Michael Moore's Speech in Cambridge, Mass.

[Guest guest]

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0728-09.htm

 

My Plea to John Kerry:

Stand Up for the Progressive Agenda that the Majority of America Already Agrees

With

 

by Michael Moore

Take Back America Rally

Royal Sonesta Hotel

Cambridge, Mass

July 27, 2004

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.alternet.org/election04/19385/

 

Michael Moore's Speech in Cambridge, Mass.

By Michael Moore, AlterNet

 

Posted on July 28, 2004,

http://www.alternet.org/story/19385/

 

Michael Moore came to Boston in a big way this week,

upstaging all number of politicians, and no doubt the

Kerry campaign was driven to distraction. But Kerry &

Co. should be very happy. Moore is now a superstar,

capable of attracting audiences and attention as well

or better than the Democrats' biggest names – and he's

for Kerry. Moore is blunting the Nader effect, and

he's appealing to white males – Moore loves to tell

the tale about NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., who

told Fox News no less, that he took his pit crew to

see " Fahrenheit 9/11, " and said all Americans should

see it.

 

Moore also gives Kerry and Edwards cover with the

progressive wing of the party, which is booming, and

is a very important factor for Kerry's chances in

November. Hell, Moore even gives Kerry a pass on

voting for the Iraq invasion, saying that Kerry was

like the rest of the 70 to 80 percent of Americans who

believed the " Commander-in-Chief. " Laments Michael

Moore, " What kind of country do we live in where we

can't trust our commander in chief? " – well, that's

the USA Michael, but that's a longer discussion.

 

Moore spoke to 750 screaming fans, with another 700

waiting outside at a hotel in Cambridge, Mass. The

Campaign for America's Future, which organized the

program, showed once again that it is the home for

passionate issue-oriented progressive voices. Moore's

speech is a doozy. True, it's all over the place, but

with Moore, it's never neat and clean. As calls to

arms go, it was an interesting contrast to the much

bally-hooed keynote speech by Senate candidate Barack

Obama of Illinois.

 

There you have it, the speeches by the skinny guy with

the funny name and the fat guy with the simple name

are two of the biggest performances at the convention.

Even if you weren't there to hear Moore's speech, it

makes for a great read, nonetheless. – Don Hazen,

Executive Editor, AlterNet

 

 

 

 

*****************************************************************

 

 

Transcript of Michael Moore's speech:

 

I don't know what it is with right-wingers and

Republicans. They seem to have hijacked over the years

the word " patriotism " , the American flag, these

things. And it's an odd thing. I have been thinking

about this lately. Because the true patriots are those

who believe the important thing is to ask questions,

you know. To dissent when necessary. And I know a lot

of people have seen my film and the obvious bad guy in

the movie is George W. Bush. But there's the unstated

villain in the film. And that's our national media.

 

You've seen the film. Right? A lot of them are mad at

me right now because I can't go on a show without

them, you know. But I would be mad if I were them too,

because the film outs them. It outs them as being for

the Bush administration. It outs them as people who

were cheerleaders for this war. It outs them as, to be

kind to those who are actually good journalists,

journalists who fell asleep on the job. Journalists

who didn't ask the hard questions. The one thing I

hear when people come out of the theater over and over

again is I never saw that on the news. Right? I never

saw those Black congressmen being shut down one after

another. Did anyone see that?

 

I didn't know there was a riot at the inauguration

parade. I never saw the egg hit the limo. I never saw

that! I don't hear from the amputees who sit in our

hospitals, 5,000 or 6,000 of them. How come I don't

hear from them on the nightly news? I don't hear from

the mothers. I don't see them on the evening news, the

mothers of children who have been killed in Iraq and

who state their opposition to this war. I haven't seen

them on the news.

 

Why haven't I seen this? I live in a free and open

country that has a free and open press where you can

show us anything. That's the great thing about

America. You can show us anything! You can ask any

question you want to ask. And this is my humble plea

to those of you from the press here. And don't any of

you take this personally. I don't mean it this way,

but I – we, the people, we need you. We need you to do

your jobs! We need you! To ask the questions, demand

the evidence! Demand the evidence! Don't ever send us

to war without asking the questions!

 

You do us no service by hopping on a band wagon, by

becoming cheerleaders, by looking the other way,

because you know that's the safest way to play it if

you want to keep your job. Or, you are just afraid of

being accused of being un-American if you were to ask

a hard question to the President or his

administration. That's not un-American. That's

pro-American! To ask the questions. That's patriotic!

But I know it was rough. I know in those first days of

the war, I know. I stood on an Oscar stage five days

into the war. I know what the mood was like. It was

not easy to say we are being led to war for fictitious

reasons. Right?

 

And those of you who felt the same way at the

beginning of this war, you know, remember what it was

like at work or at school? You had to be kind of

careful. Right? And if you expressed any opposition to

the war, you had to immediately say, but I support the

troops! Right? But I support the troops. You didn't

need to say that. Of course you support the troops.

You've always supported the troops. Who are the

troops? The troops are those who come from the other

side of the tracks. The troops are the people who come

from families who have been abused by the Bush

administration. You've always supported them. You've

always been on their side! This no one should question

that!

 

The way that you don't support the troops is to send

them into harm's way when it isn't necessary. The way

that you hate the troops is when you send them off,

some of them, to their death, so that your rich

benefactors can line their pockets even more. The

Halliburtons, the oil companies. That is

anti-American. That is unpatriotic. You do not support

the troops when you do that. The thing here is, and

again, and I am not picking on the press who are here,

but it is true. We are talking about our mainstream

national media. A media, for instance, NBC, owned by

General Electric. You know, I understand General

Electric now has over $600 million worth of contracts

in Iraq. They are war-profiteers. It doesn't surprise

me that their news arm has failed to do the job that

it needs to do to tell the truth to the American

people about this war. There's nothing surprising

about that. I understand that.

 

I understand the Matt Lauers and the Lisa Myers and

the people that have to work for this entity. You have

cameras and microphones and the ability to get into

places of power that the people in this room can't get

in. To ask these questions. And the great thing about

this country is you can ask any question you want. You

can ask any question you want and not be arrested.

Right? You would not be sent to prison if you ask a

question. So what has prevented you from asking the

question? But you've got the little lapel flag pin.

Right? And the TV. Screen filled up with American

flags flying. See, we are patriotic. We are patriotic.

But you've thrown down with the wrong people. You

haven't just been embedded. You've been in bed with

the wrong people. You've listened to those in power

and just report their lies as truths....

 

The majority of our fellow Americans are liberal and

progressive when it comes to the issues. That's not

just me saying this or wishing it to be true. Every

poll shows that the majority of Americans believe in

women's rights. The majority of Americans want

stronger environmental laws. The majority of Americans

want government laws much the majority of Americans

are pro-labor. Put down the whole list of issues,

Americans, whether they use the label or not, and most

Americans don't like labels, but most Americans in

their hearts are liberals and progressives. It's just

a small minority of people who hate. They hate. They

exist in the politics of hate. They don't believe two

consenting adults should have the right to be in love

and share their lives together and be legally

protected by the state for doing so. What would

motivate that?

 

What business is it, anyway, of these people? These,

they aren't patriots. They are HATE-triots and they

believe in the politics of HATE-riotism. That's where

they stand and patriotism is where real Americans

stand. And that's the truth....

 

They keep saying that this is a 50/50 country. This is

not a 50/50 country. In their wildest dreams, it's a

50/50 country. Look at all the polls I just, and I've

got all the statistics in my book and I cite them all.

And these aren't left wing polls. These are Gallup

polls and even ABC and CNN polls and they go right

down the line and you see where Americans are at. When

they, when you hear about this close election, about

the 50/50 country, don't forget the key words they

always use. In a poll of likely voters. Likely voters.

This is how far behind the media is with the times in

which we live. They are using an old paradigm. They

only poll people who have consistently voted in

previous elections. But the other 50% of the country

doesn't vote. If they wanted to be honest, they could

say it's a 50/50/50 country because they never ask the

other 50% how they feel. And I got to tell you, this

is what they are in for a big surprise.

 

Come November 2, the other 50% you can't compare this

election to any election before September 11, 2001.

 

That day and since that day has made average Americans

more aware of what's going on in the world. They want

to know more about what's going on in the world. They

talk politics now. We all know this. Right? At work,

you go in the bar, people are talking about politics.

Anywhere you go, people talk politics. It's cool now

to talk about politics. Right? It's uncool if you

don't know what's going on in the world. It's uncool

to be apathetic. Now that has not been the case for

most of our lives much. Right? If you talked too much

politics you were seen as kind of strange and wonkey.

Right? But that's not the case. That's why John

Stewart is so popular, because people want to talk

about politics. They want to hear about it, and that's

the big story that the media has missed. That there's

been this shift in the country. And who are these 50%

who don't vote? Who are they? Are they the wealthy and

the privileged?

 

No. They are the people who have been most hurt by the

Bush administration. They are people of color. They

are single moms. They are poor. They are working

class. They are young people. These are the people

most affected by the policies of the Bush

administration and they are now talking politics. And

they are not apathetic. And I think we are going to

see a significant number of them leave the house on

November 2 and come out to vote.

 

I believe we'll have the largest percentage of people

voting in our lifetime come November 2! I really,

really believe, you don't hear that, though. You won't

see that story reported because they are just focusing

on likely voters from 1992, 1996 and 2000. And it's a

50/50 country. Like if they just keep repeating it

enough, it will be true. It's a 50/50 country. Put

your heels together now. It's a 50/50 country.

 

I got to tell you, I have traveled across this country

quite a bit in the last year. It ain't a 50/50

country. People are angry. They want Bush out of the

White House. They want to be able to send their kids

to college. (applause) They want to be able to go to

the doctor. This isn't a 50/50 country. Speak the

truth. Come on. Take a real poll. Take a real poll!

 

A few weeks ago I was flipping around on the dial and

I came across a NASCAR Race on FOX and there was

NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. He said what would

you do, what did you do the night before while you

were getting prepared for the big race? He said,

" Well, I took my crew to go see Fahrenheit 9/11. " And

then he said, and " I think all of America should see

this movie. " I fell off the couch! I said a little

prayer for George W. Bush. I'm thinking oh, my God, I

hope he's not watching this race now and eating

pretzels!

 

Whoa. I thought, man, if the movie has gone that far

into middle America, and this is where the country's

at, how come we don't know this? How come this isn't

being reported? What's wrong here? Well, we have our

conventional wisdom and our conventional wisdom tells

us that the paradigm that we have been following over

the last 20 years is the one we must follow and that's

the one we are worried about. Thank you. It doesn't

hurt to report the truth. It's ok. You know. I was on

a, one of those morning talk shows and after we went

to commercial, the person who was interviewing me said

you know, you are right, I mean when the war started,

it was very difficult here to book the people we

wanted to book, ask the questions we wanted to ask. In

fact, I got a memo about my tone of voice. And

apparently the brass had received a call from the Dick

Cheney's office is what – and said that he didn't like

my tone of voice. And I got a memo on it to watch my

tone of voice. Well you've got to tell that story!

You've got to tell that story. I can't. Well why? They

can't fire you.

 

You are like one of the most well-known people in

America. And, you know, you've got to tell this story.

If you don't tell it, I'm going to wait like maybe

another week. What's today? Within the week, I will

put this on my web site. I'll tell the whole story and

I'll name who said it. So this person is unnoticed now

and I am doing it in a friendly way. Because this is a

good person. You know? Just that I think the people

deserve the truth and they need to know how the

decisions get made behind the curtain. Who is pulling

the strings here? Who's calling the shots? It's like,

coming from where I come from politically, we always

are in this place of yeah, the man this and the man

that and this corporation and this and that and

there's probably a part of us that says oh, you know,

it's really, there's, maybe it's not that bad. You

want to believe it isn't that bad. You know? And then,

they have made the mistake of giving me a peek behind

this curtain and I've seen this happen and it's

stunning to me, for instance this whole experience

with Disney not releasing the film and it's like what?

– you know, the film has gone on now to make more

money than any Disney film this year.

 

It shocked me at the time, because the way I have been

able to get my work out there over the years is that

usually when the media companies, greed always

supercedes politics or personal animosity toward me.

Oh, I can't stand the guy. Oh, how many books did he

sell last week? Well, OK. Print a few more. You know

this incredible flaw of capitalism that has always

worked in my favor.

 

You know the old saying that the rich man will sell

you the rope to hang yourself with if he can make a

dollar off it? That will eventually be their undoing.

But this time it didn't happen. This time a film made

for a very small amount of money that will now make,

you know, at least a quarter billion dollars around

the world by the time it's done, the greed didn't

motivate them to release this film. I couldn't figure

it out for the longest time and it took a Canadian

journalist to finally do the story and thank god for

the Canadians, you know?... The Canadians really do

like us. They just wish we would read a little more

and – but it took a Canadian journalist to write that

perhaps one of the problems that Mr. Moore had with

Disney is the fact that the Saudi world family owns

almost 17% of Euro-Disney. And that in 1994, Prince

Walid, one of the richest men in the world, and a

member of the Saudi Royal Family, wrote Michael Eisner

and Disney a check for over $300 million to bail out

Euro-Disney. And the people that helped put the thing

together to bring the two together was a company

called the Carlyle group.

 

Now my film was already done, you know, but I was like

can it get any worse? Are they everywhere? But no

journalist will ask Mr. Eisner or Disney the question:

Will that have anything to do with the decision

because their good friends maybe don't look that good

in this movie. But this is what, just a small example

of what we have come to expect. But the good news is

that things are going to change very soon. And the

other side, the unelected side, who occupy our white

house, they are not going to go peacefully. They like

being in charge with no mandate. All right? They

actually believe they could take us to war based on no

mandate from the people. And they knew that they had

to lie to the people to get them to believe that

Saddam Hussein had something to do with September 11th

and that there were weapons of mass destruction and

this, this, and that.

 

So they aren't going to go without a fight. And

believe me, they are better fighters than we are. They

have proven themselves; you have to give them their

props for that. I mean, they are up at 6:00 in the

morning trying to figure out which minority group they

are going to screw today. The hate that they eat for

breakfast. I mean, our side, we never see 6:00 in the

morning unless unless we have been up all night.... So

they are going to fight and they are going to smear

and they are going to lie and they are going to hate.

And we have to get out there and counter that with the

truth. We have to get out there and we have to get up

and we have to get moving. And we must not stop

between now and November 2. No stopping! No stopping!

I'm telling you, if we don't do it....

 

[R]eporters have been asking me while I have been here

at the convention, so how do you square the fact, this

John Kerry, that he voted for the war? And my answer

to them is similar to the answer actually I gave a

soldier who stopped me on street a short time back.

And he said to me, you know, I was on a ship off Iraq

the night of the Oscars and we watched you give your

speech. And we booed along with the audience. I was

very angry at you for what you said that night but now

that I have been there and served my tour in Iraq,

what you said was the truth. They sent us there under

false pretenses. And he said to me I want to apologize

to you for booing at you on that ship. And I said to

him, you owe me no apology. It is we, the American

people, who need to apologize to you for sending you

into harm's way based on a lie. I apologize to you.

And I said to him your only crime is that you believed

your president. Why would you apologize for believing

your Commander in Chief? You are supposed to be able

to believe your commander in chief. You are supposed

to be able to believe the president.

 

Because if we don't have that, that basic thing of

being able to believe what comes out of the mouth of

the president of the United States, my friend, what

are we left with? What are we left with if you can't

believe anything that's being said from the man who

sits in the white house? John Kerry did what 70 to 80%

of our fellow Americans did. He believed. And he

believed that he was going to do something in a

different way, but he believed in the majority of our

fellow Americans believe. Do we point our finger at

them now? Do you point your finger at your neighbors

and your friends who supported the war at the

beginning but no longer support it because now 54% of

this country believes the war is wrong and never

should have been fought? Do you?

 

Does one in this room sit on your high horse and look

down at them? Oh, you supported the war! I didn't!

Does anyone in this room have that attitude to your

friends and neighbors and family members? Of course

not. Of course not. People come to the wrong

conclusions at their own speed. And you know what,

friends? We are getting better at this. Because during

Vietnam it took years before we figured it out. This

time, it only took months. It only took a few months

before the majority of Americans figured out how wrong

this president was.

 

And that applause is for our fellow Americans, because

they will always respond in the right way when given

the truth. They will always come from a righteous

place when they have the facts and information

available to them. As soon as it was made available,

as soon as that happened, they create, the shift took

place, didn't it. And it's a long way from the 16

months but not that far, really, from those first days

of the war. We now are the American majority. Would

are with them and they are with us. And this is the

American majority that's going to show up on November

2 and remove George W. Bush from the White House. I so

believe that.

 

But it's only going to happen with our hard work and

us coming from a good and gentle place with those that

we speak to in the coming months. To hold out our hand

and say, come on. It's ok. I mean, you should see some

of the mail I am getting from Republicans. I love

these letters. You know? Because there are good

Republicans. And I predict we are going to see

Republicans for Kerry movements across the country.

Because a lot of people who call themselves

Republicans are that way because they, you know, they

just don't like the government sticking their hand in

the pocket. Right? That's really their big issue. You

know. You've got one in your family. Come on. Everyone

in here. Right? They just don't like paying their

taxes. Do they? Hum? [laughter] ok. But they are good

on everything else, aren't they. They believe women

should be paid the same as men. Right? They don't

believe companies should be dumping crud into the

river. Right? They don't believe assault weapons

should be made available easily on the streets. They

are good on all the other things. They just don't want

their hard-earned money taken out of their pocket.

 

Well, all we got to do is show them how George W. Bush

has taken this money from them and from their children

and grandchildren. These are the people that are going

have to pay off this incredible debt that this war has

created. George W. Bush has gone from being the

compassionate conservative to the anti-conservative.

He doesn't really believe in conservative values. And

we need to do that. But here's my plea to the

Democrats and to Mr. Kerry. You will not win this

election by being weak kneed and wimpy and wishy-washy

and lacking the courage of your convictions. The only

way this is going to happen is if you stand up

forthrightly and say what you believe and push for the

liberal progressive agenda that the majority of

America already agrees with. If you move to the right,

thinking that's how you are going to pick up a few

extra votes from that very small sliver of likely

voters who haven't made up their mind yet, if you give

up the very principles and things that the people in

this room and those delegates believe in, to get those

few votes over there, you will encourage millions to

stay home.

 

The people who are already feeling disenfranchised who

are full of despair and have sunk into their own

cynicism believing what's the use? What's the use? You

know, if the Democrats move that way, they will in the

only energize the base, the base will stay home. I

went to one of these meeting of ACT, I forget what it

stands for. America coming together, one, two, and

they put up on the screen a map of Cleveland, Ohio and

they showed a precinct in Cleveland that was 96%

African American. 96%. Total vote are turnout in 2000,

13%. You can't get more base of the Democratic Party

than African Americans and if you don't have a message

that will inspire them to come out on Election Day and

tells them with no B.S. and shows them how their life

will be better, we will not win this election....

 

I say this not to rain on the party. We are all in

this together. And as they said last night, we have a

big tent. And all of us, from conservative democrats

to greens who are voting democrat, are all in this

tent right now for one common goal. That's to get our

white house back in our hands, the majority's.

 

And a word about Ralph Nader. Yes, the Republicans do

love Ralph. I just came from Michigan where Ralph

turned in 50,000 signatures. 43,000 of which were

gathered by the Michigan Republican party. This is a

painful thing to witness, because of the great

Americans, Ralph Nader is one of them. His legacy,

what's done for this country has been incredible. And

what I and others try to explain to Ralph before he

decided to run is that you already did your job. The

Democratic Party of 2004 is not the Democratic Party

of 2000. The threat that you posed in 2000, they got

the message. And it was carried on by Howard dean and

Dennis Kucinich and others in this year. And they

helped push the Democrats toward where the majority of

Americans that liberal progressive majority, is at.

 

You did a great thing and now, they are in a better

place. You have to admit that. Even Al Gore of 2004

isn't the Al Gore of 2000. He's moved! And all you

have to do, if you think the Democrats this year are

the same as the democrats four years ago, ask yourself

this question. Do you think john Kerry will ask Bill

Clinton not to campaign in Arkansas for him? Hum? I

don't think so. So my appeal to the Nader voters, to

the greens out there, is that we have a different job

to do this year....

 

I think that when it comes to that day people will

know what to do. But I would not have the Democrats

spending any time attacking Ralph Nader. All right?

That is the wrong way to go. What the Democrats should

be doing, and I have heard Kerry say this, is we need

to give, we need to give those who are thinking of

voting for Ralph Nader, a reason to vote for John

Kerry. That is the right answer.

 

When I was in Cannes with the movie, I showed it to

the American students whose were working there. There

were about 200 of them. At the end of the movie, I

asked them, let me just ask you a question, how many

of you are college-aged student, how many of you are

thinking for Ralph Nader? Nearly had a lot of them

raised their hand. I invited Kerry's daughter,

Alexandra, to come and sit in the back. They didn't

know she was there. And she witnessed this. And we

went out to lunch afterwards and she was shocked. How

could they, after watching this movie, for two hours,

with the message of the movie that seems to be that

Bush must go, that nearly half of them would say they

are still considering voting for Ralph Nader?

 

I think I saw one poll recently that said 12% of

18-25-year-olds are planning on voting for Ralph

Nader. And I said to her, I said you have to tell your

dad that, you know, because they, some of the kids

that gave their reasons and they spoke with all that

great honesty that comes out of an 18 or a 19-year

old. Right? Because there's [beep] right? When you are

18 and 19. And they call you on it really quickly. I

said you need to tell your dad that the way to deal

with this is to take the strong stand that needs to be

taken. The majority of Americans are already with you.

Don't be afraid. Speak out on these issues. Speak out

about health care in the right way. Don't put ads on

TV that say we will provide health care for nearly all

Americans. Don't do that. Stand up for something.

Don't be afraid. Don't try to be the hamburger version

of the Republican Party. And I think he got that

message. And I think that from what I've heard in

recent weeks, I got to say this and I've said this to

everybody here who's been asking me about the war.

 

One thing I do know about Kerry, he will not invade a

country like George W. Bush did. I believe in my heart

of hearts – that this man, because you know, when you

have been shot three times and you have been in that

situation and you know this – if you have family

members whose have been to war, if you have parents

who were in World war II, my dad always says to me, he

was in the Marines in the south pacific and he said,

you know, if you have been there, you never want to

see anybody else go there. And you want it to be the

last resort. And so in my heart, I trust that when he

says that. In closing, I just want to thank you for

everything that everyone here has done. We are all in

the same boat together....

 

I am glad these rallies are taking place, because, you

know, I don't know how the press will write about

these gatherings of these rallies.... This is not a

niche of the Democratic Party. The things that the

people in this room believe in is where the American

public is at. Especially where I believe a large chunk

of that 50%, that non-voting public, is at. And it's

going to be our job to get them out on November 2 and

that's what we are all going to do. Thank you very

much for being here. Thank you.

© 2004 Independent Media Institute. All rights

reserved.

View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/19385/