WASHINGTON — Sans video camera, filmmaker Michael Moore on Tuesday turned his megaphone on the current health care system and those Blue Dog Democrats he claims are “dogging” the health care debate.
Moore, an advocate of a single-payer, government-run health care system, called the current setup “cruel,” and said that two-thirds of Americans support a single-payer system and would punish those Democrats who steer the conversation away from that option.
“We will come to your districts and we will work against you,” Moore said to those Democrats he claims are driving the health care debate away from a single-payer, government-run option. (Markham Heid/MNS)
“To the Democrats in Congress,” Moore said, “find your spine. Read the polls. And see us coming.”
The contentious documentarian, speaking to a crowd at the offices of the nonprofit consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, said he is using the media attention surrounding his new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story,” to push the single-payer health care debate forward.
When asked why the single-payer option has fallen by the wayside of the health care debate in Washington, Moore said Democrats “haven’t felt the heat.”
Moore went on to call out liberal voters, who he said lacked the motivation of Republicans and “wouldn’t get up at 6 a.m.” like their conservative counterparts.
“There’s a lot of anger out there that’s simmering beneath the surface,” Moore said, which the Democrats have yet to tap into.
Echoing President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s famous words regarding associations between the military and private business, Moore took aim at what he called the “Health Care Industrial Complex.”
The filmmaker also applauded President Barack Obama on several fronts, but said the president needs to “hit the reset button and go back to the drawing board” with the health care debate.
When asked why people have not become more vocal in support of a single-payer option in lieu of the current health care legislation debate on Capitol Hill, Moore said, “That changes this Friday” (when his new film is set to be released).