The real Michael Moore

Working-class hero image is carefully scripted

Michael Moore's success as a filmmaker and "working-class hero" is part of a carefully crafted image that bears little connection with reality, finds author Peter Schweizer in his new book "Do As I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy."
Don't be fooled by the scraggly beard, the baggy jeans, the plaid shirts and the baseball caps, explains Schweizer.

Don't be fooled by his claim to be from the working-class town of Flint, Mich., he writes.

Don't be fooled by his various claims to have made no more than $19,000 a year, $15,000 a year or $12,000 a year before his first hit, "Roger & Me," the author says.

In fact, Moore didn't even grow up in Flint, but rather nearby Davison. His father was not the working stiff struggling to make ends meet that he portrays, but a General Motors employee who worked from 6 a.m. until 2 p.m. and played golf every afternoon at a private country club and who had four weeks of paid vacation and retired comfortably at the age of 53.

Before "Roger & Me" hit it big in 1989, Moore had already received an advance from a New York publisher for $50,000, another $50,000 from Mother Jones magazine upon termination as an editor and a $20,000 grant from Ralph Nader. After "Roger & Me," he became fabulously wealthy by nearly any standard.

When Moore flew to London to be interviewed by the BBC or to promote a film, he flew the Concorde and stayed at the Ritz. But, according to the book, he would also keep a room at a cheap hotel down the street where he would meet with journalists to maintain his image as a "man of humble circumstances."

His 10-acre, waterfront home today is on Michigan's Torch Lake, one of the three most beautiful lakes in the world, according to National Geographic. He was accused by authorities of despoiling a wetland � just like many of the greedy, robber-baron land-grabbers he criticizes � when he tried to expand his private beach.

Moore also owns a penthouse in New York City. That was his official residence until 2003 when he switched to Michigan. That coincided with the success of "Bowling for Columbine," which brought him millions in profits � profits that would have been taxed at a rate of 7.7 percent in New York, as opposed to 3.9 percent in Michigan, saving him hundreds of thousands of dollars.

One of the secrets to Moore's success, writes Schweizer, is his virulent anti-Americanism, which has wide appeal abroad. Moore, for instance, has sold twice as many books in Germany alone as he has sold in the U.S.

"Moore's books and films sell well overseas because anti-Americanism is a popular idiom," writes Schweizer. "Says Andrian Kreye of Munich, Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung, 'German readers feel safe regurgitating anti-Americanism so long as it's an American who says it first.'"