While David Geffen's execution of Hollywood power broker, Michael Ovitz, at the end of my and MakeMagic's Denise David)'s 2002 short film "My Dinner With Ovitz," was more metaphor than actual hit, the execution of Bush's war and his attempt to rationalize staying in Iraq with the Vietnam parable is far too real...and wholly off course
The war Bush should have compared Iraq to - the one that would have served much better than any - was a conflict that everyone could get behind and is much fresher in everyone's history.
The 2002 War of Michael Ovitz vs The Gay Mafia
(Get a fresh bag of popcorn and click here to see actual film)
The former Creative Artists uber agent vs Dreamworks' David Geffen and his boys.
It's perfect. I mean, who didn't have something against Ovitz?
Okay, it's not on the tip of everyone's tongue, but it did pit an evil dictator against everything that was holy...wood.
The historic plot-point similarities are staggering. In the 1980's, former Disney Chairman, Michael Eisner and Saddam, er, um, Michael Ovitz were allies and to solidify their relationship, Eisner sent many millions Ovitz's way. Afterall, Ovitz was on his side at the time and it paid to buddy up with someone who could nail your enemies without you getting dirty. Oh, sure, Ovitz was a cutthroat back then: at times doing away with those closest to him. His own people. And everyone let him get away with it, because at the time, he was our cutthroat. Not unlike how the Republican Congress treated President Bush II.
But there came a time when Ovitz decided to try and take everything, including those who he thought wouldn't fight back like Kuwai... I mean, gays. Damnit. Sorry. See what I mean. The similarities are mindboggling.
Ovitz went after what he called the Gay Mafia - Geffen, Barry Diller, and even those who weren't gay like Ron Meyer and Eisner, because he claimed they were the cause of his woes. Worse, Ovitz said that their leader, Geffen, had threatened to beat him up and harm his kids - kids, I assure you, who were not named Udai and Qusai or Jenna and Barbara. Of course, no matter how hard they looked, no one found any of evidence of Geffen's ability to beat up any sovereign nation, let alone Ovitz.
Ovitz blamed the New York Times for supporting the war against him and didn't even need Bill O'Reilly to ride that horse. Then again it could be the other way around, with reporter Bernie "Judith Miller" Weintraub, writing stories on orders from Geffen, Cheney, or was it Libby? Five years fogs up the recall. Ask any Bush hireling.
Did Ovitz really ignore his own culpability for hisfdownfall, or did Bush avoid going back into the UN for proper and legal approval to invade Iraq because he knew that he didn't have the votes?
Did AT&T chieftain Michael Armstrong refuse to invest in Ovitz' management company which would have saved him from losing millions, or did Bush refuse to let Hans Blix finish his job, save trillions of dollars and thousands of lives...while five years later Bush and Fox News would continue to say Saddam threw out the weapons inspectors?
Just like any war, the answers aren't simple, but using a coherent comparison to make your point is.
The only question Bush's speechwriters would have to resolve is whether the President is Ovitz or the Gay Mafia.
You have a better war? Some might say 1992's bloody "Leno vs Letterman" police action but that would be silly.
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