The President is running for a second term in presidency, it is 11 days before the big day' and the media has sparked a presidential teenage sex scandal. The satirical events commence once the presidents spin doctors go into work. They need to deliberate an event that will be able to knock this scandalous turn of events off of the media pedestal. The thought of a fake' war against a small unfamiliar country, being Albania, is brought up and they decide to follow through with it. Stanley Motss, a renowned Hollywood producer is brought into the movie to aid in the creating of this war'. This part of the movie uses a substantial amount of sarcasm to satire the President's hold over the public and to demonstrate to the viewers how far they would go in order to protect his name.
The media is also satirised in "Wag the Dog-, as they instantly take the bait which the producer and president's spin doctors created, by headlining this war', without the knowledge of this war' actually existing. What is being satirised here in the media, and how they will do anything' for a story and how they hold so much power over the public's opinions.
The CIA is brought in half way through the movie, after hearing about this conspiracy started by the president's employees, they had planned to put an end to it by eliminating the people who were controlling the operation. But instead the CIA is convinced to let them go. The spin doctors are left thinking they were left of easy only to find out the CIA had ended their war'. The satirical point here is that the CIA can also do anything they wish, just as the president.
Lastly, "Wag the Dog- uses a large amount of sarcasm, to satirise the public's inability to distinguish fact from fictions and being so nave.
The public within the movie are faced with a presidential sex scandal, a war beginning, the same war ending, a patriotic hero arising and not but not least the election, all this occurring within the time period of 11 days.