Scarborough also has a "review" on the MSNBC site:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5296236/I went to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" Thursday expecting to be entertained despite political objections, but I was wrong. To say Moore took liberty with the truth would be like saying that Ken Lay took liberties with Enron's accounting practices. Fahrenheit 9/11," like Enron's accountants, obviously figured that when it came to making money, the end justified the means.
In both cases, the scale of deceit and deception is breathtaking. Though I'd need four hours to tell you the list of all the falsehoods from Moore's two-hour movie, let me give you a few glimpses into his twisted logic:
Moore's movie begins by pitching his conspiracy theory about the 2000 election. We're all told in the audience by all recounting methods Al Gore won Florida. That drew a big gasp from the crowd. But, shockingly, this first fact cited by Moore's movie is a lie. Didn't anybody associated with Miramax or Michael Moore's movie read newspapers after the election, when some of America's most liberal papers published results from their independent review of Florida's ballots, concluding it was George W. Bush who won by all recounting methods?
But, shockingly, this first "deceit and deception" cited by Scarborough is a lie. The independent review of Florida's ballots that Scarborough refers to concluded that Bush would have won in Gore's proposed four-county recount or in the "undervote" recount ordered by the Florida Supreme Court, but if
all Florida votes were recounted,
including overvotes where it was clear which candidate was selected -- i.e. if there had been an honest attempt to find out who really won Florida -- then Gore would have won. What "Fahrenheit 9/11" says is accurate.
(
http://www.commondreams.org/views01/1115-02.htm )
And what of the second conspiracy theory, suggesting that George W. Bush kept Americans grounded after 9/11 but let the bin Laden family escape American airspace scot-free? An FBI agent suggested President Bush's action was an insult to 3,000 dead Americans, while Democratic Senator Byron Dorgan dramatically demands on tape that we must have an investigation to find out who approved this.
But Michael and the senator both know who approved the bin Laden transfer: It was none other than that Bush-bashing hero of the left, Richard Clarke. He admitted it in the 9/11 Commission. Now, it's funny how Michael Moore used Clarke's 9/11 testimony to bash Bush in other parts of the movie, but decided to edit out that part that lays waste to bin Laden-and- Bush conspiracy theory.
Actually, Richard Clarke testified to the Senate Judiciary Committee on September 3, 2003, that he approved these flights, but he said that "it was a conscious decision with complete review at the highest levels of the State Department and the FBI and
the White House." Again, "Fahrenheit 9/11" is accurate.
At this point, considerably short of four hours, Scarborough runs out of ammo and simply lists several "slanderous conspiracy theories" which "Moore seems to promote," all of which he dismisses with a wave of the hand: "Now, there are hundreds of conspiracy theories that are simply unsupported by the facts." This is immediately followed in the same paragraph with this change of subject:
But Moore goes on to show pictures of dead Iraqi babies, followed immediately by American soldiers talking about the rush they got listening to rock C.D.s while they shot at anything they moved in Iraq. Why didn't Moore just write "baby killers" on the screen and point to U.S. troops?
There are numerous documented reports of troops shooting civilians in Iraq, but pro-war neocons would like for us to believe that those were just an aberration. A few weeks ago, I talked to a young man who had just returned from Iraq. He was a squad leader in his platoon. He said that for most of his tour, he had been in Falujah where his squad was assigned to street patrols. He didn't mention any specific incidents, but he told me directly: "I told my squad, if any shit starts happening, take out anything that moves." He also told me directly that he had no respect for the Iraqi people -- "ragheads." In 1969, having a low draft lottery number, I joined the National Guard and went to Fort Polk, Louisiana, for Basic Training and AIT. The training cadre there were almost all Vietnam vets. Those vets had an
identical attitude: when "shit starts happening," you shoot anything that moves. My brother was sent to Vietnam, combat infantry, and spent about six months of his tour in the Mekong Delta. I'm ashamed to say that he told me of three incidents where they had shot civilians because "you don't know which of the 'gooks' has an AK-47 under his pajamas." John Kerry gets Scarboroughed and Limbaughed for talking about it when he came back, but it really happened, folks, and it sure looks like it's really happening today in Iraq. This is just what happens -- what you can
expect to happen -- when you take pumped up combat troops among civilians, dehumanized as "gooks" and "ragheads." in a guerrilla war situation.
Fuck Joe Scarborough.
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