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''Bush Family Fortunes: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'' is a 2004 documentary film directed by Steven Grandison and
Greg Palast Gregory Allyn Palast (born June 26, 1952) is an author and a freelance journalist who often worked for the BBC and ''The Guardian''. His work frequently focuses on corporate malfeasance but he has also worked with labour unions and consumer adv ...
. The film, which examines various aspects of the
presidency of George W. Bush George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic i ...
, including the
2000 US presidential election The 2000 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. Republican candidate George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush ...
and the
Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...
, is adapted from the 2003
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production ''Bush Family Fortunes'' and based on the 2002 book '' The Best Democracy Money Can Buy'' by investigative journalist Palast, who had spent years tracking the Bush family for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' newspaper. The research for the original BBC film, which claims to have exposed the
George W. Bush military service controversy Controversy over George W. Bush's military service in the Air National Guard was an issue that first gained widespread public attention during the 2004 presidential campaign. The controversy centered on Texas Air National Guard, why he lost his ...
, was also drawn upon by Michael Moore for '' Fahrenheit 9/11'' (2004) and footage was used by
Robert Greenwald Robert Greenwald (born August 28, 1945) is an American filmmaker, and the founder of Brave New Films, a nonprofit film and advocacy organization whose work is distributed for free in concert with nonprofit partners and movements in order to educ ...
in '' Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election'' (2002).


Synopsis

Pre-title footage from presenter Greg Palast's cut-off interview with Florida Director of Elections Clayton Roberts, who exits the room, opens the movie.


The war hero

Palast introduces
George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...
with particular reference to his popular image as a war hero cemented in the public mind by his landing on the aircraft carrier for the
2003 Mission Accomplished Speech The Mission Accomplished speech (named for a banner displayed above the speaker) was a televised address by United States President George W. Bush on the aircraft carrier USS ''Abraham Lincoln'' on May 1, 2003. Although Bush stated at ...
. He introduces authentic former Navy fighter pilot Charles W. "Bill" White, who exposes W. Bush's attempted reenactment of Tom Cruise's '' Top Gun'' carrier landing following a heroic Mig shootdown as the pathetic publicity stunt that it was. Palast goes on to allege that Bush used his father's influence to gain a draft-dodging placement with the
Texas Air National Guard The Texas Air National Guard (TX ANG) is the aerial militia of the State of Texas, United States of America. It is, along with the Texas Army National Guard, an element of the Texas National Guard. No element of the Texas Air National Guard is ...
which he subsequently failed to serve.


The candidate

Palast picks up the story with Bush's
2000 US presidential election The 2000 United States presidential election was the 54th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 7, 2000. Republican candidate George W. Bush, the governor of Texas and eldest son of the 41st president, George H. W. Bush ...
campaign where he claims Florida Governor
Jeb Bush John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. Bush, who grew up in Houston, was the second son of former President George H. W. Bush ...
and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris used their influence to purge and discount the ballots of predominantly Gore-supporting black voters through the “fake felons list” compiled by private company DBT/
ChoicePoint LexisNexis Risk Solutions is a global data and analytics company that provides data and technology services, analytics, predictive insights and fraud prevention for a wide range of industries. It is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia (part of ...
for
US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...
4 million.


The money

Palast goes on to examine the corporate donors to Bush's election campaign, such as
Enron Enron Corporation was an American energy, commodities, and services company based in Houston, Texas. It was founded by Kenneth Lay in 1985 as a merger between Lay's Houston Natural Gas and InterNorth, both relatively small regional compani ...
CEO
Ken Lay Kenneth Lee Lay (April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006) was an American businessman who was the founder, chief executive officer and chairman of Enron. He was heavily involved in the eponymous accounting scandal that unraveled in 2001 into the large ...
, who as members of Bush's pioneer network contributed huge sums through family and friends, and who he claims subsequently profited from the Bush presidency with senior government appointments, no-bid contracts, executive orders and deregulation.


The oil

Palast outlines what he refers to as the ''Bush-cycle'', where Bush family members use money to gain political office and then use the office to gain even more money, dating back to Senator Prescott Bush who funded the family's entry into the oil business, citing the example of Bush's Harken Energy winning a contract to drill in the
Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...
thanks he alleges to Bush Snr's presidency.


The connection

Palast alleges that both prior to and since the
September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...
Bush has blocked investigations into members of the Bin Laden family and other rich Saudis, who are alleged to have provided funding to Al Qaeda and which have long been funnelling money into Bush family business ventures via businessman James R. Bath, who was a part owner of Bush's failed Arbusto Energy. Navy fighter pilot Charles_W._["Bill"White.html" ;"title="Bill".html" ;"title="Charles W. ["Bill"">Charles W. ["Bill"White">Bill".html" ;"title="Charles W. ["Bill"">Charles W. ["Bill"White, who was Bath's business partner and close confidant during the decade of the 1980s, is revealed to be the source who first disclosed Bath's tax returns and personal financial statements showing that Bath was awarded a 5% ownership interest in W. Bush's Arbusto in lieu of a cash commission for having funneled BinLaden money to Bush.


The Plan: Iraq

Palast concludes with Bush's declaration of the
Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق ( Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict and the War on terror , image ...
, which he claims was made to fulfil a long planned strategy, drawn up at the beginning of Bush's presidency, to divide and sell up all of Iraq's assets, especially the oil, to the Bush family's corporate donors against the interests of the Iraqi people and their democratic ambitions.


Participants

* Clayton Roberts – Director of Elections, Florida * Jim Hightower – Former Texas Agriculture Commissioner * Charles W. ["Bill"] White – Former Navy Fighter Pilot and Bath's longtime business partner * Terry Johnson – Bush's College Roommate * Robert Dieter – Bush's College Roommate * Bill Burkett – Retired Lt. Col., Texas Air Guard * Willie Steen – Florida Voter *
Pam Iorio Pamela Dorothy Iorio (born April 27, 1959) is an American politician and author, who served as mayor of Tampa, Florida from 2003 to 2011. Early life, education, and family Iorio moved with her family to Temple Terrace as an infant and attended H ...
– Election Supervisor, Tampa, Florida * Craig McDonald – Texans for Public Justice * Andrea & Dean McWilliams – Bush/Enron Lobbyists * Nick Kralj – Democratic Lobbyist * Wayne Madsen – author * Pete Brewton – investigative journalist * David Rosen – Oilman * Stephen Push – Families of September 11 * Ron Motley – Lawyer * General
Jay Garner Jay Montgomery Garner (born April 15, 1938) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general who in 2003 was appointed as Director of the Office for Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance for Iraq following the 2003 invasion of Iraq, makin ...
*
Grover Norquist Grover Glenn Norquist (born October 19, 1956) is an American political activist and tax reduction advocate who is founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform, an organization that opposes all tax increases. A Republican, he is the primar ...
– Lobbyist


See also

* '' Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election'' (2002) * '' Fahrenheit 9/11'' (2004) * '' Big Easy to Big Empty'' (2007)


References


External links

* for Greg Palast * * {{George W. Bush 2004 films 2004 documentary films American documentary films American independent films Documentary films about presidents of the United States Documentary films about elections in the United States Films about the 2000 United States presidential election Documentary films about the September 11 attacks Documentary films about the Iraq War Films about George W. Bush Greg Palast 2000s English-language films 2000s American films