Michael Moore's Speech in Cambridge, Mass.

By Michael Moore, AlterNet. Posted July 28, 2004.

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?

Michael Moore is an Academy award-winning filmmaker and author of "Dude, Where's My Country."

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