Despite being overwhelmingly outnumbered by Michael Moore’s liberal followers, members of the ISU College Republicans said they came out “smelling like roses.”

Joe Haddix, a 25-year-old Ames resident who just ended six years of active military duty, including service in Afghanistan and Iraq, said many people don’t believe what Moore has to say.

“He pretends to represent the military,” Haddix said. “I talk to guys daily, and a poll just came out today saying 73 percent of those in the military believe in Iraq. I just think it shows you that, yeah, people back home complain about it. But the people who are actually in fighting these wars don’t. We believe in it. I believe in everything I ever did in the military, and I think Michael Moore steps on my face when he says he stands for me.”

Haddix said he was unimpressed with the way other people in the Hilton Coliseum parking lot were acting.

About 10 members of the ISU College Republicans spent the evening amid a sea of hundreds of people discussing what was to come during the speech and why not to listen to Moore.

Louis Kishkunas, president of the ISU College Republicans, said the evening was a “hostile” event.

“Most people don’t even want to listen to me,” Kishkunas said. “They’re just yelling at you and saying all those catchphrases we’ve heard since the Democratic primary. They make themselves look bad through virulent rhetoric.”

He said the Republicans were there to spread truth about the lies they said Moore portrays in “Fahrenheit 9/11.”

Kishkunas said the Republicans were not going to behave the same way they saw others acting — which included kicking, spitting and yelling at a life-sized cutout of President Bush.

Neil Uhrig, an intern with the College Republican National Committee from Washington State University, was carrying around the Bush cutout.

“It naturally riles people up, so we want to make sure people see us,” Uhrig said.

Kishkunas said that although he hasn’t seen Moore’s film, he is happy with the political discussion an event like this brings.

“A lot of people here just take what he says lightly,” Kishkunas said. “They think everything he says is fact, and that’s obviously not the case. Michael Moore obviously has a problem with the truth. By being out here and passing out these fliers, we hope people take what he says with a grain of salt a little bit.”

Kishkunas said the ISU College Republicans can win debates on the basis of their arguments. He said the Republicans are being “firm, factual and respectful,” something he said wasn’t seen Sunday night by Moore and his supporters.

“I think this is good. I think anytime you get a political discussion going, I think it’s a good thing, and there’s no reason to be afraid of Michael Moore coming here,” Kishkunas said. “Michael Moore with his kind of tactics defeats itself, because when you have at least 59 things wrong with a single movie, factually, I think it speaks for itself.”

Kishkunas said when debates are brought to the level of screaming, the debate loses the political discussion.

“That will happen when you have people on the far left coming out. That’s the crowd Michael Moore attracts. When you’re sitting here with a big George W. Bush cutout, you’re gonna get that reaction, and we’re not going to sit here and just take it standing by,” Kishkunas said. “We are going to argue our point. We are going to defend ourselves.”