Sunday, June 27, 2004

 

Fahrenheit: The Four-One-One:

My wife and I saw the movie early this afternoon, in a packed theater in Santa Rosa. I second a lot of what others have said about it, and just want to note that Moore makes two salient points I haven't really heard expressed so succinctly before:

1. The double-standard under which Bush's immediate post-9-11 actions have been judged: "Imagine what would have been the reaction, in the days following the Murrah Building bombing in Oklahoma City, if Clinton had made extraordinary arrangements to fly Timothy McVeigh's family out of the country?" Followed by a stock movie shot of villagers putting torch to pyre . . .

2. Bush has broken even the harsh bargain we've made with our "all volunteer" (read: impoverished, poorly-educated, with few choices) military: "In exchange for them sacrificing their time, their efforts, sometimes even their very lives, we make them a bargain: We won't send them into harm's way unless it's absolutely necessary."

I very clearly heard Moore say that Saudis were allowed to fly out of the country AFTER September 13th, so I'm not sure what Michael Isikoff's complaint is about (the movie's truthful information wasn't imparted emphatically enough to overcome his cognitive dissonance?). Lastly, I'd point out that the gruesome visage of neither Karen Hughes nor Lynn Cheney appears in the movie, so -- thankfully -- it avoids an NC-17 rating.

posted by Michael 10:14 PM