Written by General Jabbo
Lil’ Bush: Resident of the United States returns for a second season, entitled “Staying the Courses,” and continues to follow the exploits of Lil’ Bush and the Lil’ Cronies (Lil’ Cheney, Lil’ Condi and Lil’ Rummy). The satire is turned way in up season 2. With the real George W. Bush being as unpopular as he is, the show pulls no punches in its attacks on the administration, going as far as comparing Lil’ Cheney to Osama bin Laden.
The Democrats get it too, and in season 2, we see more characters join the ranks of the Lil’ Dems such as Lil’ Al Gore (who is always preaching and trying to save the environment), Lil’ Dennis Kucinich (who is pint-sized, even to the other Lil’ Bush characters), and Lil’ John Kerry (who is indecisive and always flip-flopping).
While the show remained a half hour, there is only one episode per show, allowing the stories to stretch out more. Season 2 is also a lot more vulgar. While both seasons feature their fair share of profanity and are uncensored on DVD, there is a lot more cursing in season 2, as evidenced by the opening skit on the DVD where Lil’ Bush parodies the Jimmy Kimmel/Sarah Silverman “I’m F**king Ben Affleck/Matt Damon” songs with his own — “I’m F**king McCain.” While this bit is funny, the over-abundance of swearing in season 2 takes away some of the charm of the first season.
One episode has George H.W. Bush taking the Lil’ Cronies camping — in Iraq — only to spend more time with the troops than the kids. Distraught and wanting to get his father back, Lil’ Bush finds the body of Saddam Hussein and brings it to him. After Lil’ Cheney had eaten Saddam’s brain and the Lil’ Cronies hollowed-out the body, they were able to operate him as a puppet and create a “puppet dictatorship” — a direct shot at the current situation in Iraq. When this still doesn’t help the situation, Lil’ Bush gets angry and goes on TV as Saddam and insults George H.W. Bush and the Americans. George H.W Bush gets angry, saying Saddam and Lil’ Bush have gone too far and launches an air strike into Iraq. Barbara Bush tells George H.W. Bush that Lil’ Bush just needs a hug. While appalled at the idea of hugging him instead of just giving him a firm handshake, George H.W. Bush returns to Iraq where he makes up with his son. They then bring Saddam’s body back to the states where they proceed to hang him.
While this has all been happening, Lil’ Bill Clinton gets the Lil’ Dems drunk and high so he can go to spring break on South Padre Island (They had all resisted before). Their exploits are filmed by a couple of bystanders and marketed as Dems Gone Wild. When the Dems sober up and realize what has happened, they get angry with Lil’ Bill Clinton who tells them, “It doesn’t matter if you do bad things, as long as you use your charm to get away with them.” The Dems are once again charmed by Lil’ Bill Clinton and all is well in their camp.
A different episode starts at a science fair at school. Bush and the Lil’ Cronies have a project where they say volcanoes erupt because of God’s angry powder getting poured into them. They proceed to destroy Lil’ Hillary’s dinosaur project, saying it never really existed anyhow (a shot at religious groups who believe the same thing about the actual dinosaurs). The Cronies’ project is terrible, but they win the fair because of the earmarks Lil’ Bush guarantees the school.
Forced to give a speech on his own, Lil’ Bush’ s head nearly explodes and he ends up in the hospital. The Lil’ Cronies visit him and attempt to give him a nickname, “Number One,” but Lil’ Bush rejects it, due to the fact that he is the one who gives out the nicknames and that it also reminds him of pee. He blames the Cronies for the lack of a speech and never wants to see them again.
They split up and make new friends, with Lil’ Bush befriending Lil’ Fred Thompson, who attempts to get him to do a nude scene in a school play. The cast laughs at him when he takes his shirt off and he runs away. In a comical scene, the director asks him what kind of accent he has and Lil’ Bush says, “Texas.” When she still doesn’t believe him, he says, “Texas by way of Connecticut.” Lil’ Fred Thompson does a “One to Grow On” parody called “Thoughts to Grow On” where he suggests abortion isn’t cool and that if you have to have one, you should kill your unborn child the natural way by taking up smoking.
Meanwhile, Lil’ Condi has befriended Lil’ Giuliani, who keeps trying to wear her clothes; Lil’ Cheney becomes friends with Lil’ Kucinich and even sings with him until he gets annoyed and stuffs him in his lunch box with his live birds; and Lil’ Rummy and Lil’ Rommy become friends, until Lil’ Rommy’s flip-flopping gets the best of Lil’ Rummy. After a scene where the Lil’ Cronies are all seen singing songs about being alone or “alown” as Lil’ Bush’s lyrics say, they reunite.
A sub-plot of the episode finds Lil’ Jeb in the hospital after accidentally eating pudding laced with sleeping pills. A pair of doctors, thinking he is a woman about to give birth, operate on him and remove a number of objects from his body, including a He-Man figure, before they realize they have the wrong person. While he is healing up, Lil’ Jeb finds the pudding he is eating coming out of the hole in his stomach. The doctors, sensing a new diet fad for pudding holes, exploit this and Lil’ Jeb becomes famous and women, including Barbara Bush, line up to get pudding holes.
In another episode, the Lil’ Cronies get addicted to prescription pills from their lobbyists which radically changes their personalities — most notably in Lil’ Condi who becomes bossy and vulgar and Lil’ Cheney who becomes nice. His usual “rah rah rah” speech pattern is replaced by “la la la” and he turns into a hippie. When the Cronies try to clean up, Lil’ Condi resists and goes through severe withdrawal.
Lil’ Cheney gets kidnapped by terrorists who want transplant his heart into Osama bin Laden. They feel Lil’ Cheney’s heart is black enough to do it. In a shot at Homeland Security, when the terrorists bring their bags through the airport scanner, the security guards make them remove their bottle of shampoo because it is too big, and open fire on it. This in spite of the fact that Lil’ Cheney is clearly visible in the bag they have him stuffed in. On the plane, the terrorist laments the fact that he can’t have his dandruff shampoo.
While in Afghanistan, bin Laden promises Lil’ Cheney he will be a martyr for his actions and that he will be greeted by 72 virgins when he dies. Lil’ Cheney likes this idea and fantasizes about ripping their heads off and sucking out their insides the same way he feeds on the live chickens They drug him up and are about to go into surgery when he is rescued by the Lil’ Cronies. He is still groggy and when he sees Lil’ Condi, thinks she is the first virgin and attempts to tear her head off.
Season 2 takes more chances than season 1 did and that most likely is due to Bush’s approval ratings. While not quite as charming, the show remains funny and hits the mark more often than not. The DVD has a number of bonus features including audio commentary, animated shorts, and “animatics” showing original sketch art and a My Lil’ Bush music video. Liberals who are fans of the show will want to get season 2. Conservatives will also like that the Dems are repeatedly made fun of on the show, though some of them may not like that their belief system gets attacked in every episode.
