With the continuing success of Michael Moore's crusade against President George W. Bush, epitomized most recently by the deluge of press afforded his "documentary" Fahrenheit 9/11, the Right is fighting back more than ever. Numerous blogs and web sites have rallied against Moore's leftist agenda, some more successfully than others. Now, the men behind Moorelies.com and Mooreexposed.com have taken the next step with the publication of Michael Moore Is A Big Fat Stupid White Man.
Despite the snarky title and even more snarky prose, the book purports to be a carefully compiled, well-researched take down of Moore's entire body of work. While such a volume would be both welcome and long overdue, this is anything but.
While the authors have tirelessly researched and compiled half-truths, misstatements, and outright lies ranging from Moore's biography (he was actually born and raised in Davison, Michigan, a affluent, white-collar town substantially different in character than Flint) to Fahrenheit 9/11 (liberal activist George Soros has a stake in the Carlyle Group--the organization Moore uses to make the Bush-Bin Laden link--that dwarves that of the Bush family), the information is delivered in such a frothing, frantic screed as to substantially dilute the authors' credibility. Rather than taking the high road and presenting a careful examination of Moore's fabrications, Hardy and Clarke seem to be trying to beat him at his own game; the result is a 250-page hatchet job that is neither coherent nor cohesive.
The best material in the book is actually not original. Articles by Andrew Sullivan, Tim Blair, and others more effectively eviscerate Moore than does the newer material. Unfortunately, the class and professionalism of these reprints further draws out the failings of the rest of the book by contrast.
The book's greatest failing, however, is more of a technical issue, albeit a serious one. While all of the statements and quotes presented are cited with original sources and web links in the appendix, they are neither footnoted nor end noted, making tracing a specific fact of quotation back to its original source an exercise in frustration. For a book so driven by the idea of a careful and reasoned presentation of facts, this oversight is inexcusable.
Article comments
1 - simon b
George Soros isn't in any way a liberal. He's an uber-capitalist with a paternalist agenda.
2 - Scott Pepper
As of Nov. 2003, Soros had personally donated $15.5 million to liberal activist groups such as the far-left Moveon.org, according to the Washington Post. If he's not a liberal, he's certainly doing a good job of hiding it.
3 - simon b
How many liberals would use the international money markets to force a democratic government to change its policies the way Soros did with the UK and the ERM?
I've given money to a donkey sanctuary. It doesn't make me St Francis of Asisi.
4 - Mac Diva
So, two nobodies are trying to make themselves somebodies by attacking a famous film maker. Yawn.
(BTW, one of them as a narrow, strange looking head.)
On the bright side, if they had used footnotes, as Ann Coulter did, only to have the footnotes revealed to be made-up, as happened to her, they would look even worse.
I am doubtful that even many Moore haters will shell out dinero for material they can get free online at just about any Right Wing blog or site.
I will be posting an entry on Moore later today. It will be about how he sees himself.
5 - Mac Diva
Typo: as=has
I think Simon should write a blog entry explaining his take on Soros' politics.
6 - Scott Pepper
I am doubtful that even many Moore haters will shell out dinero for material they can get free online at just about any Right Wing blog or site.
While my gut instinct would be to agree (in light of the fact that I would not have read this book had I not been given a review copy), the book is currently sitting pretty at #13 on Amazon's bestseller list.
7 - Mac Diva
Is that behind's Moore's book?
8 - Mac Diva
Dude, Where's My Country? in paperback is at 145. (In top 100 downloads.) Stupid White Men is at 226. The attack book has not cracked the NYT bestsellers, currently led by Bill Clinton's autobiography.
I wonder if people shift to a new 'Moore' product when it comes out. Are they seeing F9/11 now, or preparing to order it instead of the book?
It is interesting the attackers have the same publisher.
9 - Scott Pepper
Dude, Where's My Country?, Moore's most recent, is languishing at #311, though it has been out for nine months. The paperback version of Stupid White Men, released in May, is at #226.
10 - Scott Pepper
Didn't realize the new one was out in paperback already--I will have to pick it up.
There's no question that more is a better writer than Hardy and Clarke, or that he'll sell more books in the long run. Political books, particuarly hatchet jobs such as this one, seem to have a short shelf life.
The Times and other bestseller lists lag sales by a week, so I would be suprised if we don't see this volume show up on next week's list, assuming the brick and mortar stores are stocking it.
11 - Scott Pepper
more = Moore
12 - Scott Pepper
As expected, the book hit the NYT list this week at #9.
13 - Mac Diva
Hmmm. Support for my theory of far Right guys having an homoerotic attraction to Michael Moore-:).
Another interesting aspect is whether the NYT reviewers will review it. The authors should hope they don't. A poorly written get-rich-quick scheme targeting a celebrity is not going to fare well.
14 - Another_Mike
The liberal NYT will not review this book. Rarely will you see a right-of-center book reviewed in the NYT. You're half correct: If the NYT does review this book, it will trash it, but not for the reason you stated. It will trash it because it criticizes the media darling of the left, Michael Moore. Michael Moore is an accomplished author, so you should expect his books to sell quite nicely. So give credit to Hardy & Clarke for hitting the NYT best seller list, which must have been a hard pill for the NYT to swallow...
15 - HH
Democrats shouldn't even start this book? They should read it more than anyone else, if only for the way it devastates, and not in overly snarky fashion, Bowling for Columbine and Roger & Me.
16 - Anton Carr
[personal attack deleted] Don't mess with Michael Moore [personal attack deleted]! You must be a piece of shit Republican.
[personal attack deleted]