Letter: Moore distorts truth to bash President Bush

Friday, July 9, 2004 | 5:20 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION

July 10 - 11, 2004

This is in response to Teresa Krolak's letter on July 4, in which she urged others to see "Fahrenheit 9/11" before having an opinion on that movie.

Michael Moore has stated that his film is not so much a factual piece, or even a documentary, but more of a reflection of his opinions regarding the war in Iraq and President Bush. For that reason I will not pay to see "Fahrenheit 9/11," since I already know what Mr. Moore's opinions are. Remember his acceptance speech at an awards show a while back? "We live in fictitious times ... fictitious president ... fictitious war" ... blah blah blah.

What I find "utterly sad," to use Ms. Krolak's words, is that she and many others, including Democratic leaders throughout the country, will pay good money to see this movie and then believe that they have witnessed the truth. Imagine having a camera in your face 24/7, filming your every action and word for over three years. Then imagine someone selecting relative bits and pieces from that body of film and disregarding the rest. Using those carefully selected excerpts, you could be made to look intelligent or foolish, kind or cruel, thoughtful or inconsiderate, conservative or liberal, or any other way the filmmaker chose to portray you.

That is what Michael Moore has done in the past, and I would guess that is what he has done to our president in his latest "documentary."

CHARLES CRAIG