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Michael Moore, MoveOn, and Fahrenheit 9/11
National Review ^ | 06/29/04 | Byron York

Posted on 06/29/2004 6:54:34 AM PDT by Pokey78

A political campaign disguised as a movie.

The left-wing activist group MoveOn.org, which last week launched a campaign to encourage members to see Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 during its premiere weekend, is now taking partial credit for the early success of the anti-Bush documentary.

"Due in part to your efforts, Fahrenheit 9/11 was the number one movie in the nation this weekend," Eli Pariser, head of the MoveOn Political Action Committee, told supporters during a nationwide conference call Monday night. "Now we're going to talk about how to turn that enormous momentum into action to beat Bush."

Last week, MoveOn asked members to sign a pledge to see Fahrenheit 9/11 during its first showings Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Announcing the plan, Pariser praised the movie, but said the real reason MoveOn wanted members to turn out during the film's first days in theaters was to create the impression that a wave of anti-Bush anger was sweeping the country. "We launched this campaign around Fahrenheit 9/11 because to the media, the pundits, and the politicians in power, the movie's success will be seen as a cultural referendum on the Bush administration and the Iraq war," Pariser told MoveOn members. "Together, we have an opportunity to knock this ball out of the park."

Fahrenheit 9/11 took in $21.8 million at the box office during its first few days in theaters, making it the most popular movie of the weekend.

Moore himself joined the MoveOn conference call Monday night, which organizers say included 55,000 listeners. The filmmaker thanked MoveOn members for helping make Fahrenheit 9/11 a quick success. But more than success, Moore told MoveOn, he wanted the movie to help defeat President George W. Bush in November. "None of us want this just to be a movie, where people just eat some popcorn and go home," Moore said. Instead, Moore explained, he wanted the movie to become the inspiration for thousands of new anti-Bush voters.

"I've actually put up a little pledge sheet on my website," Moore said, referring to a list of get-out-the-vote strategies he is endorsing for the presidential election. The first thing Moore is asking people to do is to take off work on November 2, so they can spend part of the day helping others get to the polls. The second thing is "to take one weekend in October and drive to a swing state" to work for Democratic candidate John Kerry. Finally, Moore is "asking everyone to identify five non-voters that they know and adopt them," to convince them to vote.

The MoveOn meetings underscored the overtly political nature of Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 promotional campaign.

Last week, MoveOn set a goal of persuading 100,000 members to take the pledge to see Fahrenheit 9/11 as early as possible. In fact, according to MoveOn, 116,649 MoveOn members signed up. While that number seems like a relatively small part of the movie's total audience, Pariser says MoveOn's influence is far larger than the official number suggests. "When I went to Waterville, Maine and asked how many people from MoveOn were there, probably three-quarters of the people there said yes," Pariser told Variety on Monday.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Front Page News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
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To: roslyn
Don't panic. Now that all the Kerry voters have seen F911, we have a much better idea of how many there really are.

Ain't no thang!

21 posted on 06/29/2004 10:12:55 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: rabidralph
You need to go to Bowlingfortruth.com or MichaelMoorelies.com or one of those and print out the page for your dumbass secretary to read.

GAWD i hate these Mo-rons!

22 posted on 06/29/2004 10:13:52 AM PDT by sauropod (Which would you prefer? "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall" or "I did not have sex with that woman?)
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It will be the greatest thing....the greatest day in history when GWB wins in November, and mikey moore can go sulk in the corner along with daschle, hillary, kerry, Teddy K, and the rest of the sore losers! they'll be thinking "but we had it in the bag!...what about the movie? what about all of our efforts?"....


make sure you vote W 04!


23 posted on 06/29/2004 10:15:43 AM PDT by Legion04
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To: sauropod

Yeah, I should. She once printed out a comic from a gay web site, using our $3,000 color laser printer. She's a real bozo.


24 posted on 06/29/2004 10:19:41 AM PDT by rabidralph (My pit bull drives an SUV.)
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To: Republic
'leftist UNETHICAL....'

Actually UNETHICAL is understood when using the word leftist.

25 posted on 06/29/2004 10:32:18 AM PDT by Chieftain (To all who serve and support those who serve - thank you!)
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To: rabidralph

I would play on her stupidity and get her to acknowledge an atrocity she thinks is linked to Bush, then reveal the LEFTIST connection.


26 posted on 06/29/2004 10:36:07 AM PDT by Chieftain (To all who serve and support those who serve - thank you!)
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To: rabidralph

I would play on her stupidity and get her to acknowledge an atrocity she thinks is linked to Bush, then reveal the LEFTIST connection.


27 posted on 06/29/2004 10:36:11 AM PDT by Chieftain (To all who serve and support those who serve - thank you!)
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To: JLAGRAYFOX

they reported over 1 million books sold for Clinton yesterday...


28 posted on 06/29/2004 11:19:32 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
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To: JLAGRAYFOX

they reported over 1 million books sold for Clinton yesterday...


29 posted on 06/29/2004 11:19:43 AM PDT by BurbankKarl
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To: Naspino

The legal groundwork has already been laid with Toricelli and Wellstone...Kerry should watch his back.


30 posted on 06/29/2004 11:22:50 AM PDT by cincinnati65 (Just up the road a piece.......)
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To: Republic
Moveon.org sprung from a group led by norman lear in hollyweird and pushed by the clinton's, as ann lewis worked on it furiously from OUR WHITE HOUSE, to get American to MOVE ON from the sticky, oogey thoughts of bill clinton screwing and molesting and attacking women, of his abusing his power to lure women for his personal gratification...including prior accusations of RAPE.


Is not ann lewis related to barney fag, er, frank?

31 posted on 06/29/2004 11:33:17 AM PDT by prognostigaator
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To: BurbankKarl

My friend, the race is not over until the checkered flag is dropped. Have patience and let time play this out, and you will see that I am right. I never said Bill Clinton would not sell books. I said it doesn't matter a hoot. My conclusions come from measuring trends, not pundits, people with an axe to grind or mainstream media. As for the million books, there are a lot of bookstores that bought books that ain't going nowhere! I am well satisified for time to prove whether I am right or wrong.


32 posted on 06/29/2004 11:41:43 AM PDT by JLAGRAYFOX
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To: prognostigaator

Yes, she is.


33 posted on 06/29/2004 11:43:55 AM PDT by SW6906
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To: JLAGRAYFOX
You are correct: it makes a big difference if you are talking books printed vs. books sold to book retailers vs. books actually purchased by consumers.

When I saw a very full display at my local grocery store this weekend with no one around it, I knew this thing was being hyped beyond belief.

When's the last time you saw a just-published book for sale - supposedly with tremendous wait-all-night-in-line demand - for sale at your local grocery store!!!

34 posted on 06/29/2004 11:47:13 AM PDT by SW6906
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