HKL Films: Wag The Dog 1997 Trailer- A Movie About a Real Made Up Presidential Scandal

This post was originally posted at FRS Daily Press

The late 1990s was a crazy and fascinating time for many reasons politically and other things and also one of the best periods for Hollywood as far as making movies. Some of my favorite movies of all-time come from 1997-99. Wag the Dog 1997 being one of them, Jackie Brown 1997 being another as far as I’m concern the best Quentin Tarantino movie of all-time. Out of Sight 1998 being another one, Primary Colors 1998 another one of my favorite movies. Cop Land 1997, The Big Lebowski 1998 maybe my favorite comedy of all-time with a great comedy duo in Jeff Bridges and John Goodman. Very Bad Things 1998 another very funny movie, Wild Things 1998 very funny.

But one movie in particular because it fit in perfectly with the times especially politically. The Monica Lewinsky scandal breaks in January 1998 the same month that the Pope visits Cuba which I doubt made the United States Government very happy especially with their embargo policy of Cuba. And also when President Clinton was probably at his most popular. Wag the Dog came out about a year earlier, in the Summer of 1997, two American embassies in East Africa were bombed and then America attacks both Sudan and Afghanistan.

Because the Clinton Administration believed that the Sudanese Government had a role of the African bombings. Again we attack Afghanistan as well that same month August 1998, but here’s the thing and why Wag the Dog is so relevant. That movie is about people working for the White House creating the appearance of a war in order to get the media and people’s attention off the latest sex scandal of the President.

After America attacked Sudan and Afghanistan by sending in missile strikes, Republicans in Congress Senator Dan Coates of Indiana whose generally a pretty rational and responsible person, right away questions whether the missile strikes had something to do with the Lewinsky scandal. And was done as a distraction just like in the movie Wag the Dog and even said something to that effect. “I wonder or I hope this is not a Wag the Dog moment for President Clinton”. The movie came out just a few months before the Lewinsky scandal broke. Wag the Dog is a movie about the President being in trouble with another sex scandal. He’s a popular President up until the scandal and looks like he’s flying to reelection.

But the scandal breaks and of course his opponent in the race a U.S. Senator played by Craig Nelson try’s to make the most out of it. Senator Nelson lets say is way down in the polls and is looking for anything he can to break through. Someone in the White House calls in a veteran big shot political strategist to deal with the scandal played by Robert DeNiro and he gets the idea that what the President needs is a distraction. To get the country’s attention off of the sex scandal and comes up with the idea of a fake war and hire a Hollywood producer played by Dustin Hoffman to put this show together.

Wag the Dog is a great movie for several reasons, one because of how relevant it is, perhaps not realistic though especially in the information age. And this movie did come out in 1997 as far as them being able to cover up a fake war without the Defense Department, CIA or someone knowing about it. But it’s still a very funny movie, well written and a great cast Robert DeNiro, Dustin Hoffman, Bill Macy, Ann Heche, Craig Nelson, Dennis Leary and others. And how desperate that these politicos were to save a Presidency and would even create a fake war to do that.

Read Full Post »

Crazy Weird Cool Show: Pure History Specials- JFK’s Women: The Scandals Revealed

Liberal Democrat

This piece was originally posted at The New Democrat

If the media back then reported on public officials private lives as they do today, John F. Kennedy never becomes President of the United States. JFK was Bill Clinton on steroids when it came to having affairs with women other than his wife. It is not just the multiple women, but multiple women at the same time and a different women on each night and a new women that had connections to really dangerous and powerful people who had goods on Jack Kennedy that could’ve brought down his political career. Like how JFK was elected President in 1960 with the mob’s role in the Illinois election.

To look at it now I think it is somewhat amazing that the most powerful man in the world had so many people who all had the goods on them that could’ve brought him down or used him to blackmailed him to get the President to layoff on their illegal operations. It is also somewhat amazing that a President of the United States could be so irresponsible with not only his own personal life, but then risk not only his own political career which is his business. But allow for that it affect how he did his job as President of the United States and having to make his own personal affairs part of his administration’s business.

But even with all of Jack Kennedy’s personal baggage, if anything his administration was tougher on people who had the goods on him, so to speak like the Italian mafia and actually went hard against the mafia and put forward policies that brought down the mafia over the years. The mafia could’ve told President Kennedy “we have the goods on you, so you better not mess with us, or we’ll release what we have on you to the media”. They had the goods on JFK, but JFK’s brother Robert Kennedy was a different story where they didn’t have anything on him. And RFK was also Attorney General of the United States. And his Justice Department went after the organize crime real hard.

You could say that Jack Kennedy was simply too irresponsible to be President of the United States. That his private life was simply too dangerous for him to be President. And again if his private life were public back then, he probably doesn’t get elected President and I’m not sure he would get elected President today with the same lifestyle. Because his private affairs wouldn’t have been private and the people would really know what kind of man JFK was.

But the fact is as President he was very responsible in the job and in the White House, (when he was working) and his Justice Department actually went hard and brought down people who could’ve really hurt him politically. And I’m sure part of that had to do with the fact that he had the goods on some of these organize crime people as well. Similar to Bill Clinton the man in public was much different from the man in private. The man in private is reckless, but the man in public is responsible and does his job the best that he can do it.

Read Full Post »