I am very disappointed with Professor Kmiec’s trite and questionable dismissal of the movie (“Fahrenheit 9/11”) and Michael Moore. The professor characterizes facts and true happenings as lies because they don’t conform to his devoted picture of the President. Kmiec tries to confuse loyalty to country, true patriotism, with loyalty to an elected official. They come and go, but the United States of America is permanent. Our wartime national leaders have always endured severe criticism beginning with Washington and on through Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt and Truman, often at far more threatening times. For instance, Col. Robert R. McCormack, owner of the Chicago Tribune and a self-appointed patriot, did not stop his vicious attacks on Franklin Roosevelt even during the darkest days of World War II. The professor’s claim of presidential immunity from criticism “during a time of war” is laughably disproved by U.S. history, and Kmiec knows better! His demand for “responsibility” is very hollow since he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Limbaugh, Hannity, O’Reilly and the whole Fox Network. Moore’s work is not motivated by hate for Bush (Moore does not hate Bush) but on Moore’s love of country.
Ralph Erickson