READING MICHAEL MOORE'S LIPS

The attack on "a disingenuous filmmaker" appears in the prepared text of Sen. John McCain's speech last night to the Republican National Convention. Did he miscalculate by not knowing, as he claims, that the object of his scorn was in the house? Did he not realize his attack would boomerang, as I believe it did, for the TV audience?

After Republican delegates erupted in chants of "Four more years!" at McCain's mention of the unnamed filmaker, the television cameras caught sight of Michael Moore in the press gallery. Playing the moment with a quick wit, Moore held up two fingers and shot back: "Two more months!" From where I sat, watching the convention on the tube at home, it was impossible to hear Moore's words over the roar of the delegates. But he mouthed them too clearly to miss. It was a powerful riposte, more effective for having to read his lips than actually hearing his words.

Moore was in the press gallery observing the convention for an op-ed column for USA Today. In Monday's column, headlined "The GOP doesn't reflect America," he wrote:

Hanging out around the convention, I've encountered a number of the Republican faithful who aren't delegates. They warm up to me when they don't find horns or a tail. Talking to them, I discover they're like many people who call themselves Republicans but aren't really Republicans. At least not in the radical-right way that George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and Co. have defined Republicans. ...

I've often found that if I go down the list of "liberal" issues with people who say they're Republican, they are quite liberal and not in sync with the Republicans who run the country. Most don't want America to be the world's police officer and prefer peace to war. They applaud civil rights, believe all Americans should have health insurance and think assault weapons should be banned. Though they may personally oppose abortion, they usually don't think the government has the right to tell a women what to do with her body.

Moore's a smart guy. He probably took his cue from Louis Menand. Remember what Menand wrote in The New Yorker last week in his dissection of the electorate? Citing Stanford social scientist Morris Fiornia, as noted here a week ago in WEATHERING THE SHORTCUTS, Menand wrote that there is no culture war among Americans at large, despite polls indicating that the public is polarized into a "red state-blue state" paradigm. Opinions on most hot-button issues do not differ significantly between voters in red states and voters in blue states.

Here's hoping it's true -- because if it is, then "Two more months!" won't be a hope but a prediction.

Postscript: It's odd that Washington Post reporters Mark Leibovich and Paul Farhi make no mention of Moore's riposte in their news story about the attention he drew at the convention. But if you click on the video attached to their story, "McCain Criticizes Moore in Speech," and keep watching, you'll see it: It's unmistakable.