"The recent debut of Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 - an aggressive indictment of President Bush and the war in Iraq - generated much hot air and spilled ink amongst the punditry, many of whom fretted over the documentary's impact on the November election. Not to be outdone, C-VILLE Weekly tracked down two prominent local Republicans to discover what they think of the movie and its influence on the electorate.

But both Bob Hodous, a local lawyer and chairman of the Charlottesville Republican Party, and Randolph Byrd, a publisher and staunch Republican, plan to skip Moore's latest work, bolstering the widespread belief that the movie is preaching to the choir.

'I don't know of a single soul who's gone to see this movie,' Byrd says.

Both Hodous and Byrd say they follow a broad variety of media, including those which many charge lean to the Left, such as The New York Times. But Michael Moore's perspective is one that neither of the two Republicans are compelled to heed.

'It would probably piss me off,' Byrd says of Fahrenheit 9/11. 'I don't want to feed this guy's profits.'

Hodous says he decided to ignore the movie mostly because of having read many news articles and opinion pieces that describe bias and inaccuracies in the film. For example, Hodous says a recent piece by liberal columnist William Raspberry in The Washington Post, which called the movie 'an overwrought piece of propaganda' and a 'hatchet job that doesn't even bother to pretend to be fair,' helped him decide to save the $8 for a seat at the Vinegar Hill Theatre.

'I think that [Moore's] bias is so great that I'm not sure I'd be able to wade through it,' Hodous says.

But though Hodous believes Fahrenheit 9/11 is a cynical effort to tap into knee-jerk leftie hatred of the Bush Administration, he acknowledges that this sort of media pandering occurs among conservaties as well.

'That happens on both sides. It's sad, because I think we miss a lot that way,' Hodous says.

Byrd strongly echoed this belief, saying that Fahrenheit 9/11 is 'mean to enrage the Right as much as [The Passion of The Christ] was meant to appeal to it.' (Byrd saw and liked The Passion.)

But despite the fact that Moore is trying to help oust Bush with a documentary film many conservatives call grossly inaccurate and unfair, Byrd says the Right win shouldn't be outraged by the movie.

'Like Rush Limbaugh never goes over the top,' Byrd says with a chuckle" (Paul Fain, C-Ville Weekly, July 6-12, 2004)