# Michael Moore tears CNN a new one **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 10, 2007, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143 "2007-07-10T01:25:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/61 "2007-07-10T18:14:47Z")
[QUOTE=initech] IHe seemed pissed off to me, not a raving lunatic. What behavior made him a raving lunatic? [/QUOTE] Well, maybe I exaggerated a little… 🙂 If you want to go with pissed off, that’s OK with me. He seemed more interested in yelling at CNN and making outrageous claims about them then about discussing the subject at hand. He had to drag the whole Iraq War discussion into an interview that was supposed to be about healthcare. > [@DtC](#): > > This is a fair question on the surface, but my answer is that the leadership and the actual rank and file bulk of the government are two different things. Does GWB make you mistrust the military or the USPS as institutions? Me either. My criticism of Bush is just that – critcism of Bush, not “the Government” as a whole. > > FEMA, for instance, is a great organization and should not be blamed for the NO fiasco. It was Bush who fucked it up by rolling it into Homeland Security and appointing an unqualified corporate crony to run it. The remedy is to monitor the leadership, not to jetison FEMA. You could also use the military as an example. The debacle in Iraq is not an indictment of a state run miltary but of elected civilian leadership (something we have control of). But the fact of the matter is that FEMA has fucked up. And the military has fucked up big time, too. They can smash another army pretty well, but only because we spend massive amounts of money on it. Yes, the government is largely run by career bureaucrats, but the heads of those departments change with every administration and those guys set policy, not the lower level career folks. No matter how you look at it, once you cede control of something to the government, you lose control of it yourself. I can shop around for different insurance coverage, but I can’t shop around for different governments. ---
**Author:** ![initech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/439d5e/32.png) [@initech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/initech)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/62 "2007-07-10T18:19:27Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] He seemed more interested in yelling at CNN and making outrageous claims about them then about discussing the subject at hand. He had to drag the whole Iraq War discussion into an interview that was supposed to be about healthcare. [/QUOTE] That’s true, and it’s obnoxious behavior. But totally worth it to see a tool like Wolf Blitzer get lost in the headlights. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/63 "2007-07-10T18:31:08Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] …I would say that he came across as a raving lunatic, though. Christ almighty what an attention whore that guy is!! I guess it really is a good thing that he went light on his own appearance in his latest film. [/QUOTE] Having watched both clips, we apparently agree on the stupidity of the ‘mockery charge’ – I didn’t hear it anywhere either. However, I complete disagree (what a surprise, right, **John**?) with your above quote. What he actually did, was rightly call Wolf, and the MSM exactly what they are: an extension of the current quasi-democracy that rules your nation. Furthermore, and as promised by MM, here’s a quote from the [alternet site](http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/56446/) (second video): > [@](#): > > \*\*UPDATE: As promised in the video, Michael Moore put up a detailed analysis on his site about how “Sicko” was right and how Dr. Sanjay Gupta and CNN were wrong. [Check it out here.\*\*](http://www.alternet.org/blogs/peek/56459/) Go ahead! Click on it and see if you can refute what he posted. Oh, and BTW, I’ve seen “Sicko.” Great documentary – too bad it won’t do any good for those who refuse to see what is in front of their eyes. Quite a few in this thread actually. And lastly, we have Social Democracies all over the EU and we seem to be doing quite well – despite the traditional American phobia whenever the word “socialism” appears. PS-I’ve said this before, but even as a current non-resident, I have my Spanish universal healthcare card. As someone upthread rightly said, a much better alternative than than the one proposed by the always moderate conservative, **Mr Martin Hyde.** Oh, and we’re ranked 7th in the world too. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/64 "2007-07-10T18:38:42Z")
[QUOTE=initech] That’s true, and it’s obnoxious behavior. But totally worth it to see a tool like Wolf Blitzer get lost in the headlights. 🆒 [/QUOTE] Right on both counts! 😃 And “obnoxious” =! “irrelevant.” The MSM as a whole **deserves** and **needs** that kind of reaming, and Moore would be remiss in his duties to neglect to dish it out at any available opportunity. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/65 "2007-07-10T19:13:30Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] Having watched both clips, we apparently agree on the stupidity of the ‘mockery charge’ – I didn’t hear it anywhere either. However, I complete disagree (what a surprise, right, **John**?) with your above quote. [/quote] See my further comments on that subject. > [@](#): > > What he actually did, was rightly call Wolf, and the MSM exactly what they are: an extension of the current quasi-democracy that rules your nation. That’s an interesting opinion. One that I don’t share. I don’t think it really can proven one way or the other, though. Media bias is as much in the eye of the beholder as it an absolute truth. > [@](#): > > Furthermore, and as promised by MM, here’s a quote from the [alternet site](http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/56446/) (second video): Eh. They’re mainly playing the game of dueling statistics and quibbling over round off errors. For example, to back up his numbers about how much Americans “spend” on healthcare, Moore uses projections, not actual data. I don’t know for sure, but my guess is that Gupta was looking at past numbers as that would easily explain the slight difference in figures they come up with \*\*Kimstu \*\*called it right: Tempest in a teapot on this supposed media scandal. Still, rather than calmly discuss the issue in a rational tone, Moore flew off the handle and played the media victim. Boo hoo hoo for him! :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/66 "2007-07-10T21:09:56Z")
[QUOTE=John Mace] That’s an interesting opinion. One that I don’t share. I don’t think it really can proven one way or the other, though. Media bias is as much in the eye of the beholder as it an absolute truth. [/QUOTE] Just wondering, **John** , is that fence that you spend so much time sitting on made by LZ-Boy? 'cause with all the time you spend astride it, it must be mighty comfy. Bet it has drink holders and a bin for all your remotes. 😉 Seriously now, if even the flag-ship of your “liberal” newspapers in the MSM had to publish a retraction on the way they handled the build-up to the invasion, how could you possibly deny that your MSM in general didn’t just lie down at the feet of your Boy King? [The Times and Iraq](http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/26/international/middleeast/26FTE_NOTE.html?ex=1184212800&en=c2ac778153c95421&ei=5070) – registration possibly required. Though I’m fairly sure we all remember this. > [@](#): > > Over the last year this newspaper has shone the bright light of hindsight on decisions that led the United States into Iraq. We have examined the failings of American and allied intelligence, especially on the issue of Iraq’s weapons and possible Iraqi connections to international terrorists. We have studied the allegations of official gullibility and hype. It is past time we turned the same light on ourselves. > > In doing so — reviewing hundreds of articles written during the prelude to war and into the early stages of the occupation — we found an enormous amount of journalism that we are proud of. In most cases, what we reported was an accurate reflection of the state of our knowledge at the time, much of it painstakingly extracted from intelligence agencies that were themselves dependent on sketchy information. And where those articles included incomplete information or pointed in a wrong direction, they were later overtaken by more and stronger information. That is how news coverage normally unfolds. > > **But we have found a number of instances of coverage that was not as rigorous as it should have been. In some cases, information that was controversial then, and seems questionable now, was insufficiently qualified or allowed to stand unchallenged. Looking back, we wish we had been more aggressive in re-examining the claims as new evidence emerged — or failed to emerge.** > > The problematic articles varied in authorship and subject matter, but many shared a common feature. They depended at least in part on information from a circle of Iraqi informants, defectors and exiles bent on “regime change” in Iraq, people whose credibility has come under increasing public debate in recent weeks. (The most prominent of the anti-Saddam campaigners, Ahmad Chalabi, has been named as an occasional source in Times articles since at least 1991, and has introduced reporters to other exiles. He became a favorite of hard-liners within the Bush administration and a paid broker of information from Iraqi exiles, until his payments were cut off last week.) Complicating matters for journalists, the accounts of these exiles were often eagerly confirmed by United States officials convinced of the need to intervene in Iraq. Administration officials now acknowledge that they sometimes fell for misinformation from these exile sources. So did many news organizations — in particular, this one… – my highlights. More at source. Lame as it was, it rather proves MM’s point. In my opinion of course – which I am keenly aware rarely matches yours. _:::sigh:::_ Sure is taking me a long time to make a Social Democrat out of you…but time’s on my side. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/67 "2007-07-10T21:15:49Z")
[QUOTE=Diogenes the Cynic] He only points out that they have better health care systems than we do. [/quote] But they don’t. That’s too broad a term to use. Maybe they have better health insurance coverage or some such, but it just looks silly if you’re saying that other countries have better hospitals than the US or better medical technology. Those are a part of the “health care system”, and I think that an ingenuous argument would make the proper differentiation. > [@](#): > > Moore is also right that the US media is completely sold out to corporations and, unfortunately, the average American is utterly brainwashed into thinking that captalism = good, socialism = bad. Amazing that people are so mistrusful of the government (an institution which they actually have some control over) yet are as trusting as puppies when it comes to utterly soulless corporations over which they have no control at all. You just knocked down one strawman only to introduce another of your own. Socialism is **objectively** bad, just as Hayek proved. It is incapable of establishing rational market prices. But corporatism is not the same as capitalism. In fact, in a capitalist system, there’d be no rights-bearing entities other than human beings. ---
**Author:** ![Renob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8c91f0/32.png) [@Renob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renob)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/68 "2007-07-10T21:22:44Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] Seriously now, if even the flag-ship of your “liberal” newspapers in the MSM had to publish a retraction on the way they handled the build-up to the invasion, how could you possibly deny that your MSM in general didn’t just lie down at the feet of your Boy King? [/QUOTE] And of course what you forget is that this was a war supported by a large number of liberals. To simply look at how the MSM treated the Iraq war and somehow think that it proves the MSN is “conservative” is pretty wrongheaded. There are plenty of conservatives who opposed the Iraq war and plenty of liberals who supported it. You can’t really use it as a yardstick for political ideology. ---
**Author:** ![Contrapuntal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e274bd/32.png) [@Contrapuntal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Contrapuntal)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/69 "2007-07-10T21:24:56Z")
[QUOTE=initech] He’s delivering it in a mock Indian accent. [/QUOTE] Now that’s just absurd. He puts a little stress on the first syllable of the last name, that’s all. It takes quite a bit more than that to determine an accent. But, again, for the sake of the argument, (and this is a Big Hypothetical,) how is using a mock Indian accent racist? Is it really your contention that Michael Moore was suggesting that people from India are inferior in some way, simply because they are from India? Is “Indian” even a race? ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/70 "2007-07-10T21:31:35Z")
I think to say the war was supported by the liberals is an incomplete concept. To vote against a war that is a huge success would be political suicide. If the war worked out they would been slaughtered. U.S. Grant said that once the guns are armed and fired that history will not remember those that voted against it fondly. I wish they had the guts to stand up. They did not. But to say they backed it is going too far. It was a political calculation that still haunts them. ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/71 "2007-07-10T21:38:16Z")
The EU is basically a free-market zone, Lib, but on the main we are Social Democrats. IOW, many/most of our public institutions are Government-run and it matters not wheter a right or left wing Party takes over – that’s not going to change, e.g., socialized medicine. As for “having better hospitals” and the like? Have you ever been to any of the top five nations in the EU? Have you, for instance heard of [El Instituto Barraquer](http://www.co-barraquer.es/cast/index.htm)? It’s not like we’re practicing 19th Century medicine in Europe you know? And with such a globalized world, any medical advances in either continent don’t take long to reach the “other side.” [World’s ‘best’ health care fatally flawed](http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/eo20070529cc.html) > [@](#): > > One of the most contentious issues of the U.S. presidential campaign will be how to fix what many agree is a malfunctioning health-care system. Adding fuel to the fire is a recent study detailing the shortcomings of the U.S. health-care system compared with those of Australia, Canada, Germany, New Zealand and Britain. > > The study, entitled “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: An International Update on the Comparative Performance of American Health Care,” released by the Commonwealth Fund in New York, finds that not only is the U.S. health-care system the most expensive in the world (double that of the next most costly, Canada) but that it comes in dead last in most measures of performance. > > **Although U.S. political leaders are fond of stating that we have the best health-care system in the world, they fail to add an important caveat: It is the best for those who can afford it. For the rest of the population, disadvantages far outweigh the merits**. > > This new study not only confirms the findings of previous Commonwealth Fund studies but also that of a World Health Organization analysis in 2000: that the overall performance of the U.S. health-care system ranks 37th among all countries included in the analysis. > > \ > > **Americans’ average life expectancy of 78 ranks 45th in the world — behind Greece, Bosnia and Jordan. Also, according to the CIA’s World Fact Book, the U.S. infant mortality rate — deaths of newborns (under age 1) per 1,000 live births — is 6.50, higher than most developed nations. Even Cuba’s IMR is 6.33.** > > **The U.S. lags behind all industrialized nations in health insurance coverage. The most recent data available from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that 46.6 million Americans (about 15.9 percent of the population) had no health insurance coverage during 2005, an increase of 1.3 million over the previous year. It is no wonder that medical bills, overwhelmingly, are the most common reason for personal bankruptcy in the U.S.** > > According to the Children’s Health Fund, 9 million children are completely uninsured in the U.S., while another 23.7 million — nearly 30 percent of the nation’s children — lack regular access to health care. > > **Compared with the other countries studied, the U.S. lags behind in the adoption of information technology and other national policies that promote quality improvement.** Real-time information systems in countries such as New Zealand, Germany and Britain enhance physicians’ ability to monitor chronic conditions and the use of medication, including that prescribed by other physicians. In other countries, experienced nurses monitor chronic conditions, thus easing the physicians’ burden. – highlights mine. More at source. As **Dio** said, it appears that you’ve been brainwashed into believing a falsehood. Hmm…help me out here. When did that happen last? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/72 "2007-07-10T21:42:44Z")
[QUOTE=Renob] And of course what you forget is that this was a war supported by a large number of liberals. To simply look at how the MSM treated the Iraq war and somehow think that it proves the MSN is “conservative” is pretty wrongheaded. There are plenty of conservatives who opposed the Iraq war and plenty of liberals who supported it. You can’t really use it as a yardstick for political ideology. [/QUOTE] Didn’t say they were “conservative,” as much as I implied that they were _lackeys_. And no, I am not sparing Democrats/liberals in the least. Anyone that supported the invasion has a share of the blame IMO. As I’ve often said, the counter-facts were readily available for anyone who wanted to find them. Like the dunce who wrote this post for instance… ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/73 "2007-07-10T21:48:00Z")
PS-Apologies for not highlighting your moniker, **Lib**. ---
**Author:** ![initech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/439d5e/32.png) [@initech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/initech)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/74 "2007-07-10T22:17:26Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] how is using a mock Indian accent racist? Is it really your contention that Michael Moore was suggesting that people from India are inferior in some way, simply because they are from India? Is “Indian” even a race? [/QUOTE] I guess you could say “Asian” instead of Indian, to be strictly accurate (but less clear). Using a mock accent isn’t racist. Using a mock accent as you’re disparaging someone is. How is that not obvious? If I start mocking a hispanic guy by calling his name in a Speedy Gonzales voice, that’s pretty damn racist, don’t you think? ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/75 "2007-07-10T22:33:35Z")
So how do you mock an American? Using a British accent? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/76 "2007-07-10T22:46:29Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] Just wondering, **John** , is that fence that you spend so much time sitting on made by LZ-Boy? 'cause with all the time you spend astride it, it must be mighty comfy. Bet it has drink holders and a bin for all your remotes. 😉 [/QUOTE] Saying that it’s impossible to prove something is not the same as sitting on the fence. The “mainstream media” is an enormous entity, and pointing to one instance where one newspaper felt they didn’t do their investigative duty is an anecdote, **Red** , and nothing more. In the same way, the apology issued by CBS after the 60 Minutes fiasco with the forged documents about Bush doesn’t prove there is some anti-Republican bias in the “mainstream media”. It makes a good soundbite to rail against the mainstream media and claim that it’s just an extension of the government, but that claim is absurd on the face of it. It’s not that I’m sitting on the fence on this issue, it’s that there isn’t a fence in the first place. I’ll take a stance on pretty much any issue any day of the week. What I won’t do is play mental masturbation with conspiracy theories or rest my case on wild assertions that cannot be proved. If you actually read the links in the OP, you can see that Gupta is mainly agreeing with the overall conclusion that Moore is trying to make even if he thinks Moore exaggerates the facts backing it up. Moore didn’t set out trying to present a balanced view of the situation, and nobody expected him to. But he’s a good salesman, and this manufactured outrage of his makes a good advertisement for his movie. Both he and Gupta are going to be on Larry King tonight. I’d watch, but King puts me to sleep… ---
**Author:** ![initech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/439d5e/32.png) [@initech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/initech)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/77 "2007-07-10T22:48:09Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] So how do you mock an American? [/QUOTE] You can’t. We don’t have accents. We speak correctly. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/78 "2007-07-10T23:21:57Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] As **Dio** said, it appears that you’ve been brainwashed into believing a falsehood. [/QUOTE] Actually, the brainwashing drama was tossed out about capitalism, not health care. Unless Dio is using “brainwash” as a synonym for “reading”, he’s mistaken at least about me. And I didn’t mean to imply that every hospital in the US is better than every hospital everywhere else, but only that the notion that US hospitals are in some way inferior to those of other countries is summarily ridiculous. And I don’t think anyone without an already ironclad agendy would buy into it. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/79 "2007-07-10T23:23:56Z")
[QUOTE=initech] It’s very close to the end (during the goodbyes, in fact). [/QUOTE] OK, I listened to the whole thing and he does seem to be affecting a mock Indian accent when he says GOOP-ta just as the recording is ending. He’s laughing as he does that, so I don’t know what he’s trying to communicate. But it was a live interview, so I might cut the guy some slack for that. Not in good taste, though, and I wonder if SG will call him on it tonight. It’s pretty subtle, and easy to miss. ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2007, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143/80 "2007-07-10T23:26:57Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] Actually, the brainwashing drama was tossed out about capitalism, not health care. Unless Dio is using “brainwash” as a synonym for “reading”, he’s mistaken at least about me. And I didn’t mean to imply that every hospital in the US is better than every hospital everywhere else, but only that the notion that US hospitals are in some way inferior to those of other countries is summarily ridiculous. And I don’t think anyone without an already ironclad agendy would buy into it. [/QUOTE] What I meant was that Americans are heavily enculturated to believe that the “free market” is always superior to any state (or “socialist”) controls, not only in practical terms but moral ones as well. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/michael-moore-tears-cnn-a-new-one/411143.md?page=5)