Michael Moore must be going soft. After all, the documentary filmmaker and creator of such liberal broadsides as Bowling for Columbine and Stupid White Men only calls for President Bush's impeachment three times in this latest diatribe against the right wing. Then again, Dude is anything but a free pass for Bush. Using his typical mix of conspiracy theory (the President wants "war without end") and class demagoguery ("the system is rigged"), Moore offers a blistering attack on George W. that will cheer his opponents. Moore's anger can be as overbearing as talk radio—as when this screaming, foaming-at-the-mouth liberal complains about "screaming, foaming-at-the-mouth right-wingers"—but his wit often bails him out. To him, Bush's lies are not mere falsehoods but Whoppers. (The lie about Iraq's chemical and biological weapons is a Whopper with Cheese.) And Moore's use of statistics humorously drives home the insanity of today's paranoia about terrorism. Who knew you were more likely to kill yourself than be killed by fanatics? But Dude is ultimately a bitter polemic designed simply to energize disheartened Democrats. "Get out there and reclaim that country that is truly ours," Moore says, issuing one of a series of calls to electoral arms.
POLITICS
