The thing about Rep Kennedy really pisses me off.
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The thing about Rep Kennedy really pisses me off.
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.
I really don't see what the distortion on the golf course is. It doesn't matter whether President Bush was talking about Al Queda or Palestinian suicide bombers. I haven't seent the movie yet, but did see an internet clip of that segment and Moore's point is Bush's flippant attitude in moving instantly from a statement against terrorism to "Now watch this drive." If the audience assumes he is speaking about Al Queda, but it's really Palestinian terrorists, that doesn't change the nonchalant attitude that Bush expressed. Plus he was on an extended vacation at the time, so it must not have been that all-fired important to him...
As to Rep. Kennedy, Moore was seeking information on how many children of the 535 members of Congress are in Iraq. (IIRC, that number is ZERO.) Moore was not seeking info on the number of Congressional nephews that are in Iraq. Now if the so called fact-checkers find a large number of children of members of Congress in Iraq, that would undermine Moore's point that Congress sends the children of other Americans to war, but not their own. The fact-checkers have not done so, which is why they're attempting to switch the subject to nephews.
<font color="#000002" size="1">[ July 02, 2004 09:35 PM: Message edited by: LanDroid ]</font>
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I haven't ether and don't plan to (I think I would get sick and have to walk out), but I have to wonder that when Moore cut up the raw film how much time was there between Bush talking about suicide bombers and asking whoever to watch his drive.Quote:
Originally posted by LanDroid:
I really don't see what the distortion on the golf course is. It doesn't matter whether President Bush was talking about Al Queda or Palestinian suicide bombers.
You could be filmed talking about two completely different things and then someone can edit out sections and present a different meaning to what you said. It is my understanding that is exactly what Moore does.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">The way I see it is, Moore does his homework, then walks up to someone out out of the blue and asks a question that he already knows the answer to. This is not seeking information, this is entrapment designed to prove his point.Quote:
Originally posted by LanDroid:
[QB]As to Rep. Kennedy, Moore was seeking information on how many children of the 535 members of Congress are in Iraq. (IIRC, that number is ZERO.) Moore was not seeking info on the number of Congressional nephews that are in Iraq. Now if the so called fact-checkers find a large number of children of members of Congress in Iraq, that would undermine Moore's point that Congress sends the children of other Americans to war, but not their own. The fact-checkers have not done so, which is why they're attempting to switch the subject to nephews.
[QB]
If anybody out there that believes his movies are documentaries filled with facts? I have a bridge in New York and some waterfront property in Florida to sell you.
I watched the golf course clip again and the two statements about terrorism and his golf drive did not appear to be cut at all. Bush had a golf club in his hand when he made the statements.
I see you admit Moore does his homework. You can call some of his techniques entrapment if you want, but they do reinforce his points in entertaining ways. His techniques could also be called speaking truth to power or disturbing the comfortable.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Doing your homework and asking questions is entrapment?? What bizarro world do you live in?Quote:
Originally posted by travelinman:
[QB]The way I see it is, Moore does his homework, then walks up to someone out out of the blue and asks a question that he already knows the answer to. This is not seeking information, this is entrapment designed to prove his point.[QB]
Any documentarian worth their salt already knows thier subject backwards and forwards and will conduct interviews in a manner designed to bring out those points that they feel are important to illustrate.
You may not like Moore's style but to accuse him of "entrapment" is just twilight zone material. Documentaries are not objective, I don't know why people think they are. They are reflections of what the documentarian believes to be true and will reflect those beliefs. Nothing new about that either.