If you have ever wanted to see a politician respond directly to his attackers, and pull no punches, you have to see Sen. Fred Thompson's response to Michael Moore. I first saw this video at Drudge. Moore is working on a new "documentary" about the workers of 9/11. As part of his movie, he took some of the workers who are suffering health problems to Cuba for medical treatment. Moore is now under investigation by the Federal government for taking these workers to Cuba.
Senator Thompson sounded in with his criticism of Moore for traveling to Cuba and Moore responded with an open letter criticizing Thompson's stand on health care. I haven't read either of these opening salvo's in this battle. Senator Thompson seems to be a straight forward kind of guy. Moore has yet to make a real documentary.
I have not picked a Republican candidate that I want to win the "Super Primaries" in February 2008. However, I believe President Bush has been too soft with his critics. When the Presidency is attacked, a strong President has to be willing to come out swinging. If you believe the country needs a strong President, Fred Thompson deserves a look with this attack against Moore.
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Let me just get this out of the way so that my comment doesn't come off as immediately confrontational: I am not a big Michael Moore fan. I think his movies are pretty entertaining but are clearly preaching to a far left choir, and whatever polemic each movie offers is quickly engulfed by Moore's ego. There got that out of the way.
The case that you mention is confusing. How exactly is Moore one of Thompson's attackers? As far as I know, Thompson is a retired senator who works as an actor on Law and Order while he dances around running for president. Moore's movie is not about him and Moore's recent beef is with the Treasury dept.
"The department sent a letter to Mr. Moore saying it was investigating whether he had violated restrictions on travel to Cuba when he accompanied sick workers seeking free medical care as part of a documentary on America’s health care industry."
- NYTimes
Moore's next movie, "Sicko", is about health care, and he was "accompanying" these people to Cuba for free health care, which I assume they could only get there. Either way, the movie will undoubtedly try to tug on the heart strings in order to make the point that we could use a little universal health care in America. I think it's unfortunate that Moore is making this film, cause it will only serve to drive a wedge into a non-partisan issue. Over 70% of the country is for universal health care and we are the most conspicuous industrialised nation not to offer this to its citizens. So all I ask is that you shit on Moore all you want, but don't pre-emptively dismiss the subject of his movie. Don't let that far left provocotuer provoke you into thinking that this is a partisan issue.
And as far as presidents "coming out swinging". They're presidents, why should they even bother? I hope they got better things to do than deal with critics. The best thing that a critic of power can hope for is to be recognized by the powerful. The truly presidential thing to do is to dismiss the more outlandish of critics with silence. In this regard, doesn't it seem unnecessary for Thompson to stick his nose into the Moore issue? To me, it seems like he's getting some attention for going after an easy, far-left target.
Thank you for the comment, and let me respond point by point.
Apparently Moore and Thompson have had a round with each other in the papers. I typically ignore anything Moore does and haven’t paid a tremendous amount of attention to Thompson. Because of that, I am a little out of the loop with the first round of attacks. The way I understand it, Thompson criticized Moore after the investigation was launched against Moore. Moore responded with an open letter against Thompson. Thompson responded with the video clip that I have linked.
I agree that universal health care needs to be discussed without any input one way or the other from Michael Moore. I think universal health care provided by the government from taxes is a terrible idea. I have thought that since reading some of the troubles the UK has with it. I believe there are reforms that need to be made, but asking the government to manage it seems to scream, “Bad Idea” to me.
The last part of your comment does make a lot of sense. When someone who is outlandish and doesn’t have a leg to stand on attacks you, ignore them and don’t give them any credibility by responding. However, I have been very disappointed with the Republican Party because they don’t seem to be willing to fight for much. When I see a Republican who could run for president, I am hopeful that some of the fighting spirit is returning to the Party. Much as you aren’t claiming to be a supporter of Moore, I don’t claim to be a Thompson supporter. I don’t know where he stands on most issues, and until he decides if he is going to run, I probably won’t look into his issues very hard.
We now live in a society that is going to be forced to make some important decisions in years to come. I think the next Presidential election will decide if America wants to be the great country it could be, or if we wish to lower ourselves to the equivalent of nations run by petty dictators and tyrants. We can be a shining example to the rest of the world, or we can try to hide in a corner and hope no one shines a light at us. I hope we decide to be a great nation. But if we are going that route, it will require a fighting spirit from the American people and our leaders. It makes me hopeful when I see someone who might run for president willing to fight.
I couldn't agree more with the last paragraph of your response. I find it fascinating, however, that though we can express the exact same sentiment and vision for our country's future, you and I will most likely vote for very different candidates. I'm hoping before '08 to at least get you to look at a few guys from the Democratic bunch. Once you peel away the hype and personal histories, there's one or two in there who could make any American proud. More to follow...
I am interested in looking at the candidates and would definitely be interested in seeing which ones you thought were worth voting for.
However, I am reluctant to vote for a Democrat because I find their world view slightly offensive. They seem to believe that America should take a back seat to the UN and the rest of the world. They don't believe America is any better than any other nation on Earth and I think that is simply wrong.
Fair enough. To be continued...
Moore's OK as long as you know that around 50% of what his documentaries are total b.s., and the rest of his info has varying degrees of truth to it. His movies are usually entertaining, and they provide a good learning experience if you look into his arguments and decide whether his point of view is right or not.
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