Fact-checking Moore's political broadside

Philip Shenon/NYT The New York Times Friday, June 18, 2004

http://www.iht.com/articles/525560.html


"We found that if you entered the theater on the fence, you fell off it somewhere during those two hours," he said. "It ignites a fire in people who had given up.

Moore suggests that Bush and his administration jeopardized national security in an effort to placate Bush family cronies in Saudi Arabia, that the White House helped members of Osama bin Laden's family to flee the United States after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and that the administration manipulated terrorism alert levels to scare Americans into supporting the invasion of Iraq...

So how will Moore's movie stand up under close examination? Is the film's depiction of Bush as a lazy and duplicitous leader, blinded by his family's financial ties to Arab moneymen and the Saudi Arabian royal family...if "Fahrenheit 9/11" attracts the audience Moore and his distributors are predicting, Moore may face an onslaught of fact-checking unlike anything he - or any other documentary filmmaker - has ever experienced.

Moore is readying for a conservative counterattack, saying he has created a "war room" to offer an instant response to any assault on the film's credibility. He has retained Chris Lehane, a Democratic Party strategist known as a master of the black art of "oppo," or opposition research, used to discredit detractors. He also hired outside fact-checkers, led by a former general counsel of The New Yorker and a veteran member of that magazine's legendary fact-checking team, to vet the film. And he is threatening to go one step further, saying he has consulted with lawyers who can bring defamation suits against anyone who maligns the film or damages his reputation. "Any attempts to libel me will be met by force," Moore said. "The most important thing we have is truth on our side. If they persist in telling lies, knowingly telling a lie with malice, then I'll take them to court."

http://www.iht.com/articles/525560.html

I'm glad Michael is laying it on the line like this. If the wingers think they can get away with it, they will destroy him. The only thing they do understand is a threat to their pocketbook.

Looks like he learned from it, though. Hiring outside fact checkers shows that he's maturing as a director. He knows how high the stakes are on this one, and he's not taking any chances.

I can't wait to see the film!

and also Al Gore's press secretary in 2000...

Interesting choice, Mike.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2003/09/15/kerry_communications_director_resigns/

(snip)

Chris Lehane's departure comes amid speculation of a wider shake-up in the Kerry campaign, which has been torn by internal fights and a lack of public support from the candidate.

Kerry, a Massachusetts senator once considered the leading contender in a nine-person field, has seen his campaign eclipsed by former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.

(snip)

Lehane was a key adviser and spokesman for the campaign, though he was not on the payroll. That move was planned later this fall. He resigned last week.

Campaign officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Lehane told them he was leaving over philosophical differences with Kerry. They said Lehane, who was Al Gore's press secretary in the 2000 race and worked for President Clinton, was among a campaign cadre of aides who believed that Kerry ran too cautiously against the threat posed by Dean and hadn't fashioned a message beyond his biography as a Vietnam veteran.

more...

it sounds like Lehane has faced the Bush smear campaign a few times. So maybe Lehane is a sign that Moore is more concerned with Bush's slander machine attacking his film than with any legite attacks on its credibility. The term "war room" obviously echoes Clinton's stratgey for handling the previous Bush's slanders.

Moore's prepared. I'm impressed.

the most devastating segment of "Fahrenheit 9/11" may be the video of a befuddled-looking Bush staying put for nearly seven minutes at a Florida elementary school on the morning of Sept. 11, continuing to read a copy of "My Pet Goat" to schoolchildren even after an aide has told him that a second plane has struck the twin towers.
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Bush's slow, hesitant reaction to the disastrous news has never been a secret. But seeing the actual footage, with the minutes ticking by, may prove more damaging to the White House than all the statistics in the world.
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He was great. Also, my respect for Letterman increases daily.

the news always gave the impression that Card was telling Bush about the FIRST PLANE.