You have to be careful about what you read about Michael Moore. One of the things I was driving at is that most journalists end up selling out in order to survive in their career. Maybe it's a bit harsh to call attempts by people to survive in their job 'selling out' but they sure don't like people who step outside the limits that they have imposed on themselves and I think they are a little too eager to repeat the lies that the US right wing spews out about - for instance most articles you read in the mainstream will repeat the line that he is a 'bit loose with the facts' without providing a shred of evidence.

He has said that Newsweek magazine printed that he had a swanky apartment on Central Park West. He actually has one above a Baby Gap store but as to how flash it is really I don't know. AN interesting point though, Michael Moore is the first left wing dissident (that I know about) to make serious money from what he does so there is no real precedent for how he spends his money although I do know that he operates his own affirmative action program with people he hires and that he usually tries to wring some good deeds out of the movie companies he deals with.

Having heard his views on public education I wouldn't be surprised if he sent his kids somewhere else but I doubt that it is the right-wing style of private school. It's probably more along the lines of a Steiner school like we have here.

Of course all of this means nothing when you're talking about the factual information in his movies and books but it's very hard to get away from discussions of character because it's all we ever get from mainstream media. This also applies to his position on the left-right spectrum, It's not very relevant to the arguement he makes in the movie. To answer your question though, I'm not really sure where his personal politics lie, obviously Russell Brown feels there is some difference but it maybe more to do with their respective levels of respect for authority. I also don't see any evidence that Moore's compromises have affected his work (which is essentially truth-telling) whereas Brown's compromises have clearly affected his work (which was my point)

Moore came out 'backing' Wesley Clark at a time when there were about 4 Democratic challengers left in the running. Basically his view was that Clark was the best of the bunch and perhaps it was at least worth talking to him, however he was very explicit that he was not offering an endorsement.

It's also really important to distinguish between wanting Bush out and supporting Kerry. Both Chomsky and Moore want Bush out for reasons that they explain themselves (and I know that in a two horse race a voter against one is a vote for the other) but I have heard neither of them say a positive word for Kerry. He just happens to be the only other option.

I agree with you that Moore is no left wing guru but what he is doing is bringing a dissident viewpoint to the general public on a scale never seen before. Large numbers of the US public (and NZ too) will go on from here to read his books and visit his website and from there connect up with the Chomsky's of the world and that is a very serious acheivement.

I also don't mind the fact that the new movie has exclusively gone after Bush. It will send a surge of panic through the US elites because untill now it has been them and only them that decided who gets to be president of the USA