Oscar-Winning Filmmaker and Best-Selling Author Michael Moore Is July's Playboy Interview
June 14 2004 - 4:35PM
PR Newswire (US)
Oscar-Winning Filmmaker and Best-Selling Author Michael Moore Is
July's Playboy Interview Provocateur Moore Discusses Bush's IQ,
Hillary Clinton's Sex Appeal, Hiring Israelis to Kill Osama Bin
Laden and Why Oprah Should be President NEW YORK, June 14
/PRNewswire/ -- Michael Moore, Playboy's July Interview (issue on
newsstands now), is ready to stir up national controversy once
again as he prepares for the U.S. release of his new film
Fahrenheit 9/11 -- a scathing indictment of the government's
post-September 11th actions. "The tragedy was a bonanza for the
[Bush] administration," Moore tells Playboy. "Immediately after the
dead were buried, Bush's people realized they had a golden
opportunity." With his controversial film due in theaters June 25,
the filmmaker discusses his latest movie and enhances his
reputation as the left's most outspoken provocateur by attacking an
amazing array of topics. Following are selected quotes from Moore's
July Playboy Interview conducted by contributing editor David
Sheff: On Bush's intelligence: "He is not a very bright man. Like a
lot of people who aren't very bright, he knows the best way to get
ahead is to be around smart people. That's survival instinct, not
brains." On the ties between the Bush and Bin Laden families: "If
you tell Americans the Bushes have been in business with the Bin
Ladens for years, they think you're a lunatic. But then, why would
Bush allow a Saudi jet to fly around the country to pick up all the
Bin Ladens -- relatives of the number one suspect in a mass killing
-- so they could get out of the country the week after 9/11?" On
meeting Howard Dean: "My wife and I went to meet with Howard Dean
with the idea of supporting him. We brought our checkbook. But we
weren't in the room with him five minutes when we thought, Geez,
this guy is kind of a prick. We didn't write the check." On why
Oprah should be President: "The Democrats need to start thinking
like the Republicans. Who is our Reagan? Who is our Schwarzenegger?
Oprah would be a perfect president. She's got good politics. She's
got a good heart. She'll have us up Jazzercising at six in the
morning and reading books. How can that be bad for the country?" On
the title of Fahrenheit 9/11: "[It's] the temperature of hysteria
that has allowed the Bush administration to get away with a series
of unconscionable acts since 9/11. They used the 3,000 victims of
the terrorist attack as a cover to enact their own right-wing
agenda." On hiring Israelis to kill Osama bin Laden: "They're
better at this sort of thing than we are. I don't support
assassination, but let's face facts. Israel wanted to kill the
Hamas leader, Sheik Ahmed Yassin, and they took him out....Get the
culprits, not their neighbors and people who look like them." On
O'Reilly and Fox News: "They're preaching to the converted. Only 1
million to 2 million people watch Fox News at any given time. Let's
not waste our time worrying about something as irrelevant as Fox
News. If you have cable, it's a great thing to tune in to for a
laugh....O'Reilly is a cartoon. Neil Cavuto is all pompous
sincerity. Ann Coulter's trip is an act." On gay marriage: "Here's
what I want to know about gay marriage: Has anybody told the gays
and lesbians what marriage is? We married people are all sitting
here asking, 'Why are they so damn eager to do this?'" On his
attraction to Hillary Clinton: "I've always been attracted to
her....Hillary is not uptight at all. She's got a great sense of
humor. She's got the best laugh. She's feisty. I like women who are
strong and smart." On Republicans "wasting" time trying to impeach
Clinton in the 1990's: "Clinton was particularly horrific to them
because he represented the guy in high school who got all the
babes. It drove them crazy. If you're Newt Gingrich, Dennis
Hastert, Trent Lott or any of those guys, you remember well who the
Bill Clinton was in your high school. Those guys never got to go
out with the cheerleaders. In fact they had to become cheerleaders
-- literally in the cases of Bush and Lott." DATASOURCE: Playboy
Enterprises, Inc. CONTACT: Jay Jay Nesheim of Playboy Enterprises,
Inc., +1-212-261-4933,
Copyright