Do As I Say

Plot Summary

Hypocrites come in all shapes and sizes. And when it comes to politics, hypocrisy is just part of the game. But the press only tends to cover half the story. For decades, the American people have benefited from the media's meticulous investigation of hypocrisy among conservative leaders. Meanwhile, liberal hypocrisy gets a free pass. But not any more. These days, you can't turn on the television or open a newspaper without finding liberal politicians, professors, pop stars, and pundits blaming the world's problems on America's free enterprise system, its democratic tradition, and its core values of individualism and self-reliance. But how sincere are they about their beliefs? How do they live? The answers will shock you. In a film that will forever change how we see America and its leaders, filmmakers Nicholas Tucker and Lucas Abel take us on an unforgettable journey through a political landscape filled with hypocrites and humbugs. Along the way, they reveal a disturbing national truth: that the two-faced mantra “do as I say, not as I do” has become the unwritten golden rule of some of our most prominent liberal leaders. Former vice president Al Gore has won an Academy Award and a Nobel Peace Prize for his crusade against global warming. But while he insists that average Americans must slash their carbon footprint or face a planetary catastrophe, Gore still flies around the world in a private jet—and burns thirty thousand dollars' worth of electricity and natural gas each year in his Nashville mansion. During her presidential campaign, Senator Hillary Clinton declared war on mortgage lending abuses. But she didn't remind voters that she and her husband were once involved in a predatory lending scheme that took advantage of teachers, farmers, laborers, and other ordinary Americans, leaving them with no equity and nothing to show for the money they invested. In fact, more than half the people who spent their savings buying land from the Clintons in Whitewater never received a property deed. Filmmaker Michael Moore, a self-styled “working-class boy from Flint, Michigan,” claims never to have owned a single share of stock. But don't be fooled by his scruffy jeans and baseball cap. Moore, who lives in a lavish lakeside mansion with Eminem and Kid Rock as neighbors, owns a sizable investment portfolio through his foundation—including stock in Halliburton, Pfizer, Merck, Tenet Healthcare, and other companies he vilifies in his films. Senator Ted Kennedy, enemy of tax shelters and vocal advocate of the estate tax, maintains an elaborate network of trusts and foundations to ensure that his own wealth will pass on to his heirs largely tax-free. Kennedy is also an avid environmentalist—as long as he doesn't have to make any personal sacrifices. He strongly opposes the nation's first offshore wind-energy project because it would interfere with his sailing hobby.