From the Hypocrite Files: Michael Moore and Capitalism

The expression "You can never be too rich or thin" is one he doesn't know.

Having Michael Moore make a movie about the evils of capitalism is like having Al Gore pitch a diet plan… neither makes sense.  So how has the TV star and filmmaker done financially over the years?  Pretty well:

Documentary film director Michael Moore, who has become a millionaire thanks to the profits from his movies, told CNSNews.com that “capitalism did nothing” for him.

CNSNews.com spoke with Moore on the red carpet at the Uptown Theatre in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night before the premiere of his upcoming documentary, “Capitalism: A Love Story.”

CNSNews.com asked: “Critics may say, when they see this movie, Michael Moore has amassed a fortune of over $50 million, some have said and –”

Moore said:  “Really? Are you kidding me? Seriously? Wow. Where did it go?”

CNSNews.com then asked Moore: “Critics would say he’s [Moore] been very successful under a capitalist system. How would you justify making a movie where you paint capitalism as evil?”

Moore said: “Well, capitalism did nothing for me, starting with my first film.”

According to Fortune Magazine, Moore’s films have grossed over $300 million worldwide. His highest grossing film was “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which critiques the Bush administration’s handling of the war in Iraq and earned over $200 million worldwide.

Moore reportedly was paid $21 million by Disney for producing, directing and creating the film.

Moore also earned 50 percent of the profits of his 2007 film “Sicko,” totaling $25 million plus DVD sales, according to Vanity Fair

reported that Moore would receive all of the profits made from DVD sales of “Sicko,” sales of which have been estimated at over $17 million.

Some more details about Mr. Moore’s “working class” life:

He lives in a million-dollar apartment, and boasts of that as well. “I walk among them. I live on the island of Manhattan, a three-mile-wide strip of land that is luxury home and corporate suite to America’s elite….. Those who run your life live in my neighborhood. I walk in the streets with them each day” (Michael Moore, Stupid White Men, p. 51). For vacations, he keeps another million-dollar beachfront house in Michigan.

He sends his child to a private school — no sense associating with the working class — and has some trouble associating with them himself. The New York Post reported on a tantrum he threw in London: “Then, on his second-to-last night, [Michael Moore] raged against everyone connected with the Roundhouse and complained that he was being paid a measly $750 a night. ‘He completely lost the plot,’ a member of the stage crew told the London Evening Standard. ‘He stormed around all day screaming at everyone, even the 5 pound-an-hour bar staff, telling them how we were all con men and useless. Then he went on stage and did it in public.’ At his last appearance, staffers refused to work or even open the theater’s doors.” NY Post, Jan. 8, 2003.

He supplements his meager income with speaking tours. No more $750 gigs; on his 2004 pre-election tour he charged Utah Valley State College $40,000, Xavier $25,000, and University of New Mexico $35,000. Not bad for an hour or two’s work.

Ah, the joys of capitalism….

One of his former associates summed him up: ” You would think that he’s the ultimate common man. But he’s money-obsessed.”

There will be some suckers who will see his film, and then there’ll be liberals who will write many postings on their blogs about all of the “facts” he uses.

But will any of them realize it is they who are the fools quoting a multi-millionaire talking about the evils of capitalism… that system that made him rich?

Figures Moore, like Gore, are Liberal heroes.

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1. Posts about Politics as of September 13, 2009