NEW YORK (ABP) — A group of President Bush's supporters has produced a documentary that attempts to solidify his credentials among American evangelicals in time for the election.
Producers held screenings of “George W. Bush: Faith in the White House” for reporters and delegates during the Republican National Convention in New York. The 70-minute film, produced by a company claiming no affiliation with the Bush campaign, purports to “tell the truth” about the genuineness of Bush's faith and argues against the separation of church and state.
Producer David Balsiger said the film will begin airing on Christian television networks and may be released in theaters prior to the November election.
Narrated by Religious Right radio broadcaster Janet Parshall, the film sets up a dichotomy between Bush's recurrent public expressions of faith and Bush critics who have expressed dismay with some of the president's church-state policies. It also draws parallels between Bush and public expressions of faith by previous presidents, including the republic's earliest leaders.
“George W. Bush, it would seem, is right in line with the Founding Fathers,” Parshall says at one point in the film.
In an interview with Associated Baptist Press, Balsiger said he thought the film would inspire evangelical Christians who have been “fence-sitters” to vote for Bush. “We like the way he walks his talk,” Balsiger said.
Drawing from two books on Bush's faith, the film also details Bush's gradual change from hard-drinking playboy in his early years to sober family man and evangelical Christian in his later years.
It includes testimonials from several Bush supporters (and one Bush family member) about the sincerity of his personal faith, as well as firsthand accounts of moments when Bush took time out of his schedule to pay a special kindness to a wounded soldier recovering from an amputation or to pray with the young widow of one of his administration's appointees after her husband was killed in a car wreck.
Balsiger said one purpose of the film is to provide a “behind-the-scenes look” at Bush's faith, which Balsiger said the news
media often doesn't portray in a positive light.
Ted Beckett, a Colorado Springs land developer who helped bankroll the production along with his wife, Audrey, said the primary reason he invested in the film “is just to put the real story of who George W. Bush is to counteract the tremendous outrage we all see against him.” Beckett said that criticism “really is without foundation.”
The film is also intended to counteract another documentary that presents a much less positive view of Bush, the producer said. “It's being released as an alternative show to [Michael Moore's controversial anti-Bush documentary] 'Fahrenheit 9/11,'” Balsiger said.
He also touted the fact that the film quotes the president's critics, unlike Moore's film, which he said doesn't quote Bush supporters.
However, none of those quoted as Bush critics in the film are actually interviewed, as the Bush supporters are. Instead, quotations from their speeches or writings are shown in print on the screen and read by a narrator.
The critics quoted range from evangelical social-justice advocate Jim Wallis to actor Richard Gere and comedian Al Franken. Balsiger said his research assistants contacted each of the critics quoted for filmed interviews, but that each of them either declined or failed to respond.
Reporters repeatedly have quoted chief Bush political strategist Karl Rove's view that Bush lost the popular vote in the 2000 elections because as many as 4 million evangelicals stayed home from the polls. Balsiger said the film was an “unauthorized biography” and that he did not coordinate with the White House in making the documentary.
However, he said he wants Bush to win in November. Beckett described himself as active in the Republican Party, and has paid for copies of the DVD to be sent to every church in Colorado and the District of Columbia.
Balsiger said several GOP delegates had approached him during the week to fund similar distributions in their own states. He said he thought the film would help convince other Christians to vote for Bush in November. “For those people who are fence-sitters in the religious community, this will probably seal their decision for George W. Bush,” he said.
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