Protesters and law dogs
Residents of Crawford, Texas, were flummoxed as to why President Bush moved there just before his presidency in 2000, but by 2007, most of them seemed happy that their town’s role in national politics was about to come to a close.
At least that’s how the town is portrayed in David Modigliani’s NEW documentary, “Crawford,” which is available as a free streaming video on Hulu.com. With Bush about to leave office, “Crawford” takes the pulse of local residents and gets their thoughts on the 43rd president’s effect on their small town.
“You know, what I find amazing is why President Bush would choose August in Crawford to have his vacation,” says local college administrator Warren Johnson early on in the film.
“You know that’s the million dollar question,” adds rancher Pug Meyer.
High school teacher Misti Turbeville, who acts as the voice of dissent throughout much of the film, has a theory. She says Bush “chose Crawford because he thought it would further his political career. … George Washington had his cherry trees and George Bush has his cedar trees.”
Tubeville adds that Bush’s arrival created some “healthy opportunism” in the form of more souvenir shops and presidential kitsch in town.
But by film’s end, the residents have had to endure nearly two full presidential terms of Secret Service, invading swarms of media and, mostly notably, Cindy Sheehan’s “Camp Casey” protest.
“People say it hasn’t changed, but it’s changed,” says horse breaker Ricky Smith. “There’s lots of law dogs everywhere you look.”
Bill Holmes, a retired justice of the peace, said, “You can always tell when he’s coming, because about 3-4,000 people come before he does. Don’t know where they come from. … I was here first. If we’re going to make somebody move, we’re gonna make him move.”
According to Johnson, the “Western White House” was “a novelty, and now a lot of the novelty has worn off. … Maybe the way we were was better.”
Meyer even said the commerce has finally dried up. “The town’s changed quite a bit,” he said. “A lot of the buildings are gone. We had a lot more business than what we have now.”
The filmmakers reserve the movie’s funniest line for Meyer, in all his cowboy-hatted and teeth-missing glory. Discussing the Peace House, an old building that had been converted into a base of operations for protesters, he said, “I had a buddy shot on the porch of that house. His wife shot him, point blank. … Right on the porch of that Peace House.”
(Courtesy images)
