Tuesday, August 31, 2004
Michael Moore came out with his opinion piece for USA Today (nice to see they've found effective ways of fighting off the old accusation that they're just a shallow, glorified comic book) - the reason he's present at the RNC. Guess what? He talked to a lot of Republicans, and found out that they weren't all "radical right wing" zealots - that the Republican Party is composed of people with a surprisingly diverse set of views, many of them rather close to his own! Now, some might take this as a teaching moment. Perhaps time to reconsider long-held misconceptions? Don't be silly, Moore's too smart for that. He concludes from this that it's they that don't understand the party they belong to, rather than being and indicator that it was time for him to re-calibrate his own view of Republicans.
I think this article may be one of the most (unintentionally) effective Republican recruiting tools I've read in some time.
Moore left out his own radical views and what he would do and how he would do it.
For instance, how he would deal with Arafat, the UN, how he would pay for Health Insurance, how he would tax companies, what he would do for 'clean water', etc....
He presents himself as a moderate and not a self hating American who goes to France and belittles and demeans America and Americans to people who are all envious of America.
The big ruse wasn't as much the Republican Convention, as it was Moore trying to present himself as a moderate.
Mike
I think it's a good recruiting tool but only for the other side (I'm UK; I don't know the name of your own 2 party system other side).
What I read into it is that some Republicans should wake up and smell the coffee; they are in the wrong party. I expect that greed drives people to vote republican, subconsciously, and that he is trying to exorcise that sin.
That's the point. He's a fool. He's effectively recruiting for the Republicans because one heck of a lot of people who actually read and think through what he's writing will get it implanted - correctly - that Republicans and conservatives are not the extremist charicatures that people like Moore try to sell them as. I'm happy to see that as it will get them to give the Repubs a second look as I did. I'm not surprised that the European press sells that simplified version of things that the average guy is being played by voting Republican. The fact is, people know a lot better than some people seem to think about what their values are and who best matches them. You think there's no greed getting people to vote Dem? They run on support for the welfare state.
I think your reading it as you want to, but really it is the other way round.
To me he saying that some republicans actually have morals that are more aligned with a more 'socialist' party. Now if I have got it wrong because the Republicans are more like our labour party then I have got it really wrong, but from what I've read I don't think I have. The Republicans to me appear to be really heartless capitalist right wingers, while the Democrats appear to be slightly less heartless capitalist right wingers. I believe he is saying that some members of the Republican party that he met display traits that would sit better in the other party, and that they are supporting the wrong party out of ignorance rather than because of the policies, which they have mis-understood.
That will be 2 cents please.