W: blood for oil.

W. is a traditional Oliver Stone movie, a portrait of a man shown through hyperbole and an imagined reality, including fantasy and dream sequences. The actors made the movie, especially Richard Dreyfuss, Josh Brolin, Thandie Newton (a hilarious Condie), and Jeffrey Wright (Basquiat goes political). 

I will begin by saying that I find the real G.W. Bush to be a completely unlikable figure, to whom I can only offer small spurts of pity. This portrayal of the President doesn't do much for his image either. He looks physically greasy throughout the first part of the movie, always drunk. Then, once he cleans up, he still has some work to do as far as his intellect goes. He has a great memory, but can't synthesize information, and his original thoughts are mostly just about Jesus and freedom. He's sort of an unfunny guy who thinks he's funny; a simpleton. 

I have always found the senior Bushes to be unlikable people, as well. However, Stone paints them as boring people of some character who have always kept the best interest of the country in mind (except for the negative campaigning). Olie shows them as stout Episcopalians (tradition), opposed to the Bush born-agains (fad); as those who spoke out against the (useless) Iraq war; as people who have sense of self and insight into their own and their children's personalities, by which they measure actions. Now, I cannot say that any of this is true, because what the fuck do I know, I've never met the folks, but it is a new perspective for me. 

Cheney is clearly portrayed as a cruel, oil-hungry, torture-loving demon. While W. is just a sad clown-figure, never good enough for Poppy Bush, always idealistic and casual, Cheney is the sly snake, ready to stir up disruption where he can. There is a scene where the whole evil cabinet is sitting around a table deciding whether or not to go to war which every American should see. Bush's advisors' intentions are laid out in pictures and words. We see how layered a war Iraq has been, the most important and telling voices being those of Powell and Cheney. Powell wants to use diplomacy and work with the UN and Cheney lays it out as a worldwide beatdown for control of one of our most limited and valuable resources: oil. Cheney sees our role as imperialist ruler over the oil-bearing Middle East. The US would be going in for the black gold, and not leaving until we've sucked Mama Earth's nipple dry. 

I didn't previously know the huge role Karl Rove played in the life of GW. It was like he's the freakish mutant that uses W's charisma and family name to secure a place for himself in political history. And Laura is a vacuous, smiling figure, who starts with a desire to influence policy on education, and soon sweeps those dreams aside to support her moronic drunken mate. The load of them suck, but you kind of feel for the current Pres, and understand how hard it is to be that limited in such a challenging role. Interestingly, you realize that horrible, barbaric, murderous acts can be put into play by someone with not alotta brains and a whole lotta power. Mediocre people doing terrible things. Check out the movie. It explains much, though with how much credit to fact, I don't know. It's a good watch to rile you up, GOOD or GOP. 

P.S.  Look at what's on Wikipedia about Karl Rove and what a douche he has always been: In the fall of 1970, Rove used a false identity to enter the campaign office of Democrat Alan J. Dixon, who was running for Treasurer of Illinois. He stole 1000 sheets of paper with campaign letterhead, printed fake campaign rally fliers promising "free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing", and distributed them at rock concerts and homeless shelters, with the effect of disrupting Dixon's rally. (Dixon eventually won the election). Rove's role would not become publicly known until August 1973. Rove told the Dallas Morning News in 1999, "It was a youthful prank at the age of 19 and I regret it."^[10]