While Bush is evil in means and action, he is not a new breed of dog. He is also not the sole manipulator of our political motivation toward war, as Moore would have you believe. One of Bush’s most important allies in the coalition in the battle for the support of the good US citizens for his war was the Fox Network, owned by Rupert Murdoch, who, by the way, owns: over 100 cable stations; over 100 radio stations; over 100 magazines; and the list goes on. One man, who thought that Reagan was a god, owns the main news source for millions of voters. He is against liberal thought, against Democrats, against same sex marriage and for Christianity, conservatism and George W. Bush. His CEO, Roger Ailes, is the former Media Strategist for the Reagan and both Bush administrations. Murdock is one of 5 men/companies that own ALL of the major news sources in the country. Think about that, there are 5 companies, all interested in turning a profit, (and who helps companies turn a profit better than the Republicans), that give the news on which millions base their opinions about the world. Moore completely ignores this source of support for Bush and instead focuses on comedic things like Bush’s thin grasp of the English language, which is funny, but nowhere near as frightening as the exploitation and monopolization of unbiased news in our country. Moore goes for the easy horror: footage from 9/11.

In his amazing documentary OUTFOXED, Robert Greenwald chronicles the Fox Network’s bold, unchallenged use of opinion tainted facts in order to support everything the Bush administration has done. In their simplest manipulations Fox puts catch phrases, like “the war in Iraq is going well”, directly from the White House briefings into their broadcasts. Greenwald shows us at least 10 instances of “reporters” on Fox using the exact words given to them by briefings to report the “news.” This is not news reporting, this is kissing ass and controlling public opinion. Their most subtle, at least for people who don’t think for themselves, attempt to sway opinion against Bush’s opposition in the coming election is the current, constant references to John Kerry and how he looks “very French” hoping to evoke the French hating craze of the previous year. Greenwald’s is the documentary to watch if you want to understand the complex workings of the politics of the Bush administration’s manipulation of Americans. Greenwald gives us a documentary that outlines the problem, and gives a laundry list of things people are doing to fight back, including buying low frequency radio stations so they can report local news in their area and play whatever music they like.

Yet another documentary that is in many ways better at documenting issues is last year’s Academy Award winner for documentary, Errol Morris’ THE FOG OF WAR, a discussion with Robert McNamara: Air Force strategist during WW I; CEO of Ford Motors; Secretary of Defense under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations; and finally president of the World Bank for many years. Morris has made some amazing docs: GATES OF HEAVEN, about the pet cemetery industry; THE THIN BLUE LINE, that actually helped get an innocent man off of death row; and MR. DEATH about an electric chair repair man who was a holocaust denier. In FOG OF WAR, McNamara discusses the real responsibilities of defending the US against a real threat, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and the problems of running an unpopular and most likely immoral war like Vietnam. McNamara is a strong speaker in the twilight of his life and, having had time to reflect on the rights and wrongs of his actions, gives a brutally honest telling of how politics work when the president wants war and the people do not.

Where Greenwald gives us a damning chronicle of the Bush administration and its foot soldiers, and Morris give us food for thought about what goes into making difficult moral decisions when you are actually in charge of them, Moore gives us documentary-light. One comedic sketch after another about the Keystone Cop named George W. Bush. So Bush manipulated the public; so he is friendly with a foreign OPEC family for whom he does favors; so he wants to do anything to be reelected. He is a politician folks there is no mystery to his actions. Moore ignores that a conspiracy takes more than one person and makes Bush the boogie man of the hour and the simple act of making sure he does not get elected again a way to keep the monster out from under the bed. Make no mistake, removing Bush from office is an important goal for all voters, but it is not a catch all for solving the threat to democracy that allowed him to be elected. We’re going to have to do more than show up at the polls for this mess to be cleaned up.

Carlye Archibeque