Daily Dialogue — December 3, 2019

President (V.O.): Here’s a photograph. It is a photograph of a man. His name is William Schumann. He is a Master Sergeant in the United States Army. A member of the Squad 303….dropped behind Albanian Lines. We’ve just received this photograph, of Schumann in Captivity. Held by a dissident group of Albanian terrorists. Now, I don’t know how many of you are familiar with the Morse Code…but…could you bring the camera closer in here, please?

The camera pushes in on Schumann’s sweater.

President (V.O.): You will see his sweater is worn, it has been unraveled in places, and those places form dashes and dots. Dashes and dots. And those dots spell out a message in the Morse Code. And that message is, “Courage, Mom.” And he got the message through. “Courage. Mom…” Well, to the Family of William A. Schumann, to the Men and Women of Unit 303, to my fellow citizens I say “courage.” I have informed the Albanian government, and I inform you, that we will not rest until the safe return of Sergeant Schumann. I’m told his unit mates gave him the nickname, “Old Shoe.” Ladies and Gentleman, we will not treat him like an Old Shoe.

— Wag the Dog (1997), screenplay by Hilary Henkin and David Mamet, book by Larry Beinhart.

The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Sales. Today’s suggestion by Lois Bernard.

Trivia: The film’s opening prologue states: “Why does a dog wag its tail? Because a dog is smarter than its tail. If the tail were smarter, the tail would wag the dog.”

Dialogue On Dialogue: This is a good satire which speaks to the power of politicians to use media to manipulate the masses.