I saw it last night and was surprised, not by the anti-Bush stuff, but by how badly the anti-Bush stuff was done and how awkward it made the movie.

There are some pretty transparent anti-Bush comments, and Lucas has substantiated this view with his own comments about the movie and politics.

I do think that the "If you're not with me, you're my enemy" line and the accompanying "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes" were an intentional slap at Bush.

But it was a clumsy intentional slap at Bush, and didn't make sense in the context of the story.

In an earlier scene, Palpatine is trying to bring Anakin to the Dark Side. Anakin, as a Jedi would, thinks that the Dark Side is evil and he shouldn't go there. Palpatine says that the Jedis are too dogmatic and narrow-minded (sound like anyone to you?) and that, in order to understand the full potential of the Force, one must embrace all aspects of it in order to achieve balance, sounding very much like a modern-day "Understand why the terrorists are mad at us, don't think they are evil," liberal.

This view, with the Jedi cast as absolutists in the service of good and the Sith as moral relativists, makes a lot more sense and is consistent with the rest of the series. But Lucas obviously didn't want to make a film that looked favorably on Bush. So he threw in the ham-handed switcheroo line, which makes absolutely no sense but is a feel-good slap at Bush.

Lucas has damaged the flow and sensibility of the movie to get in a cheap shot!

Thought you weren't going to see it this weekend?

Wah hey ! I saw it last night too and was waiting for someone to read too much into it. Thank you V.C.
I was merely happy to find out the origins of Darth Vaders bad asthma. Must have been all that soot.

Well, it's obvious that Lucas was sending a message with a couple of lines of clumsy dialogue. It's ok though, because to argue that Bush is Sen.Palpatine would mean that Al Qaeda is the Jedi. I'd like to see someone draw that connection.

Ok, I'm a dork who saw it twice now. I too went in expecting to find a lot of anti-Dubya stuff. I don't doubt it was Lucas's intent, but he really didn't do it well. I agree with WCV that the whole bit about seeing the 'other' side is an incredible argument FOR the conservative side (we're the guys with the blue lightsabers, ironically). I don't think Lucas realized it, nor do I think that the MoveOn people would. Plus there's a lot of "Yay for democracy" stuff in there, and, hate to break it to ya, Pres. Bush has been a pretty strong force in creating two of 'em in improbable places. Yes, I meant to say 'force.'

Of course I was disappointed in Yoda. Best Jedi ever, and all the dude can ever do is fight to a draw. Yoda must represent Australia or something. No idea.

Fact of the matter is, for all the lofty rhetoric about democracy Sen. Portman (D-Naboo) may issue from her luscious, formerly-in-the-same-house-as-me-at-Harvard lips, it's the Gungans, not the Naboo, that defend their planet. The Naboo don't even have an army. They're like Andorra or something.

You better not have ruined Star Wars: ROTS for me or else I won't give you the scoop on the murder yesterday in the East Village:
http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/44556.htm

This happened on myu floor.

Also, without reading into intent, lines, plot, whatever... TELL me that Sen. Palpatine(pre-disfigured) doesn't look like Sen. McCain.

ROTS isn't an anti-Bush movie. The fact that Lucas meant it to be and underscored that with some very unsubtle dialogue just means he's lousy at working his view into his script. The Jedi think there's good and evil, and such concepts are not up to individual interpretation. The Sith see "sublties" (or "nuance" if you prefer). The Jedi are willing to endure a period of chaos in the cause of freedom and democracy. The Sith impose tyrannny in the name of "peace" and "stability".

Bush ain't Palpatine. He's Mace Frickin' Windu.

"Bush ain't Palpatine. He's Mace Frickin' Windu."

I hope not -- Windu is, like, the worst military commander in history. Send a bunch of special forces (Jedi) in for a head-on confrontation with the enemy (end of Ep. 2)? Without, you know, attacking the droid control center?

Iiiiiiiiiiidiot. Yoda should have busted him back down to Padawan for that one.