The TV ads for Michael Moore?s ?documentary? Fahrenheit 9/11 feature a mocking clip of President Bush on a golf course. Bush declares, ?I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorists killers,? and then Moore jumps to Bush adding, as he prepares to swing at a golf ball, ?now watch this drive.? Tuesday night on FNC?s Special Report with Brit Hume, Brian Wilson noted how ?the viewer is left with the misleading impression Mr. Bush is talking about al-Qaeda terrorists.? But Wilson disclosed that ?a check of the raw tape reveals the President is talking about an attack against Israel, carried out by a Palestinian suicide bomber.?
Indeed, Wilson played another part of what Bush said in the remarks to reporters made on August 4, 2002: ?For the sake of the Israelis who are under attack, we must stop the terror.?
MRC analyst Megan McCormack noticed Wilson?s correction of Moore in a piece in which Wilson outlined how Moore?s movie better matches the definition of ?propaganda? than ?documentary.?
?The American Heritage Dictionary,? Wilson relayed, ?defines a documentary film as one that presents facts quote, 'objectively without editorializing or inserting fictional matter.??
After documenting Moore?s distortion of Bush?s golf course comments, Wilson moved on to how ?in his film, Moore claims that special flights carrying Saudi nationals were allowed to fly within the U.S. at a time when commercial aircraft were grounded due to the 9/11 attacks. Not true. The Saudi flights did not occur until after commercial flight restrictions were lifted on September 14th. Newsweek?s top investigative reporter Michael Isikoff took Moore to task on that and other incorrect claims in a recent column, and says of the movie:?
Michael Isikoff: ?It?s one window into some of the facts, but it?s certainly not a complete window into all the facts.?
Wilson: ?Even some news organizations providing clips to Moore for the film argue Fahrenheit 9/11 is not balanced. Bill Wheatley, a Vice President of NBC News, told the LA Times quote, '...the work of filmmakers is much more likely to be pointed in a particular direction...filmmakers tend to avoid balance and pursue a point of view.? So if the word documentary really doesn?t fit Michael Moore?s film, how about this description? 'Ideas, facts, or allegations spread deliberately to further one?s cause or to damage an opposing cause.? That?s how the dictionary defines the word propaganda. In Washington, Brian Wilson, Fox News.?
Last Friday night, June 25, the NBC Nightly News ran a fact check on Moore?s movie, the MRC?s Brad Wilmouth observed, and found it wanting. NBC?s Lisa Myers didn?t note how the golf course comments were suggested to be about al-Qaeda when they were really about Palestinian terrorists, but she did call it a ?cheap shot.?
She began her story with a clip of an ad for the movie: ?A true story that will make your temperature rise."
Myers asked: "But how true is it? The film's sometimes embarrassing video of Bush administration officials is authentic [clip of Ashcroft singing], though some argue certain shots amount to cheap shots."
George W. Bush from movie, on golf course: "I call upon all nations to do everything they can to stop these terrorist killers. Thank you. Now, watch this drive."
Myers: "The powerful story of Lyla Lipscomb, whose son was killed in Iraq, is also undeniable. But on other key points, critics say this so-called documentary is either wrong or deliberately misleading. The war in Iraq: To drive home the point that the children of the powerful aren't dying in Iraq, Moore ambushes politicians on Capitol Hill."
Moore in movie: "Congressman, I'm Michael Moore. How are you doing?"
Rep. Mark Kennedy (R-MN): "Good evening."
Moore: "Good, good. I'm trying to get members of Congress to get their kids to enlist in the Army and go over to Iraq."
Myers: "But Moore left out what Congressman Mark Kennedy went on to say."
Kennedy, in interview with NBC: "My nephew had just gotten called up into service and was told he's heading to Afghanistan. He didn't like that answer, so he didn't include it."
Myers: "Bush and the Saudis: The film traces ties between the Bush family and the bin Laden and Saudi royal families, then suggests the Bushes, quote, 'might be thinking about what's best for the Saudis instead of what's best for you.'"
Roger Cressey, terrorism expert: "The Bush family's relationship with the bin Ladens and the Saudis had nothing to do with our decisions on the war on terrorism. To say so is simply unfair."
Myers: "Finally, Saudi flights after 9/11: The film suggests that plane loads of Saudis, including the bin Laden family, were allowed to leave the U.S. after 9/11 without proper vetting. However, the 9/11 Commission says, 'Nobody was allowed to depart who the FBI wanted to interview.' One character in this film suggests that President Bush is even worse than Osama bin Laden, one of the excesses and distortions that may undermine the credibility of Michael Moore's message. Lisa Myers, NBC News, Washington."
But liberals and much of the media still love it.
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