24 - The Michigan Daily - Orientation Edition 2005
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Welcome to campus
Filmmaker and activist Michael Moore spoke on Sept. 30, 2004, at Hill Auditorium.
Moore talks election
at Hill Auditorium
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By Adam Rottenberg
October L, 2004
After finishing his speech
at the Hill Auditorium to the
roaring, politically charged
crowd on Wednesday night,
Michael Moore spoke to the
Michigan Daily about the
power that he hopes the event
will have.
"I hope that when people
leave here, they go out and
volunteer and plan to do some-
thing," Moore said. His senti-
ments echoed the spirit of the
speech, which reiterated the
importance of the youth vote.
Moore revealed that while
his performance might have
antagonized and spoke out
against President Bush, it did
not necessarily support Dem-
ocratic presidential candidate
John Kerry.
Even so, "I'm probably
helping to get their candidate
elected. I think the film did a
lot to bring people out, to get
them energized, to get out and
vote," Moore explained.
And though he views the
upcoming election from his
own biased, liberal opinion,
he said, his cameras will
continue to roll and uncover
the truth regardless of who
assumes power.
Moore continued, "I will
go after (Kerry) and keep him
honest and do those things I
need to do."
Throughout the night,
Moore stressed the need for
the media to expose the truth.
He put the burden on the stu-
dent press for this upcoming
election to "cover the things
that are not being covered (by
other publications)."
Much of the media spot-
light now shining on Moore
stems from the release of the
record-breaking documen-
tary "Fahrenheit 9/11," which
served as an indictment of the
Bush administration and its
support of the Iraqi war.
But even with all the contro-
versy that still surrounds the
film, Moore views it as a suc-
cess. "I knew the film would
be effective and by being
effective it would make a lot
Republicans angry. So they've
gone berserk, and it's kind of
funny to watch them," he said.
Though Moore has taken
advantage of his ever-growing
national fame with appear-
ances at both parties' national
conventions this summer,
he still feels slighted by the
national media.
"I am rarely on any of the
cable news channels," Moore
said. He recounted that he has
only been on FOXNews once,
MSNBC once and CNN five
times in the past 18 months.
Moore believes that the gen-
eral perception sees him as a
featured guest as frequently as
Bill Bennett or Ann Coulter.
"I don't think I'm on much,
actually," Moore responded.
Moore also thinks that
most young people are ignor-
ing traditional media outlets
and instead getting their news
from satirical programs like
Comedy Central's "The Daily
Show with Jon Stewart." "It's
kind of a sad commentary on
where people get their news,"
Moore said. While not a com-
plete opponent of this grow-
ing trend, he views humor as
a "great way to communicate"
and is "glad it's been redis-
covered," he said.
With the election near,
Moore has his eyes set toward
the future. "I think I am going
to do something on the health
care industry, but my plan
at first is to take it easy for
a while." Furthermore, he
thinks more levity will return
to his work after the election.
"I'll probably get funnier after
Bush is gone. I'm at kind of a
low - a migraine mood right
now," Moore joked.
-Sarah Peterson
contributed to this report.
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