Dick Cheney and Jules Dassin

I recently learned from the commentary track on Jules Dassin's film "Night and the City" by Glenn Erikson that by the mid-sixties, right-wingers denied that there had ever been any black-listing in America during the forties and fifties. I would imagine they also downplayed the fact that fear mongering and persecution was the legitimate path to power for the Republican Party. By jettisoning the negative associations contained in the body of one out-of-control megalomaniac, other in-control megalomaniacs like Nixon could rise above.

Only in the 1970's, when films like "Night and the City" toured campuses and art house theatres did something like truth re-enter into the public conscience as the stories of those black-listed directors, and their stark films, became more relevant as Vietnam came home.

I wonder how long it will take for a clear vision of the damage Cheneyism has wrought on our land to be not just articulated, but accepted. What will be the form of this expresion? When will it be recognized by a majority of the public? How much of the public would be enticed to discern the truth from the lies? Regardless of the approval rating, the statements Cheney has made are calculated to impassion his audience with a strong narrative. And in that way, no supporters would see any connection in tactics between " Connecticut is aiding Al-Qaeda" and "Are you or have you ever been in the communist party?"

I can only hope that the wave of technology that continues to subvert the mainstream media will, in the short-term, create a more sensitive instrument for detecting falsehood. Only then will Cheney's outrageous statements sound as tinny as they truly are. Hopefully, like the delusional Harry Fabian, played by Richard Widmark in the film, his most extreme statements are marking the beginning of his political end.