 
Reuters and Associated Press photos
Filmmaker Michael Moore is shown at a health-care march and rally that was held in conjunction with the California Nurses Association last week in Sacramento (unfortunately, although I was within walking distance of the event, my work responsibilities didn't allow me to attend). Moore's latest documentary, "Sicko," opens nationwide on June 29.
Michael Moore says it,
I believe it, and that settles it
OK, so for the most part I'm joking there, and my inspiration for that was a bumper sticker that I once saw on the back of some assbite's vehicle in Phoenix, Arizona: "The Bible says it, I believe it, and that settles it."
What I'm talking about is that Oscar-winning filmmaker Michael Moore officially has denied that he ever interviewed Roger Smith, then-chairman of General Motors Corp., about the closing of the GM plant in Flint, Michigan, but lied about it (by omission) in his seminal 1989 documentary "Roger & Me."
I wrote about the allegation at the time that it came out. The allegation is contained in a "documentary" made by an obscure Canadian pair who, from what I can tell, were only using Michael Moore as the topic of their film (which probably won't even make it to DVD; from what I can tell, none of their previous films have) because they'll never become famous themselves and so that the best that they can do is to use the name and fame of Michael Moore.
Anyway, here is the Associated Press news story from today in which Moore defends himself:
Bellaire, Mich. -- Filmmaker Michael Moore gave people in the rural county where he lives an early look at his new film "Sicko" [yesterday] and had some harsh words for critics of the documentary that launched his career.
"Manufacturing Dissent," a film that accuses Moore of dishonesty in the making of his politically charged documentaries, alleges that he interviewed then-General Motors Corp. Chairman Roger Smith, the elusive subject of Moore's 1989 debut "Roger & Me," but left the footage on the cutting room floor.
"Anybody who says that is a (expletive) liar," Moore told The Associated Press in an interview [yesterday] after a showing of "Sicko," his take on U.S. medicine, in the northern Michigan village of Bellaire.
Moore, who said he hadn't seen "Manufacturing Dissent," acknowledged having had "a good five minutes of back-and forth" with Smith about a company tax abatement at a 1987 shareholders' meeting, as reported by Premiere magazine in 1990. But that was before he began working on "Roger & Me" and had nothing to do with the film, Moore said.
A clip of the meeting appears in "Manufacturing Dissent," released in March. Filmmakers Rick Caine and Debbie Melnyk also interviewed an activist who said he saw Moore interview Smith in 1988 in New York.
Caine and Melnyk say that undercuts the central theme of "Roger & Me" -- Moore's fruitless effort to interview Smith about the effects of GM plant closings in Flint, Moore's hometown. Moore, however, said the film wasn't primarily about interviewing Smith, but getting him to observe the economic devastation in Flint.
"If I'd gotten an interview with him, why wouldn't I put it in the film?" Moore said. "Any exchange with Roger Smith would have been valuable." And GM surely would have publicized any interview in response to the movie, he said.
"I'm so used to listening to the stuff people say about me, it just becomes entertainment for me at this point," Moore said. "It's a fictional character that's been created with the name of Michael Moore."
"Sicko" opens [tomorrow] in New York and two nights later in Washington before hitting screens nationwide June 29, but Moore gave Bellaire, a tourist village about 250 miles north of Detroit, a sneak peek as a fundraiser for the Democratic Party in rural Antrim County, where he lives. His wife and the film's executive producer, Kathleen Glynn, is the local party's vice chairwoman.
About 880 people paid $40 per ticket to watch the sardonic and sometimes heart-rending indictment of American health care. For an additional $60, they could attend a party with Moore at a restaurant across the street, where he autographed film posters, surgical gloves and even bandages.
["Sicko"] chronicles the struggles of ordinary Americans -- some with insurance coverage, others without -- to navigate the health bureaucracy. Portraying insurance companies and supportive politicians in both parties as the villains, Moore contrasts the U.S. system with those of Canada, France and Great Britain, which have government-run programs.
He ends up accompanying a group of rescue workers who became ill after the [9/11] terrorist attacks to Cuba, where the film describes them as getting better care and cheaper drugs than at home.
The gloomy tone struck a chord with many who attended....
The huge flaw with the allegation in "Manufacturing Dissent" that Moore indeed had interviewed Roger Smith is the one that Moore pointed out in the news story above, the one that I noted in the comments section of this post back in March:
I don't recall that GM ever claimed that Moore did indeed meet with Smith ... and I just can't imagine a megacorp like GM not defending itself if it had a defense.
And I don't understand why it would be just now, more than 15 years after the release of "Roger & Me," that we would be hearing that Moore actually [had] met with Smith! Especially when the wingnuts dug into Moore's background so much after "Bowling for Columbine" and "Fahrenheit 9/11." You'd think that if Moore [actually] had met with Roger Smith, they'd have discovered that very juicy fact.
My guess is that Moore has a good libel case against the makers of "Manufacturing Dissent," but why help them make money off of his name and fame by publicizing (via lawsuit) their "documentary," which, on its own, probably will go the way of their other "documentaries," which, from what I can tell, aren't even available on DVD?
At any rate, because Moore has taken such shit from scumbags, and because he's doing the work that our corporately owned and controlled "journalists" stopped doing years ago, here's a free ad -- a public service announcement -- for "Sicko," which I plan to see and review during its opening weekend:
9:37:07 AM 
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