With "Fahrenheit 9/11," now McDermott is Rep. "Hollywood"

By Alex Fryer
Seattle Times Washington bureau

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The eight-term Democrat from Seattle has more than a cameo appearance in the Michael Moore film "Fahrenheit 9/11," a not-so-objective look at the Bush administration's war on terrorism following the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks.

While McDermott is enjoying all the attention after the June 25 premiere, those who think of him as an out-of-touch liberal now have more ammunition, and the White House is clearly not pleased with his performance.

An assistant to Moore in New York said McDermott was chosen as one of a handful of lawmakers to appear in the film because of his background as a Navy psychiatrist and his opposition to the Patriot Act.

Interviewed by Moore for about 90 minutes last March in his Capitol Hill office, McDermott, among other charges, claimed the Bush administration purposely kept the public confused and frightened by manipulating the threat level.

"You can make people do anything if they are afraid," he says in the movie. "They played us like an organ. They raised the (threat level) to orange, then up to red, and they dropped it back to orange. I mean, they gave these mixed messages, which were crazy-making."

In fact, the Department of Homeland Security has never raised the threat level to red, which is considered a "severe risk of terrorist attack."

The movie has grossed more than $85 million, making McDermott a quasi-celebrity around here.

"I've never had anything happen like this," said the lawmaker, first elected to Congress in 1988. "I was as surprised as anybody."

A Capitol Hill security guard now calls McDermott "Hollywood" and asks for his autograph. Former Washington state Gov. Booth Gardner telephoned his congratulations. A group of Sen. John Kerry's supporters in Minnesota recently invited McDermott to a fund-raiser that featured local rock bands.

And McDermott will headline a rally of young activists at the Democratic National Convention next week.
 
But the film, and McDermott, have their detractors.

Republicans say neither Moore nor McDermott is interested in the truth, and the movie is mean-spirited propaganda.

Although most of the mail to McDermott's Capitol Hill office has been supportive, the Internet is brimming with criticism. Several Web sites and chat rooms focused on McDermott's trip to Iraq in 2002 and his acceptance of money from a Detroit businessman who received lucrative oil vouchers from the regime of Saddam Hussein. McDermott later returned $5,000 to the businessman, Shakir al-Khafaji.

One writer in a conservative news forum called McDermott one of the "biggest wackos ever elected to Congress."

And McDermott is left wondering whether his role in the film may have led the White House to exclude him from a signing ceremony last week. On Tuesday, President Bush signed an African trade bill long championed by McDermott, a member of the House Ways and Means Committee. A White House spokesman later said only leaders of the Ways and Means Committee were invited to the ceremony, although committee staffers had initially included McDermott.

As for his relationship with the House Republican leadership, McDermott just laughed.

Film or not, it couldn't get much worse, he said.

Alex Fryer: 206-464-8124 or afryer@seattletimes.com