Michael Moore speaks at Occupy Denver to a crowd that leaves shortly after
Michael Moore was late. The man whose personality is almost as big as his mouth, and for whom both eclipse his documentaries, was an hour late by the time he reached the unusually large crowd waiting for him at Occupy Denver. By the time he arrived, its size was at least twelve times larger than normal: more than 600 people instead of the 50 typical of 6 p.m. on a weekday. By the time he arrived, a point had already been made, albeit quietly.
Michael Moore.
And when he did appear, the director of Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 wasted little time before presenting a valuable disclaimer. "I am not the spokesperson of this movement," Moore told the crowd. "Everybody is the spokesperson."
Everybody, that is, except for the 1 percent -- a category of people in which Moore might fit more comfortably than the 99, muttered a few while waiting for him. 
Kelsey Whipple Michael Moore speaks to a crowd at Occupy Denver.
"Are you here because you want change or because you want to see Michael Moore?" longtime occupier Pat Marsden shouted to the crowd before the filmmaker arrived. "I love Michael Moore, too, but you should be here more often if you really want change. You should be here every day."
Moore's eventual speech, sandwiched before a book signing at Tattered Cover on Colfax, was as passionate as you'd expect from a man perhaps a little bit more infamous than famous, though it was briefer than you'd hope. He spoke of the realities of the economy, of the faces of the 1 percent -- BP looming large among them -- and the unlikely and impressive success of a movement that has somehow earned the approval of 59 percent of the American people in around six weeks, according to the most recent poll.
"Please know that the rest of the country sees this," he said. "You're not alone. If you remember the other movements, when the Civil Rights movement was six weeks old, it didn't have 59 percent of the American people behind it."
Kelsey Whipple The crowd for Michael Moore's speech swelled to at least twelve times past its normal size.
Write Comment
Email to Friend
Print Article
