Heather Toth of Pearland and Daniel Neihart of Lewisville
don Bush/Cheney masks while waiting for a screening of
"Fahrenheit 9/11" in Crawford.
(Duane A. Laverty/Waco Tribune-Herald)
7/29/04 Bush supporters, opponents find Moore a no-show
By J.B. SMITH Tribune-Herald staff writerCRAWFORD — Michael Moore was a no-show here, but his incendiary flick Fahrenheit 9/11 set this village aflame with political passion Wednesday night.
An estimated 2,000 people watched the special screening next to the town football stadium while the movie's target, President Bush, vacationed at his ranch a few miles away.
Moore had invited the president to the screening and planned to go himself, but pulled out at the last minute, saying his presence would detract from the film.
As crowds lined up to see Moore's cinematic indictment of the Bush administration in Bush's adopted hometown, Bush supporters were across the railroad tracks, rallying for their man with speeches, signs and songs.
Speakers at both ends of town claimed the mantle of American values, and both sides sang the national anthem.
Some Bush supporters marched over to the stadium, some to watch the film, others to stand at the entrance chanting and holding signs. The collision of Moore lovers and loathers resulted in some shouting matches, but no unruly behavior, police said.
In the movie line, Ruth Pharis, a New Braunfels Republican activist, passed out literature purporting to expose misrepresentations in Moore's movie. She planned to see the movie for the first time afterward.
"I at least want them to get the other side of it," she said. "If they still want to think that movie is the truth after they've seen the truth, there's nothing I can do."
Tiffani Harris, a Hewitt stay-at-home mom standing in line with a Kerry button on, said she would watch the movie with a critical eye, but she shared some of Moore's outrage about the Bush administration.
"I'm thoroughly unhappy," she said. "I'm ready for him to go. I don't think Bush has been good for civil rights. I'm unhappy with the Patriot Act and going to war unilaterally. I think he has an arrogant demeanor and has turned off our allies."
Moore offered to allow the Crawford Peace House to screen the movie earlier this month when it appeared no area theaters would show it. The Hollywood Jewel in Waco this week is showing the movie.
Moore said Monday he would attend the screening and give a speech, but Peace House officials learned Wednesday morning he had backed out. The Associated Press quoted Moore as saying he didn't want to steal the limelight from his movie.
"It's all about me, me being there, me vs. Bush, Bush being a few miles down the road," he was quoted as saying. "If I'm there, everything that would be written about it would be about me. I'm just not interested in that."
Peace House officials said they were content to let the movie speak for itself and to use it as an opportunity for dialogue.
But some people on both sides said they wished Moore had come to Crawford.
"It's kind of disappointing," said Alexandra Valladres, 22, who drove from Austin to arrive at the screening site six hours before it began. "I think he needs to be here. He's made such a strong impression on people."
A group of Crawford teenagers who were walking to the pro-Bush rally agreed.
"If he had enough guts to say what he said, he should have the guts to come here and say it," said Crawford High School student Ryan Robertson.
Moore's movie, the first documentary to rake in more than $100 million, is an unapologetic broadside against Bush, accusing him of exploiting the terrorist attacks to scare the American people into supporting an unrelated war in Iraq. It ranges from simple mockery of Bush's mannerisms to emotionally resonant images of Sept. 11 and the grieving mothers of dead soldiers.
Valerie Duty, a Crawford shopkeeper and an organizer of the Bush rally, said she has seen enough from the movie's previews to believe Moore is offering a distorted picture.
Still, she accepted Peace House organizers' offer to give her a front-row seat at the movie. She also said she was overwhelmed with the pro-Bush rally's success.
"When I sent out the first e-mail, I had no idea this was going to happen," she said as a crowd inside an old building in town clapped and sang patriotic songs.
In front of the building a line of Bush supporters held signs denouncing Moore, including a sign with a cannon and the slogan, "Come and show it."
Kimberly Burlington of Mosheim held a sign saying, "Remember the Alamo? Michael Moore doesn't."
"We Texans fought for freedom," she explained. "We understand that you have to shed blood to have freedom."
Burlington, whose son-in-law served in Iraq, said she had no plans to see the movie and that it was wrong to make "a movie that doesn't endorse our fight against terrorism."
Most of the crowd appeared to be from Waco and larger Texas cities.
Marcos Ceniceros, president of the University Democrats at the University of Texas at Austin, came in a caravan with like-minded students.
"I'm really excited about it," he said. "It's awesome that we live in a country where you can show a movie like this in the president's own town, and that the other people are able to express their opinions, too."
J.B. Smith can be reached at jbsmith@wacotrib.com or 757-5752.
