 |
Celebrities and Politics: Bad
Bedfellows
By Rachel Marsden | Bio
rachel@politicalusa.com
8/29/2002
Here we go again. Yet another celebrity has gone and
stuffed her Manolo Blahnik-clad foot into her perfectly painted
mouth. And it just serves as one more example of why
Hollywood and intelligent politics make poor bedfellows.
Academy Award-winning actress, Susan Sarandon, used a recent
public appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in the UK to
offer up a few brain-droppings on the topic of the September
11th attacks on her country. She said that the upshot
of the terrorist attacks is that the US now has something in
common with other countries that have experienced terrorism. "We've
joined the rest of the world now," she said. "You're
so lucky in Ireland, England and Spain. Everyone
there already knows what it's like to have inexplicable
terrorist violence."
If Sarandon really feels she's missing out on some good
terrorist hits, maybe she'd like to take a trip to the Middle
East? Not a chance. Speaking out of the
other side of her mouth, Sarandon says, "I do work for
UNICEF, but I don't know if I want to go to the Middle East. It's
so violent, and I've got a family."
To be fair, Sarandon isn't the only celebrity to have made a
fool of herself by launching herself into the political ring. Last
year, singer/actor/director Barbra Streisand--a longtime Clinton
friend and renowned Democratic backer--fired off a scathing
letter to leading Democrats inside the Beltway, calling on them
to start fighting the "destructive" Bush
administration. "Look at his ratings," she
ranted. "How could such a destructive man be so
popular with the American people?" She went on
to write, "We have a president who stole the presidency
through family ties, arrogance and intimidation."
No, Babs, what we have is actually a very competent,
level-headed, respected president who won the election fair and
square--no matter how many ways you try to tally up the Florida
votes. And surely it must kill her to see Bush's
ratings continue to soar. In fact, the phenomenon
seems to have rattled Streisand so much that she is set to come
out of retirement next month, at the request of Dick Gephardt,
Democratic minority leader of the House of Representatives. She's
slated to give a $500-a-ticket concert to raise funds in support
of the Democrats' bid to win the House in the November mid-term
elections. Sounds like Babs really wants her bedroom
back.
Politically-driven celebrity tantrums are fairly commonplace. Even
before George W. Bush took office, Director Robert Altman
announced that he would move to France if Bush was elected
president. The perpetually whining Alec Baldwin
threatened to leave the US as well. Unfortunately,
he's still here--and still whining as much as ever. In
fact, he was back at it again in Tallahassee, Florida, in March: "You
can tell Governor [Jeb] Bush to rest assured that I'm not going
to leave the country because we have to get him out of
office," Baldwin bellowed, "and we have to get his
brother out of office in 2024. We're not resting
until we get that done." Well then,
unfortunately, Alec, I guess none of us will be resting either
with all your incessant complaining.
How can these Hollywood types not realize how foolish they
appear when they step miles out of their league and start
delving into issues they clearly don't know much about? For
a group of people who are supposedly highly adept at gauging
"audience reaction", they seem to be immune to the
"cringe factor" that kicks in when an actress like The
Practice's Camryn Manheim, upon accepting her Golden Globe
Award, yells, "I want to share this with every single
senator who votes to dismiss the case tomorrow." She
was, of course, referring to Independent Counsel Ken Starr's
case against Bill Clinton. An award show to honor
excellence in acting? Yes. An appropriate
venue for spewing partisan political venom to a captive
worldwide audience? No.
Singer Mariah Carrey's inadvertent attempt at socio-political
commentary engages the same kind of gag reflex: "Whenever
I watch TV and see those poor, starving kids all over the world,
I can't help but cry. I mean, I would love to be that
skinny, but not with all those flies and death and stuff."
Having seen the newly-released list of "sleepover
guests" at the Bush White House for the period of January
to May, 2024, it appears that the current President has the
right idea. The list is a veritable snorefest, with
no high-powered celebrities to speak of. Judging from
recent comments and actions, these Hollywood types should be the
last people any politician with honor and integrity should be
cozying up to.
|