Posted on 05/19/2004 11:48:48 AM PDT by Gelato
SCARBOROUGH COUNTRY, May 18th
[snip]
JOE SCARBOROUGH: Michael Moore is the toast of the town at the Cannes Film Festival this week. According to the BBC, Moore‘s anti-war flick may be the odds-on favorite to win the top prize, the first time for a so-called documentary since 1956. It seems the French have fallen in love with Michael Moore. But how will American audiences react to this controversial film?
With me now is John Rhys-Davies. He‘s, of course, an actor from the blockbuster trilogy “The Lord of the Rings.” We also have Dana Kennedy. She‘s MSNBC entertainment editor. And back with me again is Penn and Teller‘s Penn Jillette.
[snip]
SCARBOROUGH: John Rhys-Davies, what do you think about Michael Moore being praised AT Cannes, AS it appears that they‘re probably going to name him the top filmmaker for this year‘s ceremonies?
JOHN RHYS-DAVIES, ACTOR: Well, you see, the French have a lot of problems internally. And the one unifying factor that they can find in their society is to bash America.
So don‘t be surprised by anything the French do. Their society is so troubled and it‘s about 24, 25 years away from major civil war. So you can discount most of what they do.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, what does it—how does it make you feel as an actor to have this guy coming in—you can‘t even call it a documentary, if you look at what he did with “Bowling for Columbine”—and actually having them elevate this sort of class clown above all the other producers, all the other actors, all the other screenwriters from all over the world just to make a political statement that bashes America?
RHYS-DAVIES: Well, the truth of the matter is there is no—virtue is never rewarded in the world anyway. You must know that. So don‘t be naive enough to expect it to be.
He has made a documentary party political board broadcast for his political viewpoint. That‘s perfectly fair and perfectly legitimate. My beef with him would be this, that, when you knock America, you run a real danger that you will change the perception of the world that the world has of America. Right at the moment, the Americans are doing something very, very important and I believe very virtuous.
The notion that we could take Iraq, for instance, which has a strong middle class, and turn it right in the middle of Arabia and turn it into a functioning democratic capitalist society and use that to galvanize the rest of the Arab world out of the 13th century is a virtuous vision. And you could disagree with the tactics of it or not, but the vision is admirable. And not to see that is deplorable.
Moore is making a fortune out of his anti-Americanism. And I don‘t blame the guy for making a buck, but he‘s not serious.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: He certainly is not serious. And I want to read you what “The Hollywood Reporter” said. They‘re not backing the movie again. And this is their review—quote—“In ‘Fahrenheit 9/11,‘ Michael Moore drops any pretense that he is a documentarian to pull together from many sources an angry polemic against the president, the Bush family and the administration‘s foreign policy.”
Penn Jillette, is this nothing more than a paid political advertisement for the Democratic Party in America?
JILLETTE: Yes, I think that it might be that.
[snip]
JILLETTE: So if I have a conspiracy to go with, I‘m going to go with Michael Moore is just trying to make Bush look really, really good.
SCARBOROUGH: All right, we‘ll have to leave it there. Penn Jillette, like to thank you, John Rhys-Davies and Dana Kennedy for being with us.
[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
Penn has a very strong aversion to BS, so it makes sense that he would slam Michael Moore.
I haven't heard Teller say anything about the subject.
That was a great line from last night. I also loved the way Hitchens slammed the door on Bianca Jagger, as he made her look like a rambling fool. I'm glad to see Joe's show getting back to what it was before Kaplan took over. His commentaries on the bias media the last few days has been inspiring.
Penn Jillette is Lieberman's twin brother.
LMAO! That is a great quote from Hitchens!!! It made my day!!! THANKS!
BTTT His quotes make great tag lines.
Oops wrong one. It's Teller who is Lieberman's bro.:)
Badabing!
Moore reminds me of a few personalities I have known who seek controversy for controversies sake, even if it means making up or misrepresenting facts.
He is a commie and not above lying to achieve his end goal. The problem is that the rest of the world believes his intentional lies and deception as fact. Europeans who hate the USA eat this up because it reinforces their notion the USA is armed to the teath and uncivilized, IOW not french.
Sam Elliott? Cool! I had the biggest crush on him in high school. I see it was well-placed. :-)
He basically said I had been against George Bush I had been against the Iraq war then he said when Michael Moore opened his mouth at the oscars it made him more republican.
Although Hitchens can be infuriating at times, he was in rare form last night.
Last night, Joe read a review of the Moore hit piece, from the Hollywood Reporter (I think), in which the film was given a negative review and cast Moore in an unfavorable, and unstable, light.
Penn Jilette, who is not a liberal or a conservative, but a libertarian, does believe that Bush is the "lesser of two evils". He is against both major parties because he says they are both promoting an anti-freedom agenda.
Though Penn Jilette is no hero to either side, he seems very honest, without any partisan points to score. (He's the type that supports all types of free speech, the Second Amendment, but also things like gay marriage, etc.)
Whoever booked Penn obviously expected him to represent the opposing view to Rhys-Davis. Penn made it clear he doesn't like Bush ("very much") and was opposed to the war, but in the end thought Moore's antics are so over-the-top it makes him want to be a Republican. It was hilarious.PENN JILLETTE: the more I read about Michael Moore, the more I think that maybe Michael Moore is just a tool of Bush, because I did not like the Iraq war. I did not like Bush very much. At the Academy Awards, when Michael Moore was speaking, all of a sudden I got this real Republican urge just flowing through me.
And everything I‘m reading about this movie, and hoping people die over there, Americans die over there to punish us, it starts leaning me way over the other way. So if I have a conspiracy to go with, I‘m going to go with Michael Moore is just trying to make Bush look really, really good.
Penn is an avowed republican and says so with great fervor
Moore has just taken the Oliver Stone school of movie making and pushed the envelope. Everyone loves conspiracies, and there are plenty of movies, both fact and fiction, based on conspiracies. Moore has tapped into the left's rampant paranoia and is making a mint off of it, so who are the idiots here? I sometimes wonder if Moore even believes in the crap he sells. Regardless, he's laughing all the way to the bank.
Nope. Strictly a "lower-case libertarian".
I have always dug Laura Flynn Boyle and she is quoted in the Wash Post today as a 100% Bush backer. I do wish she would pump back a sandwich ever now and then
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