So... I caught "Anne of the Thousand Days" on TV yesterday, and I thought

[StellaBlue]

Richard Burton as Henry VIII reminded me a lot of W. Only Henry spoke English fairly well, had a rudimentary understanding of foreign policy, took his religion more seriously, and wasn't as much of a coked-up alcoholic.

But, seriously, he was petulant, immature, self-centered, surrounded by yes-men, sociopathic, unconcerned with the deaths of hundreds of innocent people because of his personal whims, etc.

Just reminded me that times don't ever really change. The American Experiment is over. It was a nice breather in between despots while it lasted.

And now, once again, if you have no idea what I am on about, I recommend you go read some Zinn immediately.

[long_green]

1. If only W. had a Wolseley or a More

Instead he has a bunch of executioners and village idiots.

[blogslut]

2. great flick

Love her curse on him:

"But Elizabeth is yours. Watch her as she grows; she's yours. She's a Tudor! Get yourself a son off of that sweet, pale girl if you can - and hope that he will live! But Elizabeth shall reign after you! Yes, Elizabeth - child of Anne the Whore and Henry the Blood-Stained Lecher - shall be Queen! And remember this: Elizabeth shall be a greater queen than any king of yours! She shall rule a greater England than you could ever have built! Yes - MY Elizabeth SHALL BE QUEEN! And my blood will have been well spent!"

[StellaBlue]

4. indeed

[bronxiteforever]

3. Great movie-especially what it says about women rulers

with little Elizabeth playing in the palace after Henry says that England will never accept a queen!

I hope you are wrong about the American Experiment, for my children's sake (and for all other Americans)

[rusty_parts2001]

5. Genevieve Bujold gave a wonderful performance.

If only one courtier would have resigned in protest to W's policy. Abu Gonzales is W's Cromwell. There are many parallels to our current events in that movie.

[theanarch]

6. not quite as many as you might think...

...we are conditioned to think of Henry VIII in terms of the late-life portrait which depicts him after his debauchery and alcoholism; in his youth, he was very athletic, and a serious personality with an above-average intelligence. Contrast that to Junior, who always was the spoiled, under-achieving, cowardly scion of power and privilege.

[StellaBlue]

7. Indeed.

Hence my caveat. But the similarities were striking. The sad/scary part is that, basically, W shares the same assumptions about politics and power that the late medieval aristocracy had. HELLO! The rest of us have moved on from that divine right of kings bullshit!

[Berry Cool]

8. Another parallel between Henry VIII and W

Both seem to believe that torture is a valuable tool for obtaining what one wants.

It certainly was to Henry. When Anne was unable to give him a son to succeed him and he wanted to be rid of her, he had to find a way to do it and make it look justified. How? Simple: find men who would confess to committing treason by having sex with her. One of them's her brother? Who might be gay? So what? Those two are so close, everyone will probably believe it anyway (especially because he shows no affection for his shrew of a wife).

How do we get them to confess? Easy. Take 'em to the Tower of London and show 'em what we will do to them if they don't. Then do it. One or several of our techniques and instruments should work to help us obtain signed confessions. Once we have those, her trial is a mere formality. She'll be found guilty and sentenced to death, along with them.

Of course, when I was a kid and learning about all this stuff, I thought it was done because that was the old days in a less enlightened country than I was living in. But now I know better. We've got Gitmo. Henry would've been proud.

[enid602]

9. thousand days

I just hope that we in this country have a thousand days left.

[dorktv]

11. She was around for a lot longer then that actually just married to the fat

git for about three years.

[dorktv]

10. How weird...I had the same thought a while ago when arguing about

Good Ol' Hal on a friend's blog.

And he was also not the chosen one to succeed his father, Prince Arthur died before he could ascend the throne and Jeb Bush was not able to get into a position to run for President first.

But I think that America has suffered through worse times and made it through.