during the Clinton term that we bombed Iraq but of course Moore never thought to enter that dialogue into his film. Moore also didn?t include the number of known terrorists that would spend time at one of the many palaces Saddam owned. The fact that suicide bombers and other forms of terror attacks were funded, undisguised, in Israel (among other places) by Saddam was thoughtfully absent in the film as well. When Saddam invaded Kuwait he took prisoners including Americans, which with the assignation attempt by the Iraqi secret police on the former President Bush disproves the statement made that no Iraqi has harmed, killed or threatened an American citizen. Happy times in Iraq? Well if you perceive dancing in the streets after the 9/11 attacks a happy Iraq then yes. After the attacks it was Saddam?s regime that openly celebrated and ordered the celebration to be broadcasted on Iraqi TV, none of which ever made it into Moore?s film of course. The suffering of those who spoke against Saddam, his rapist older son, his Hitleristic genocide to his own countrymen.... none of that made it into his film. Moore went for your heart strings when he showed the bombing of Iraq and several moments when pictures of dead Iraqi?s were displayed on the big screen but fails to clue you in that the explosions you see are the palaces, police and military targets. He fails to mention that those who oppose US forces, unlike civilized militia, don?t wear uniforms and have absolutely no problem attacking the ?enemy? from a stranger?s home, place of worship or even in a hospital. Moore never tells you that to a terrorist or Saddam supporter a civilian means nothing. Moore?s film directs you to believe that Saddam was a good man, his citizens led productive happy lives and he had no agenda with terrorism across the globe.
So what about the Saudi?s? Well the FBI did in fact question the visiting Saudi?s before they left US soil. The theory that the Saudi?s and the Bush?s are hand in hand chums is ludicrous. If this were so liberating Iraq into a democracy would never have happened as the Saudi?s oppose it and everything the Bush admin has spoken. There is Saudi money in the US but they aren?t the only outside money being invested in US business. What about Microsoft? There is Saudi money invested in MS but they didn?t have a profit surge directly linked to the war. GM however did as did many other companies that make US military weapons, software, vehicles clothing and other various needed supplies. Funny thing is none of them have Saudi money invested or a link to the Bush family but Moore must not have felt it important to mention any of this.
One thing Moore did right was include the minorities and poor in his film just like he has in the past. A Michael Moore film just wouldn?t be the same without his finger pointing to the poor masses and minorities then blaming the rich or large corporations but unlike past films (since the bad people change with every film) it was Bush?s fault this time. The facts have seemed to slip off Michael?s clipboard when he was writing this section of the film as well. The fact is Caucasian?s are still signing up for military duty more then minorities. Schools located in ?rich? sections of town get just as many recruiters as other schools. You still have to be tested to join the military so that means in today?s US military Forest Gump wouldn?t be accepted.
In all his ramblings he only convinced me of three things.
1. He lives in his own world where his reality is somehow different then the rest of our?s.
2. He can contradict himself quite well (saying we didn?t send enough troops in an anti war film and the govt didn?t take enough warnings seriously but warn too much now as just two examples)
3. He truly, honestly, intensely and with great passion undeniably hates George W. Bush with all of his being.
As I said before I am not a Bush supporter and I think we should have had the world's blessing before taking ANY action. I, however, can not agree with this film. It is outright propaganda the likes of which haven?t been seen since Hitler Germany or Communist Russia. For a film that was meant to outright slap the President I honestly think it will end up helping him in the upcoming election. Moore displayed a one sided and sometimes even made up view of the events of the Bush presidency. Unfortunately for Moore there are people in this country that are intelligent and can think for themselves that will see this film for what it truly is. But what more can you expect from a man who has been quoted as saying Americans are stupid and if the hostages on the planes during 9/11 werent all scared white people it wouldnt have happened.... IMO Moore is the lowest form of lying biggot.