Monday, November 01, 2004

Michael Moore: "One Day Left"

The mainstreaming of Michael Moore has been one of the more compelling stories of this year. A 2000 Nader supporter and fiercely anti-2-party system, he endorsed Democrat General Wesley Clark in the primaries, proudly calling the President a deserter while he was at it. This stunt singlehandedly got Bush’s Vietnam service records back on the media’s radar screen. Then his scathing and extremely moving Fahrenheit 9/11 broke box office records, bringing the stories the media was too afraid to tell about 9/11 and Iraq to cineplexes all over the country. And for the last several months, Michael Moore has been a fierce advocate for John Kerry for President, albeit most likely with some trepidation. He has been an excellent model of leftwing pragmatism for other former Nader supporters to follow and is likely largely responsible for what will be Nader’s pathetic showing tomorrow night.

His final missive to readers and supporters before tomorrow’s election is up on his website and is worth reading. Actually it’s several short notes to various constituencies (“decent conservatives” and “friends on the left”) as well as the two candidates. I’ve excerpted some below:

To My Friends On The Left

Okay, Kerry isn’t everything you wished he would be. You’re right. He’s not you! Or me. But we’re not on the ballot – Kerry is. Yes, Kerry was wrong to vote for authorization for war in Iraq but he was in step with 70% of the American public who was being lied to by Bush & Co. And once everyone learned the truth, the majority turned against the war. Kerry has had only one position on the war – he believed his president.

To Nader Voters

After the debacle of 2000, the Democrats got smart and abandoned the conservative wing of their party. That’s why 8 of the 9 Democrats in the primaries this year were from the liberal wing. Ralph should take credit for that and declare victory. It’s so sad that he doesn’t realize the good he’s accomplished. But for reasons only known to him, he’s more angry at the Democrats than he is at Bush. He has lost his compass. I worry he has lost his mind. But he still gives a great speech!

To Non-Voters

Almost fifty percent of Americans don’t vote. That means you belong to the largest political party in America – the Non-Voting Party. That means you hold all the power to toss George W. Bush out of the Oval Office. How cool is that?

I believe that we are going to have the largest election turnout in our lifetime tomorrow. You don’t want to miss out on that. The lines at the polls are going to be long and raucous and fun. It is an historic election. You won’t want to say that you were the only one who wasn’t there. Promise me you’ll vote, just this one time.

To George W

I know it’s gotta be rough for you right now. Hey, we’ve all been there. “You’re fired” are two horrible words when put together in that order. Bin Laden surfacing this weekend to remind the American people of your total and complete failure to capture him was a cruel trick or treat. But there he was. 3,000 people were killed and he’s laughing in your face. Why did you stop our Special Forces from going after him? Why did you forget about bin Laden on the DAY AFTER 9/11 and tell your terrorism czar to concentrate on Iraq instead?

To John Kerry

Thank you.

And don’t worry – none of us are going away after you are inaugurated. We’ll be there to hold your hand and keep you honest. Don’t let us down. We’re betting you won’t. So is the rest of the world.

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