Michael Moore Helps His Biggest Nemesis
I know we've been doing a lot of Michael Moore coverage this week, but again, his movie is about to premiere at Cannes (this JUST IN: First Reaction: Michael Moore's Sicko is "brilliant and uplifting"). A lot of people have negative feelings for the political documentary filmmaker. I thought I'd share this story I found in the NY Daily News.
Fans and detractors of Moore know the most popular anti-Michael Moore website on the internet is a site called MooreWatch. The website's tagline is "Watching Moore's Every Move". Webmaster Jim Kenefick recently wrote about the difficulty he was having paying his wife's medical bills. His conservative readership guided him to a cheaper heath plan but that wasn't enough.
"After I posted about finding the plan and what the cost was, someone emailed me and asked if an 'anonymous' benefactor could offer to pay my first year's premiums. $12,000. I was skeptical of course, but since I'm not an idiot, I accepted," wrote Kenefick. "$12,000 was like manna from heaven at that time. As you all may remember, I was being bled dry by the scumbag that used to host the server on which this site resides. My business was almost dead, my wife was very, very ill and I was racking up a few little health problems of my own. That money made it possible for us to begin to turn our lives around."
But who and where did the check come from?
"When the check arrived, I was overly cautious. I tracked the company that issued the check, the bank it was drawn on...I found a hotline you could call to check the status of drafts issued by this third-party company, and the number on the check (actually more like a money order) checked out. I even went so far as to see where the branches of the issuing bank might be physically located, and there are like five of them within walking distance of Moore's home and office in New York City."
The NY Daily News has confirmed that the check was indeed from Kenefick's nemesis, Michael Moore. A man that Kenefick had attacked for years on end.
"I knew he was using me," Kenefick now writes on his blog in an effort to beat Moore to the punch. "I knew he would try to turn this to his advantage some day. That day may be upon us. I was just warned by someone in the know that Moore is about to drop the hammer on me."
Well guess what, Moore isn't commenting on the matter. And I hope it stays that way. I tend to believe that Mike is a good guy, who has helped a lot of people with his films. Does he have an agenda? Who doesn't. Kenefick certainly does:
"If it was you, Mikey...your $12,000 doesn't buy my silence. It won't buy my affection, nor will I shy away from talking about whatever may or may not be in your new film. I'll still be the same guy, expressing my opinion and trying his best to research facts you tend to skip over or ignore. All you bought for your money – if it was yours – was the peace of mind of knowing you actually helped someone who needed it."
Talk about being ungrateful. Talk about turning a nice gesture into a media opp for yourself and your agenda.
First Reaction: Michael Moore's Sicko is "brilliant and uplifting"