Oliver Stone's "W" opens nationwide today, and some of the people featured in the film and who lived through the Bush administration are speaking out.
Jeb Bush called it "hooey" as it paints Bush 43 living life in the shadow of Bush 41:
"The Oedipal rivalry is high-grade, unadulterated hooey," former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush told The Washington Times.
Exploring such a complicated family dynamic might have benefited from direct conversations with, say, the president's younger brother who, in the telling of Mr. Stone and his "W." screenwriter, Stanley Weiser, was regarded by his parents as the more promising sibling.
"I didn't receive a call," Jeb Bush said...
Keith Urbahn, spokesman for former Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, said: "No one from the film gave us a call. Donald Rumsfeld has neither the intention nor interest in seeing 'W.' Judging from what I've seen from the trailer, it doesn't seem like veracity and the historical record were high on Stone's priority list."
Meanwhile, former White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan has written a blog for The Daily Beast about the film:
But W. is a drama, not an historical documentary. Stone tries to play it fairly straight. Even if he misses the mark at times, he deserves credit for the glimpses of inner truth he provides, which can only be instructive, especially as we prepare to elect a new president.
My guess is the most vocal Bush critics will view Stone's account as too soft on Bush and his top advisers, while Bush's chief advocates will ignore and dismiss it. But I think the average Joe just might find it entertaining and thought-provoking. I won't go as far as to borrow a line from Bush 43 and say, "Heck of a job, Stonie." But I will borrow one from Bush 41 and say, "It's good, not bad."