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October 26, 2004

Moore Ramen, Michael?

Derk Harron Cartoonist

Filmmaker Michael Moore visited Arizona twice on his 60-city “Slacker Uprising Tour” as he makes an effort to get non-voters to the polls Nov. 2.
Moore was first in Tucson Oct. 11, where he gathered more than 15,000 people at the University of Arizona’s McKale Center. Both left and right-winged political minds showed up for the event, and hundreds of protesters were outside the entrance yelling out their views on Moore and Democratic nominee John Kerry, as I entered the building.
As spectators took their seats, Moore was welcomed by a mixture of heckles and applause. He read a letter he received from an American soldier in Iraq that was published in his new book, “Will They Ever Trust Us Again — Letters from the War Zone” which contains a negative perspective on the war in Iraq.
It was hard for Moore to speak as a small group of protestors kept rudely interrupting him as he covered his own outlook on the first and second debates.
As he spoke to a smaller audience of two thousand Oct. 13, the same day as the third debate, Moore was able to provide more information to listeners at Celebrity Theater in Phoenix.
He was accompanied by two guest speakers: an American veteran of the war on Iraq, and the father of a soldier who died in Iraq.
Both gave touching speeches that brought audience members to tears. As he ended both speeches, Moore also handed out free underwear and ramen noodles to motivate the crowd to go out and vote.
Moore said that his goal is to see over 56 percent of the voting public to vote in this election — something that has not happened since 1968, and I thought Moore did a great job of getting the crowd interested in the coming election by his use of humor.
I hope this tour does motivate Americans who choose not to vote each election, to get off their couches and get involved!