Author and filmmaker Michael Moore preached to the choir at two sold-out performances in Santa Cruz, Calif., using the opportunity to hammer talk-radio host Rush Limbaugh and President Bush, as well as discuss potential Democratic candidates for the White House.
On Sunday, Moore’s book tour/political pep rally rolled into the traditionally liberal town for shows at the Civic Auditorium, the San Jose Mercury News reported.
“Would it hurt your feelings if I tell you that we had 3,000 more in Baltimore?” he asked the first crowd, according to the paper.
 Michael Moore (courtesy United Artists) |
“That’s the good news: It’s not just Santa Cruz anymore! There’s been this huge shift, folks. Ah, man, Bush is in a lot of trouble,” said Moore, to the approval of his fans.
According to the report, Moore’s latest book, “Dude, Where’s My Country?” is scheduled to appear at No. 1 on the New York Times non-fiction best-seller list next week.
“Sales in northern California are phenomenal,” Tom McIntyre of Warner Books, Moore’s publisher, told the paper. “This is the absolute epicenter of Michael Moore.”
Moore’s ongoing battle with Bush began earlier this year when he called him a “fictitious president” in a speech accepting an Academy Award for the film “Bowling for Columbine.”
The author’s California appearances have drawn thousands of like-minded Bush opponents.
Said the Mercury News: “Moore is more like a preacher than a media figure, his fans more like a congregation than an audience.”
Moore had some choice words for Limbaugh, who is in the midst of a 30-day treatment program for an addiction to painkillers.
“Three days after my book came out, Rush Limbaugh had to check himself into a rehab center,” Moore said, according to the paper. “I’d like to take credit for that. … It’s painful being an angry white guy. I know I should be more understanding, but not for Rush Limbaugh.”
Moore says he agrees with liberal Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich “100 percent,” and of Howard Dean, he says, “He’s a good man.”
According to the report, Moore sees a silver lining in the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger as California governor.
“For the last 20 or so years, Democrats have had to keep moving to the right in order to get elected … guys like Gray Davis, a Republican pretending he’s a Democrat,” the paper quotes him as saying. “And Arnold, for the first time” demonstrates “that the Republicans have got to become more liberal to get elected.”
As WorldNetDaily reported, Moore failed to meet the submission requirements of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences when nominating “Bowling for Columbine” for an Oscar. Also, critics of the filmmaker have called on the academy to investigate whether Moore fabricated scenes in the movie.
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Mychal Massie