Hollywood Does Bush the Lesser
I forced myself recently to watch Oliver Stone’s movie takedown of George W. Bush called W. I have a morbid curiosity about cataloging trends among the pseudo-intelligentsia. This film, like previous productions of the same auteur, is doubtless providing multiple thrills for the type in America and Europe.
As readers here are well aware, I hold no brief for Bush Minor, a morally and intellectually defective man who has done irreparable damage to our country. If anything, the film, while exposing his defects clearly, is actually too sympathetic. Bush is portrayed as an almost tragic figure. But his career is not a tragedy; it is a nasty farce. One gets the impression, no doubt intended, that George W. was inevitably doomed by being a Texan, a born-again Christian, and from an ambitious family. This message is re-enforced by the background country music.
Of course, there are the natural limitations of the docudrama, essentially a form of fraud which makes up acts and words from imagination and applies them to real events. The purpose is usually propaganda rather than history. (Of course, some of our most celebrated historians these days do the same thing.) Josh Brolin gives a tour de force acting job as W., but it does not work. He is better looking and more masculine than George Bush, and he lacks that slight hint of squeeze-faced, sneering New England ninniness that dominates Bush’s face. (“What, me worry?”) Brolin’s screen accent is more Southern than Bush’s, doubtless to make the point about the evil brought about by Texanness.
The portrayals of Cheney and Rumsfeld don’t convince me—neither Richard Dreyfuss nor Scott Glenn show enough arrogance and force. Colin Powell, as played by Jeffrey Wright, is not very convincing in addition to being portrayed as more noble and independent-minded than the real thing. Barbara Bush is played by Ellen Burstyn as feisty, but she misses the supercilious, contemptuous Yankee flavour of Babs’ demeanour. Thandie Newton does a great job of presenting the insipidness of Condi Rice, however. I am undecided about James Cromwell’s portrayal of Bush Major—perhaps because one has less sense of his private person than the others.
My favourite moment is when candidate Bush avows he will read the whole Constitution and even learn parts of it if necessary. Reminded me of freshman history students, most of whom have never read the Constitution and can make no intellectual connection with it if they do.
There are, of course, some things that one won’t get from this highly doctored account of history. For instance, some words never appear in the two hours: Israel, neoconservatives, Douglas Feith, Office of Special Plans, Project for the New American Century.
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I did not know about the Project for the New American Century. Their website is totally creepy. It's obvious that the Neo-Conservatives were planning their "Iraq strategy" long before George W. arrived on the scene. In fact, a little research and one will see the Neo-Conservatives pushing for an aggresive American foreign policy early in Reagan's first term. See N. Podhoretz's NYT Magazine piece, "Neo-Conservative Anguish over Reagan's Foreign Policy," May 1982.
I wonder how deep and far back this goes. I know there are books on the conservative movement, but is there anything out there that chronicles the history of Neo-Conservatism?
Is it fair to compare the legacy of Neo-Conservatism with that of Marxism and National Socialism? Personally, I can't think of an ideology more twisted and creepy than Neo-Conservatism.
I'll always be dumbfounded that so many conservatives, especially Southerners, fell for George W. Bush's Christian piety. Once one got beyond the veneer of his Christian humility, Bush was always the arrogant prep boy scion of a plutocratic family. Men as dissimilar as Tucker Carlson, Kent Hance and Bill Kauffman(in a memorable Randolph Club speech) exposed the real George W. Bush before the GOP coronated him. The American people, especially those who call themselves conservative, just didn't pay attention. All it took for Bush to convince millions of conservatives that he was one of them was to declare Jesus his favorite philosopher and throw in a few lines with the words "heart" and love" in them. Conservatives who fell for Shrub proved that their own conservatism was shallow and hollow. They have earned derision.
The Bush clan is an Eastern and condescending organized cr*** family that are chameleons who change to meet the circumstances of any given time. There is a story about Bush junior running for Congress the first time in West Texas wearing penny loafers, tan slacks and being his preppie Yale and Harvard self. He was told after his defeat that he had to remake himself into a more western and macho image. He took as his model another fake cowboy who was successful - Ronald Reagan. He bought the ranch outside Waco, started clearing brush, bought (or was given) managing ownership in the Texas Rangers, got born again, gave up booze...........and the rest is history...an abysmal failure as Governor and Warrior President. A self perceived tough guy who was a cheerleader at Yale. Daddy got him out of going to Nam to be a weekend warrior fly boy but even in this role he was AWOL. Just remember, he was underneath it all a obnoxious, know it all, condescending son of Yankee puritans........enough said.
I can't waste money watch Oliver Stone's excrement. South Park is better. Somehow the evangelical crowd equate conservatism with the GOP, and vote for the lesser of two evils. Well, evil is evil so why not go whole hog and vote for the greater. I had to give up on the Republican Party in 1995. I now go to the polls and proudly vote the the loser.
Bush did more single-handedly to turn me against the Neocons than all the arguments of Palios and Libertarians combined. The complete break came when my southern background kicked in and Ron Paul was trashed by the Republicans (and ignored by FOX). I'm grateful for Paul, because he forced the RNC's hand at showing total contempt for real conservatism, the kind that actually submits itself to the content of the Constitution.
Bush now lives not too far from me here in Dallas–––not all that far from Whole Foods and a great hardware store, Elliots. I go to both often.
The owner of Elliots publicly offered Bush a job as a greeter. So far he hasn't responded to the offer. I'm glad, because I don't think he could hold it down. (Nothing worse than having a suckie greeter at your favorite hardware store.) It may be that in only a short time he'll take the job, because he's driven Laura crazy and she's told him to get out of the house before she strangles him.
I have a very good friend in Denton who is a very orthodox and faithful Catholic. During Bushes' first term I was speaking to him and just assumed he would be happy to have a pro-life president in after 8 years of the baby killer, Clinton.
No way! He told me Laura was pro-choice and that he had met Bush at official gatherings, and that he was as arrogant, cocky and prideful as they come.
My friend is very prominent in Texas and a very congenial, good hearted guy, so hearing him say that I began to look at Bush completely differently from then on.
He was right, and it wasn't long in Bushes' term that his contempt was vindicated.
Gawd help us. We're being "lead" by nit-wits.
I no longer waste time or money on Oliver Stone products. His films on historical events and individuals aren't even worthy of being called propoganda. As a Texan I was dubious of Bush as a potential President. I tell anyone who would listen he needed to be reminded he was Governor of Texas and not Chihuahua. However, after eight years of the Clinton's I gave him the benefit of the doubt. I knew I had been had when I realized "passionate conservative" was code speak for New England Republican policies and values.
By the way an aside off topic. Dr. Wilson I'm sure you've realized an ad for the Lincoln Bicentennial Collection is prominently placed just to the right of your photo.
I believe some credit (or sneers) for Bush's success at deceit must go to that perennial gas-bag Rush Limbaugh. I find it interesting that the Yankee Bush boys descended on Texas and Florida, two of the most populated states. Meanwhile, from the opposing Yankee wing, Hillary descended on New York.
To try to seriously analyze any docufilm by O. Stone is to chase one's tail. He just makes up whatever fits his paranoid fantasies. It's a shame, because he is a good technical filmmaker and is intelligent. But he's a prime example of Hofstadter's paranoid style in the political kultur. (See JFK).
#9
It’s a shame, because he is a good technical filmmaker and is intelligent.
My son is always speaking of intelligent people with whom he disagrees or dislikes, such as Stone as "stupid". He bristles when I affirm Stone's intelligence.
He suffers from the modern mania of conflating intelligence and wisdom.
Belloc said the modern age is the victory of quantity over quality. True enough.
Since the modern age denies the anagogic dimension of human experience, it also collapses reality into the material only. This means terms we once used for metaphysical reality are now thought of as interchangeable with terms used for man's material/sensory dimension.
I see you are making the correct distinction here, and it gladdens my heart: Stone is intelligent, but clearly unwise.
So were the Nazi doctors as well as many of the shysters in DC.
Then there's Bush.
When I press my argument on my son he snaps back, "You're stupid too."
When Natalie Mains of the Dixie Chicks commented that she was ashamed that Bush was a Texan, it ocurred to me that she needn't be ashamed at all. W is not a Texan, by any stretch of the imagination. He was born in Connecticut to two New England yankees.
W's phony, ignorant sounding attempt at a Texas accent has always grated on my nerves. Nobody else in his family speaks in an accent anywhere close to his. W is a phony in every area of his personality that has been publicly displayed.
It's better that I don't see the film. To see Josh Brolin playing the part of W might be too big a shock after seeing him play Llewellen Moss in "No Country for Old Men".
Mr. Roberts, I would add that a man who lives in Texas who reveres Abe Lincoln as George W. Bush does but ignores Jeffeson Davis and Robert E. Lee is not a true Texan. Bush lives in Texas but he is as Texan as Ernest Hemingway was a Cuban.
Mr. Roberts, I would add that a man who lives in Texas who reveres Abe Lincoln as George W. Bush does but ignores Jeffeson Davis and Robert E. Lee is not a true Texan.
Amen to that. He's also not a true American and ignorant of history. It always does my heart to see Jefferson St and Davis Ave. displayed on the big highway signs on Rt. 12 on my way from Dallas to my home in Duncanville.
What an ignoramus!
tom
After seeing Dr. Wilson's review of "W" a few days ago, I went to a video store and rented the DVD. Josh Brolin made George W. Bush look more likeable than the actual man and didn't show the smirking and "sneering New England ninniness," Dr. Wilson described. James Cromwell's portrayal of George H.W. Bush made him into a figure of more substance than he seemed to be. Oliver Stone's theory about W required the father to be a towering figure that the son always struggled to emulate.
I watched the DVD's commentary track by director Stone. He does mention the neocons a few times during his commentary. To Oliver Stone, the neocons are the "far right," and considers Cheney the leading neocon. Stone says that Cheney was steering Bush into invading Iraq in order to get control of the oil and never mentions Israel. "W" was filmed mainly around Shreveport, Louisiana. Stone speaks fondly of the people he met in Louisiana and Texas. He thinks being a Texas born-again caused Bush to believe that God was telling him to run for President. Stone never considers that Bush's Connecticut Yankee background takes him down this path.
There is nothing in the film or Stone's commentary track about Bush's fixation on turning the United States into Mexico. Once, Stone praises both Bush's for being "racially tolerant." He said something about being in the South made them take a more conservative stance.
"Bush lives in Texas but he is as Texan as Ernest Hemingway was a Cuban."
Yes, Mr. Leaberry, that is a good comparison. W's references to his conversations with God and his claims that God instructed him to do this or that reminded me of a slogan I read somewhere:
"When you talk to God, you're praying. When God talks to you, you're hallucinating".
It's very common among televangelists to make the claim that God spoke directly to them in an audible voice. To me, that is claiming to be a prophet. W probably just copied that idea from televangelists and had no idea what unspoken claim he was making by saying something so patently false.
@13 Tom
Texans have a saying about Yankees that goes like this, there are 3 types of Northerner.
1. Yankees, they come and visit.
2 Damn Yankees, they buy a house in Texas and start telling the natives how things are done Up North -- that would be W. And
3. Damn Good Yankees. They come down, marry a Mexican, and leave. That would be Jeb.