Today's Manchurian Candidate

There are unmistakably errie parallels with what's happening in today's administration and in the movie "The Manchurian Candidate." Anyone who hasn't seen that movie should watch it to understand what I mean. Or, you could wait for the release of the new version starring Denzel Washington.

Here's an article about it called "The Arabian Candidate."

The Arabian Candidate
By Paul Krugman
The New York Times

Tuesday 20 July 2004

In the original version of "The Manchurian Candidate," Senator John Iselin, whom Chinese agents are plotting to put in the White House, is a right-wing demagogue modeled on Senator Joseph McCarthy. As Roger Ebert wrote, the plan is to "use anticommunist hysteria as a cover for a communist takeover."

The movie doesn't say what Iselin would have done if the plot had succeeded. Presumably, however, he wouldn't have openly turned traitor. Instead, he would have used his position to undermine national security, while posing as America's staunchest defender against communist evil.

So let's imagine an update - not the remake with Denzel Washington, which I haven't seen, but my own version. This time the enemies would be Islamic fanatics, who install as their puppet president a demagogue who poses as the nation's defender against terrorist evildoers.
www.truthout.org...

Link available to the original NY Times article. You'll havta register, tho.