Unforgotten

"You know that a lot of our friends out there feel that George W. Bush, and I think that we can agree with them, that would be a horrific event if he became President of the United States.  Here's the thing that I got to say, and I really want to say this to the young people here who are voting for the first time.  If you don't vote your conscience now, when will you start?....if in the very first election of your life you start to settle for less, how does that move us forward?"  --Michael Moore, speaking at a campaign rally for Ralph Nader, October 13, 2000.

While channel surfing Friday night, I ran across Michael Moore plugging his new movie on Larry King:

Ever since the 2004 election, a sense of betrayal sweeps through me whenever I run across this guy.  But they say time heals all wounds and I try hard to forgive and forget.  I encourage folks to watch his movies and I defend him time and again from those who attack him from the right.  So, I put down my remote control and gave him a listen.  And this is the exchange I heard:

MOORE: I didn't support [Al Gore in the 2000 Presidential race.] I lived here in New York State at the time, and I supported Ralph Nader. And I said that, you know, I was part of a group of people who said that if you live in a state that's not a swing state, a state that's definitely going to go for either Gore or Bush, consider voting for Nader. It's a strategy the right has often used, you know, when their person is elected like Reagan or Bush, and you want to pull them to the right as much as possible.

KING: But a vote for Nader is a vote for Bush, wasn't it?

MOORE: Well, it wasn't in New York state because remember...

KING: In some places it was.

MOORE: Yes. And I said if you lived in Florida or places like that you have to vote for Gore. And I have to be honest and say it's really -- it's had tragic results. And unfortunately, Ralph Nader, a lot of his supporters, he said he wasn't going to campaign in the swing states and then he went and campaigned in those states. And when he started doing that, a lot of us said we're not going there. We're not doing that. And I didn't and I told, you know, my fans that if you live in places like Florida or Ohio or whatever, you've got to vote for Gore.

At this point my ears began to bleed!  I couldn't believe he was still repeating this lie.  He made similar remarks on The Charlie Rose Show back in 2004.  At that time, it spurred a reply from Nader himself:

NADER: On "The Charlie Rose Show" last Thursday you repeated the false statement that I promised to avoid the close states in 2000 and therefore you broke away from the campaign in the last month and urged a vote for Gore. Strange – you were berating Democrats before nearly 10,000 people at our MCI Rally on November 5 – two days before the election. If you would like to see a copy of the tape of your speech let me know. And, you campaigned with us in some of those close states. I have called you on this false assertion regarding the close states yet you keep repeating the falsehood. Our 2000 Campaign was a 50 state run, (and I campaigned in all 50 states) from the beginning, a point repeated again and again, even though I spent 28 days in California and only 2 ½ in Florida.

Like I said though, I would much prefer to forgive and forget.  Here's a little deal I'd like to make with Michael.  You see, you're not the only guy with a movie release this past week:

  ON DVD JUNE 2007!

So I tell you what, Michael.  You watch An Unreasonable Man and I'll steer people to watch Sicko.

Comments

[S. Reed]

How unfortunate. I'm sick of hearing that "a vote for Nader was a vote for Bush" bullshit. Although, had I not lived in Maryland in 2000, I don't know if I would have had the courage to vote for Nader.

I need to rent that DVD.

[Amit]

You are not alone!! I always challenge my friends who unfairly come down on Nader and direct them to this excellent movie or these two websites. I also make sure to write to newspapers whenever they print lies like "Gore lost because of Nader." I also have a movie review on my blog here.
Keep up the good fight.
Cheers!