Moore is doing the college circuit. Not surprising considering he doesn't have an adult audience.
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Shoreline gets earful from Oscar winner Michael Moore
By Michael Ko and Jason Margolis
Seattle Times staff reporters
Academy-Award winning documentary filmmaker Michael Moore led a liberal tent-revival last night in the Shoreline Community College gymnasium, cracking jokes, bashing Republicans and offering suggestions on how to remove President Bush from office.
With most of the capacity crowd of 1,650 waving their hands or erupting into laughter and applause, Moore also poked fun at himself and other liberals, who he characterized as mumbling whiners, always "losing our keys."
"We have to develop some backbone. We have to start operating with the courage of our convictions. This is not the time to back down," Moore said.
"I admire conservatives because they are unwavering. They are relentless. They are up a good three hours before us... We never see the crack of dawn unless we've been up all night."
Last month, Moore won an Oscar for writing and directing "Bowling for Columbine," a documentary about guns, the media, the U.S. culture of fear and the Columbine High School shootings in April 1999.
He used his acceptance speech as a platform, claiming Bush had "fictitious reasons" for invading Iraq, before he was cut short by loud orchestral music. He said last night's talk was an opportunity to finish what he started. In that spirit, he brandished his Oscar trophy and let the crowd pass it around.
Outside, about 30 protesters denounced Moore as anti-American or a fraud. Several groups and Web sites say Moore's film contains deceptive editing and factual errors.
"It's disingenuous to call it a documentary," said Andrew Laidlow, 38, from Kirkland. "He plays really loose on the facts ... he dismisses his accountability by saying that people should know it's satirical."
In a pre-appearance news conference, Moore defended the accuracy of his film and said every single fact was correct.
In front of the crowd, wearing his trademark baseball cap, Moore explained how he wavered slightly before deciding to go ahead with his controversial Oscar-night speech.
"There was one voice in my head that said, 'You could soak up all this Oscar love, blow a few kisses, walk off the stage,' " Moore said. "Then there's the other voice in my head. 'You had your Oscar moment, you were touched by Meryl Streep on your way up the aisle. Now go to work.' "
Moore compared the U.S. bombing of Iraq to parking a car in the garage by breaking down the garage door.
He said the country should use the money it spends on bombs to instead provide the rest of the world with clean drinking water.
Moore said his dissent on Oscar night has resulted in numerous positives: his Web site has received at least 10 million hits daily; he has been offered funding for three films; and his book, "Stupid White Men," has moved up on the New York Times and Amazon.com bestseller lists.
Toward the end of his talk, Moore nominated Oprah Winfrey for president in 2004.
"She's a billionaire, so she can't be bought. She has good politics, a good heart and she'll have us all exercising at 6 in the morning."
Copyright © 2003 The Seattle Times Company
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