Fahrenheit 7/26: Michael Moore: I will crash Kerry's party

[DunbarFC]

Fahrenheit 7/26: Michael Moore: I will crash Kerry's party
By Dave Wedge
Thursday, July 22, 2004

Democrats were abuzz and Republicans aghast yesterday as Bush-hating filmmaker Michael Moore unveiled plans to descend upon, and steal some thunder from, John F. Kerry's hometown nominating party.

Moore will team up with the Democratic presidential primary's chief Bush critic, Howard Dean [related, bio], for one of his three Hub appearances in the first two days of the convention.

Republicans said the ``Fahrenheit 9/11'' creator will reflect poorly as a surrogate for Kerry.

``It's just another example of the pessimism and the conspiracy theories coming from John Kerry [related, bio] and John Kerry surrogates,'' said Kevin Madden, spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign.

``We're seeing a lot of hate and vitriol from this John Kerry celebrity set - Michael Moore, Whoopi Goldberg. It shows that their intent is to frame anger as an agenda.''

Democrats, though careful to say Moore won't outshine Kerry, brimmed with excitement.

``Clearly the star of the week will be Sen. Kerry and Sen. (John) Edwards, but having Michael Moore in Boston to enjoy the events just adds a lot of excitement to everything else going on,'' Massachusetts Democratic Party spokeswoman Jane Lane said.

``I don't see it diminishing the real star of the week, but I think every Democrat in Massachusetts will be thrilled.''

Kerry, whose campaign has gone out of its way to avoid Moore and his movie's controversial claims, wouldn't comment on his appearances.

Moore, who won't be among the 15,000 credentialed Democratic National Convention journalists, will appear at a screening of his ``Fahrenheit 9/11'' at the Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline.

He also will speak Monday to the Congressional Black Caucus.

The CBC, comprised of 39 African-American members of Congress, was prominently featured in ``Fahrenheit 9/11,'' complaining that Bush ``stole'' the 2000 election.

``We're like minds. He shares that focus of bringing in a new leadership,'' CBC spokeswoman Candace Tolliver said. ``We're happy to have him.''

The private screening in Brookline will be for members of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, including 150 DNC delegates.

As if hundreds of Dems and anarchists wasn't enough, now we get this.

Stock up on the bottled water and SPAM, chaos is a comin !