Letter to the Editor

Movie hurts Bush re-election bid

To the editor:

I attended the very first showing of "Fahrenheit 9/11" in the Cape Girardeau area. I came away with a gleeful sense of certainty that Michael Moore, the maker of this documentary, has effectively driven a stake through the heart of President Bush's re-election campaign. The more who see the movie, the bigger the margin of victory will be.

"Fahrenheit 9/11" shows that the businessman George W. Bush imitated King Midas -- except every business venture Bush touched went south. Of course, there was a long procession of wealthy investors always ready with an infusion of cash to prop him up.

Is it any wonder that the public version of a recent government report on terrorism was redacted so that a certain nation was not mentioned by name? (Consider what "Moby Dick" would have been like if someone had deleted all references to whales.) The movie goes into the semantic shenanigans employed by the Bush administration for the purpose of deliberately leaving the impression, in the minds of typical U.S. citizens, that there was a connection between the regime of Saddam Hussein and the al-Qaida-caused catastrophe of Sept. 11, 2001.

Some will say that President Bush has not been treated fairly. True. He has not been treated fairly by his adherents, who have bent over backward trying to make his "Original Amateur Hour" administration look like professionals -- which they just ain't, no way, no how.

DONN S. MILLER

Tamms, Ill.