First Read : GOP loves to hate Michael Moore

First Read : GOP loves to hate Michael Moore

rom NBC's Mark Murray and Chuck Todd
Want to stir up GOP voters? Just say the names Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, or John Edwards. But lately, Republican presidential candidates have turned to someone who isn't even a politician (past or present) to fire up their supporters: filmmaker Michael Moore. Just today, the Giuliani campaign sent out a research document comparing Hillary Clinton's statements on health care with Michael Moore's -- in his new documentary, "Sicko." The headline on the document: "Bad Medicine: It's enough to make you Sicko." And it includes this quote from Giuliani (via last night's Sean Hannity Show): “[M]ichael Moore and Hillary Clinton want to make our [health care] system like the systems nobody goes to ...”

Earlier this week, Huckabee said, per the AP: "Frankly, Michael Moore is an example of why the health care system costs so much in this country. He clearly is one of the reasons that we have a very expensive system. I know that from my own personal experience." Ouch.

And, of course, there's that YouTube of Fred Thompson calling out Moore. "Mental institution, Michael," he says. "It might be something you ought to think about."