The Daily Background
| GOP Presidential hopeful Fred Thompson refuses health care debate with Michael Moore
by Arlen Parsa
After becoming the butt of criticism from possible Republican presidential hopeful Fred Thompson, filmmaker Michael Moore has swung back at the former Senator turned television star, and challenged him to a public debate.
Thompson wrote in the May second issue of the conservative magazine The Weekly Standard: “It always leaves me shaking my head when I read about some big-time actor or director going to Cuba and gushing all over Castro.”
Thompson, himself a “big-time actor” known for his role on Law & Order, was referring to Moore, who had taken about ten 9/11 heroes to Cuba earlier this year in order to get them health care the Bush Administration refused to provide them with. The stunt, which has already stirred up controversy, will be included in Moore’s next film “SiCKO,” an exposé which has the health care industry worried (”SiCKO” will be released in theaters on June 29th).
Moore responded in a letter sent to Thompson and published on his website Tuesday. “You, like the Bush Administration, seem far more concerned about the trip to Cuba than the health care of these 9/11 heroes,” he alleged. Moore also noted that Thompson, while criticizing Moore for going to Cuba in a trip that might benefit Fidel Castro, is himself a big purveyor of Cuban cigars– having “boxes upon boxes” of them in his office.
“While I will leave it up to the conservatives to debate your hypocrisy and the Treasury Department to determine whether the “box upon box of cigars†violates the trade embargo,” said Moore, who himself is under investigation by the Department of Treasury for his Cuba trip, “I hereby challenge you to a health care debate.”
Moore, joking that he had been a winner of the Detroit Free Press Debate Award in the 1970s, suggested that the debate’s winner could be chosen by a vote similar to the way that American Idol is determined. He also suggested that the two could discuss Thompson’s ties to the health care industry, including the hundreds of thousands of dollars he took from lobbyists as a Senator, and his advocation of cutting AIDS research.
“The winner of our health care debate could even light a victory cigar with one of your Montecristos (though we may want to consider shipping them to the safe house where I have put a master copy of SiCKO in the event that the Bush Administration tries to seize the film),” Moore said.
Thompson declined Moore’s invitation to debate, through a 38 second video posted online, Tuesday. “You know, I’ve been looking at my schedule Michael, and I don’t think I have time for you,” Thompson said, smoking a Cuban cigar. Below is a copy of Thompson’s video:
In his video response, Thompson referenced Cuban poet/documentarian Nicolás Guillén, whom he also referenced in a May 3rd column on the conservative website Town Hall. In that column, Thompson suggested that Guillén was given “electroshock treatments” by the Cuban government for using a Beatles song in one of his films (Guillén was actually accused of trying to assassinate Castro).
What Fred did is called “Putting the dog in its placeâ€, and he did it extremely well.
The Apache have a saying: “The coyote howls insults yet he is a coward, the puma screams insults and yet he is brave.”
Moore is a coyote as are you.
I would have loved to to have been able to challenge you to tell Nicolás Guillén to his face that the treatment he received by Castro’s thugs was only a suggestion, but Nicolás has gone on beyond such insults.
On second thought I am glad I can’t offer such a challenge, because you would have more than likely done it and the man had suffered enough.
The difference between the Left and the Right is that when the Islamic extremists come for likes of you and Moore we will do our best to cover even your sorry asses, while you will be more than will to make deals to sell us out.
I’m amazed at how unwilling conservatives are to talk about real issues, and how eager they are to dodge serious topics and instead revert to the politics of name-calling, fear, and distraction.
While Moore is making important points about health care, Thompson goes off topic in attacking him. When Moore challenged Thompson to a debate about the real issue– health care– Thompson goes off topic again and tries to distract people.
Your comment has absolutely nothing to do with health care; you’re just echoing Thompson’s technique of going off topic and attacking me for being a “coyote” and “selling us out” to “Islamic extremists.”
The point was that Thompson was calling Moore a hypocrite and a liar and you can not have an honest debate with either.
As for your taking umbrage by my calling you a ‘coyote’, I judge you by your own words when you called Nicolás Guillén treatment by the Castro goverment a ’suggestion’.
Funny how liberals will believe even the wildest accusations of wrong doing by the United States, while completely ignoring those of a admired leftist goverment.
But what really proved my point was when you added the charge that even if Nicolás Guillén did recieve such treatment it was deserved because he had been accused of trying to assassinate Castro.
Even the ‘evil’ United States goverment does treat those covicted much less those accused of trying to kill our leaders, ask John Hinckley.
That said I continue to stand by my statement that
you are a ‘coyote’, a coward, because you would stand by and allow a man to be treated as Guillén and you would say nothing, you would justify the fact that others say nothing and damn someone who would speak-up against such a injustice merely becuase you do not like them or their politics.
… Did you read what I said? This is about health care. Health care. Health. Care. Health care.
Not Nicolás Guillén or whoever the fuck you’re a huge fan of.
Health care. If you want to go complain about Cuba, go complain about it somewhere else.
Moore was trumping Cuba’s health care systems as being superior to the one in the US. My question is do you befriend a country and promote their healthcare system when they use that healthcare system to torture political prisoners? Appearently in your world you do. The fact that you have no idea who Nicolás Guillén shows that you know even less about the subject of Cuba it’s goverment and it’s conduct in general.
Again the subject was Moore’s claim of the supiority of the Cuba HEALTHCARE system over the one here in the US. Thompson was saying that any system no matter how good it is that is used to torture people can not be consider superior by any person of principle.
First, it’s abundantly clear that the Cuban health care system is treating Cubans better than the American one treats Americans.
The White House has authorized torture themselves, and people have been tortured in our name during the last few years, so why is that of less concern to you than torture committed in another country decades ago?