He throws in some (stupid) light moments, but it sounds mostly like another anti-Bush Administration film. The Iraq invasion is portrayed as revenge for his father, every bleak spot of Bush’s Administration appears to be brought to light, and overall Bush is portrayed as a jackass.
Some spots:
When Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld purportedly confronts Bush in 2002 about his obsession with Saddam: “What’s the big deal about Saddam? Bin Laden’s the trained ape that wrought this hell on us,” Dubya’s response sounds like a line out of “The Godfather”: “You don’t go after the Bushes and get to talk about it. Ya got me?”
That’s seriously in the script.
And, surprise, the accuracy is questionable.
One explosive scene in the movie features press secretary Ari Fleischer complaining to Bush about longtime reporter Helen Thomas who questioned the run-up to the war in Iraq.
Bush explodes in a profanity-laced outburst , “Did you tell her I don’t like motherf– who gas their own people! Did you tell her I don’t like a– holes who try to kill my father! Did you tell her I’m going to kick his … a– all over the Middle East?”
“It’s fantasy,” said Fleischer. “He used to talk like that before he was president? But he never talked like that around me. He mentioned his father once, in a public setting, at a fundraiser in Houston in 2002. “
The film is slated for 2009, but there’s word Stone & Co. could end up moving it up towards before November. Why? Here’s one potential reason:
If the movie, which also stars “40-Year-Old Virgin” star Elizabeth Banks as Laura Bush, comes out before the election, it could have an effect because John McCain’s support for the Iraq War remains a central part of his message.
“It’s happened before where movies such as ‘All the President’s Men’ have had an impact on an election,” said Robert Brent Toplin, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington and the author of “Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11: How One Film Divided a Nation.”
Bottom line: It seems to go beyond an anti-Bush, now crossing into a possible attempt to impact the election by tying John McCain to whatever charges Stone intends to lob against Bush.


by Stephan Tawney on April 1, 2008