Is It All About Michael Moore?

Leftist filmmaker Michael Moore has published an article in Rolling Stone outlining “How The Democrats Can Blow It ...In Six Easy Steps.” Michael Moore had previously if somewhat tepidly endorsed Barack Obama. Now he has outlined the six ways he thinks Barack can lose the election in November:

1. Keep saying nice things about McCain.
2. Pick a running mate who is a conservative white guy or a general or a Republican.
3. Keep writing speeches for Obama that make him sound like a hawk.
4. Forget that this was a historic year for women.
5. Show up to a gunfight with a peashooter.
6. Denounce me!

It’s that last one that has got us thinking. Why would Barack need to denounce Michael Moore? Says Moore:

“Obama, at some point, might be asked this question: ‘Michael Moore has endorsed you. But he recently said (fill in the blank with some outrageously offensive line taken out of context). Will you still accept his endorsement, or do you denounce him?’”

Apparently Michael Moore plans to say some outrageously offensive things that will be taken out of context. This could of course be entirely avoided if Michael Moore would just keep his mouth shut. Or at least not say anything outrageously offensive between now and election day. But here’s the real rub, according to Michael Moore:

“So Barack, by denouncing me, you can help McCain get elected. Because when you denounce me, it's not really me you're distancing yourself from — it's the millions upon millions of people who feel the same way about things as I do. And many of them are the kind of crazy voters who have no problem voting for a Nader just to prove a point.”

Michael Moore did endorse Ralph Nader over Al Gore in 2000, so this is not an idle threat. But I could not help but notice that Michael Moore called the people who think like him “crazy voters.” Maybe these people have come to realize they’d have to be crazy to think like Michael Moore.

I’ve talked to several documentary filmmakers who have grown to dislike Michael Moore. His tactics make it very easy for officials at companies they want to interview to say no. They just point to Michael Moore’s films and say that they don’t want to be used and have their views distorted.

Certainly Michael Moore has made a lot of money off the misery of others. With the big money he made off Fahrenheit 9/11, you might even call him a war profiteer.

Year	Movie	U.S. Gross	Foreign Gross	Total Gross
1989	Roger and Me	6,706,368	-	6,706,368
1998	The Big One	720,074	-	720,074
2002	Bowling for Columbine	21,576,018	37,000,000	58,576,018
2004	Fahrenheit 9/11	119,114,517	103,300,000	222,414,517
2007	Sicko	24,538,513	9,000,000	33,538,513