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Michael Moore: The Camera Is Mightier Than a Gun

4/24/07, 3:31 pm EST

Michael MooreFor our fortieth anniversary, the editors of Rolling Stone have interviewed twenty artists and leaders who helped shape our time. Over the next four weeks, every day, we’ll be debuting exclusive audio clips from the Q&As, giving you unparalleled access to some of the most important personalities in history.

Today we present the most polarizing liberal presence of the last two decades, Michael Moore. Depending on who you talk to, Moore is either the most loved or reviled man in America, a distinction he shares with only one person: his arch-nemesis, George W. Bush. Moore, whose plea for gun control, Bowling for Columbine, now seems more relevant than ever in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre, sat down with our Eric Bates to discuss the aftermath of the 2004 election and eight years of Republican steering, the big problem we face forty years from now and why Al Gore might be the messiah. Here are four audio excerpts, and for the magazine’s definitive profile, pick up your own copy of our Fortieth Anniversary issue, on newsstands now.

  • Michael Moore forgives the misguided masses of our country for voting for Bush in 2004…sort of: “My feeling toward John Edwards and John Kerry and those who now say that they are sorry for supporting the war is the same feeling I would have if you were drunk behind the wheel of a car and killed my child and came to me later and said, ‘I’m sorry…’ “
  • Moore argues we as citizens shouldn’t blame the government for all the injustices, we should blame ourselves for putting them in office: Nixon, Reagan, Bush I, Bush II — combined, they’ve committed an assault on the working people of this country, virtually destroyed the middle class and taken a dump on this planet.
  • Moore discusses at length the ongoing metamorphosis of Al Gore, from the boring winner that lost to today’s political rock star: He’s sort of a modern-day Moses in the sense that he wasn’t allowed to cross into the Promised Land, even though he won…and I have a feeling that millions of Americans would like to rectify that wrong.
  • Moore believes there is a balance of world power on the verge of being tipped once we run out of gas: Forty years from now, America may not be the world’s only superpower. And once the oil that’s under the earth stops flowing, the whole dynamic is going to change. We can start to deal with that now, or we can ignore it.

Check back tomorrow for the next installment of our twenty-part audio interviews, featuring some of the most iconic and influential pop culture figures of the last 40 years. Want a hint at tomorrow’s interviewee? He told us this:

Even if somebody doesn’t like what you do and they’re booing, and they’re giving you the finger and jumping up and down and yelling, “fuck you” — that means you’re communicating. You’re getting through. A direct bull’s-eye.


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Comments

banana hammock | 4/24/2007, 3:42 pm EST

oooh man, i’m starting to feel sick…

blargh!
eh
oh no, not again!
hulargh!

good lord, michael moore makes me sick.

Boner | 4/24/2007, 4:42 pm EST

You guys are pathetic sheep. When Al Gore runs in ‘08 and fucks up the election for us Dems you’ll realize how silly you were for buying into his spin and flat out lies. Suckers.

Boner | 4/24/2007, 4:52 pm EST

The Messiah, that’s classic. OMG, we’re all gonna die! Quick, start using less toilet paper, it’s our only hope! I better start looking for a house in Nebraska, because the coast is done for. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! !!!!

Boner | 4/24/2007, 4:57 pm EST

For God’s sake man, put down that can of hair spray and buy a hybrid car. Are you nuts?! The glaciers are melting at a frantic pace. Oh wait, could it be that they are growing and pertruding outward to then break off and fall into the ocean? Who cares, Al Gore told me we’re all fucked! I mean come on guys, look at his credentials! Al Gore and Sheryl Crow on ‘08! Yeah!

Bill Bones | 4/24/2007, 4:58 pm EST

good one boner

Boner | 4/24/2007, 5:08 pm EST

Oh yea, and regarding Michael Moore. It’s my policy to not take anyone seriously who weighs more than a Buick. Trim Spa Baby!

LALA | 4/24/2007, 5:54 pm EST

i just figure out!

Freddie Mercury = BORAT

we’re doomed

Beware False Messiahs | 4/24/2007, 6:19 pm EST

Moore leaps from messiah (Nader) to messiah (Wesley Clark) to messiah (Al … gulp .. Gore? as often as Paris Hilton finds lovers.

Try reducing your own 290 lb footprint before you preach.

Moore and Gore are hypocrites who, while pretending to champion “us little guys”, demand the government force the same little guy to do as they SAY not as they DO.

Buying carbon offsets to excuse their own lavish lifestyles while the poor will just have to suck it up and live like Ted Kazinski- Moore’s REAL messiah.

Moore’s entire career has been based on exploiting tragedy for his OWN personal gain. What a fat phony.

Mac | 4/24/2007, 6:53 pm EST

Oh, boner, grow up. Look around you there’s some serious stuff happening. Moore’s weight’s got nothing to do with any of that. By the way, how chubby are you?

Who forgives Moore? | 4/24/2007, 7:29 pm EST

Not the buffet cooks.
Moore’s a self serving idiot, does he think only the US relies on oil?
He thinks Al Gore is a rock star? He also admires Grand Funk Railroad, proving his musical instincts are as adept as his political ones. I thought Wesley Clark was the messiah?

bowieno | 4/24/2007, 8:04 pm EST

It would be cool if he did a movie like The Bush Movie about Ted Kennedy when big fat, drunk Teddy Killed that woman and The Jackasses of Massachucettes (MASSHOLES) just kissed Kennedy’s big Irish Ass and Gave him a pass thet’s why Kerry lost, because Kennedy will never admit to his Drunken Antics that included Manslaughter and we should never trust anyone from Massachucettes ever again! Hope you are happy!

lik roper | 4/24/2007, 8:37 pm EST

i just got the new RS, and it’s the greatest issue ever…

shemp | 4/24/2007, 8:57 pm EST

I just splooged on my keyboard…that was such a great wank.

Open Wide | 4/24/2007, 9:11 pm EST

Whose comments are more thoughtful and measured? Mike’s or yours?

Boner, I have nothing but love for you. A lifetime of conditioning is not an easy thing to shake.

Peace on earth…

Gary Brandt | 4/24/2007, 11:21 pm EST

Looks like the trolls found you Michael. This is a good example of why this country is in the state it’s in. It’s a stestemic illness that can’t be rectified with loosers like the two idiots above.

As for your comments Michael. I loved them all!
As for my choice for Democratic president I think Joe Biden is the best although Dennis Kucinich is real and would surely take on the World Bank which I feel is very important today and could end the war. This is really the big task at hand as I believe the World Bank put Bush up to this to expand control over the wild card middle east.

Michael Moore | 4/24/2007, 11:52 pm EST

I hope Sheryl wasn’t serious about that whole 1 square thingy.

Boner | 4/24/2007, 11:57 pm EST

Michael Moore eats more food in a day than an African child eats in an entire year.

Mike Moore | 4/25/2007, 1:00 am EST

Hey! You guys, stop insulting me. I’m right, you evil, Earth-destroying fascists! I’ve never been wrong and you know it!

Now, be good sheeple and buy my books and see my movies to form an opinion you were too stupid to come up with on your own. When rebutted with facts, claim your opposing side are out to get you for telling the truth. *snicker* Who cares about truth if you’re right?

Now, give me a hot dog.

luvnpower | 4/25/2007, 1:36 am EST

hey beware and others, try commenting on something substantive moore argues for a change. instead of just your childish character assassinations you hear on fox news.

thomas | 4/25/2007, 3:41 am EST

Classic.
If you can’t refute the arguement, bring on the smear..ain’t that right neocons?!?
You don’t like him exposing the colassal failure that is bush so make fun of his weight.
If anything in Farenheit 911 was a lie, why hasn’t there been a libel case brought against him?
All he did was connect the dots.
Go ahead neocons, keep apologizing for w.

Tarquin Biscuitbarrel | 4/25/2007, 6:46 am EST

When extreme republican media personalities air their views the republican supporters rally behind and support them.

Liberals have this problem – the minute a liberal media personality says something challenging, the LIBERALS attack him! Stop it! He’s doing a great thing! God you Americans are just not that bright!

Driver | 4/25/2007, 8:00 am EST

haha al gore the messiah..I believe it! Since when has anyone come to save the world from global warming..praise him, he’s trying to save the world but nobody cares :[

Comcast PPV | 4/25/2007, 8:42 am EST

Michael Moore vs. Sally Struthers:
When Worlds Collide
Order now to find out who will be crowned the worlds most disgusting slob!

Boner | 4/25/2007, 8:55 am EST

Obese scum really need to learn their roles. Somebody has to cook at Dennys. Now get your fat asses in the kitchen and make me some eggs. I also heard that Moore’s next movie will be disputing the content of Super Size Me. Moore was so infuriated by the removal of trans fats from the menu that he decided to take action. USA USA USA!

New Orleans Voices For Peace | 4/25/2007, 9:07 am EST

There are 3300 military dead in Iraq. Enron, Tillman, No weapons of mass destruction, lies on top of lies, 15 month tours in a hell that Bush and Cheney created for what? Halliburton stock? The billions waisted on the war while Katrina survivors are still living in trailers. The president and his vice have commited Treason by Lying about weapons of mass destruction And these repubulican idiots are still gloating. Those that continue to support Bush after all this, have no honnor. Thank you Machael for holding up a mirror to America, it is just too bad for the world that they don’t have the guts to look at what the rest of the world sees.

NATAS | 4/25/2007, 9:56 am EST

Michael Moore was best in Team America, blown up and out of the picture.

NATAS | 4/25/2007, 10:02 am EST

hey, New Orleans Voices For Peace not every republician supports the war or the president so shut your pie hole!

abandonedstation | 4/25/2007, 10:09 am EST

the incompetence of this administration boggles the mind.

even though i agree with most of moore’s opinions, i do see him as a pretentious blowhard sometimes, especially since any issue he touches become a rallying cry for both sides of the issues to sling mud. Polarizing people in such a way reduces the chance for a compromised solution (which may not be ideal, but it is certainly better than no solution at all).

Bible Study Assignment | 4/25/2007, 10:18 am EST

Hey, you idiots, since when was Moses considered to be the Messiah? Moore did not compare Al Gore to Jesus, he compared him to Moses. You have no idea how STUPID you look.

New Orleans Voices For Peace | 4/25/2007, 10:55 am EST

NATAS, So why are you and every republican who dose not support the president not calling for Impeachment? Republicans can reclaim honor by holding anyone who would lie to take the country into an illegal war accountable. What are you, an American or a republican?

jonwithnal | 4/25/2007, 11:02 am EST

Why has this fat, ignorant, ugly lard-ass goober been given a forum? Tis a mystery for the ages.

MMW | 4/25/2007, 11:13 am EST

Yeah, I am going to listen to the human butt crack known as Michael Moore. This guy is a jacknut, and like everyone else in his position, complains and makes films that complain and really does nothing to rectify the problems. Anyone who claims gore as the messiah is clearly retarded. gore is a loser, he fights for a phony cause (admit it liberals, explain the coldest winter in decades in 2007), and cannot get enough of himself. Yes, the right has done a bad job in office thus far. but given the same hand, the left would have done alot of the same. so shut up everyone and support don imus and free speech!!!!

Boner | 4/25/2007, 11:19 am EST

I am very concerned about Moore’s obesity. However, I do have the perfect solution that could potentially save his life. Rosie O’donnell naked. Just keep a mental image of that train wreck in your head throughout the day and I promise, you will not have anything close to an appetite. The only side effects are nausea and impotence.

jack | 4/25/2007, 11:29 am EST

…how could 52,000,000 americans be so stupid and elect that clown in the white house a second term???…if they were handing out brains these people were standing at the ass counter… way to go mike keep it up…

NATAS | 4/25/2007, 11:35 am EST

New Orleans Voices For Peace my only point is that not every republicain supports the war or the president, that is a very broad statement. Thats like asking, Why didnt democrats impeachment Clinton when he lied under oath about this sexual exploits? I never said i was a repubician and to answer your last question I am an American & I dont think my political satus has anything to do with this.

Boner | 4/25/2007, 11:36 am EST

Jack, you actually vote? What do you do, vote for the best liar? Or do you just ask P Diddy?

MMW | 4/25/2007, 11:38 am EST

Looks like the majority of the same idiot 50mil americans are now supporting buttcrack moore and al douche. i agree jack, we are idiots. lets get behind a fat dork with a camera and a loser who cannot admit he was beaten. support in any fashion for this country is clearly unpatriotic. i love lamp.

Tbone | 4/25/2007, 11:38 am EST

Really intelligent comments here!
Wow!
With brains like this, no wonder we’re in the mess we’re in!

Joey | 4/25/2007, 11:47 am EST

The Democrats did not call for Clinton to get impeached because getting a blow job is not really that important in the grand scheme of things, however thousands of dead American soldiers, billions in wasted government funds, more lies than I can count about things like the Justice department, Katrina reponse and WMDs are probably a little more important. And yes I voted, I researched the candidates and didn’t just vote for who Rush Limbaugh and Jerry Falwell told YOU to NATAS.

P.S. all of you conservatives who are making fun of Micheal Moore are just mad because you don’t have any factual defenses for his points

MMW | 4/25/2007, 11:52 am EST

Joey, wrong again. The right has plenty of facts to dispute Moore’s ill advised points. a blog is hardly the forum to discuss it in any decent length. Yeah, Moore does have a few facts that are quite eye opening. but the majority of his work is fascist filth that offers no real solutions to the “problems” he presents. instead of offering unity and help, go hide behind another fake cause, manbearpig.

NATAS | 4/25/2007, 12:28 pm EST

hey Joey, i was refering to Clinton lying under oath which for any normal citizen is a federal offense and will put said person in jail. Also i never said i voted for Bush nor do i listen to Rush, read what is actually being posted rather than putting words in peoples mouth. IDIOT!

NATAS | 4/25/2007, 12:33 pm EST

oh and i see a lack of any actual facts on your posts

bleezy | 4/25/2007, 12:36 pm EST

I you people spent as much time worring about the leaders of this country, as you do Mr. Moore’s weight, we might actually have some answers. Too bad for you Republicans, you have a lot of blood on your hands with this Iraq war, and the blame is to YOU for voting a man into office that has run this country into the ground. When your trapped in a corner because of your own undoing, I agree, GO WITH THE FAT JOKES. Thanks Michael for your hard work in a country we believe to be great!

Boner | 4/25/2007, 12:47 pm EST

It is a fact that obese people are far more detrimental to a company’s health insurance than people who smoke. When will that movie come out? Guns don’t kill people, the vile stench in between Rosie O’donnell’s legs kills people.

MMW | 4/25/2007, 1:20 pm EST

We may not be in this mess if clinton actually stopped the bj for a second to respond to terrorist acts and the intelligence used to point out preventable measures. so, democrats, what would you have done the day after 9/11? Seriously, what would you suggest?

NATAS | 4/25/2007, 2:01 pm EST

y is it that if you dont agree with Michael Moore u r automaticly a repubician, u people need to stop thinking in extremes

cheney - | 4/25/2007, 2:21 pm EST

Just give me more wars – and then me and all my rich friends will move to Dubai. Who cares if America has no middle class – I never liked class to begin with!
Who cares if Blackwater and others make alot of money from the war – go to florida and look at our huge houses; Rudy G. has another beautiful new home in Boca Raton! It’s not his primary home, so it only cost $20 or 30 million!!! But, he’s in our loop! Maybe he will move to Dubai with us!!!

Greg | 4/25/2007, 2:46 pm EST

Hey bowieno, while you are busy trashing people from Massachusetts and regurgitating the bs you hear on Fox News, do me a favor and read a book. To be able to make generalizations like that must mean that you are so uneducated, you let the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, and Rush Limbaugh influence your thoughts. By the way, when I say book, I do not mean anything by Ann Coulter though I do admire her creativity. Hell, if I was uneducated, I would believe her bullshit. Anyway, I want to invited you to Massachusetts so I can show you around and prove that we are all not that bad. But, please don’t ask me to pay the $3.00 + a gallon of gasoline it will cost to fill your pickup truck hauling the trailor you call home. Seriously, don’t you know that it now costs more money for you to drive your trailor out of the park because Bush,(formally of Arbusto oil), Cheney, (Haliburton), Condi (Chevron), have all deregulated the oil industry. Then again, you have to change the channel from Fox and actually visit a library to know that.

Boner | 4/25/2007, 3:02 pm EST

You can’t censor the Bone.

EV Europe | 4/25/2007, 3:11 pm EST

I like the US, but looking at the above I hope the whole continent breaks off and sinks into the ocean. If this represents the general American opinion we are all in lots of trouble. Period.

EV Europe | 4/25/2007, 3:13 pm EST

oops , I meant below

Anonymous | 4/25/2007, 3:22 pm EST

Evidentally only Republicans use and rely on oil in their daily lives – if Moore parrots like Greg are to be believed.

Dear Europeboy: The whole world is in trouble if your whole continent cowers in fear over Muslims angered by mere cartoons. They won’t need a jihad, all they have to do is say “Boo”.

Boner | 4/25/2007, 3:25 pm EST

Boner Lives!

EV Europe | 4/25/2007, 3:26 pm EST

My people are worthless pussies.

Boner | 4/25/2007, 4:02 pm EST

Hey now, hey now the Bone is back.

Hobbs McGinter | 4/25/2007, 4:16 pm EST

I loved Michael Moore best in Team America: World Police

Boner | 4/25/2007, 4:26 pm EST

You’re right Hobbs. That’s the best work he’s ever done. Good call.

peace | 4/25/2007, 9:59 pm EST

We must not support this war machine, blind sheeple! You must pay attention, ask questions, read. You don’t like to hear what Moore, Gore and Odonnell have to say because the truth is unpleasant. We must be the change we wish to see in the world. Let’s not be selfish and petty, learn from our mistakes. Take care of the Earth, love each other, don’t take your “FREEDOM” for granted!
Silence is Complicity…..

Karl | 4/26/2007, 12:53 pm EST

Michael Moore does make some decent films, but the problem is that he only focuses the blame on one party, when both have blood on their hands.

Check out Aaron Russo’s film: From Freedom to Fascism for a more centrist view.

Wayne | 4/26/2007, 2:48 pm EST

Michael is an entertainer, said so himself, primarily, he wants to make a good film. That doesn’t mean he can’t have an important message, don’t get me wrong. And in a free society, all have their chance to voice it. Take it or leave it. I see Rush Limbaugh or Bill O’riely as entertainers as well. And I support all of their right to free speech. If the people in this forum spent a fraction of the energy spent here on VOTING and READING…things may be better. And fellow liberals, let us not forget that Democrats voted for this war. I agree with you, Michael, that they are complcit, and the ‘balls’ they show now…too little, too late. Time to get a 3rd party into the halls of congress.

fistofate | 4/26/2007, 6:20 pm EST

We have alot more than just the current administration to undo. Has anyone seen the play “Mother Courage” by Bertholt Brecht?

The underlying message is that all of society is organized around the principle of being ready for war and war itself is only business as usual “by other means”. It has always been so.

Try to realize that it’s not just dems vs. repubs here. It goes alot deeper than that and neither one of them is the solution.

Let’s put it this way: If 4 million dead southeast Asians could raise up from their graves, that’s what they’d tell you.

Open Wide | 4/28/2007, 10:15 pm EST

Vote for the Party Party in ‘08!

Old enough to know | 5/13/2007, 8:31 pm EST

Yeah, George B. has made some screwups but Moore is his equal in the total opposite end of the universe.

Extremists don’t open their minds either way to see the good and the bad, to weigh problems intelligently. Logical conclusions to problems usually lies somewhere in the middle of extremist fools.

Guy Morgan | 5/16/2007, 10:47 pm EST

I am a conservative and generally vote Republican. Even so, do not label me an “extremist,” or “right winger,” “religious zealot,” or any other generalization. Being a conservative does not make me any of those things any more than being a documentary film maker makes Michael Moore credible. He uses every trick in the book to mislead and misinform in order to stir up hate and discontent and promote his radical agenda. His, and those like him, wish to take our freedoms and lighten our wallets. It’s ironic that they are actually the ones who prey on our fear, lie, cheat, sensationalize, misquote, and report one-sided studies as fact in order to further their cause, when that is exactly what they accuse Republicans and conservatives of.

mark | 5/31/2007, 7:08 am EST

holy crap michael moore is fat

TeaTray | 6/22/2007, 6:50 am EST

I don’t understand. You guys live in a democratic country. Right? You got a president and a party that wasn’t voted in fairly. Right? You have to live with this problem for 4 years and most of you realize, now, that you got a war-mongering government who manipulates your population for their own selfish ends. But you have to wait another year and a bit, to get any change (which probably won’t be any real change at all). Then you try to export this democracy to others at the point of a gun. You get a real choice of just 2 different parties, both of whom have their corrupt agendas. Then you still think that US democracy is the best system possible. Huh! Is there something wrong with your educational system, then? I can’t believe that you guys are more stupid than other people on the planet, so it must be the educational system and the propaganda machine that leads you into so illogical a way of thinking. I believe Jefferson suggested regular reviews of the political system, because he realized that years down the line, the brilliant ‘by the people, for the people’ system would be corrupted for selfish goals. What happened to that, then. There has been no review, no change – just more & more corruption of the system as the decades pass. I really believe it is time for the US people to have a little revolution to bring back the wonderful ideals of the founding fathers and to bring them into the 21st century, don’t you? Then your democracy could be a real beacon to the world. As it is, the US is rapidly losing support from all free-thinking people of the world.
Mr. Moore tries to redress the balance & tell you how it really is and you try to shut him up. I don’t necessarily agree with all he says, but at least he is trying to do something about it all. Are you?

Frank Church | 7/16/2007, 6:28 pm EST

Michael Moore is a great American and his film is devastating. Moore says a very profound thing in part of the movie, where a woman who cannot afford her hospital stay is thrown in front of a homeless shelter, with fresh stitches still in her head: “Can I ask a question here: Who are we?” From the conservative posts, I’d say we are monsters. God help us.

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