Bush's Brain

When I first glimpsed the title to this documentary, I must admit that I was indeed a little taken aback. I never knew George W. Bush had a brain.

However, "Bush's Brain" shows that Georege W. Bush does indeed have a brain working for him; it just happens to be within the head of another individual. The premise of the film is that Karl Rove may be this generation's Senator McCarthy. Rove is to pro-war activities as Senator McCarthy was to communism, both real or imagined, in the early 1950's. By equating genuine questions by everyday citizens about the legitimacy of the war in Iraq with not being patriotic, Rove has set up a dynamic where intelligent discussion of foreign policy is difficult, if not almost impossible. Bush is shown as being co-ruler with Rove, or should I say Rove is co-ruler with Bush?

Rove is part of Bush's advisory team and several people in this film see Rove as wielding as much influence over Bush's decision making as a prime minister. Rove is seen as having marketed the Iraq war as the defining moment for Bush, whom he calls 'the War President'. The war in Iraq, then, is something which legitimizes the presidency for Bush and pushes all other issues aside.

The Rove doctrine, simply stated, is that 'A true American either supports Bush and the Republican party or he is labeled a traitor' (Democrats and dissenting Republicans included). If these statements sound like something from one of George W. Bush's speeches, that is because both Rove and Bush say very similar things, sometimes word for word. The film makes it a point to reveal that it is difficult to know where Bush and Rove differ as individuals; the title of the film is meant to inform us that Bush and Rove are a team and Rove is 'the brain' behind the operations, the power behind the throne.

Rove has a history, according to the film Bush's Brain, of destroying people politically and disrupting the personal lives of those who attempt to oppose him. Rove does these dirty deeds because 'he needs to win at all costs' and Rove lives by the philosophy that 'the ends justify the means'. Many people in the state of Texas have been hurt by Rove. Rove is accused of running dirty campaigns against such people as Ann Richards (former governor of Texas), John Hightower (a Texas commissioner), and several other people in various public offices. One of the most interesting anecdotes concerning Rove's political methods is that Rove once planted a 'bug' in his own office during a campaign and alerted the press so that his candidate would receive sympathy votes. The FBI concluded that the 'bug' was not likely used or even operational, but the political damage to the person challenging Rove's candidate had been done and Rove and his team won the election. Rove is alleged to be the brains behind the smear campaign against John McCain (Republican presidential candidate in 2000).

The script of this film was taken from research done by journalists James C. Moore and Wayne Slater. While it is possible to follow the film without reading the book by these two journalists, which I will paraphrase as Bush's Brains: How Karl Rove Won the Presidency for George W. Bush, I suspect that reading the book would enhance the viewing of this film. A lot of Texas politics are covered in the first half of the film, the particulars of which I was only vaguely familiar. The film does show a pattern of dirty politics which Rove seems to use consistently. It is interesting that Karl Rove declined to be interviewed for the film but he did send a fifteen page letter to the book's authors taking issue with some of their research. One or two people who are presently on good terms (i.e. speaking terms) with Karl Rove were willing to defend Rove's actions during political campaigns. Even his friends admit that he becomes overly consumed with winning. The film was fair and balanced because of this inclusion of people who left their association with Karl Rove on good terms. People who had once been friends with Rove but had fallen from his good graces also were interviewed. They admitted that he is a bright fellow but that he has a deep dark side when it comes to competitiveness - Rove is determined to win at any cost. Where other campaigners would draw the line, Rove will boldly sling excrement and escalate the attacks until he has outright assassinated the character of the opponent unfairly.

After listening to several people who were interviewed about the history of their dealings with Rove, one gets the impression that Rove is a genial man to those he encounters until someone dare crosses him. Rove is very much a hard worker for the Republican candidates for whom he campaigns and represents. If Rove senses or believes that his candidate may lose an election, he is not in the slightest bit hesitant to play the very dirtiest and darkest politics. He is alleged to have been responsible for the complete character assassination of John McCain, where McCain's sanity was called into question during the presidential election back in 2000.

From the interviews of both friends and detractors of Rove, one gets a sense that Karl Rove and Machiavelli would agree that expediency is of the utmost importance in attaining one's goals and outweighs any ethical concerns.

Bush's Brain was revealing, but loses focus near end. Shows that Rove has been sleazy -- very sleazy -- throughout his political career in Texas but not exactly how he manipulates George Bush today.

The 2000 Presidential campaign, the part of the movie that would have answered the film's opening question "How could this have happened?" is not really covered at all; rather the film goes abruptly ahead to the 9/11 episode. Film goes for pathos near end by showing a particular soldier who died early in Iraq thing, similar to Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11, but does not tie war dead specifically to theme of Rove's being Bush's Svengali and how "this" (Bush's presidency) could have happened.

As other viewers have commented, the film's own agenda, to show Karl Rove as a sinister villain, is in conflict with the visuals of Rove as a pleasantly pudgy, self-effacing nerd. There is a distinct danger that the audience may decide finally that that visual image wins, rather than the text of the movie. Remember the scene, apparently based on a true story I read, in Broadcast News where Holly Hunter's character shows a video of a worldwide domino competition in order to portray "soft news" in a negative light; instead the comical, diverting image of tumbling domino tiles is the only part of her recitation to which anyone pays attention. The Bush's Brain people should have learned from such examples and done more to show that Rove's commercial image is what's being contested.

Do see this movie, for the sake of the facts of Karl Rove's seamy career that it does succeed in showing. It's also a good example of combining "talking heads" with other footage in a documentary to keep the audience's level of alertness piqued now and then, compared to the occasionally dulling effect of recent anti-Bush documentaries Outfoxed and Uncovered. Ironically those two are far superior films.

Seems as if a more nearly complete documentary had been planned, but that this one was rushed into release in order to be timely and to influence voters before coming election. May, rather, hurt progressive agendas that this movie is not as well done as it should have been.

Behind the scenes political consultant who has carefully crafted W's image and choices at any cost. Only a 9 if politics and propaganda are subjects you are interested in. Follows Rove's career since pre-Bush days as he steps on people and does dirty tricks to defeat the many "other guys" he or his clients go against, quite often ending their careers. As a resident of Texas until 2000, I was more familiar with some of the players and "plays" in the first half and enjoyed hearing the story behind the story. As a mediocre governor, and my governor at the time, I was amazed when "W" got his parties nod in 2000 and now I see how he accomplished this. A bit slow or off the path in places, it still makes it's point very well. By the way if Robert Novak isn't held accountable for exposing the CIA operative, there is truly no justice in this world.

While this documentary is quite interesting and revealing, it does sort of jump around a bit and lacks clarity and bullseye blame on some of Rove's nefarious deeds.

What is most bizarre is they abandon the flow for awhile to concentrate on one soldier's fate in Iraq. In the wake of the administration's misleading information, I'm sure they wanted us to feel the sting of loss of a real person as opposed to just "another soldier dead"... but why just this one "random" fellow? At first, I thought it may have been one of Rove's relatives or something. But it wasn't. It suddenly felt like someone changed the channel to another documentary.

Having said that though, this is definitely worth seeing as the election looms.

I wish this had been better. I pretty much believe the argument the producers present but it seems to me that if you're not already convinced of the righteousness of their position, this documentary will not convince you.

It'll probably infuriate you.

A half dozen talking heads, all but one of whom feel they have suffered at the hands of Rove, point out -- or rather intimate -- Rove's complete commitment to pragmatism. Whether a thing is good or bad can be judged only from its consequences. Rove doesn't give a rat's behind how he achieves the goals he defines as good ones. Karl Rove has turned politics into an instrument of warfare. He's taken von Clausewitz and turned him on his head.

A lot of data points are thrown at us in this disjointed polemic but the writers don't really connect them. The reason they don't connect the dots is that they can't. Nothing can be proved. The talking heads have to evidence to show us, they just tell anecdotes, each one of which could probably be glossed with an explanatory comment that absolves Karl Rove.

The problem for anyone who doubts Rove's influence is that these minor points pile up, and we can add to them from other things we've learned during this campaign, not brought up in the film. There is a preponderance of evidence of a hidden hand in these dirty tricks. The same smear tactics reappear when Rove is running Bush's campaigns. During the Republican campaign of 2000, McCain unexpectedly beat Bush in New Hampshire. So in the next state primary, South Carolina, McCain's record as a war hero was turned against him by a whisper campaign picked up by news-hungry media. The rumors are started by flyers found under the windshields of cars in church parking lots after services. And radio talk shows are flooded with calls questioning McCain's character. McCain allows himself to be publicly irritated sometimes. (He's pretty blunt.) Maybe, it was rumored, his many years as a prisoner in Vietnam had unbalanced him. Well, a similar manipulation has been applied to Kerry, without this being brought up in the film. Kerry's war record was used as a tool against him (he lied, he wrote his own recommendation for a medal, or whatever) and when Kerry finally responded with some heat, the response was, "He's losing his cool." (That's a quote from the WH Press Secretary.) You can't help feeling that if Kerry had gotten REALLY mad, his opponents would accuse him of being unbalanced, just like McCain.

If Rove is behind some of these dirty tricks, which seems entirely plausible, then you have to admire the guy. He's like Professor Moriarty. He doesn't actually DO the job, but has someone do it for him so that he leaves no fingerprints. He's just a chubby affable guy who avoids the spotlight and pulls the strings.

It has to be understood that dirty tricks have always been a part of politics. Nobody would dispute that. But when Rove is involved the tricks turn positively filthy and sometimes illegal. It's filthy, for instance, to suggest that Senator McCain's adopted Bengladesh little girl is the "love child" that resulted from his dalliance with a black prostitute. And it's illegal (under a law passed during G. H. W. Bush's administration) for "senior officials" to expose the identity of an undercover CIA operative for purposes of revenge. Especially when the operative's job is to monitor any movement of potential nuclear materials to prevent their falling into the hands of terrorists.

The final sequence (the grieving family of a KIA) was not connected to the rest of the film and it made me wince with its lack of taste. I also didn't care for the voice-over reading of Karl Rove's letter throughout the film. The voice was made deliberately evil. Have you seen any episodes of "Victory at Sea"? Remember how the narrator pronounces the word "Japanese"? Same here. I felt my head was being squeezed in a vice. The argument was strong enough to speak for itself.