Hacker Cinema
Vice
2018 · Film · 132 min
Directed by Adam McKay
George W. Bush picks Dick Cheney, the CEO of Halliburton Co., to be his Republican running mate in the 2000 presidential election. No stranger to politics, Cheney's impressive résumé includes stints as White House chief of staff, House Minority Whip and Defense Secretary. When Bush wins by a narrow margin, Cheney begins to use his newfound power to help reshape the country and the world.
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14 comments on Hacker News
They're talking about the movie Vice from 2018, not Vice the magazine.
The movie "vice" covers this nicely. The only thing stopping US presidents from acting like kings is precedent.
Unitary Executive Theory
The movie “Vice” explains well what this is about.
It’s was originally imploded by President George W Bush.
https://youtu.be/_UPvTdDB-h0
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SCOTUS essentially ruled in favor of this theory.
I don't know, it seems like it overrules the verdict (which only the president can do) but I am not sure. Its worth noting that initially, Libby specifically wasn't pardoned but his sentence was commuted.
> After a failed appeal, President Bush commuted Libby's sentence of 30 months in federal prison, leaving the other parts of his sentence intact. As a consequence of his conviction in United States v. Libby, Libby's license to practice law was suspended until being reinstated in 2016. President Donald Trump fully pardoned Libby on April 13, 2018. [1]
Which is rare:
> After Libby was denied bail during his appeal process on July 2, 2007, Bush commuted Libby's 30-month federal prison sentence, calling it "excessive", but he did not change the other parts of the sentence and their conditions. That presidential commutation left in place the felony conviction, the $250,000 fine, and the terms of probation. Some have criticized the move, as presidential commutations are rarely issued, but when granted they have generally occurred after the convicted person has already served a substantial portion of his or her sentence: "We can't find any cases, certainly in the last half-century, where the president commuted a sentence before it had even started to be served," said former Justice Department pardon attorney Margaret Colgate Love. [..] [1]
There's 2 movies which involve the Plame affair, Fair Game and Vice. Both well worth it, though its more a side thing in Vice while its the main subject in Fair Game.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_Libby
He was a very unusual vice president. Often described as the most powerful american VP ever. It's not clear that GWB was in control of these aspects during his presidency.
You should watch Vice (2018).
That movie really made a shitload of sense to me after following politics closely since a bit before the Bush/Gore election in 2000.
As the saying goes, a democracy gets the leader it deserves. Dictators sometimes get democratically chosen. The dictator chosen in Germany between WWI and WWII was also a symptom of a problem. You cannot simply deduce everything towards such one person; however you also cannot simply say he is executing the "Will of the People". We're not in direct democracies; we pick our leader for 4 years, and that leader (plus some others) have a lot of power during those. I used to say we rotate dictators we pick every 4 years, but back then I had a rather dystopian world-view.
As for G.W. "you are either for us, or against us" [1] Bush, people forgive and forget quickly. Though I'd argue he was just a vassal for Rummy, Cheney, et al. For an insight into Bush, watch the movie Vice from 2018. It centers around Dick Cheney, how he became Vice President. Bush successfully managed to get the hardcore Christians behind him, which I suppose was a natural path given the Lewinsky-Clinton scandal. Another good documentary of around that time is Adam Curtis' The Power Of Nightmares which you can find freely and legally on Archive.org.
[1] Bifurcation 101, very polarizing statement.
Doesn't mean much to me. We, the public (including people like Biden, and allies of USA) were deceived by the Bush government and its lackeys (Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc) concerning WMDs in Iraq. That not only deceived the American public; the deception included Congress as well. My government (The Netherlands) got lied to as well about WMDs. We ended up with our right-wing government supporting the war in Iraq politically, but not military. I remember protesting against this war, on the streets in Amsterdam. Something I hardly ever did in my life, btw.
For reference, see the movie Vice (2018) which is basically a third party account on Dick Cheney's biography. Scooter Libby, who got sentenced due to Plamegate due to leaking Plame's name while she was an active CIA asset on foreign ground (a retaliation move), as well. He got his sentence commuted by Bush and got fully pardoned by Trump. Why? I don't believe there's a valid justification. Nepotism 101.
Btw, while Obama did a fair amount of drone strikes, was vigilant on leaks, and probably knew all about NSA's ops before Snowden leaked, he did inherit a mess from Bush. After Obama, Trump did an ample amount of drone strikes (tho we need to put both into context as drone strikes are a new technology), and while Trump did not start a war in the traditional sense he escalated enough foreign relations including NATO and other treaties like WTO, Middle East (ISIS being partly a mess USA made with Iraq invasion), China (trade conflict), Iran (killing of Suleimani). Trump was a nationalist, and an egocentric one at that, who did not follow conventional scientific consensus on e.g. climate change. I'm all for freedom and opinion, but denying an important truth which is going to affect all of humanity if we don't act Soon (tm), is dangerous. Especially for people like me who live under the sea level (Amsterdam, The Netherlands). I'm so utterly relieved that Trump is gone. Senate isn't decided yet AFAIK, but I am not anti Republican by definition, and I believe dialogue is the way forward. Dialogue based on rationalization, facts, and science though; ie. not lies, denial, deception.
While I agree that Cheney was probably more powerful than a normal VP, you really need to keep in mind that the movie Vice is still fictionalized, with its own narrative and interpretation of events to push that may or may not have anything to do with reality.
That you call it a "telling report" suggests you might also want to revisit your perspective on Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter.
But Dick Cheney stripped president Bush to a mere symbolic endeavor while upgraded his span of control as Vice with the executive power Cheney took from W. Bush before they went in office.
I highly recommend watching the movie Vice which gives a very telling report on these developments.
Some people say Bush behavior after his time in office is very typical for people that experienced severe gaslighting which manifests as a condition similar to Stockholm syndrome.
Bush was installed as President and kept in the dark because Dick Cheney had all foreign policies in his power portfolio.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6266538/
Watched Vice[0] recently starring Christian Bale as a corpulent power-grabbing[1] vengeful, power-behind-the-throne, Dick Cheney; Amy Adams as his steely missus; Sam Rockwell as a likable "W"; and Steve Carell (of all people) playing Donald "Don" Rumsfeld.
They get to the part post 9/11 where the gloves come off and they sit down with corrupt legal advisers (Alberto Gonzales, David Addington, William Haynes, Jay Bybee and John Yoo), many who are advocates of the Unitary Executive Theory[2], to concoct a legal firewall around their actions. The twisted logic is: The US does not torture therefore the varieties of "enhanced interrogation" being used cannot, ipso facto, be torture.
Alongside "enhanced interrogation techniques" (torture) we have those other Newspeak euphemisms[3] "extraordinary rendition" (state-sponsored kidnapping) and "enemy combatants" (any fighting-age male present in a combat zone).
Then there's the legal limbo that is Guantanamo Bay, the suspension of habeas corpus[4] (a foundational legal right in modern democracies), and the frankly draconian USA PATRIOT Act.
Ah, good times.
[0] https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6266538/
[1] https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/darkside/etc/network.html
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unitary_executive_theory
[3] https://vizettes.com/kt/american_empire/pages/euphemisms-glossary.htm
[4] https://www.thoughtco.com/bush-lincoln-both-suspended-habeas-corpus-3321847
I think what criticizes the whole endeavor more the movie "Vice".
You are right, millions might be an exaggeration, I was going off of numbers read elsewhere online.
Here's a source that estimates total deaths, post-9/11 so far (by November 2018) at hundreds of thousands: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/files/cow/imce/papers/2018/Human%20Costs%2C%20Nov%208%202018%20CoW.pdf
That doesn't take into account the previous war with Iraq.
By the way, I never said US citizens. Do you think US citizens' lives are somehow more important than people from other parts of the world?
Also, oil/greed seems to be the most apparent motivation (you might want to watch the movie Vice, or just revise non-US media coverage from the time).
It would be great if you could provide a source that has a clear (real) cause/effect of whatever motivated the US to start a war with Iraq and Afghanistan, and please don't say weapons of mass destruction.
As for happy endings etc., this have always been a mainstay of Hollywood. In the Hollywood satire "The Player" from 1992 it is actually a plot point how a script without a happy ending cannot get produced. (And that movie itself have an improbable tacked-on happy-end to drive the point home.)
For fun I looked up the term "Hollywood Ending" ("a film ending of a conventional type, characterized as sentimental, simplistic, or melodramatic, and often featuring an improbably positive outcome; frequently in extended use."). The first example of this usage is from...1929.
So not exactly a recent development.
As for every movie being a "super-hero martial arts movie." - well this genre is certainly big at the moment, but by far isnt the only type of movie. If you look at the most recent Oscar awards, you will see movies like Roma, Vice, The Favourite, BlacKkKlansman, Bohemian Rhapsody, Green Book. These are mainstream Hollywood movies (almost by definition, this is what the Oscars awards) but there is still a span of genres and narrative styles. I don't see this as notably more homogenized than any other year.
And despite the hand-wringing over superheroes, I would like to point out that the "Marcel Cinematic Universe" is actually a pretty original concept in itself. Never before have such a complex shared universe and storyline unfolded over so many coordinated movies. I don't know if this is particularly worse than bygone Hollywood fads like westerns, sword-and-sandal epics, musicals etc.
But if you don't like superheroes there is still plenty of movies to choose from, since the overall number of movies released is steadily growing.
Misappropriation of funds due to lobbying and regulatory capture.
The film 'Vice' on Dick Cheney outlines just how permeable American government is to such non-public interests.
It's no wonder tax avoidance is such an interesting topic for those who stand to pay the most if they do nothing.