Reuters Publishes Michael Moore Press Release Under the Guise of 'News Article'

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The headline had me laughing before I even read the article:

"Michael Moore says gets lots of Republican hugs"

I'm thinking it must be a slow news day. But then I read the article and realize that the entire article reads like a press release for Moore, himself.

Michael Moore -- gadfly filmmaker, liberal activist and political lightning rod -- says he finds himself being hugged by a lot of Republicans these days.

So who are these Republicans he speaks of? Does the article identify any?

...the Oscar-winning director says he is approached all the time by conservatives ready to make peace.

Ok, so who are they? Names? Descriptions? Anything....?

Some in solidly Republican northern Michigan and elsewhere now believe that they made a "colossal mistake" in initially supporting the war in Iraq, Moore said, and they have let him know it in chance encounters on the streets of Traverse City, a resort town where he has relocated from New York.

Great, I'm six paragraphs into this article and I've already read - three times - Moore's own claims that Republicans are anxiously lining up to caress him... So who are they?

Used to traveling with security and encountering a barrage of hostility, Moore said he finds people now more accepting, even to the point Republicans are spontaneously hugging him.

Paragraph # 7. Moore claim # 4. Moore-hugging-Republicans identified: Zero.

The success of the second annual Traverse City Film Festival, which runs from Monday to Sunday, has also won over some of Moore's political foes -- or at least sidelined them.

So did it win them over or sideline them? The article is shifting its claims now. Still haven't seen one of these Moore-hugging-Republicans identified. Beginning to wonder if they actually exist.

In 2005, critics attempted to upstage the Traverse City film festival with a parallel event nearby intended to hammer the message that Moore was out of touch with the mainstream. Moore said the effort failed to draw crowds and fizzled.

"Moore said..."? Well, I'm glad they cited an unbiased source for that comment. That would be like writing an article on Auschwitz and claiming "accommodations were reasonable"... "according to Mr. Hitler". Still no Moore-hugging-Republicans identified.

I read it all the way to the end and never once saw an identification of a single Moore-hugging-Republican. What I did see was 17 paragraphs of pro-Moore propaganda bolstered by quotes from Moore himself. This is supposed to be a news article and yet I've seen press releases with less bias.

A more appropriate headline would've been: "What Michael Moore thinks about Michael Moore"