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Hugh Hewitt - Principal Contributor

Mr. Hewitt is senior member of the CaliforniaRepublic.org editorial board. [go to Hewitt index]

Michael Moore: The Dems' David Duke
The movie gives propagandists a bad name…
[Hugh Hewitt] 6/30/04

Michael Medved advised me Monday morning that I could not possibly grasp how lousy a film is "Fahrenheit 9/11" unless I had seen it. So I went that afternoon, and Michael was right.

The movie gives propagandists a bad name. At least it could have been well-made anti-American tripe. Instead it is a crudely made and insufferably dull march through the fever swamps of the unhinged left. It is pulling in big bucks, which is a testament to the disposable income of the swamp residents, but put me down as one in favor of even broader distribution and bigger box offices for the picture. It is an anchor around John Kerry's neck as ordinary Americans not filled with self-loathing will despise Moore for his transparent lies and not trust a political party that does not reject them.

I am more certain than I was last week that attending the premier and the standing ovation that followed it was a mistake for Tom Daschle. The folks in South Dakota should hear repeatedly of Daschle's sympathy for Moore's project and point-of-view. The John Kerry-Michael Moore Democrats do in fact represent a low point for that party, and unless and until the Kerrys and Daschles denounce the fraud for what he is, they are stuck with him. Some on the left are proclaiming Moore to be their Limbaugh. He's not. Moore is the Democrats' David Duke, but they are putting their arm around him.

I will not reprise the now well-known deceptions abundant in the movie. The best romp through that territory is Christopher Hitchens'. But I will note the one undeniable benefit of the movie's success. It provides a handy reference to the intelligence of the person who sees it. If you encounter anyone speaking in tones even remotely approaching respect for the movie, you have proof positive that the speaker is a fool, not to be trusted on any point, for he or she has given testimony as to their ignorance of basic facts and of an inability to detect even elephant-sized inconsistencies in argument and story line.

Michael Moore is the latest in a long line of entrepreneurs who have proven P.T. Barnum to have been on the money when it came to the number of suckers abroad in our land. Sure, he's a Jabba-sized oaf, but give him his due. He knew how to play the left's paranoia like a fiddle, and he did.

I do want to provide a link to the best "shut-up" story to provide Michael Moore fans. Easiest part of the Michael Moore paranoid fantasy to explode: that President Bush arranged for the bin Laden family to flee the U.S. after 9/1. See this story from The Hill. Richard Clarke – hero to Moore's movie in other parts – let the bin Ladens go. It never got to Bush. Moore didn't have time to put that in the movie.

You might also want to ask Moorites why Hezbollah loves the flick. Moore got asked and he ducked the question. What a surprise: No courage from Jabba the propagandist, Tom Daschle's favorite moviemaker. CRO

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CaliforniaRepublic.org Principal Contributor Hugh Hewitt is an author, television commentator and syndicated talk-show host of the Salem Radio Network's Hugh Hewitt Show, heard in over 40 markets around the country. He blogs regularly at HughHewitt.com and he frequently contributes opinion pieces to the Weekly Standard.