And George Dubya has now been indicted!

Here's Spike Lee, discussing his latest film "She Hate Me" in an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer:

Q: Are you putting this movie out in an election year on purpose?

A: It just happened. The indictment of big business is an indictment of George Bush because he has more CEOs in his cabinet than any president in the history of the United States... . How does Halliburton get an $8 billion contract to rebuild Iraq without a bid? There's no connection there between that and that Dick Cheney's last job before he was VP being head of Halliburton?

Q: You sound like Michael Moore. What did you think of Fahrenheit 9/11?

A: It was a great movie.

Why no threats of litigation from the Bush camp? Isn't an indictment at least as serious as an attack on someone's war record? And the word Halliburton is at least as ominous sounding as Vietnam, maybe even Cambodia.

Isn't there some way to include Nixon and Watergate in this stew?

Sure enough, there is! Lee's hero is a corporate whistle blower, which means that there's an eerie parallel right there to (gasp!) Watergate:

One scene in the film mirrors the struggles of Frank Wills, the Washington, D.C., security guard who called the police in 1971 after discovering a taped-over door in the Watergate complex.

"Look at Frank Wills," Lee says. "No one cares about what happened to him. This is a guy who changed world history. If he hadn't done what he did, (the burglars) may not have been caught and (Richard) Nixon never would have resigned.

"We have all these guys who are so well-respected now, making millions of dollars from radio and TV and writing," Lee says, pointing to G. Gordon Liddy and Pat Buchanan as two Watergate figures who went on to high profile careers. "And Frank Wills died destitute at the age of 52. And nobody knew who he was."

Watergate, of course, centered around gay rights and health care. At least according to the actor who plays Jeb Stuart Magruder:

SHE HATE ME likens the political climate that produced Watergate's Magruder (played by Simons in the film) to our current, corrupt political and corporate culture, personified by Enron's Ken Lay. This is, indeed, particularly timely subject matter as America gears up for our 2004 Presidential elections and this summer marks the 30th anniversary of Richard Nixon's resignation due to his participation in Watergate confirmed by, among other things, the damning testimony of key Whitehouse aide Jeb Magruder.

Simons felt strongly about SHE HATE ME, because the film not only explores corporate and government greed, but it also discusses the real meaning of family values. "Corporate giants like Enron and Worldcom, government administrations like Nixon's in which Magruder served and now Bush's administration have all invoked 'family values' in their platforms and yet have betrayed America's sense of trust. Meanwhile, these same administrations, with corporate interests close at hand, deny gay and lesbian people -- who wish to create families based on real values of love and trust -- the freedom to marry, adoption rights and equal access to healthcare."

Why wasn't this all brought out in the Watergate hearings? I don't remember anyone saying a word about it -- not even John Dean, whose strong sexual feelings led to the whole charade.

MORE: Keeping abreast of Watergate developments is tough these days.....

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