Posted on 06/29/2004 6:54:34 AM PDT by Pokey78
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.
Ain't no thang!
GAWD i hate these Mo-rons!
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!
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.
Actually UNETHICAL is understood when using the word leftist.
I would play on her stupidity and get her to acknowledge an atrocity she thinks is linked to Bush, then reveal the LEFTIST connection.
I would play on her stupidity and get her to acknowledge an atrocity she thinks is linked to Bush, then reveal the LEFTIST connection.
they reported over 1 million books sold for Clinton yesterday...
they reported over 1 million books sold for Clinton yesterday...
The legal groundwork has already been laid with Toricelli and Wellstone...Kerry should watch his back.
Is not ann lewis related to barney fag, er, frank?
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.
Yes, she is.
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!!!
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