With the Occupy Wall Street protests nearly coming to a head this weekend as police attempted, then reneged on a plan to clean up Zuccotti Park, filmmaker and protest supporter Michael Moore visited Lawrence O’Donnell last night to discuss the progress of the protests and their increasingly more coherent demands. Moore, who, by the way, has a book to sell, reminded the audience that the 1% “didn’t get to own most of the nation’s wealth by being stupid,” and that the protesters at this point would only be satisfied to see “a perp walk.”

In a sea of people taking video with hand-held HD cams and accessing the web with their smartphones, the Occupy Wall Street movement has managed a surprisingly old-school, almost primal, atmosphere. Alongside the drumbeats, public urination, and fugitives from justice, the protesters–who, by law, cannot use any microphones, speakers, or bullhorns–have been forced to amplify the words of guest speakers by loudly repeating whatever they say. On Sunday, Slovenian philosopher Slavoj Zizek spoke to the masses, and the human microphone was in full effect:

As the Occupy Wall Street protests grow and their demands slowly start to solidify, much of their anti-corporate rhetoric is hitting a sour note with conservatives. On tonight’s Follow the Money, host Eric Bolling and guest Ann Coulter discussed the danger of similar “mob uprisings” and the apparent hypocrisy of some of its celebrity supporters, including Rosanne Barr and Michael Moore.

Filmmaker Michael Moore, who continues his vigil at the ongoing Occupy Wall Street protest in lower Manhattan, dropped in on The Last Word to let host Lawrence O’Donnell know how things are going. We’re not down here to support Senate bill 2567. We’re beyond that. They had their chance a long time ago to try and fix this. They didn’t fix it because they’re in the pocket of these people down here on Wall Street. Moore kicked things off by giving a synopsis of what the protest is not about: So this is not about supporting some piece of legislation or “let’s get behind some politician.”

Upon exiting the 2/3 at Wall Street, I was expecting to be swept up in a crowd of people marching down that corporate alleyway, playing music and chanting, “We shall overcome.” Or, at the very least, see some of New York’s Finest pepper-spraying protesters while men in $5,000 suits stood back and watched. Instead, I saw the typical throng of tourists gawking at the Fed, taking pictures of the George Washington Statue and lining up to pose with the New York Stock Exchange in the background. I also saw steel barricades, which obviously meant protest.

Filmmaker Michael Moore visited Keith Olbermann‘s Current TV show to discuss the “Occupy Wall Street” protest currently unfolding in lower Manhattan.

Moore told Olbermann that he has high hopes that more and more people will join in:

This is really the very first, down on Wall Street in the Financial District, the very first attempt since the crash of ’08, to take a real stand and it’s been powerful. And I gotta believe that even though it may number in the hundreds right now, this is gonna grow. Not only on Wall Street, but in communities all over America.

On his show tonight, Bill Maher defended Tony Bennett‘s controversial remarks about how United States foreign policy was a factor in causing the 9/11 attacks (remarks that Bennett immediately apologized for). Maher and panelist Michael Moore drew from their own experiences being attacked by conservatives to empathize with the legendary crooner.

During a talk to promote his new book, Here Comes Trouble, liberal firebreather Michael Moore told an audience of college students at Bunker Hill Community College to “reject this vision of America that has been thrust upon us,” and that to fix it “will require a rumble.”

According to his blog, Moore was urging a “nonviolent rumble of citizen participation,” although it’s unclear whether he made such a disclaimer during his remarks.

Michael Moore appeared on the set of The View today promoting his new book Here Comes Trouble. Perhaps predictably, Moore brought trouble with him when the conversation turned to the capture and killing of Osama bin Laden when he very specifically suggested that the Navy SEALS should have brought the al Qaeda leader back to the United States to be brought to trial. Elisabeth Hasselbeck vociferously disagreed.

On the Today show to discuss his new memoir, Here Comes Trouble, Michael Moore maintained that he would not take back his contraversial 2003 Oscar speech, but holds certain regrets for the toll it has on him and his family.

Moore left jaws dropped in the days immediately following America’s entry into Iraq when he used his Oscar acceptance to speak out against the “fictitious times” with “fictitious election results,” “fictitious presidents,” and “fictitious wars.” Over the audience’s boos, he unforgettably cried: “We are against this war, Mr. Bush. Shame on you!”

Mike Huckabee made a midweek stop on the O’Reilly Factor tonight prompted by the controversy surrounding his new children’s education cartoons. One cartoon in particular that explains the events of September 11, 2001 has received significant criticism, both from those who believe the cartoons are biased in favor of the Bush administration and those that worry Huckabee is making money off the terror attacks. Today, Huckabee addressed the latter, saying criticizing him in such a way would be like condemning Michael Moore or Steven Spielberg for their work.

The Countdown that debuted on Current TV last night was in many respects exactly as fans of Keith Olbermann‘s MSNBC show remember–from the familiar theme music, segments, contributors and style. Reviewers have noted that Olbermann’s lost none of his outrage in the move into the more remote reaches of the cable landscape. As has been noted, Olbermann assembled a team from on camera guests to behind-the-scenes bookers who were with him on MSNBC. So what’s different about the new show? Everything–at least in terms of television. Countdown put Olbermann at the desk of a shiny new set, but it was in a sense a sparkling modern surgical suite built in a warehouse without a modern hospital surrounding it. And it showed.

It was always an obvious reality that Keith Olbermann‘s Current TV show would experience some degree of crossover with MSNBC’s prime-time programming, but any hope of a peaceful rivalry have evaporated, as Olbermann has made it clear he intends to go after his former employer’s audience by going after his former employer. The fact that Olbermann has opted to “go negative” so early (his show hasn’t even premiered yet) portends a bloody battle for the hearts and minds of liberal viewers.

The establishment of Current TV as a destination for liberal news programming doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing for MSNBC. There are, apparently, millions of liberals who aren’t watching cable news, and this represents an opportunity for both channels to attract a new audience.

Director Andrew Rossi‘s upcoming film Page One: Inside The New York Times (opening June 17th in New York, and nationally July 1) documents a year in the life of the Gray Lady, but also sets the table for what may either be the print media’s suffocation within, or emergence from, the chrysalis of the brave new media world. Rossi spoke with Mediaite about his film, its de facto star (Times Media reporter David Carr), and what it all means for journalism.

Filmmaker/activist Michael Moore made his return to cable news today on The Last Word, and, thankfully, he didn’t stray back to bin Laden territory. Instead, Moore and Lawrence O’Donnell Ryan budget plan, and while both O’Donnell and Moore made clear they stood staunchly with the Democrats on this topic, both expressed near certainty that they would back down.

MSNBC host Ed Schultz came under fire from Keith Olbermann recently over Schultz’s criticism of Michael Moore‘s “hand-wringing” over the killing of Osama bin Laden. Liberal columnist and local radio host David Sirota got in on the act last week, slamming Schultz over the remarks. Schultz got wind of it, and called Sirota’s show. A fiery exchange ensued, in which Schultz told Sirota to “Go to hell,” and ended with Sirota muting Schultz, who was then disconnected.

In a web-only Special Comment, former and future Countdown host Keith Olbermann defended filmmaker Michael Moore against criticism (notably from MSNBC’s Ed Schultz) of the liberal icon’s statements on the killing of Osama bin Laden. While Olbermann stated up front that he had no problem with the way the shooting went down, he defended Moore’s right to “question” the official story, and called Schultz’s attack on Moore “outrageous.”

Right near the end of the second week  of Osama bin Laden‘s fish-feeding tour, rabble-rousing liberal filmmaker Michael Moore has issued what he calls “Some Final Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden,” which is doubly good news, for me. Not only do I get to look forward to Moore finally shutting the f**k up about this, but because I missed his first several eruptions, it also affords me the opportunity to serve up a Super Big Gulp of STFU, ice cold, on tap.

Ed Schultz has had enough of liberals criticizing how President Obama handled the killing of Osama bin Laden and specifically targets Michael Moore. Although he admits he respects Moore for all he’s done to advance the progressive liberal movement, Schultz confidently declared Moore is “factually wrong” when it comes to Bin Laden.

Michael Moore has gotten himself into something of a semantic firestorm regarding the death of Osama bin Laden, calling it an “assassination” and lamenting he didn’t get a day in court. Moore defended his position (and made the requisite Nazi analogy) to Piers Morgan on CNN tonight, arguing that America is “better” than tracking bin Laden down.

On Thursday’s Morning Joe, the influential morning show’s panel discussed the still-emerging, still-shifting details surrounding the raid that killed terrorist exile Osama bin Laden,and the White House’s dissemination of them. Along the way, Time magazine’s Mark Halperin‘s (heavily disclaimed) assessment that the raid is “controversial” caused co-host Mika Brzezinski to ask the crystallizing question “What’s controversial about killing Osama bin Laden?”

Film director Michael Moore, in an exclusive interview Wednesday with The Wrap, said Osama bin Laden wasn’t killed, but executed. “Common sense tells you he was executed. That was the plan all along. Just tell us that and quit treating us like children,” Moore told The Wrap’s Brent Lang. “I have a lot of faith in Obama, but we’ve received three different stories in three days. We heard, ‘There was a firefight.’ ‘He used a woman as a shield.’ Now it turns out none of these things were true. He wasn’t armed.”

Michael Moore appeared last night on The Joy Behar Show with guest host Roseanne Barr and expressed great disappointment with President Obama and American intervention in Libya. Although Moore still believes Obama is a “man with a good heart,” Moore wishes Obama would “start listening to himself” rather than listening to the people who think that the American military is the answer to everything.

It’s always interesting to see Stephen Colbert passionately argue a position in character that the real Colbert doesn’t actually agree with. And it’s fascinating to see how passionate guests from either ideology react to this. Colbert plays the character so well that Michael Moore even referred to conservatives as “the people on your side of the fence.”

Opposition to President Obama’s Libya policy is starting to look more and more like a blindfolded firing squad that just fell off a merry-go-round, as liberal firebreather Michael Moore has joined a disparate gaggle of Obama critics that also includes Newt Gingrich, Rudy Giuliani, Dennis Kucinich, and Sen. Dick Lugar. Moore, in a series of tweets more scattershot than a meth addict with a sawed-off Mossberg, hit Obama with everything, including several varieties of kitchen sink.