Was Netanyahu's speech to Congress a 'wag the dog' moment for elections?
鈥淲ag the dog.鈥� To advocate for, or create, a distraction that diverts attention from a more pressing political problem.
The expression comes from the phrase 鈥渇rom the tail wagging the dog,鈥� which has been in use for . It was famously popularized by the 1997 ,听蝉迟补谤谤颈苍驳 Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro. (It鈥檚 currently a in Washingtonian magazine鈥檚 competition to determine 鈥渢he most Washington movie ever.鈥�) In the film, a Hollywood producer and a political adviser manufacture a war to help a sex scandal-ridden president win an election.
Since then, its most frequent use has been in the national-security realm, most often by of President George W. Bush鈥檚 controversial decision to invade Iraq. New York Times liberal columnist Paul Krugman brought it back again this week in accusing Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to boost his reelection chances by warning a joint session of Congress of the extremely grave threat that Netanyahu contends Iran poses. 鈥淲hy did Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel feel the need to wag the dog in Washington?鈥� Krugman . 鈥淔or that was, of course, what he was doing in his anti-Iran speech to Congress.鈥�
And Jacqueline Leo, editor-in-chief of Fiscal Times, used the phrase in the need for a 鈥済reat propaganda campaign鈥� that can counter the Islamic State鈥檚 recruiting of followers for its violent extremist campaign. 鈥淭o those who think ISIS is the cat鈥檚 meow, it鈥檚 time to Wag the Dog,鈥� Leo wrote.聽
But the use of 鈥渨ag the dog鈥� has been expanding into other realms. Paul Driessen, a columnist for the conservative website Townhall.com, used it to criticize top Iowa Republicans for recently imploring 2016 White House hopefuls to support continued mandates for the use of ethanol, the grain-based gasoline additive. He cited a litany of grievances against biofuels, from the toll they inflict on cars to their role in recent political scandals. 鈥淩epublican presidential candidates who surrendered to a gaggle of Iowa corn growers and renewable fuel interests need to reflect long and hard on these ethanol and corruption realities, and the broader national interest,鈥� Driessen in a column titled,鈥淐rony Biofuel Politics Wag the Dog.鈥�
And in The Business Standard, Neil Macfarquhar in Moscow the furor surrounding Russian President Vladimir Putin鈥檚 recent mysterious absence from the public eye: 鈥淥f course, the 鈥榳ag-the-dog鈥� grandfather of all the conspiracy theories surfaced as well, that Putin disappeared on purpose to distract everyone from the problems and economic pressures piling up around them.鈥�
Chuck McCutcheon and David Mark write their "Speaking Politics" blog exclusively for Decoder Voices.聽
