Countless leaders, good and bad, have made the comment that you are either "with me, or against me." People who watch Revenge of the Sith, and then attribute it to George Bush are clearly in one of two camps:
1. People who hate George Bush, and will find anything they can in popular-culture to backup their insane beliefs.
2. People who dislike Star Wars, and push this crazy idea in order to alienate conservatives from Star Wars.
George Lucas HAS NEVER put overt political commentary into his Star Wars movies. In fact, I have read many more Republicans who claim that Star Wars in conservative, than Democrats who claim it is liberal. It is neither. Star Wars is a modern mythology.
You think Lucas is trying to make a comment about George Bush? That's because you want Lucas to make a comment about George Bush.
In other words, people like George Lucas. The man himself said that America is the Empire, and the rebels are the Vietnamese in Episode IV (just like that jackass Viggo Mortensen said that Americans were the Orcs in LOTR). George Lucas himself said this. In his mind, I guess, the Ewoks are a cuddly wuddly version of the Vietcong. Lucas is a nut.
I am sure that his movies are fine and enjoyable. I will go to see this movie. But Lucas made too much money too fast to grow out of being a hippy.
No I don't want him to. That's the point I'm trying to make -- why did he choose to write this specific line when Bush made it famous for this generation, regardless of who else has said it in the past? I maintain that to the extent that the line is noticed (which will probably be a low extent), it will be associated with Bush.
I actually like the SW movies quite a bit, especially Empire Strikes Back. They are good ways to escape for a couple of hours, and that is why I don't want anything in it that can easily be taken for commentary on contemporary politics.
Will it ruin the movie for me? Absolutely not. I realized long ago that if I were to let out-of-the-blue liberal political commentary in film and television bother me then I wouldn't be able to enjoy hardly any tv or movies at all. Likewise, I actually like Lucas on the whole. I respect his creative talents, and his entrepreneurial skills, and charitable contributions. And I just expect those in the entertainment industry to hold views and values diametrically opposed to my own, so the fact that Lucas is a leftwinger doesn't bother me any more than the fact that probably everyone in the cast is likely also a leftie bothers me, or the fact that most actors in most movies I see are lefties bothers me.
And as I said, I don't think this one exchange is that big a deal. All I'm saying is that yes, I do think that Lucas wrote it with Bush in mind and that like many people in San Francisco Lucas probably has a very low opinion of President Bush and this was the one way he could slyly say so w/o being too obvious about it.