Screens & Tech
'The Queen of Versailles': How David Siegel ruined the world and then got screwed himself
Courtesy photo
Watch the throne: David and Jaqueline Siegel.
Published: October 3, 2012
And as far as how he got Dubya elected, Siegel finally spilled the beans in August.
"Whenever I saw a negative article about [Al] Gore, I put it in with the paychecks of my 8,000 employees," he told Bloomberg Businessweek in August. "I had my managers do a survey on every employee. If they liked Bush, we made them register to vote. But not if they liked Gore. The week before [the election] we made 80,000 phone calls through my call center — they were robo-calls. On Election Day, we made sure everyone who was voting for Bush got to the polls. I didn't know he would win by 527 votes. Afterward, we did a survey among the employees to find out who voted who wouldn't have otherwise. One thousand of them said so."
In the movie, Siegel laughs about the whole thing.
"Had I not stuck my big nose into it, there probably wouldn't have been an Iraqi war, and maybe we might've been better off, I don't know."
Thanks a lot, Mr. Siegel. That sure is a load off.
The Queen of Versailles
★★★ ½ (out of 5 stars)
Dir. Lauren Greenfield; feat. David and Jaqueline Siegel (PG). At the Bijou.
> Email Enrique Lopetegui
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