Journeys With George

Journeys With George
by Aaron Lubarsky

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• Journeys with George ia an unprecedented, all access pass to candidate George W. Bush in the months before he won the closest and most controversial presidential election in history. The documentary looks unflinchingly at the built-in conflicts, contradictions and seductions of big-time political reporting - and the tactics used by candidates to win over reporters over the course of months and mon

DVD Reviews of Journeys With George

DVD Review: Great little movie
Summary: 4 Stars

The relationship between the Governor and Pelosi is kind of sweet and unpretentious. Their encounter over her California absentee ballot, where GWB2 gives her some really amusing politician schtick about why she should vote for him is a great scene. The "Newsweek Man" flirtation theme was also great. One gets the sense that a lot of this press pool was very young, fairly inexperienced, and not nearly as sophisticated as they thought they were. The segues with the Texas print reporters (who, I think, were later responsible for the critical Rove bio "Bush's Brain") were also interesting, they actually knowing something about politics and about Bush. One gives an impromptu monologue analogizing Republican campaigns with a baloney sandwich that is priceless.

One of the most noticeable features is the absence of much real journalism being practiced by the press pool. The closest we get to that is the late revelation of Bush's DUI, and we see Karen Hughes skillfully handling that. She is rarely in the film, but comes across as impressive, especially vis-a-vis Rove's pomposity. But in actuality, the press pool spent most of the time going through the motions, messing around, and being bored in an extended tour. I think a lack of curiosity became their most prevalent trait.

So really, as is seen from the evident relief of other reviewers, this isn't by any means a Bush-bashing movie. Pelosi's liberal pedigree is clear from the start, and actually shapes her friendship with the Governor. He's a lot quicker than she is too, and she knows it. While there is a lot of tongue-in-cheek sequences poking fun at Bush-as-campaigner, most of the irony is directed at the travelling campaign circus, and we get a sense from Pelosi that she thinks of Bush and herself in a similar way: as sort of accidental participants in a fairly surreal process.

So Bush Fans, ever wary of a devious liberal media out to persecute them, can rest easy. JOURNEYS WITH GEORGE, in the end, really critiques the pseudo-journalism of the press pool, and its evident mediocrity. If anything, it goes far to puncture one cherished myth, that the press is of some coordinated liberal conspiracy to destroy their heroes. That requires competence and will. Pelosi's only departure from utter docility was to question Bush about Texas executions, and she quickly retreated to docility after that. One reviewer below apparently sees this sheep-tendency of campaign journalists, "knowing their bounds," as their duty. I tend to think a press obedient to the powerful is anti-thetical to the whole profession, and Pelosi's diary here is one example of why hundreds of millions of dollars are used to run campaigns that the majority of the country is only dimly aware of.

Description of Journeys With George