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I just watched John McCain's speech from the Republican National convention and I thought I would comment on his remarks about Michael Moore before the media frenzy begins.

John McCain referred to Moore as; “a disingenuous film maker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls.”  Funny stuff!  What was funnier was when the four more years chanting began Moore started saying “Two more months.“

First of all a definition of disingenuous for those of you afraid to ask:

SYLLABICATION:	dis·in·gen·u·ous
PRONUNCIATION:	AUDIO: dsn-jny-s     KEY
ADJECTIVE:	1. Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating: “an ambitious, disingenuous, philistine, and hypocritical operator, who … exemplified … the most disagreeable traits of his time” (David Cannadine). 2. Pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated; faux-naïf. 3. Usage Problem Unaware or uninformed; naive.

Now to me it seems like one two and three are pretty different.  Once could assume he meant any definition of the word, but let's assume he meant definition one.  Let's break it down with what I agree or disagree with.

Not straightforward or candid <comment>I really don't think Moore ever hid his agenda from anyone.  He thinks Bush is a dill hole.</comment>; insincere <comment>He seems sincere to be about thinking Bush is a dill hole</comment> or calculating <comment>I'll give that one to you, his movie is not setup to make anyone like Bush so he was calculated in how he presented his data.  Not unlike a convention of a political party or a commercial on TV from Move On, Swift Vets or either campaign</comment>: “an ambitious<comment>Yep.</comment>, disingenuous <comment>Can't comment on this one, we are defining this word and cutting it all up old school.</comment>, philistine<comment>I don't know what that means and I'm tired of dictionary web sites.</comment>, and hypocritical operator <comment>I dunno, maybe he is a flip flopper.  He hasn't flip flopped on his assesment of Bush's dill holiness though.</comment>, who … exemplified … the most disagreeable traits of his time<comment>Yes, he does that so I guess McCain is right</comment>”

Now I have seen the movie everyone is so fired up about (well come to think of it I am starting to get the feeling that the Republicans are the ones most fired up about it), and I have seen the same press coverage of Iraq that everyone else has seen again and again and I think we all have to agree that it has to be somewhere in the middle of these two descriptions.

Maybe Moore and the pro-war republicans could have a meeting where they can let us know what Iraq was really like back then.  For example, in the movie there is footage of Iraqi children flying kites.  Now I am not one to say that there are no kites in Iraq, but I don't think that is an accurate representation of a country.  You can fly kites in Laos as long as you watch for the unexploded cluster bombs from the carpet bombing years ago.  The kite does not make it that good of a place to live.  On the other side I can't imagine there were too many child prisons there either.  If the kiddie prisons were there then maybe they were just more in to discipline than our “time-out” and “let them make their own decision” parenting skills we use here in the states (Kidding! Don't quote this line and comment about it.)

All joking aside I think it's great that we are all a little more fired up about politics than ever.  I'm curious to see what the voting turnout will be this year, no matter who wins I think the country will be stronger when it is done.  More people interested and active can't hurt can it?  So thank you Michael Moore for getting republicans fired up about hating Liberals again by making a bazillion dollars on your movie.  Thank you McCain for drawing more attention to the movie to rile the feathers of our form of democracy.  I'm sure Michael's accountant will thank you too.