The political phrase, "wag the dog", is used to indicate attention that is purposely being diverted from something of greater importance to something of lesser importance. The idiom stems from the 1870s. In a local newspaper, The Daily Republican: "Calling to mind Lord Dundreary's conundrum, the Baltimore American thinks that for the Cincinnati Convention to control the Democratic party would be the 'tail wagging the dog'."[31]
The phrase, then and now, indicates a backwards situation in which a small and seemingly unimportant entity (the tail) controls a bigger, more important one (the dog). It was used again in the 1960s. The film became a "reality" the year after it was released, due to the Clinton–Lewinsky scandal. Days after admitting to wrongdoing, President Bill Clinton ordered missile strikes against two countries, Afghanistan and Sudan.[32] During his impeachment proceedings, Clinton also bombed Iraq, drawing further "wag the dog" accusations,[33] and with the scandal still on the public's mind in March 1999, his administration launched a bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.[34]
