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Rex Reed: Moore’s Magic: 9/11 Electrifies -- MUST READ!!!

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Raster Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 01:44 AM
Original message
Rex Reed: Moore’s Magic: 9/11 Electrifies -- MUST READ!!!
http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/onthetown.asp

Michael Moore leaves no turn unstoned. There are multitudes of shattering, seminal moments in his brilliant Bush-whacking documentary, Fahrenheit 9/11, that reveal more about the cynicism, greed and ineptitude in the U.S. government than you will ever learn from any sound bite on the right-wing late-night cable-channel blabfests, but one will stay with me forever. Forget about the "official" reports from the White House about the activities of George W. Bush on the fateful morning of Sept. 11, insisting he learned about the Al Qaeda attacks while meeting with Florida pre-schoolers and quickly dashed from the room to save the country. The truth, it is now revealed, is that he was informed of the first attack on the World Trade Center before he even entered the schoolroom, and he decided to continue with his photo-op anyway. There he is on camera when Andrew Card informs him of the second plane and utters the fatal words, "We’re under attack!"—but he continues to read My Pet Goat for another seven minutes, his eyes sliding sideways in his puzzled face, like a moron looking for a bathroom, until his staff insists that he leave. (He stayed for another half hour.) If nothing else, that defining moment says volumes about what we can expect from the President of the U.S. in the center of a supreme, history-altering crisis: He’s just clueless.

There are other moments that will impact some viewers and polarize others. So many, in fact, that you watch Fahrenheit 9/11 with disbelief, and leave shaking with rage. Sometimes sarcastic, always funny, Mr. Moore is armed with facts, and he presents them accurately and succinctly. The controversial filmmaker stated on the Today show that White House mouthpieces have denounced the film as "outrageously false" without seeing it, and right-wing Republicans have charged Mr. Moore with staging a "left-wing conspiracy" to influence the forthcoming election. Well, duh. For years, reactionary conservatives have been famous for staging right-wing conspiracies of their own to disgrace and discredit elected Democratic public officials. Maybe this is payback time. Whatever it is, everyone should see Fahrenheit 9/11 first—before debating the issues. The purpose of any documentary is to influence opinion. But instead of the customarily droning voice that comments on the action and tells you what to think, this one asks tough, logical questions, gets rational answers, and never loses its entertainment value.

<snip>

The movie begins with the awesome night in 2000 when the U. S. Supreme Court decided the election, not the American voters, then unveils footage that was never reported on TV of the Bush inauguration limousine being pelted with raw eggs. Instead of the traditional walk to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he was so afraid to leave the car that he became the first President in history who was forced to sneak into the White House through a back door.

It was downhill from there, and Mr. Moore has obtained amazing film to illustrate the graphic two-hour slam-dunk that follows. In the wimpy reportage that has dominated the media for four years, very few journalists have bothered to investigate the shroud of secrecy surrounding the Bush Presidency that keeps the people ignorant, to write about it, to explain it. Mr. Moore does it with wit and cleverness. There’s no doubt that he would do anything to prevent a Bush re-election, but there is no conjecture here. No embellishment. He doesn’t need any. Dubya & Co. are easy targets: Mr. Moore simply turns on his cameras and lets them hang themselves. He proves the $1.5 billion in profits the Bush clan has made from oil interests of the family of Osama bin Laden, the real perpetrator of the 9/11 disaster, then asks why, when all aircraft were grounded after 9/11, the White House allowed several planes to fly around the country picking up the bin Laden family and protectively escorting 142 Saudis out of the country without interrogation, overruling the protests of the F.B.I. You can say, "Yes, but his family has denounced Osama, so what’s the problem?" The problem is that the Bushes, père et fils, were in business with his family at the same time that Osama was under surveillance as a suspected Al Qaeda terrorist and neglected to make a full disclosure.

<snip, more>

http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/onthetown.asp

OMG! Read this review. Rex Reed Rocks!!!
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physioex Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 01:47 AM
Response to Original message
1. Great...Thanks JD....EOM
:toast:
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Supormom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 01:47 AM
Response to Original message
2. I cannot wait until Friday!
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Sugarbleus Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 01:58 AM
Response to Reply #2
3. Friday? You waiting for friday then?
Guess it all depends on a person's schedule anyway doesn't it. I may not be able to see it right at first.....we'll see.

I'm excited now, baby! woohoo :bounce:
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Syrinx Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 02:01 AM
Response to Original message
4. now that's one hell of a review!
Edited on Wed Jun-23-04 02:02 AM by syrinx9999
:hippie:
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LibertyorDeath Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 02:05 AM
Response to Original message
5. I love it...More

http://www.nyobserver.com/pages/onthetown.asp

Mr. Moore, who has tackled corporate greed (Roger & Me) and gun control (Bowling for Columbine), now feels driven and obligated to strip the façade from a swaggering, bow-legged, grammatically challenged bully and a cabinet that is beginning to look more like the Third Reich every day. He accuses them of lying about their motivations for declaring war against Iraq, a country that never threatened America in the first place, killing thousands of innocent civilians in retaliation for the acts of 9/11 aggression, although not one of the terrorists was from Iraq, and killing more than 800 of our own American kids (all from ethnic or working-class families). Nobody denies that Saddam Hussein was a monster, but not the Iraqi women and children who have been "saved" from one villain only to be burned and shot and maimed for life without arms and legs by villains in a different uniform. At the same time, Mr. Moore shows Mr. Bush justifying American atrocities against Saddam Hussein by actually saying to the camera, "He tried to kill my daddy." Like his daddy, he knows he might also get kicked out of the White House after serving only one term. Still, he pursues a war that is losing the "hearts and minds" of even the boys who fight it (the interviews with our soldiers on the front lines will make you weep) while earning the U.S. unprecedented heights of global hatred and distrust, even from long-standing allies. And he does it on the golf course, ignoring the pressing domestic issues of health care, education, Social Security, unemployment and the economy while instructing frustrated reporters to watch his next drive. (In his first eight months in office, he was on vacation 42 percent of the time.) Meanwhile the current occupants of the White House, bolstered by an irresponsible press that has never bothered to ask the right questions, have courted public support by hammering home the kind of fear and born-again religious ideology that keep people subservient and paralyzed. Mr. Moore is saying that in the lineup of fear factors, terrorists and sinners may have replaced Communists and beatniks, but if you keep the people frightened enough, the bully always wins.
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stevielizard Donating Member (106 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 02:11 AM
Response to Original message
6. it's the CONFIRMATION I'm looking forward to...
almost everyone here pretty much knew this stuff... I just want to have it played back to me- opens here in town on FriDAY :headbang:
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PoliticsSportsMusic Donating Member (219 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 03:07 AM
Response to Original message
7. Best film review of all time...thanks for bringing to attention!!! n/t
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myopic4141 Donating Member (309 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 03:28 AM
Response to Original message
8. "Worse Than Watergate" by John Dean
A must read for more of how Shrubby and company operates.
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sofa king Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 02:50 PM
Response to Reply #8
12. Concur.
John Dean comes the closest I've yet seen to outlining a credible call for impeachment.

In fact, many of his observations have been confirmed and expanded since publication. There are now probably half a dozen charges worthy of impeachment--more if you apply the despicable Lewinsky standard.

I have up to now looked forward to seeing Michael Moore's film, but I've never dared to think that it would actually have a significant political impact.

Now I'm beginning to hope that it might spark a wave of outrage which, combined with Dean's roadmap, may be serious enough to make Congress stand up and take notice.

I sure would like to see a bipartisan sort of movement which sticks every House candidate with the same question, on the record:

"If you are re/elected, and President Bush is re-elected, will you vote to authorize the Judiciary Committee to conduct an impeachment inquiry into President Bush and Vice President Cheney?"

As it happens, I ran a Google search on impeachment and came up with this place on the first hit: www.votetoimpeach.com
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Old and In the Way Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 06:59 AM
Response to Original message
9. Sounds like 4 years of DU compressed into 120 minutes......
it amazes me how many people have not seen the Brooker school tapes. That alone will sink Bush. The person who gets his/her "news" from the corporate broadcast media is going to be stunned with what they learn about this misadministration.
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Jeff in Cincinnati Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 11:21 AM
Response to Reply #9
10. I know what you mean...
for most of us at DU, the attraction of "Fahrenheit 9/11" is the satisfaction of seeing things that we knew all along brought to life on the screen. For people who have been relying on "USA Today" for their news, this film is going to make them feel like that fell down the rabbit hole!
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CrispyQ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 02:30 PM
Response to Original message
11. OMG! I am LMAO at this . . .
...then unveils footage that was never reported on TV of the Bush inauguration limousine being pelted with raw eggs. Instead of the traditional walk to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he was so afraid to leave the car that he became the first President in history who was forced to sneak into the White House through a back door.

I had no idea this happened! An interesting omen about his presidency.
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Lisa Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 06:33 PM
Response to Reply #11
13. Michael mentioned this in his book ...
He couldn't get over how the car stopped, then drove quickly on as it was pelted with eggs -- such a bizarre spectacle!
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Sigi Donating Member (7 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 06:58 PM
Response to Reply #13
14. Not good for America
This is all I need to know about Michael Moore and his ability to be truthful.

http://www.hardylaw.net/Truth_About_Bowling.html
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Barrett808 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 08:00 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. Don't count him out too quickly -- see Moore's rebuttal
How to Deal with the Lies and the Lying Liars When They Lie about "Bowling for Columbine"
by Michael Moore

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/wackoattacko/
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Sigi Donating Member (7 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Wed Jun-23-04 09:14 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. RE: Moore's rebuttal
Edited on Wed Jun-23-04 09:16 PM by Sigi
My site seems to offer specific information that is published. MM seems to offer the obligatory "I saw this" and "It happened on this date" or "You can believe me or not" website that doesn't explain 1/4 of what was discussed in my site.

He spliced and edited "Columbine" and he has perfected his demagoguery with "Fahrenheit." I am not impressed. Lets admit MM is left of Ted Kennedy.

I want serious discussion about critical issues that are not twisted to over-maginify problems for political gain. That makes me ill.

Critical issues among citizens requires bi-partisanship. Our respective leaders do not practice it it, but we should.

And just so you know I am not convinced that Bush has my vote, but Kerry has done nothing yet to help me make a decision.

My .02
Sigi.
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Th1onein Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-24-04 08:35 AM
Response to Reply #16
18. The only convincing I need is the Booker tape.....Bush is an idiot!
And I'd vote for a bologna sandwich over him, any day. Kerry gets my vote!
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DinahMoeHum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-24-04 12:45 PM
Response to Reply #18
20. Bush is an idiot. . .and a f**king coward to boot.
Edited on Thu Jun-24-04 12:46 PM by frankzappa
I remember arguing with my family about Bush vs. Gore.

I predicted back in 2000 that Bush would fail our nation at a critical moment because his life story had nothing in it to indicate that he overcame handicaps, obstacles or crises that befall most of us in our lives or careers. He didn't have any stone walls to batter against in his life.

Too bad you and I (and all of us here at DU)have been proven correct.


:argh:

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Barrett808 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-24-04 10:41 AM
Response to Reply #16
19. Didn't know that's your site
I'll have to check it out in detail.
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funnymanpants Donating Member (569 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-24-04 03:41 PM
Response to Reply #16
21. Where are your specifics?
If you want to refute Michael Moore's refutation, then you should provide specifics. You didn't do so.

When Bush lies about important policy matters (WMDs in Iraq), that is bad for the country.

When someone makes a film critical of a politician, that is good for the coutnry. It shows democracy still lives.

When someone says that a film critical of a politician is bad for the country, that statement is bad for the country. The statement is trying to quash debate by implying that dissent is bad. Such statments support mindless nationalism over true debate.
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funnymanpants Donating Member (569 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-24-04 05:04 PM
Response to Reply #14
22. your site is a polemic against Moore
Please don't prentend you aren't a right-wing hack.

You use some rather dishonest methods to attack Moore. For example, you want to show that Moore is wrong about the US having a higher homoice rate than other non-gun loving countries.

But your site does no such thing. The only thing you show is that you can't find where Moore gets his statistics from. Then, you show that in Germany, Moore might have understated his case; in fact, the deaths by fireamrs were 168, *half* of what Moore claimed.

In other words, the staistics prove Moore's claim rather than disprove it.

In order to get around this, you must do some good gymnastics. First you point out that raw numbers is not the same as rate. Fair enough. But then you use Australia, which has a particulary high rate, rather than using Germany, which has a lower rater. In either case, the rate is still below that of the US, and in most cases, way below.

Then, you put in this gem:

"Second, the minute you get into rates it starts to become apparent that gun homicides are a very low probability event wherever you are. Phrased otherwise, the odds are enormously in favor of you or I dying of heart attack, stroke, or cancer, no matter what country we live in."

Ah, but this is completely changing the topic.

What your site amounts to is someone who wants to pick apart an argument by criticizing someone's spelling. For example, you are outraged that Moore spliced a Willie Horton ad to suggest that the ad was racsit. What you don't mention was that the creator of the ad on his deathbed regretted using the Horton ad because he knew he was stirring up peoples' racist fears.

You use the same tatic in your attack on Moore's latest film. You attack it by citing another film--in other words, you confuse two issues, the same tatic you accuse Moore of.
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JSJ Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Thu Jun-24-04 12:55 AM
Response to Original message
17. that is... a great review! n/t
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