Feud between McCain, Michael Moore intensifies

ST. PAUL — The feud between Sen. John McCain and Michael Moore intensified Tuesday as the liberal filmmaker fired new salvos at the Arizona senator.

Moore posted a long statement on his website that questioned McCain’s commitment to Hurricane Katrina victims, noting a published report about how the senator didn’t visit the Gulf Coast for six months after Katrina devastated the area. Moore did not mention that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) did not go to the Gulf Coast until nearly a year after Katrina struck U.S. land.

{mosads}Moore and McCain have a history. In 2004, McCain referenced Moore in his 2004 convention speech.

Addressing the Iraq war, McCain said, "Our choice wasn't between a benign status quo and the bloodshed of war," adding: "It was between war and a graver threat. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Not our critics abroad. Not our political opponents. And certainly not a disingenuous filmmaker who would have us believe that Saddam's Iraq was an oasis of peace when in fact it was a place of indescribable cruelty, torture chambers, mass graves and prisons that destroyed the lives of the small children held inside their walls."

McCain was referring to Moore’s 2004 documentary, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which was highly critical of President Bush.

Moore attended the 2004 Republican convention, attracting boos from many GOP delegates. At that time Moore was given credentials by USA Today to write a column for the newspaper.

In the new statement on his website, Moore warns his readers not get “all smug and self-righteous” about McCain’s selection of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) to be his running mate.

Moore writes, “Knocking Bush for being a C student only endeared him to the nation of C students. Knock Palin for having kids, for having a kid who's having a baby, for anything that is part of her normalness — a normalness that looks very familiar to so many millions of Americans — well, you do this at your own peril. Assuming she's still on the ticket two weeks from now, she will be a much tougher opponent than anyone expects.”

The McCain campaign and Moore did not comment immediately for this article.