Cogent analysis of the Bush-Kerry contest in our town's old-line "alternative" rag, The Seattle Weakly, is about as frequent as a Chicago-style blizzard here in the glorious, poliitcally-retarded Emerald City. In other words, don't bank on it.

But lo and behold! In the full glory of the film review section, on page 87! of this week's Weakly print edition, true brilliance - comes a withering review by Brian Miller of "Bush's Brain," the cheap "documentary film" hatchet job on Karl Rove.

It raises more questions than it answers, according to Miller, who is certainly no Bush fan, as you'll see below. (You'll want to scroll down to the second review in the above link, and don't linger too long up top on the old pic of Gwen Verdon in "Damn Yankees," OK?).

Based on the takedown book of the same name, published last year, this short documentary would seem to have the richest kind of villain as its subject: Dubya's string-puller, Karl Rove. He's like Iago crossed with Machiavelli, Lee Atwater genetically spliced with a pit bull, and the high-school-nerd-turned-über-political-boss. So why is the movie so dismal?

Because history, in this case, is being written by the losers—the bitter Texas pols trounced by Rove's candidates and dirty tricks; the outraged liberal journalists (including Molly Ivins); the erstwhile GOP rivals whom Rove ground into the dusty earth during his '70s rise... Everybody argues that he bagged such scalps as Ann Richards and Jim Hightower because of smear tactics and underhanded tactics; no one actually considers the fact that they were weak candidates—like Gore, like Kerry—out of touch with mainstream voters of either party.

The book's co-authors, James C. Moore and Wayne Slater, get the most screen time among the endlessly dull procession of talking heads. If you're a student of bare-knuckle Austin statehouse politics during the '80s, they may interest you; otherwise the stuff makes C-SPAN seem like MTV. Speaking of which, Rove pops up periodically in some speeches captured on C-SPAN, but "Brain" (the film) isn't smart enough to make greater use of them. It never gives us a sense of the man in his own words, and any telling biographical detail is completely lacking. (I only gathered from the press kit that Rove never actually finished college, but is he married? Does he have kids? I have no idea.)

....If Rove is "a threat to the republic," as the film maintains, it does a terrible job of plumbing that threat. I'd rather hear from his admirers than his detractors as to what makes him such a tremendously successful political operative. Even if the Democrats shouldn't emulate his methods (and it's too late for this presidential election, I fear), they owe it to future candidates to understand their most important enemy.

Mmm. Hmm.

Sadly, for producers of "Bush's Brain," venting is what matters. And preaching to the choir. Neither are winning strategies, as Miller notes.

Of course that begs the question: what IS a winnng strategy for Kerry at this point? Hard to say. Maybe a severe disaster perpetrated upon America by terrorists......But probably not. The more trouble in the world, and Iraq, the more determined we get to stay the damned course. Through the scheduled January elections in Iraq, and beyond, as necessary.

The debates may be Kerry's last hope, and I'm sure W is going to come on strong, and prepared.

Posted by Matt Rosenberg at September 24, 2004 07:26 PM

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