Michael Moore in Gainesville

Dig on this before reading on: Michael Moore said he rejected the CBSmemogate docs.



So...Michael Moore gave a talk last night in the 10,000-seat O'Connell Center here in town (I hope you appreciate how blithely obvious the writer's fandom for Moore is in the linked-to Sun article).



I had a late dinner at the top cheap-food joint in Gainesville, Steamer's, and overheard an avowed fan of Moore's announce his disappointment in the talk. He said he'd been hoping to hear some of Moore's ideas, but instead got a Democratic Convention: "get out there and vote!" As I stepped out of the restaurant I ran into KC, a friend from church, who was coming back from the O'Connell Center. She also described the talk as a "rah rah rah vote vote vote" rally. You know, that's fine...except that:



1. UF's Accent student government recently hosted a huge Dave Matthews/Jurrassic 5/Ben Harper/My Morning Jacket concert given to raise support for the Kerry campaign (indirectly, 'cause of these stupid campaign finance reform laws). The concert ended up being classified by the feds as a purely political event, and therefore regulated under election laws; UF had to obtain special permission for foreign nationals to attend. Since foreigners are excluded from making political donations, the proceeds rom their tickets were given to a Dave Matthew's charity.



2. Moore was payed a whole lot of money for the talk, which is part of tour to promote the DVD of his movie. He's being payed to sell his stuff.



3. Dennis Kucinich spoke in the O'Dome this summer.



4. Come on....28 days until elections.



But there should really be no whining about ulterior motives. After all, the wildly popular George Pataki (Republican Governor of New York) will be giving a UF Accent-sponsored talk....as soon as they nail down a date.



UPDATE: Moore is in denial. "Moore went on to say it was an 'incredible magic trick' that Republicans were able to take control of all three branches of the government while not representing the majority of Americans." Ya might can make some sort of argument like that re the presidential election, but you can't explain away senators and congressmen like that. And as for the judicial branch...pfeh.



Definitely follow the link to the Florida Alligator story. The photo of Moore ensconced therein has him coming out of the backstroke part of little hand-quotation-marks. That's the sort of man he is: a man who makes little hand-quotation-marks.

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