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seein' things that I may never see again
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CBC screwed up royally on Sunday night, airing on Newsworld's The Passionate Eye the documentary Journeys With George, Alexandra Pelosi's low-budget videocam diary of being on the 2000 campaign trail with George W. Bush.

If that last name -- Pelosi -- rings a bell, it's because she is indeed the daughter of Nancy Pelosi, the Minority House Leader. She was at the time (and might still be for all I know) a reporter for NBC news, and as you would expect, a lifelong Democrat.

I suppose the producers of The Passionate Eye thought they were making some devastating point about the press coverage of the campaign; the herd mentality, etc. Truly, though, this is no great surprise to any thoughtful observer of politics and the media. They had a more sinister interpretation, too: (I paraphrase) That George Bush used his Machiavellian gift of charm to win over the press and thus the election.

Bollocks. The press was about 90% in the tank for Gore, and the overall coverage reflected that.

What you do come away from the film with is that George Bush is an immensely likeable, funny guy. As Matt Labash wrote in the Weekly Standard:

Hopelessly lowbrow, Bush is blessed with matchless comic timing. We see him posing as a chirpy male steward, welcoming reporters on the plane, then angrily snapping at them when they ask for peanuts. We see him reprising his male cheerleader days, pretzel-ing his body into letters to spell "Victory" after Super Tuesday. At one photo op, Pelosi accosts Karl Rove with her shaky hand-held camera. "Why are you lying?" she asks. "I'm not a journalist," Rove calmly replies. "I'm not a liar." Someone grabs the camera and turns the tables on Pelosi, prompting her to distance herself from other journalists by saying "I don't like these guys." "You don't like me?" Bush asks, incredulous, his head popping into the frame like a groundhog emerging from his hole, late to the party. "You call this objective journalism?"

Not that the moonbats of the Democratic Underground would appreciate (or understand) the point, but no normal person viewing this could doubt Bush's native canniness and people-skills. I've met many people who are intelligent who have the sense of humor of a turnip -- however, I've never met someone who is humorous who isn't also very bright.

The film has already aired on HBO in the States; if you haven't seen it yet and you're in Canada or on satellite or close enough to the border to pick it up, Newsworld will be rebroadcasting it on Saturday February 5 at 10pm ET.

Or you could buy it on Amazon here.