I Would Have Posted About This Earlier, But I Was Drunk

Micheal Moore came by Camden last Monday (on my bithday no less!) and I've been meaning to post my thoughts about it, but I've had a lot on my mind lately and I wasn't sure exactly what about it I wanted to specifically mention.

First, some logistical things. The show was at the Tweeter Center in Camden, New Jersey, which is right across the river from Philadelphia. According to my local friends, numerous performers at the Tweeter introduce their shows with a rousing "Good evening Philadelphia!" which, considering Camden's status as a post-industrial meltdown city, is potentially offensive. Moore knew where he was though, and even compared Camden to his hometown Flint and Rutgers - Camden to his own University of Michigan - Flint Campus ("In New Brunswick Rutgers is just Rutgers, but in Camden it's always Rutgers - Camden"). The show was supposed to start at eight, but people really trickled in slowly, so they didn't start until closer to nine, which will be more important later.

The show was what you'd expect from Micheal Moore, that is, a lot of funny, a lot of complaining about both sides of the aisle, and a lot of invective and troop rallying against Bush and it was all good. A big target for Moore were all the "liberals" out there hand-wringing about how Kerry isn't the most exciting candidate ever. The Republicans don't do this, he says, they're sharks; always moving forward, always on the attack. We need to stop whining and just do the job before us, that is, beating the shit out of Bush. This goal shouldn't be as hard as we're making it either, Moore tells us, because when you poll on the issues only around 30% of Americans identify with the Republican platform. We've just got all the slackers on our side (which is good because "they get us the best 'stuff'"), but we shouldn't be pissed off at them, we just need to figure out a way to motivate them.

Moore had a list of advice for the Kerry campaign, but in the interest of fair play, he also had a series of campaign comercials that he made for the Bush campaign, which was the real "Big Funny" of the show. He said they would be put up on his website, but I can't seem to find them. For a brief moment there I considered trying to explain them here, but then I realized that that would pretty much rob any humor in there, so just wait your asses till they're online.

The show wrapped up with a focus on voter registration and turnout and Mike brought a number of people up on stage to register right then and there, which was pretty cool. All in all it was a great show, and you should check to see if his tour is coming near where you all are at. Rutgers subsidized the show, so my tickets were free, but it'd still be worth it if they hadn't been.