The best two words I can think of are still grossly inadequate at describing Michael Moore’s pathetic diatribe at Utah Valley State College (UVSC) on Wednesday that lacked any substance at all. In a symbolic ‘screw you’ to the nearly 8,000 students in Utah’s McKay Events Center, Michael Moore began his speech 52 minutes late; he was held up in a “press conference” prior to the event. This action is indicative of the filmmaker’s motives: students, their schedules, extra classes they had to miss, all fall prey to Moore’s feeding of his own ego.
When introducing Moore, Student Association Vice President Joe Vogel equated those opposed to Moore’s coming with “book burners.” To Vogel’s defense, there are some pathetic individuals who have threatened to remove him from office or bribe him to dis-invite Moore, and some who made hopefully empty threats of violence. Though these pitiable people should be ashamed of themselves, equating them to Nazis is a little over the top.
Moore began his discussion by stating his “radical belief that Utah is still in the United States of America.” According to Moore, “there are some here today that believe that there are a different set of rules for Utah…that don’t have to believe in the Bill of Rights, freedom of expression, and yes, Utah, RELIGION” he wildly screamed.
“America has shifted from the right, to a more sane, and common place…it has shifted from the politics of hate,” Moore argued while calling republicans “a radical extremist bunch.” He then outlined his vision of a John Kerry presidency by citing an ultra-liberal agenda that included strict gun control, nationalized health care, gay marriage, dramatic minimum wage increases, and environmental controls. It surprises me that the Kerry campaign hasn’t distanced themselves a bit from this ‘radical’ leftist.
When discussing how “cool” the presidential debates were, you would have thought Moore was addressing a bunch of sixth graders. He minimized Bush’s arguments and facetiously criticized Kerry’s failure to include Poland in the “Coalition of the willing.” In Michael Moore fashion he happily proclaimed that just five days after the debate, “Poland announced it was pulling its troops out of Iraq.” In reality, Poland announced the possibility of setting a withdrawal date, but said that this date was to be no earlier than 2006, allowing Polish troops to play a role during the key stages following the all-important Iraqi elections in January 2005.
Admittedly, I expected more out of Michael Moore. Fahrenheit 9/11, although full of falsities, at least has a lot of kook left-wing theories that are wildly entertaining. Wednesday’s presentation did not even reach that level of substance.
Moore invited Utah native Roseanne Barr to join him on stage and speak. Barr’s appearance in this political context conjured up memories of a 1990 Star Spangled Banner performance where, after screeching through the song, she ended with a bit of cliché baseball humor as she spit and grabbed her crotch. In her tongue-in-cheek speech she “[prayed] Bush will get another six years to get more time to create more jobs–in foreign countries, and time to build more Wal Mart’s where we can buy Chinese beds.” She also accused the President of “deficit attention” disorder. Barr characterized the president’s approach to foreign policy thusly: “The world is our b****, and we’ll just pop a cap in her *** when she doesn’t do what we want.”
I wonder if UVSC fulfilled its goal of “informing their student body about the election?
Abraham Taylor, a recent graduate of Brigham Young University, is an intern at Accuracy in Media.
