"Bush's Brain" begins with an on-screen clip of President-elect George W. Bush's 2001 inauguration, and a rhetorical question against a black background: "HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?" We're about to find out. Journalists James C. Moore and Wayne Slater (who subtitled their book from which this film was made, "How Karl Rove Made George W. Bush Presidential," and several people who consider themselves victims of Rove's offer a laundry list of shady political dealings involving him, including the 1986 Texas governor's race between Republican Bill Clements, for whom Rove worked, and Democratic incumbent Mark White. In that now long-forgotten debacle, Rove was accused of planting a listening device in his own office, to smear his opponents as "spies." Called Bush's "co-president," Rove has spent decades in Republican politics, from his college years to the present. The filmmakers had no shortage of other associates of Rove's -- from former friends and co-workers to journalists -- willing to trash him on-camera. Former Texas Governor Ann Richards and former U.S. Senator Max Cleland tell all about one purported back-stabbing after another.

Rove sent a detailed rebuttal, rather than appear on camera; the film pleasantly itemizes and gleefully refutes him. Some of his alleged dirty tricks are funny, and a few of his victims manage to laugh themselves. But more of his shenanigans are scary, especially the ones that involve allegations of war opportunism, such as Rove's promotion of 9/11/01 as a lever for political advantage. Then, the movie is simply chilling.