Filmmaker Michael
Moore's wish list for the 2008 presidential campaign
includes a candidacy by Al Gore and truly universal health
care plans from the current crop of Democratic
candidates.
The liberal
documentary maker, in Washington for the screening of his
latest film Sicko, isn't endorsing anyone just
yet. He's hoping Gore, the 2000 Democratic nominee, can be
drawn into the race.
''He's right on
the health care issue,'' he said Wednesday night. ''He's
right on the environment ,and he was right on the war.''
At least one
Democratic presidential candidate, Rep. Dennis Kucinich of
Ohio, attended the showing along with several other members
of Congress at the Uptown Theatre in Washington.
Moore said
Democratic health care plans either lack specifics or fall
short of his ideal. ''What I've seen I don't like,'' he
said. ''So I'm waiting, like many Americans.''
Moore said the
plan offered by candidate John Edwards--which is both
detailed and far-reaching--''is not good because it
supports putting our tax dollars into private,
profit-making companies.
Barack Obama
''hasn't given us a specific enough plan,'' he said, adding:
Hillary Clinton ''has to come forward with a plan.''
His advice to the
New York senator: ''She needs to apologize for her
votes for the war and she needs to say that she will not
take money from the health industry and in fact
support universal health care for everyone that does
not involve the private profit-making companies.''
Sicko highlights the struggles of ordinary
Americans--some with insurance coverage, others
without--as they navigate the health care
system. Moore compares the system with those of Canada,
France, and the United Kingdom, which have government-run
programs.
''This has been a
difficult film to make because we're dealing with a lot
of people who are sick and a lot of people who have died,
and I don't want this system to kill any more of my
fellow Americans,'' he said.
The filmmaker's
previous films, which include Roger & Me, Bowling for
Columbine, and Fahrenheit 9/11, have targeted
General Motors executives, gun rights supporters and
President Bush and the Iraq War.
Sicko opens nationwide June 29. (AP)
Charlie Kirk DID say stoning gay people was the 'perfect law' — and these other heinous quotes