A political premiere
Michael Moore and politics go hand in hand, so when he swung by Washington, D.C.’s AMC Loews Uptown Theatre Wednesday evening to premiere his new documentary, “Sicko,” we had to get his take on the 2008 political campaign already underway.
-On Sen. Hillary Clinton: “She needs to apologize for her votes for the war and she needs to say that she won’t take money from the health industry and, in fact, support universal health care for everyone that does not involve the private, profit-making companies.”
-On Sen. John Edwards’ health care plan: “Edwards’ plan is not good because it supports putting our tax dollars into private, profit-making companies.”
-On. Sen. Barack Obama: “I don’t know enough about him yet.”
-On former Vice President Al Gore: “I’d like to see one person enter the race who hasn’t entered yet: Al Gore. He’s right on the health care issue. He’s right on the environment. He was right on the war.” Moore said that he hasn’t endorsed a candidate for president, but, when asked if he would support Gore’s candidacy were the former veep to run, Moore told Yeas & Nays, “I certainly would consider it.”
But Moore might not want to let Gore learn of this dirty, little secret: Moore’s ride to the premiere was not in a enviromentally-friendly, hyrid car. Moore said he was driven over in “a crew van, that you make movies in.”
Despite the protesters and hecklers at the premiere (“Socialized medicine is Sicko!” was one popular chant), Moore said that he “made this film for everyone.”
“This is not a partisan film,” said Moore. “We need to find a common ground on this issue.” When told that the protesters were calling him a socialist, Moore responded, “Oh really? I’m a Christian. I guess they confuse the two.”
Still, Moore’s not optimistic that legislative action will actually take place. “It’s very hard to get the politicians to act on this issue because they are in the pocket of Big Pharma and Big Health Insurance,” he said. “We have to remove money from our electoral process. We’re going to have a very hard time getting a lot of things passed until we do that.”
“Sicko” hits theaters nationwide June 29.
See additional Yeas & Nays coverage of Mr. Moore’s trip to Washington:
“Moore looking forward to Fred’s next video”
“Conservatives and liberals: Who’s Got The Bigger Stethoscope?”
