Moore Lies

It's taken two weeks, but Michael Moore has finally responded to the Bloomington Pantagraph's complaint that he doctored images of their newspaper in Fahrenheit 9/11:

A scene early in the movie that shows newspaper headlines related to the legally contested presidential election of 2000 included a shot of The Pantagraph's Dec. 19, 2001, front page, with the prominent headline: "Latest Florida recount shows Gore won election."

The paper says that headline never appeared on that day. It appeared in a Dec. 5, 2001, edition, but the headline was not used on the front page. Instead, it was found in much smaller type above a letter to the editor, which the paper says reflects "only the opinions of the letter writer."

"If (Moore) wants to 'edit' The Pantagraph, he should apply for a copy-editing job," the paper said.

I've found one AP article about Moore's reply in addition to the Pantagraph article (emphasis added):

Further, the letter claims Moore did nothing "misleading" when the headline ("Latest Florida recount shows Gore won election") that originally appeared above a Dec. 5, 2001, letter to the editor was altered in both the font and size of the type for the movie and made to look like a news story from a Dec. 19, 2001, edition of The Pantagraph.

"Baloney," said Pantagraph President and Publisher Henry Bird, in response to the letter.

…

Although offering no apology, the letter from Chatillon, who represents Westside Productions, which produced "Fahrenheit 9/11," did admit the date of The Pantagraph page flashed in the movie "was unfortunately off by a couple weeks." But the mistake "did not make a difference to the editorial point … and was in no way detrimental to (The Pantagraph.)"

"Unfortunately off by a couple weeks"? As if it were an accident? What a Shocking! Outrageous! excuse.

I give credit to the Pantagraph for handling this so gracefully. They didn't threaten or file a lawsuit, they just wrote a letter asking for an apology and $1 in damages. But Moore won't apologize even when he's undisputably caught in a lie. He's an all-around good human being, fabulous role model, and have I mentioned trustworthy?