-Caveat Lector- Media Watch Special Report: The Daily Show with Guest Michael Moore
http://www.buzzflash.com/mediawatch/2002/02/mw022202.html February 22, 2002 THE DAILY SHOW WITH GUEST MICHAEL MOORE Thursday, February 21, 2002 I'm not going to get involved in any arguments about what Michael Moore should or shouldn't have done during the 2000 Presidential Campaign. Let's just say that I've always been a fan of Moore's and after having read that his interview with O'Reilly was scrubbed from the FOX News site today, it made me even more determined to watch him on The Daily Show discussing his new book, "Stupid White Men." I was even more interested to see the approach Jon Stewart would take. Jon has occasionally been a little too fawning over the likes of Peggy Noonan and CBS's Leslie Stahl as they've spread the message from the Bush propaganda ministry. And he didn't exactly throw any challenging questions to Ralph Nader when he appeared recently. So I was anxious to see if Stewart and Moore would waste precious airtime dissing Democrats and Al Gore, in particular, and let Bush get off easy. I don't know whether Moore is feeling guilty for his election position, is incensed about having to wage a fight against his publisher's attempt to censor this book, or whether the subject matter itself has him all riled up. Maybe it's all of the above. In any event, Moore simply ripped into the Bush/Enron ties and managed to deliver a laundry list of accusations that had the audience audibly groaning at one point. But before Moore came on, Lauren Weedman did a scathing segment on how corporations were finally "coming back" after years of harassment by activists armed with "large puppets and signs." One poor woman "activist" who has been fighting a corporate-run hog farm that has been built next to her house related how her medications have gone from 3 prescriptions up to 14 daily; if she leaves her house she has life-threatening asthma attacks. Milloy's comments that pesticides, PCB's, genetically engineered foods, smoke have never been proven to have harmful effects drew snickers from the audience. Milloy claimed that activist groups were all "in business" and as proof, said that one (the American Lung Association) even placed a "no smoking" ad during the Super Bowl (!). Weedman also "singled out" Greenpeace's vast "fleet of rubber dinghy's" as being an especially dangerous threat to corporate interests. Weedman's segment was a perfect setup for Moore. Jon started off by commenting, "It's a shame you've got no material to work with these days!! It's so prescient, so prescient." Moore said he had started writing "Stupid White Men" a year ago after he saw a newspaper item about Ken Lay and how Bush had given him his own desk in the White House to use when he was in town. Moore then ran down several of the "handpicked" appointments named by Lay, including the White House Counsel who worked for Enron and the Secretary of the Army. Jon said he hadn't heard about any of this and was genuinely taken aback. "To hear Bush talk about it," he said, "he met Lay at a masquerade party and never talked to him." Moore then got to the Enron jet Bush used during the campaign and told the story about how Bush flew to opening day at Enron Stadium, not to throw out the first ball, but to watch "Kenny Boy" throw it because Bush "just had to be there to watch." Jon then said that "In general, Dick Cheney is seen as the dark lord of energy" and uttered the word "Halliburton" which prompted Moore to state, "That one stinks even worse." Moore started on the Dick Cheney stonewalling situation. "It's not the minutes of the meetings about screwing California. It's the meetings about the oil pipeline they had with the Taliban.this was going on last August." Then Moore cited the New Yorker article which questioned "why George Bush allowed the private Saudi jet to fly to 5 American cities to pick up 20 bin Laden family members" while no one else could fly for 3 days and how the FBI was upset because they couldn't interrogate any of them. Then, a week later, the New York Times reported on the Carlyle Group and the ties to the bin Laden's and how they put up the money for Bush's first company, Arbusto." At this point there was rippling groan from the audience and Moore was nearly hyperventilating. Jon finished off the interview by saying $55 million was spent on a blowjob, which gave Moore the chance to chime in that 200 FBI agents were involved in the Clinton investigation and to speculate that maybe a lot of what has happened wouldn't have occurred "if they had been doing their job." Moore had smoke coming out of his ears as he demanded accountability and said that he wanted anyone involved in all this REMOVED. By the way, while Moore was slamming the Administration, Primetime on ABC was doing another "investigative" report on the false claims heard at cosmetic counters, a topic which has been done at least several times before to my knowledge and isn't exactly "breaking news." I don't know how Moore is faring on other talk shows, but he sure put on a bravura performance tonight. OK, I have to say it: I sure wish he had used his considerable talents differently in 2000. At least he's putting out some useful commentary in time for 2002. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for 2004. Copyright 2002, Gloria R. Lalumia [EMAIL PROTECTED] <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance—not soap-boxing—please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'—with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds—is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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