Michael Moore Hits Back At Bush Administration's Investigation of 'Sicko'
Filed under: Comedy, Documentary, Drama, Independent, Celebrities and Controversy, The Weinstein Co., Movie Marketing, Politics, Michael Moore
Following Thursday's seemingly impulsive, and rather premature response from Sicko producer Meghan O'Hara, I was hoping that Michael Moore himself would issue a more intelligent statement regarding his being investigated by the U.S. Treasury Department because of a controversial trip he took to Cuba in March. Nope. After at least a day to think about it, he has written an open letter that is pretty much as unrestrained and immature as O'Hara's, but it is much longer. And it is addressed to (and probably already sent to) Secretary Henry Paulson of the Treasury Dept. Oops.
In the letter, Moore accuses the investigation of being a personal attack from the Bush Administration, and basically the document is just a long rant against the President, his ties to the health care industry, his abuse of the government and his mistreatment of 9/11 heroes. He also mentions Presidential candidate Fred Thompson and the New York Post as having triggered the investigation with their misleading information regarding the Cuba trip. He does use the opportunity to defend his case a little, though, and he has a few childish points. One is that the Administration knew of his plans to go to Cuba, but waited until a time nearer to SiCKO's release date to begin the investigation. Another is that he has broken no laws and has nothing to hide because it is not illegal to help your fellow man.
Well, I think he might be wrong about that last statement, especially if helping your fellow man includes supplying him with goods or services from Cuba. But, whatever, this is a movie blog, so I'll let the political sites discuss his guilt or innocence. I just find it interesting how Moore can be so public with his business, especially as it regards one of his films. Considering most movie companies have legal teams to protect them from such controversy, it is always a wonder if Moore really thinks this kind of move is a good marketing strategy. After all, didn't The Weinstein Co. just hire him two spin doctors for this sort of ordeal? Or is this incident more personally related to Moore than the film, so they won't be coming to his defense. Somebody needs to rescue Moore from himself sometimes.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
5-12-2007 @ 12:07PM
Dan Schiller said...
You say that you'll leave the political debate to something more than a movie blog such as this but you seem to have no problem getting your own personal views in there; an article that is anything but objective.
I'm not saying that I like Michael Moore or anything, but widespread hatred of him (on the internet and elsewhere) is absurd.
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5-12-2007 @ 12:12PM
LordPaul said...
No it isn't - he's an opportunist, self serving & publicising dickball.
The main problem I have, is that I actually agree with some of the things he is fighting against, but there are better ways of making a point than making fake documentaries.
Watch Michael Moore Hates America, it's pretty funny.
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5-12-2007 @ 12:34PM
akaison said...
whine, whine, read how the right wingers whine. Meanwhile your tax dollars- what this is about for you supposedly- are being wasted on limiting the freedom of a fellow American. But wait, I get it- he's not your kind of fellow American so it's okay.
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5-12-2007 @ 12:58PM
Garett said...
Here, here to what Schiller says; this article is completely biased. It's hard to read for the information when all it really does is find an opportunity to lash out distaste.
If you want to write such an article, be my guest, but give it a title that indicates the article is more editorial than factual. I just wanted to see what Moore did in response, not read about an "immature" response with "childish" defense points, which reads BIAS all over the whole article.
Call the article something like, "Michael Moore is a Sicko" or something similar, which at least indicates the bias is there.
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5-12-2007 @ 1:54PM
toby tyler said...
Knock mainstream media all you want, but are bloggers any better if they pretend to write news but inject their opinons like this posting?
This is a joke.
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5-12-2007 @ 2:24PM
MosquitoControl said...
How is widespread hatred of this guy absurd yet widespread hatred of Bill O'Reilly not? Or does #1 go rushing to O'Reilly's defense as well?
They're both self-serving morons with fanbases of even larger morons. They're both concerned more with making themselves important than with any form of accuracy.
Michael Moore is an obnoxious, deceitful jackass. Nothing more. I wish people would stop watching his movies. Or at least treat them no more seriously than they would The Da Vinci Code.
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5-12-2007 @ 3:34PM
Tom said...
"Somebody needs to rescue Moore from himself sometimes."
Funny...I was just thinking the same thing about our President for the last 7 years.
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5-12-2007 @ 5:24PM
WillTheSecond said...
"They're both self-serving morons with fanbases of even larger morons. They're both concerned more with making themselves important than with any form of accuracy.
Michael Moore is an obnoxious, deceitful jackass. Nothing more. I wish people would stop watching his movies. Or at least treat them no more seriously than they would The Da Vinci Code."
Can you provide evidence to back this up? Do you know him personally or something?
All I know is that Fahrenheit 9/11 was one of the best documentaries of recent years (other than perhaps The Power of Nightmares by Adam Curtis, but you guys didn't get that in the US, it's available for free download, though).
Of course, if you are a Conservative you are going to hate either of those automatically, but you'll attack more because an ad hominum attack is far easier. Pathetic.
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5-12-2007 @ 5:32PM
Christopher Campbell said...
Dan, I may have been opinionated, but I was in no way political. My annoyance with Moore right now has nothing to do with politics. And I have no problem with his politics. And I'm biased against him. I am not right-wing, Republican, or anything else that would make me biased about Moore in a political way.
And Toby: bloggers should never be taken for being reporters.
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5-12-2007 @ 9:41PM
akaison said...
the reason why you are a winger- and no I don't believe your claims to the contrary is that you keep focusing on trying to turn the public into the personal. You can hate love or want to fuck more. I don't care. What I got a problem with, and you as someone who seems maybe a tiny bit interested in media is when the govt is using its power inappropriate ways. That should be unacceptable. but , what are you fixating on. Your shit about Moore. That tells me more than anything you say what you are.
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5-12-2007 @ 9:43PM
akaison said...
oh- and too the person bitching about oreilly perhaps you too need to take a refresher course in the differences between public action by the govt and those of private citizens.
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5-13-2007 @ 7:55PM
kaitlin hess said...
I am not a liberal. I am not a conservative. I am an American and God bless our President!
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5-12-2007 @ 10:14PM
TLG said...
Firstly, Bush isn't investigating Michael Moore. This is nothing more than another trashing of America disguised as a documentary. It will no doubt use all of Moore's favorite tricks; maybe I should say "trick?" It really doesn't take much talent to take things out of context or just plain lie.
The Treasury department sends hundreds of these investigatory letters each year to US citizens who have apparently done business with Cuba, a country that is a major human rights violator. Michael Moore's promotional people just tried to time it with the film festival and/or the opening of the movie for some free publicity.
Remember what Michael said about his audience, "...the dumbest people (Americans) on the planet." Michael Moore even plagiarized that quote by tweaking a more famous one coined in the 1800's, "There's a sucker born every minute."
TLG http://www.twilightslastgleaming.com
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5-13-2007 @ 12:14AM
Ray said...
Contrary to what Moore's statement says, if they spent any US dollars in Cuba, then they did break the law. And I while I think that the Bush Administration has bigger fish to fry than Michael Moore, I doubt that they'll let such a public violation of that stupid embargo go unpunished.
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5-13-2007 @ 12:56AM
akaison said...
riiiight, i mean that literally. i haven't seen a moore movie since bowling for columbine because I think he's over the top. BUT, that doesn't mean I think we need to be wasting money on whether or not he spent money in cuba or not. and if you are so worried about human rights violations why don't we worry about the one's we are violatiing first. because those we can control- cuba's we can not.
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5-13-2007 @ 10:22PM
fmj said...
you're not a conservative or a liberal, you're just an idiot. god needs to bless better people.
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5-14-2007 @ 9:44AM
Brian Kerutis said...
Moore is lapping up the negative attention by our government and moronic writers like Campbell. This concentrated distaste is the catalyst behind Moore’s success – His wallet thanks you…
Our healthcare system IS a decaying structure and if some light can be shed on the issue, I am willing to give it a chance. I am not 100% pro Moore but I don’t see the masses, myself included, grabbing a camera and asking our trusted corporations/government to be accountable, to be responsible. Even if you don’t agree with his methods, Moore holds the Powerful liable.
The automaton robots can Go Back To Sleep.
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5-14-2007 @ 11:22AM
Allison said...
This blog and these comments are just proof of what I believe MM wants when he makes these documentaries -- people are talking about it. And whether you agree with him or not, now you are aware of the issue. I for one, am going to see the movie, if only to see what it says and judge the issue for myself.
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5-15-2007 @ 2:47AM
Dr BLT said...
I predicted more insanity from Michael Moore back in 2004 when I released this nationally-aired song:
FarenHYPE 9/11
Dr BLT
http://www.drblt.net/music/farenhype.mp3
(BTW it was written, recorded and released months prior to Dick Morris's DVD of the same title.)
Now I believe it's time to write the new one-song sountrack to "Sicko." I'll keep you posted.
Dr BLT
Humble King of Blog n Roll
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7-01-2007 @ 2:44AM
pat said...
LordPaul must have health insurance!!!!!!!! along with all of you others that put Moore down. He is only trying to point out facts to you dummies. We should as a nation be following him crashing down the doors of the political world. the are getting rich off all of us as we get sicker!!!!!!!
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