Right America: Feeling Wronged (2009)

Alexander Pelosi (Nancy's daughter) hikes along with McCain's "Straight Talk Express" and captures interviews and images of Midwesterners attending Republican gatherings.It's always difficult to judge a documentary like this. There are no familiar pundits or talking heads or politicians in front of the camera. No prepared speeches. These are just a couple of dozen ordinary people speaking extemporaneously.The question is how representative they are, what universe are they drawn from. Not one of them seems to have anything resembling a sophisticated position on politics or any of its aspects. Buzz words and phrases abound as substitutes for thought. We've all heard most of them -- "socialism," "Obamanation", "Hitler", and the rest. But this can't possibly be a scientific sample. For one thing, these are super-committed people who are intensely enough motivated to drag their behinds off the couch and out of the house and take themselves and their babies to a Republican rally. For another, we can't have any idea of how many entirely sensible people were interviewed and the footage clipped out and left on the floor of the editing room. We can be reasonably sure the subjects don't represent conservative Republicans, but that these people exist at all is a disturbing realization.But, judging from what we see, politics isn't the issue that engages these good people anyway. It's something else, much harder to define than, say, commitment to a certain monetary policy. What's most impressive about these interviews is the hatred. They love McCain and Palin but they hate Obama far more.Some of their facts are plain wrong. Obama won't salute the flag, he's not a full-blooded American, he referred to "my Muslim faith" (three times). Other facts are not so much right or wrong as much as practically incomprehensible in 2008. Obama doesn't deserve to be president because he's a N*****. He's a socialist. He's the Anti-Christ says one perfectly normal looking middle-aged man. Once he's sworn in on the Koran, he'll pull off his mask and invite the terrorists in. He'll start the Russian revolution right here in America.The interviewees believe that Katie Couric is part of a media conspiracy, that CNN and the rest are "in the tank for Obama." They won't watch the mainstream news media on TV. Their only trusted news source is Fox because it presents the news in a "fair and balanced" way.Several of the people interviewed predict a revolution in this country in the next few years -- and they may be right. Not in a literal sense but in the sense of procedure -- civil disobedience, jury nullification, impeachment, filibusters like the old days, assassinations, that sort of thing. And if it happens, which any sane person must hope it won't, it will come from some of the people who proudly voice their opinions here.Underlying all this rhetorical heat is a strain of pathos. These are honest and concerned folks from the Heartland of America. They hold their sentiments so dear that they sometimes weep in expressing them. They boo at the mention of Obama's name, or Harry Reid's or Nancy Pelosi's, "a trifecta of the devil." And when Obama wins, the rallies fall silent. A pretty young woman tearfully tells Pelosi that the people have spoken and we'll have to get together and hold our heads up and do the best we can. We get the impression that she doesn't represent the others at the rally. We get the sense that their anger has changed to an abject rage. If anyone doubts it, I suggest checking out the comments on Obama on one of the news boards -- Newsvine or Buzz Up.If Alex Pelosi was conning any of these people into making fools of themselves, there's no sign of it. On the contrary, she seems at times to be genuinely puzzled and asks if they'd like to clarify their statements. She's polite and sympathetic to an old woman who is saying the rosary at a rally, praying that McCain will win. If the subjects of these brief interviews were to watch the film and ask if they'd been tricked or humiliated or misrepresented, I honestly believe they'd say no, that they were proud of their opinions and happy to have a chance to express them on national TV.Nothing in the film is truly surprising except the depth of hatred for Obama. I've lived through the turbulent 1960s and other passing periods of national distress, but I've never in my life seen such despair on the part of so many people.

I assume that there are more reasonable Republicans than the ones depicted in this documentary. As a Canadian, my only experiences are spending the winters in Florida, and having an ex daughter in law from the northern USA, who was so far to the right that I thought she would fall off the table. Personally, I'm middle of the road, but in the USA, people who are Republicans seem to me mostly to be bullies. I used to watch Fox News to try and get another point of view, but one evening after Sean Hannity embarrass a Vietnam vet, I stopped watching. When I think of a Republican I think of Fox News, Ann Coulter, and those of that ilk. I know that there are many fantastic Americans, who I made friends with and played golf with. It was funny, heartbreaking, and maddening to listen to some of these people in the documentary. They all seem so angry and vengeful. I surely don't know where they get their information from; how on earth can you accuse your president of being a terrorist and an Arab? Americans that I have met on the whole seem to be afraid of everything, everybody, and anything. Are there only whites in the Republican party? Like an ex Navy person told me one day while we were playing golf, don't talk politics and religion. How can you be pro life, but yet condone the wars your country always seems to be in where you have lost so many young people, in addition to the civilians killed? My apologies for this comment being so disjointed and disorganized. You people must cure this divisiveness.

I tried to find an email to Miss Pelosi to no avail... One question she should have asked was "Lets say Bobby Jindal were to run for office in 2012 or beyond. Would you still have the same views?" This would have put some people quiet for a moment and the audience would see the real truth to the matter of electing officials. Most would probably say,"If that were the case-I will not vote" WAKE UP REPUBLICANS: He is one possible future to the party. Overall though, the documentary was great. I especially liked when she asked one man, "Do you only listen to FOX NEWS because they only tell you what you want to hear?" All he could say in exasperation was "No"

To say that "The producer has chosen to edit this documentary by highlighting the most ignorant people she could find out there" is typical of the kind of criticism you might expect of a film that you don't like, but the reality is, this film hit the head on the nail. It provides a pretty accurate depiction of the attitudes that are commonplace once you venture beyond the west and east coast in the United States. I have lived throughout the United States, raised in a bastion of conservatism (Arizona), and even lived in the pinnacle of liberalism (San Francisco) for a time. I have also lived in Pennsylvania, Florida, Oregon, New Mexico, Utah and elsewhere in this country not to mention outside of this country. I have seen and experienced firsthand what we see in this film more than I care to and I was happy to see that I was not the only one who felt that a mirror needed to be held up. There are deep divisions in America today, and while some critics might want to just dust off a piece of work like this and say this is an extreme sample and therefore not representative of a large part of the American population has not spent too much time in middle America. It pains me to no end to know that this documentary is not just a biased piece from the "liberal media elite" but rather a scary picture of where this country has found itself. If you, like the editor's of the Daily Mirror once wrote ever thought... "How can 59,054,087 people be so dumb?" This film will at least provide a bit of reassurance that you are not alone in asking the question. If on the other hand you think that the biggest problem facing the United States is the end of days that the media liberal elite is working in cahoots with the Liberal establishment to bring about, then you will be reassured that you are not alone as well. Either way, don't blame the messenger.Yes, we are divided.