Associated Press
About four years ago, Republicans still found value in attacking Hollywood. I've never fully understood why -- Americans seem to enjoy the entertainment industry -- but it's been a standard GOP line for a long while.
John McCain said in September 2008, "Just a little while ago, he flew off to Hollywood with a fundraiser for Barbra Streisand and his celebrity friends. Let me tell you, my friends: There's no place I would rather be than here with the working men and women of Ohio."
I guess it's not so bad to have "celebrity friends" after all. The secret/surprise guest at tonight's Republican convention will be Clint Eastwood, who'll apparently speak after a former American Idol contestant and a performance from Bebe Winans and a choir.
Perhaps Jack Blades' singing and Jon Voight's wild-eyed vitriol weren't quite cutting it, celebrity-wise.
I also seem to recall the right having a major-league freak-out in February, when Eastwood appeared in a commercial celebrating American resilience -- a concept the right was afraid Americans might find inspiring -- and he was roundly condemned by Republicans. It's good to see they don't hold a grudge.
Of course, while there's nothing especially wrong with the GOP inviting a movie star to speak at the convention -- it looks like we'll get a reprieve from Hollywood bashing this year -- I wonder if Democrats might try to return the favor. I have a hunch Dems have a deeper bench in this area.
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Re: Dirty Harry
Apparently, they don't trust Mitt by himself to be a "wow" finish to their "wow" convention.
Breads and circuses for the plebeians.
Perhaps they want to recreate the vision of Dirty Harry punching the lesbian in Sudden Impact.
http://www.alternet.org/election-2012/two-florida-republicans-want-law-allowing-gun-owners-shoot-illegal-voters
Republican Legislators in Florida want law allowing the shooting of "illegal voters"
Why am I not surprised at this being the next thing the Republicans would do to prevent people from voting? I expect the Republicans to be anti-democratic, I expect the Republicans to be bigots, I expect the Republicans to hate their fellow citizens, I do not expect the Republicans to be inciting murder.
It was a hoax, and apparently easy to believe.
If you use your military ID for proof of age at Eastwood's bistro in Carmel, CA (Hog's Breath) you'll be turned away.
http://www.hogsbreathinn.net/
The GOTP are so easily distracted and entertained..
Didn't they just cut a lot of speakers due to the hurricane? This really has become the party of cartoon characters.
Hey, whatever ever happened with Donald Trump's big "surprise"? I haven't seen anything about that yet.
There's a current book out there titled Hollywood:Right and Left. It examines a few stars, since the dawn of film. Charlie Chaplin was embraced, then vilified by the right (his film "The Dictator" was released in 1940, well before America saw the dangers of Hitler)- so much so that he lived in Switzerland during his latter years. HUAC brought out the best and the worst in us, with Senator McCarthy leading the worst.
A large number of legitimate stars supported the Left; Jane Fonda and Warren Beatty even made films that spoke to the Liberal cause. In Fonda's case, films like "Coming Home" (with Jon Voigt!), "China Syndrome", and feminist movies "Nine to Five"and "Klute" did much to draw attention to serious topics.
Beatty's best known political movies were "Bulworth" and "Reds", but he also was active in politics, working for several Democratic candidates.
On the Republican side there is John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and Arnold Schwartzenegger. None of the three made any films that were overtly political.
Perhaps it is simple envy that drives the Right shun "celebrity".
If you want to see an old film with a subtle political message, then watch the Marx Brothers in Duck Soup. I am surprised that there was no outrage over the film when it came out.
"there was no outrage over the film when it came out"
"Duck Soup" came out in 1933, the same year that Hitler became Chancellor of Germany. Like today, most Americans yawned. "Germany? Isn't that someplace in Europe?"
The Three Stooges also made an anti-Hitler film- "You Nazty Spy!" that satirized the Nazis and the Third Reich. It was released 9 months before Chaplin's film.
There was, Mike. Benito Mussolini believed the film was directed at him and banned it from being shown in Italy.
HUAC brought out the best and the worst in us
The best being those called before the committee by the worst, the committee members (first chairman ended up going to prison for corruption, where he served next to Dalton Trumbo, who he had sent there for "contempt of congress.") As one of the Ten said "of course I'm in contempt of congress, isn't everybody?"
On the Republican side there is John Wayne, Ronald Reagan, and Arnold Schwartzenegger. None of the three made any films that were overtly political.
You must have an extremely-limited idea of the word "political." Wayne starred in all kinds of "political" movies, starting with the white-supremacist "The Searchers" most obviously. Reagan and Schwarzenegger did their share too.
I wouldn't bet on that. Republicans, apparently, don't care if they look like hypocrites.
Clint Eastwood going to ride out on his horse to save Romney holding his 6 guns or will it be a M-16. After all, you can never have enough bullets in your weapon to kill the crowd.
Giddy up Horsey!!!
Clint Eastwood should be no surprise. He's part of the 1% and he has a new movie coming out...More tax cuts and free publicity!
Yea, you got that right. Clint Eastwood in his movies claims to be such a super hero, but in real life he is a slouch and wouldn't help anybody. Especially if someone was being harmed on the streets, good old Clint would be running, hiding, and screaming don't hurt me.
Clint Eastwood and Chuck Norris. Gee do I detect a theme here? Shoot first ask questions later? Shame old Charleton Heston passed away.
Yup, blood and guts from Eastwood who-In 1950, Eastwood began a one-year stint as a lifeguard for the United States Army during the Korean War[15] and was posted to Fort Ord in California. Then good old Chuck-"Norris joined the Air Force as an Air Policeman (AP) with the goal of training in the Security Police in preparation for a career in law enforcement.
Now let's go to war in Syria and Iran and here against democrats! Kill and get killed for uh well not democracy since we are not a democracy ourselves,not freedom since we want to restrict freedom to use contraception or marry the same sex or... well just for the sake of war!
Still trying to figure out how "It's Halftime in America" squares with "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."
It's half-assed in the rhetoric!
Vulture/Voucher 2012
Proving Two Rights DO Make a Wrong!
;-)
The Democrats have already announced one Hollywood speaker for their convention, Eva Longoria. Eva has been involved in the Obama campaign for quite some time speaking to women and Hispanics on Obama's positions.
Funny how Clint Eastwood made that commercial for the car company Chrysler and it was a great sell for the car bailout. It was the most moving commercial I've ever seen. So many republicans thought that was a campaign ad for the President and they were outraged. It still can be a plug for the President. They need to show it again.
Watching the hypocrisy of Rachael, Chris...blah, blah, and all her other guests tonight as they go on and on and on and on...oh yea, AND ON about Romney being rich. I've been searching for quite a while to find the video of them doing complaining about... what's his name...oh yea John Kerry. You know, the billionaire, windsurfing in Nantucket or where-ever... Please...just a little honesty. They are the NO DIFFERENT than Sean Hannity, just different beliefs.
tschnall, you do realize Kerry is a Democratic Senator from Massachusetts? You know, home of Romneycare?
And if you're trying (and failing) at some sort of "equivalency", then I am sorry to tell you that it should be John Kerry (D) and John McCain (R), as they both married into money. I do understand, however, that Sen. Kerry managed to do so on his first try, while it took McCain two or more tries to hit the, um, payload.
Once again proving the overall superiority of Democrats over Republicans.
Let's keep count on how many Hollyweirds each party drags on stage. I'll bet the Dems win. How about the student who wants me to buy birth control pills for her? How low has the Dem party sunk to highlight an idiot like her? A star of their convention??? The Dems created huge breakthroughs with FDR's programs like Social Security and LBJ's Great Society. What have they done since then? Nothing! Rachel introduced Grant Bennett on her show as an LDS (Mormon) tonight. If he were gay, would she have introduced him as a homosexual? MSNBC has become useless as a source of independent info and is just a mouthpiece for a failed party. Rachel needs to break away from the idiots: big ignorant Ed, Mancrush Chris Matthews, Brain -Dead O'Donell and the other MSNBC dolts and demonstrate her obvious intellect on a different venue. She is being dragged under by the MSNBC morons.
Clint Eastwood is speaking and this is sad, he needs to get off the stage. He making himself look really bad, stick to acting or now directing because as a speaker you really bite the dust.
Agreed, I was embarrassed for him!
Wow, what happened to Eastwood's charm? He was very b o r i n g.
Yes, that was strange. I still like Gran Torino, but… just.. oh my...
Wow....that was so sad, bizarre, Clint has gotten so old. This move will not give Mitt the bump he is hoping for.
I think there is a "Cheney and Eastwood go hunting - are you feeling lucky punk" joke in there someplace.
It was disappointing to watch Clint Eastwood replace Donald Trump in the act (which Trump had alluded to) in which an Obama impersonator had been hired to be FIRED by Trump after he had finished belittling the President of the United States of America.
Hey Rachel, I didn't like the commentators' shrugs and embarrassed, "Oh well, what can you expect of Clint Eastwood - after all he's 82 years old." I'm 82 years old also, and I certainly don't sound as dingy as he did, not even when I'm playing silly games with my dog.
Katie's Mom: I had another take on the Eastwood commercial tie-in, considering the way the Reps are falling all over themselves to run away from Eastwood (like they did Akin).
I pictured him being approached to speak, and he thinks:
Sure, I'll speak at your convention.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, and it's even sweeter when your audience doesn't realize they're being insulted.
Probably not the case, but the thought brought a little smile to my face, which isn't happening much recently.
Gloria: Commentators later made a good point - tomorrow, around the water cooler, everyone will be talking about Eastwood, and not Romney/Ryan