Mark
Your points are well made (and well recieved).
I was not trying to imply that lying is acceptable in his field. To the contrary, I wish that he "lied" or stretched the truth, or did whatever he does, in a more straighforward way, that didn't make it seem like he was hiding the ball or leaving something important out of the picture. If he were more able to be so one-sided, and more able to give credit where it is due, he would have a lot more credibility. I find his points harder to believe (even when they are true) BECAUSE of the fact that he stretches and distorts the truth so often otherwise. My point is that, if he is correct, then he shouldn't need to lie. But he does, which, in my mind, weakens his position.
And Documentarian or not (with or without qualifiers), Moore's movies are not shy about the fact that he has an agenda. The marketing, his comentary, hsi well publicizes political views - all of these acknowlegde the truth that these are op-ed pieces. I guess I was trying to say that, above all else, Moore is a capitalist. He's trying to make money. Without his "slant," his movies would be boring drivel, and the masses would not be attending in droves (or discussing it in off topic forums via the www)
In the end - Moore is not my favorite. I don't, in fact, agree with a lot of his politics. I don't agree with his ambush style of geurilla movie making. But, he makes me laugh, that donut eating fatso! And he makes me think, which is more than can be said for most summer movie fare
