Centroles wrote:
True, the movie may be slightly misleading, but no more than the political ads that both campaigns officially have put up so far.
I wouldn't call the film "slightly misleading". I think it's misleading to the point of undermining the cause of the liberals who embrace it.
Quote:Why should Moore's movie be held to a higher standard than either Bush's or Kerry's ads?
Why should "they do it too" justify anything? He's not being held to a higher standard at all. I dennounce Bush's prevarication and that of the others I see as well.
Thomas (another anti-Bush fellow who criticizes Moore) said it best when responding to a similar "they do it too".
Thomas wrote:
I think here's one of our fundamental disagreements, blatham. You somehow seem to suggest that a polemic zealot on the left and a polemic zealot on the right cancel each other out, justifying Mr.Moore's follies on account of balance, if not on account of substance. And that's a logical stand to take when you think the relevant distinction is between the right and the left.
Well, I disagree with your distinction. In my opinion, the relevant distinction is the grown-ups versus the true believers, whatever side they may be on. Given that opinion, I see reasonable people like Gregory Mankiw, John McCain, and Paul Krugman as a collective "us", and I see well-meaning cranks like Michael Moore, Ralf Nader, and Grover Norquist as part of a collective "them". I currently donate substantial amounts of money to the Kerry campaign. But if the race was John McCain against Kucinic, I would support Mr. McCain just as decisively as I now support Kerry. I support Kerry because he seems like a grown-up to me, not because he's a Democrat.
To phrase it differently, when Moore scores a success after Grover Norquist, the score goes from 0:1 to 0:2 against my team, which is why I consider Moore a bad thing on balance. From your point of view, Moore's success turns a 0:1 against your team into a 1:1 par, which is why you consider Moore a good thing on balance.
I think that's the essence of our disagreement.
