Yahoo! News - Covet thy enemy

Yahoo! News - Covet thy enemy: "Michael Moore is no dummy. Though he's getting blasted by self-styled patriots, fusty critics and talk-radio ideologues, he's relishing every moment. Crazies on the far right are trying to intimidate exhibitors and are threatening boycotts, but the portly polemicist is looking on with wry bemusement.
That's because Moore understands the magic equation: The noisier the opposition, the bigger the box office. It's worked time and again. And it surely will propel 'Fahrenheit 9/11' into history's highest-grossing documentary.

"By calling Moore a 'domestic enemy,' and pressuring theaters not to show the film ... they are trying to dictate what films Americans can see," asserts Eli Pariser, executive director of MoveOn. The group is seeking to take a page from the Mel Gibson book -- urging groups to lobby their friends and neighbors to buy tickets en masse to see "Fahrenheit 9/11."

Does Michael Moore have much to worry about? History would suggest that noisy attackers are the best friends any filmmaker can have.

The ballots at the box office, of course, will be the final arbiter."