Bush's Brain (2004)

Directors:

Joseph Mealey
Michael Shoob

Writers:

James C. Moore (book)
Wayne Slater (book)

Genre:

Documentary

Plot:

An examination of political consultant Karl Rove's influence on George W. Bush's candidacy. |

Plot Keywords:

George W. Bush | FBI | Wiretapping | U.S. President | Saddam Hussein

Cast

Lee Atwater	...	Himself (archive footage)
Osama Bin Laden	...	Himself (archive footage)
Cathy Bonner	...	Herself
Bruce Buchanan	...	Himself
Barbara Bush	...	Herself (archive footage)
George Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
George W. Bush	...	Himself (archive footage)
Laura Bush	...	Herself (archive footage)
Max Cleland	...	Himself
William P. Clements Jr.	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Clinton	...	Himself (archive footage)
Shirley Cuff	...	Herself
Gray Davis	...	Himself (archive footage)
Alan Dixon	...	Himself (archive footage)
Robert Edgeworth	...	Himself
Kent Hance	...	Himself
Jim Hightower	...	Himself (archive footage)
Saddam Hussein	...	Himself (archive footage)
Bill Israel	...	Himself
Molly Ivins	...	Herself
Richard Leiby	...	Himself
Wade Lieseke Jr.	...	Himself
Susie Lieseke	...	Herself
Ken Luce	...	Himself
Garry Mauro	...	Himself
John McCain	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chuck McDonald	...	Himself
Dave McNeely	...	Himself
Bill Miller	...	Himself
Mike Moeller	...	Himself
James C. Moore	...	Himself
Jesse Oliver	...	Himself
Tom Pauken	...	Himself
Rick Perry	...	Himself (archive footage)
Chelle Lieseke Pokorney	...	Herself
Fredrick E. Pokorney	...	Himself (archive footage)
Ross Ramsey	...	Himself
Ann Richards	...	Herself (archive footage)
Karl Rove	...	Himself
A.R. Schwartz	...	Himself
Wayne Slater	...	Himself
Glenn Smith	...	Himself
Karl Struble	...	Himself
Jacques Vroom	...	Narrator
John Weaver	...	Himself
Mark White	...	Himself (archive footage)
Joseph Wilson	...	Himself

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for brief strong language.

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Singapore:PG | USA:PG-13

Company:

BeBe Films Inc.

Poorly made, biased and meandering....and I hate Bush!

This documentary was really a disappointment. I've been meaning to watch it for a while (even though it's all old news now) but was shocked at how uninformative it actually was. It basically meandered on in this "wild" allegation that politics are dirty and highly successful Republicans, namely Karl Rove, do whatever they can to get their candidates elected, including smear campaigns and so on. Well...DUH!??? What, have I been living in a bubble all my life? No kidding, Sherlock. I didn't need a documentary to tell me politics is a dirty game and there are many dirty players, especially the most successful ones. There was really very little specific information and virtually no hard evidence whatsoever. Don't get me wrong, I think Bush and Rove are a disgrace to our country but I can glean more from their slimy smirks on TV than I can from this loose documentary. It basically amounted to gathering everyone whom Rove has ever destroyed politically or personally in a room and having them lament (shouldn't this have been a lot more people?). It reminded me of the scene in JFK where Kevin Costner is in bed with his wife, and he sees the guy on a TV documentary smear him, and says "Oh look, there's the guy I sent up for murder!" The whole thing was just completely one-sided from people obviously very hurt personally by Rove, instead of a factual investigation into his many wrongdoings and an exploration of how he maintains and manipulates such control in the White House, which is what I was expecting from the title. The personal accounts really provided little insight. I also didn't appreciate the 20 minute lead-up since I thought this was his role in the Bush campaign and not what he was like in the 4th grade. It was all just very meandering and poorly thrown together, and very uninteresting. Anyone who's surprised by anything in this film has no idea how politics actually work, which sadly I suppose is most of our country who was obviously stupid enough to be manipulated by people like this....(twice!) And yes, the whole 10 minute diversion about "our son was killed in Iraq" was a stretch and totally out of context as an obvious sympathy ploy...and quite hypocritical considering it amounts to the same type of tears-and-eyebrows tactics the film chastises in regards to campaigning! A dirty trick I would expect from the likes of someone like Michael Moore, who is about as balanced as a see-saw but at least entertaining. This film was neither. Hence the 1 star rating. Bush is a puppet moron and Karl Rove is a master manipulator. But I already knew that. Maybe when this film originally came out, people didn't, but there's little to learn here. Hopefully a better documentary on how Rove/Bush really works(ed) exists or will come out in the near future...