"Bush Family Fortunes: The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" is a 2004 documentary film directed by Steven Grandison and Greg Palast. The film, which examines various aspects of the Presidency of George W. Bush, including the 2000 US Presidential election and the Iraq War, is adapted from the 2003 BBC production Bush Family Fortunes and based on the 2002 book "The Best Democracy Money Can Buy" by investigative journalist Palast, who had spent years tracking the Bush family for the BBC and The Guardian newspaper. The research for the original BBC film, which claims to have exposed the George W. Bush military service controversy, was also drawn upon by Michael Moore for "Fahrenheit 9/11" (2004) and footage was used by Robert Greenwald in "Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election" (2002).The film starts with a brief pre-title clip from presenter Greg Palast's aborted interview with Florida Director of Elections Clayton Roberts, who walks out.
Palast introduces George W. Bush with particular reference to his popular image as a war hero cemented in the public mind by his landing on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln for the 2003 Mission Accomplished Speech. However Palast alleges that Bush used his father's influence to gain a draft-dodging placement with the Texas Air National Guard which he subsequently failed to serve.
Palast picks up the story with Bush's 2000 US Presidential Election campaign where he claims Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris used their influence to purge and discount the ballots of predominantly Gore-supporting black voters through the "fake felons list" compiled by private company DBT/ChoicePoint for US$4 million.