Michael Moore Denies He Owned Halliburton

Assuming this is true (the sources are Newsmax and author Peter Schweizer) then it would be really funny if it weren't so sad. Look, I don't begrudge Michael Moore his living. If he wants to portray himself as this everyman advocate for the working class while actually being a rich and allegedly pompous film maker, then I say God bless him. Vince McMahon can promote himself as one character while actually being another so why can't Michael Moore? Frankly, it's up to the audience to decide whether Moore's message is worth listening to. It's not his responsibility to be anything but entertaining to those who pay for his services.

So what exactly is my problem?

My problem is his apparent need to lie about himself. The evidence showing he owned Halliburton stock is an IRS statement for Pete's sake. At some point you need to acknowledge the elephant in the room. Going back to the Vince McMahon comparison, when they (as much as they could) gave the audience a wink and more or less admitted that "pro-wrestling" was a show with pre-determined winners rather than "real" competition, then it became the audiences responsibility to suspend disbelief long enough to enjoy Vince's product. And what happened next? The WWE did the best business it had ever done to date with characters that ranged from the living dead (The Undertaker) to a character that once showed up to a show driving a beer truck and proceeded to douse his boss, his bosses son and the current champion (Vince and Shane McMahon, and The Rock). Contrary to popular belief, trusting the audience did not bring an end to the business, it only made it stronger.

This thesis would also work for Moore. There's no reason to protect his gimmick when you really think about it. Angry kids need a spokes person. I saw his latest propaganda piece in a NY theater with young and old alike on opening day last year, trust me - those people would not have cared if Michael Moore were Dick Cheney's illegitamate son. They like his message, even when what he's saying is so far from the realm of belief it actually resembles Monday Night Raw. These people accept Michael Moore warts and all because they want somebody to speak for them. Raise their issues. Be their standard bearer. Frankly, do the work for them.

Moores fans all know he is a rich person. They all know he's not this working class character he's portrayed on TV. So what? The audience also knows that the Undertaker isn't really the living dead but that doesn't stop them from rooting for him whenever he has a match. I think that if Moore has a message that is worth promoting, he shouldn't have to lie about himself, in the face of apparent federal evidence stating the opposite of what he is claiming. He should embrace it. Tell people he's a radical socialist and that corporations are bad. I believe he actually did this in the documentary, "The Corporation," when he uttered something about being sponsored by the corporations he was fighting against.

Great! So what's the problem here? Admit you own the stake and then say you do it to use the "Corporations" own money against them. That's even better gimmick than a wrestling white rapper! Maybe I'm old fashioned but wouldn't it only serve Moore's interest if the man showed even a modicum of integrity?

Anyway, here's the story from NewsMax.com:

Bush-bashing filmmaker Michael Moore is denying he ever owned stock in Halliburton Energy Services Company, the oil equipment giant once run by Vice President Dick Cheney that has become anathma to left-wingers.

Speaking last week at the first annual Paul Wellstone Memorial Dinner in Washington, D.C., Moore claimed that the Halliburton allegation in Peter Schweizer's blockbuster new book "Do As I Say, [Not As I Do]," is "crazy."

"Michael Moore own Halliburton stock?" the anti-corporate lefty asked the crowd. "See, that's like a great comedy line. I know it's not true - I mean, I've never owned a share of stock in my life."

Moore protested: "Anybody who knows me knows that, you know - who's gonna believe that? Just crazy people are going to believe it - crazy people who tune-in to the Fox News Channel."

And maybe crazy people who can read with their own eyes the tax return for Mr. Moore's very own foundation - as reprinted in Schweizer's book.

The bestselling author reports:

"Publicly, Moore claims that he doesn't invest in the stock market out of moral principle. Privately, he tells the IRS something completely different."

Schweizer explains how the widely acclaimed anti-corporatist set up a private foundation after his first major film, "Roger & Me," started making serious money.

In 1999, "the year Moore claimed in 'Stupid White Men' that he didn't own any stock, he reported to the IRS that his foundation had more than $280,000 in corporate stock and close to $100,000 in corporate bonds."

"And in perhaps the ultimate irony," notes Schweizer, "he also has owned shares in Halliburton. According to IRS filings, Moore sold Halliburton for a 15 percent profit and bought shares in Noble, Ford, General Electric" and other allegedly evil corporations.

Moore is currently working on a documentary attacking big pharmaceuticals.

But Schweizer discovered that Moore's foundation holdings have "included such evil pharmaceutical and medical companies as Pfizer, Merck, Genzyme, Elan PLC, Eli Lilly, Becton Dickinson and Boston Scientific."

Schweizer continues:

"Moore's supposedly nonexistent portfolio also includes big bad energy giants like Sunoco, Noble Energy, Schlumberger, Williams Companies, Transocean Sedco Forex and Anadarko, all firms that 'deplete irreplaceable fossil fuels in the name of profit' as he put it in ‘Dude, Where's My Country?'

"Also on Moore's investment menu: defense contractors Honeywell, Boeing and Loral."

Does Moore share the stock proceeds of his "foundation" with charitable causes, you might ask?

Schweizer found that "for a man who by 2002 had a net worth in eight figures, he gave away a modest $36,000 through the foundation, much of it to his friends in the film business or tony cultural organizations that later provided him with venues to promote his books and film."

Moore's hypocrisy doesn't end with his financial holdings.

He has criticized the journalism industry and Hollywood for their lack of African-Americans in prominent positions, and in 1998 he said he personally wanted to hire minorities "who come from the working class."

In "Stupid White Men," he proclaimed his plans to "hire only black people."

But when Schweizer checked the senior credits for Moore's latest film "Fahrenheit 911," he found that of the movie's 14 producers, three editors, production manager and production coordinator, all 19 were white. So were all three cameramen and the two people who did the original music.

On "Bowling for Columbine," 13 of the 14 producers were white, as were the two executives in charge of production, the cameramen, the film editor and the music composer.

His show "TV Nation" had 13 producers, four film editors and 10 writers – but not a single African-American among them.

And as for Moore's insistence on portraying himself as "working class" and an "average Joe," Schweizer recounts this anecdote:

"When Moore flew to London to visit people at the BBC or promote a film, he took the Concorde and stayed at the Ritz. But he also allegedly booked a room at a cheap hotel down the street where he could meet with journalists and pose as a ‘man of humble circumstances.'"

Michael Moore, that's not "crazy" -- that's hypocrisy with a capital H!