Nicholas F. Benton's White House Report

In author David Brock's preface to the 2002 second edition of his seminal work on the radical right in Washington, D.C., Blinded By the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative, he presented the strongest case for the credibility of everything he revealed in his scathing expose. That is, he reported, after a full year since the release of his book, there had been veritably no refutation of anything of substance that he revealed.

He provided a detailed accounting of all things that were said in newspapers and on radio and TV talk shows. Aside from sweeping dismissals and nit-picking disputes of marginal details, there was no effort to discredit or refute the work, point-by-point. Given how damaging his revelations were, potentially, to the deeply interwoven web of deceit that constituted the neo-conservative movement, one would have expected someone to rip the book apart. No one did. No one has to this day.

So with Michael Moore's movie, "Fahrenheit 911." Waiting almost a month since its release to comment, this reporter has scoured the media to find credible, systematic rebuttals, refutations, denials or even allegations of slander or libel and threats of lawsuits. There have been none, not to this day.

All there have been are vague, sweeping denunciations and charges of partisanship, or critiques of the cinematic technique. Some mealy-mouthed sycophants have whined that it's just not right to call the president a liar. But no one has effectively countered the hard contents of Moore's work, even as radical as his implied argument might be.

And talk about lying, there are some things that do not lie. They include motion pictures, including footage in "Fahrenheit 911" that turns stomachs, not only of the horrors of war in Iraq, but of the painful ineptitude of our commander-in-chief. These pictures do not lie and leave the sensitive viewer profoundly troubled.

"It's just not that simple," some have contended, dismissing the work as partisan political propaganda.

On the contrary, as much as some would try their best sophistry to make all things seem too complex for average minds to comprehend, some things in life are very simple, indeed, including some of the most important things.

Try the footage in the documentary of President Bush speaking at a black-tie fundraiser, remarking: "I want to thank you, the `Haves,' and the `Have Mores.' You are my base." Believe it. Believe it has very much to do with why President Bush won't condescend to speak to the NAACP National Convention among many other plain and simple things.

Put that footage, as Moore has so deftly done, alongside that of aggressive Marine recruiting techniques for Iraq cannon fodder in Flint, Michigan, and similar pockets of chronic poverty, high unemployment and despair.

Mr. Moore has done a great service to mankind with this documentary. Without a doubt, it is probably more than most Americans can absorb in one sitting. Audiences are so used to seeing fantastical conspiracy fiction on the screen that for many, it is hard to distinguish all this as fact, as actually real.

Even for the Washington, D.C., political professionals, the movie is amazingly intense and laced with terrible connections and logic – such as the documented links between the Saudi Royal family, with its bin Laden ties, and the Bush family and the stunning rationale that links that to the invasion of Iraq.

Imagine, then, its impact on blithe spirits abroad in the land, naive to the tangled web of selfish self-interest that passes so often for public interest in U.S. politics, and its horrible consequences on the innocent victims of unprovoked aggression and war.

But what's important is that these folks are seeing this movie by the millions, and even more are being told about it. It may take awhile, but as its impact sinks in, expect the result to be explosive. Ten of millions in the privacy of their polling booths on Election Day in November will see the image of President Bush's seven-minute catatonic reaction to the attacks of Sept. 11 in that kindergarten classroom issue forth in their minds.

"Is that my president?," they will think. "Are you kidding?"