Free-marketeers Try to Slam Michael Moore, Look Like Asses in the Process

Posted by Faiz Shakir, Think Progress at 1:25 PM on September 8, 2009.

Fox News is beginning its assault on the Michael Moore’s new documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story.” In his new documentary, Moore concludes, “You have to eliminate [capitalism] and replace it with something that is good for all people and that something is democracy.”

Yesterday, Fox News hosted former Congressman Tom Tancredo, who bashed Moore and derided the perils of a welfare state. But after calling Moore “stupid,” “kind of a goofball,” and “a freaky guy,” Tancredo ironically begged Moore to send him a check:

TANCREDO: Hey, Michael, Michael, look at — look at me. To each according to his needs, from each according to their abilities. Buddy, you have got more money. I need some of it, OK? We had a rough winter here.

SULLIVAN: Yes.

TANCREDO: It’s been tough. So, spread the wealth a little bit. Of course he isn’t. He is a hypocrite on top of it. But who in this administration feels like he does?

SULLIVAN: He does donate — he does donate a good percentage, but he should…

TANCREDO: Yes.

SULLIVAN: But, if he believes that, he should donate it all.

TANCREDO: That is exactly right. It’s to each according to his needs. And, believe me, there are a lot more people in this country who need it more than he does. I am one. Send me a check.

Video After the jump...

Both host Brian Sullivan and Tancredo acknowledged they hadn’t yet seen Moore’s movie. But that didn’t prevent them from making judgments about it.

Fox has taken the lead in bashing Moore’s previous documentaries. After the release of SiCKO, Brian Kilmeade said, “What makes you think Michael Moore would do anything except to make this country look bad.” After the release of Fahrenheit 9/11, Kilmeade called him “the documentarian who makes stuff up,” and Bill O’Reilly compared him to Hitler’s minister of propaganda, Joseph Goebbels.

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Faiz Shakir is the Research Director at the Center for American Progress and serves as Editor of ThinkProgress.org and The Progress Report.