Posted on 04/16/2003 2:52:00 PM PDT by OriginalV
SHORELINE -- Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore told a spirited, receptive audience last night not to despair that President Bush's popularity continues to soar in polls and conservatives rule.
To cheers and boisterous clapping, he told the crowd that liberals and progressives are the majority and exhorted locals to run for Democratic precinct offices to help win the White House and Congress in 2004.
Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore brought his sharp wit and political zeal to Seattle last night, speaking to a sold-out audience of 1,200 at Shoreline Community College. Before his speech, Moore defended his "Shame on you, Mr. Bush" Oscar night speech and said he is mainstream and part of a slim majority in this country. Speaking to a sold-out crowd of 1,200 at Shoreline Community College, the feisty leftist and labor-loving Moore was at times quiet and hushed, at others fired up and impassioned, and often, funny and witty.
When one woman yelled, "Michael Moore, 2004," many in the crowd cheered.
Moore demurred. "I'm not running for anything. I want to live," he said. "Let's get real. This is not what you want to see in the situation room," he said, pointing to his bulky, black T-shirt-clad self. The crowd cracked up.
Instead, he said he'd like to see talk show queen Oprah run for president.
"Seriously, just think about this. She's a billionaire. She can't be bought. She's got good politics, she's got a good heart and she'll have us all exercising at 6 in the morning."
Moore, who passed his Oscar statuette around the crowd for any and all to hold, said Bush and Co. are feeling cocky with victory on the battlefields of Iraq, but he predicted their political demise.
"You've got to have a lot of empathy for them because there's not many of them left. Their way of thinking? The angry white guy? Their days are numbered," Moore said to fervent applause.
He was at his most plaintive when he questioned the war and those who have died fighting it. "I say this with all the respect it deserves: What did they die for? What did any of these kids die for?"
Not everyone in the room agreed with Moore, but his most vocal detractors were outside.
About 20 people holding U.S. flags and a variety of handmade signs lined up across the entrance of the college gymnasium where Moore spoke to protest his anti-war views.
Marsha Kriney, who held a large flag taped to a wooden pole, was a stateside U.S. Air Force medic during the Vietnam War. She said she was protesting in part because she hated the way returning soldiers were treated after that conflict.
Kriney, a 54-year-old mail carrier from Bothell, said Moore's Academy Award speech "disgusted" her. "I was glad when they booed him. It was totally unpatriotic and dissing the soldiers who are there now."
A few of the protesters from Support Our Troops, Washington Young Americans for Freedom and other groups, held signs that read "Liberal Losers Lack Logic," and "If You're Elitist, Moore Speaks For You. Liberated Iraqis Thank W!"
Moore almost sounded disappointed that their numbers were so few.
"I was told there were going to be 150 protesters out on the street," Moore said. "Anybody see them? Where are they?"
Moore was at his funniest when he parodied the Bush administration's foreign policy priorities and focus on the "axis of evil," also known as Iraq, Iran and North Korea.
"After 9/11, the first trick they tried was that Osama bin Laden was the mastermind of all evil in the world. Right, this guy in this cave in Afghanistan?" Moore said to laughter. "And then it came up that he was on dialysis. ... How did that work, masterminding all the evil in the world? Was he running from cave to cave, trailing his dialysis machine?"
He also joked about North Korea feeling left out as a target.
"North Korea, they're like standing over here, going 'We're like the third wheel in the axis of evil. Hello, hello, over heeee-rre. We already have the weapons of mass destruction. You don't even know if the others have weapons of mass destruction, but we've got 'em.' "
Moore is in demand. The documentary maker just won an Oscar for "Bowling for Columbine," a stinging examination of America's love affair with guns. His book, "Stupid White Men," has been on the New York Times best-seller list for 51 weeks. All this, despite his controversial, "Shame on you, Mr. Bush" Oscar acceptance speech.
A 54 year old says "dissing"? What is this world coming to?
Drugs will make you say stupid things...
"Good days" for liberals are bad days for America --> Economic regression and poor military experiences are what they're hoping for.
Yep, "third party" Mike really works against rich, corporate-funded candidates in BOTH parties. Except at election time, that is.
Of elitist busy-body jackasses.
Whew, that's gonna leave one heck of a crater.
So, there might be a new lake at the White House?
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