INTERVIEW: Michael Moriarty On Obama, Palin, NBC, Beck and…Gutfeld?
by Alicia Colon[Editor's Note: This is a small portion of a comprehensive interview that originally appeared in the Irish Examiner on Monday, November 24th. You can read the full piece here.]
Recently I was sent an email complaining about the season premier of the TV Show, “Law & Order.” My correspondent asked what I thought about the plot in which the local Manhattan district attorney Jack McCoy prosecuted a former Justice Department lawyer for “depraved indifference murder” following the lawyer’s memo on the techniques which could be used on terrorists. An astonished “Executive Assistant DA Michael Cutter says, “Jack, you want to prosecute a member of the Bush administration for assaulting suspected terrorists?” To which, a cocksure “McCoy” declares: “The word is torturing. And, yes, it’s about time somebody did.”
The increasingly leftwing comments injected into the plots of this once fine show had turned me off many seasons ago and I answered my reader, “I haven’t watched that show much since they replaced Michael Moriarty as the lead in 1994.
Mr. Moriarty has always been one of my favorite actors and given that he is an Irish American, I thought he’d be the perfect lead off to a series of interviews with notable Americans of Irish ancestry. I was thrilled to be able to connect with Mr. Moriarty, who now lives in Canada, and he graciously agreed to this Q&A interview.
Alicia Colon (AC): If you were still with L&O would you have objected to the season opener trashing the Bush administration over torture? What is your opinion on Gitmo?
Michael Moriarty (MM): From your description of the L & O program which I DIDN’T see, it sounds typically classic NBC. A Variety magazine article years ago described NBC as the most obedient network to governmental demands. It is now embarrassingly sycophantic. I’m not a fan of either of the Bush Presidents … but this judicial assault upon Guantanamo in a time of war that is still going on is approaching treason. Leave the suspects in Gitmo until the Islamic extremists cease and desist. Welcoming them into our country is suicidal … but then so is the entire Progressive Program for a New World Order. …
AC: Do you think that your pro-life position on abortion makes it more difficult to find work in Hollywood?
MM: Obviously yes … so I’m completely retired.
AC: What made you want to run for president last year? What made you drop out?
MM: The same passionately common sense that drives Glenn Beck is what drove me to run for President. To inject a little OBVIOUS common sense into a profoundly corrupted, two-party system. If you knew how hard that is you would admire Beck’s strength even more than you might now. The title of his new book, ARGUING WITH IDIOTS, is immensely exhausting, particularly for an old man like me. I dropped out of the 2008 election in order to recommend another candidate, Mr. Fred Thompson, also an alumnus of Law and Order. Sarah Palin was then barely a political reality. However, when she hooked up with McCain I supported the Republican ticket entirely because of her.
AC: What is your assessment of the Obama administration?
MM: Beyond a disaster!! In light of what Obama swore to at the inauguration – “to uphold the Constitution of the United States” – it’s a grotesque charade, a lie, a black comedy of immensely ominous implications for individual freedom in the world. Obviously Obama will be obliged to claim that at the inauguration the Chief Justice was putting words in his mouth! He never had any real obligation to uphold the silly principles contained in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights! All the President’s so-called plans and achievements are as forbidding as Chamberlain’s concessions at Munich. But, as we “Drunks” say, “Let go, let God!”
AC: What do you think of Glenn Beck? Have you seen RedEye? What do you think of the grassroots tea parties?
MM: Glenn Beck? A Godsend to America!! The Tea Parties? Long overdue! Red Eye? Very New York! Very Manhattan “Chic”! Very welcome because of its point of view: looking down on those East Coast Progressives who look down on us!!
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[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Big Hollywood, Michael Chavez and DNC DUDES, Mr. Pink. Mr. Pink said: INTERVIEW: Michael Moriarty On Obama, Palin, NBC, Beck and…Gutfeld? http://tinyurl.com/yfudn28 [...]
What the hell is Michael Moriarty doing in Canada. Get your Irish Artistic A$$ back in the US of A. We need you. It's all hands to the pump.
I loved him on L&O. he had a way of saying "sir" to a bad boy that was both respectful and disdainful… IYKWIM.
He owned that show and it started the downhill slide when he left. B. Bratt sealed the doom for the rest of the run.
How refreshing to hear some common sense for a change. I know there are more talented actors like him who can actually think for themselves, we just need for all of them to start speaking out.
Absolute class act. The fact that he's the one who has to drop out of Hollywood while the inmates run the asylum speaks volumes.
Rock ON MM!
Wow!! He has always been one of my favorites, but this is great.
Michael, will you marry me?
Hey Michael if you read this…come HOME! We need you hear. Get your Irish American butt back here. You and Voight would be a fantastic tag team.
You are seeing this political partisan crap in just about every show, now. I noticed in an old Dexter episode, the bad guy (played by John Lithgow) says his mother was a "Republican." Wtf?
So, all the bad guys, all the evil doers, all the guys on the wrong side of the law are "Republican?"
The irony is, it is just the opposite. As Ann Coulter pointed out in her book, the majority of those jailed are from single parent families, and there is no doubt, we are talking about Democrats, here.
Great Interview. Thanks, Alicia Colon, for reminding us of this great actor, sorely missed. He obviously still has a huge fan club here — surely there must be some scripts floating around that would be perfect for him ….. …….
Please Canada. We'll give you 100 Sean Penn's, in exchange for the talent that is Michael Moriarty.
Wow, I remember reading an article about Moriarty's leaving L&O a few years after he'd left. It made him sound like a lunatic. I should have guessed that he wasn't toeing the liberal line!
Of course in Hollywood that rings true, that all bad guys are on the right and all victims and saints are on the left, but I think its best for them. Tell them the truth: that communism is evil, that Che was a murdering thug and that a terrorist is not a misunderstood sweet-heart who just wants to be free but rather would want to cut their heads off for simply breathing and those idiots will die of shock.. or call you racist.
Good stuff. A quality actor with the courage of his convictions, even if it costs him in the short term. Liberal totalitarian vermin have intimidated people into silence via libel, slander, "hate" crime legislation, engaging in McCarthyism, blacklisting, intimidation from the fraud in the White House, politicizing our national security and releasing a "watch list" of returning veterans, sending out union salad tossers to intimidate tea partiers, etc. The majority of the nation is on the Right. Americans, rise up in 2010 and crush the anti-American leftwing filth rotting our nation.
I think he is one of the most talented men of our generation. I have loved him in every thing I have seen and now to find he is also a brilliant man, : ), just puts him in my top ten all time favorite actors, I have always thought he had that special "it" quality that makes him immensely attractive.
Mr. Moriarty,
PLEASE COME BACK!…….we need your common sense and talent.
Why stop at only 100? I'd give Canada all of the charter members of the Film Actors Guild and throw in countless more progressive-socialist aiders and abettors. If God were looking for a place to give the world an enema, he'd stick the nozzle in Hollywood.
"If God were looking for a place to give the world an enema, he'd stick the nozzle in Hollywood."
LMAO. Hope you don't mind if I borrow that.
EVEN I , WANT TO GET THE HELL OUT OF THIS COUNTRY… We have no more RIGHTS in this Country.
Sad…..
He was tops as Stone on L&O.
Refreshing, a pleasant surprise to find that not all follywood types are hateful of their viewers. As for L&O NBC has made my evening viewing easier. As I refuse to let some network liberal dictate to me my obligations to his god, and hypocrisy. Propaganda is propaganda no matter which Tokyo Rose spouts it.
It's getting impossible to live in our beloved U.S., WE THE PEOPLE HAVE NO RIGHTS,
GOVT SPENDING MONEY THEY DON'T HAVE AND PLANNING IN TAX EACH ONE OF US TO DEATH…
I do too want to move OUT OF THIS COUNTRY
SAD
nah, he will marry me.
hahahahahahaha
good lucky sister
In light of what Obama swore to at the inauguration – "to uphold the Constitution of the United States" – it's a grotesque charade, a lie, a black comedy of immensely ominous implications for individual freedom in the world. Obviously Obama will be obliged to claim that at the inauguration the Chief Justice was putting words in his mouth! He never had any real obligation to uphold the silly principles contained in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!
All the President's so-called plans and achievements are as forbidding as Chamberlain's concessions at Munich.
and
Glenn Beck? A Godsend to America!!
The Tea Parties? Long overdue!
Red Eye? Very New York! Very Manhattan "Chic"! Very welcome because of its point of view: looking down on those East Coast Progressives who look down on us!!
What an eloquent guy! We have to get a real president in this country so Michael can come home.
Did he actually say "black comedy"? He must be a racist.
My wife always told me that he left L&O because he disagreed with the Republican's Congressional policies. Of course back then* she was a Democrat. I should have known…
* She isn't now
Thank you very much for this small interview with Michael Moriarty. the first time I remember him was from Holocaust when he played Erik Dorf showing how a good man can go terribly wrong. I appreciated his principled stand when confronted by the Carter joke of an AG… he has scruples and of course he was no longer acceptable in Hollywood.
Then go. Leave the rest of us to fight your battles for you so you can come back and reap all the rewards when it's all over. I'm not going anywhere! This is my country and I will stay and fight for it. You should be ashamed of yourself. If it weren't for those others that came before us fighting for this country and fighting for their liberty, we wouldn't have anything to fight for now and you want to run.
If you are a conservative, you are a racist, as far as the dem's are concerned.
I wear the title proudly, and salute all my racist brethren.
According the Wikipedia, he left after threatening to sue Janet Reno for attempting to censor Law & Order.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Moriarty
Thank you, Ms. Colon, for bringing us this piece. I enjoyed it muchly.
Mr. Moriarty, you are a gem, an absolute gem. Clear-thinking, level-headed, excellent mental abilities, eloquent with words and a class acting talent, to boot. Thank you for resisting the terrible tide.
"A Variety magazine article years ago described NBC as the most obedient network to governmental demands. It is now embarrassingly sycophantic."
A very refreshing interview.
I have washed my hands of NBC in particular and TV in general. The last while NBC shows are real propaganda pieces for the white house, Obama, Soros, M. Strong, et al. The media government complex really comes together at GE with suck up writers and progressive s*it head hollywood commies. All Gore on 30 Rock preaching his lies. Enough!!
Perhaps Michael Moriarty could be lured out of retirement to co-star with Angelina Jolie in the Atlas Shrugged movie.
Heck, make Andrew Breitbart associate casting director. He could peruse the archives of Big Hollywood for other cast members; Jon Voight, Fred Thompson, Gary Sinise among others.
What a blockbuster that could be.
Canada? That's uh, an interesting choice, I would've chosen Israel if I thought that the country was beyond saving. At least they cleeeeearly know what Evil is.
Mr. Moriarty, yes, this administration goes beyond the pale for being treacherous, but you won't be able to change it unless you're fighting in the trenches.
I am dumbfounded to find actors who don't tow the liberal line. I have always enjoyed the stilted awkward delivery of Mr. Moriarity. What a pleasant discovery. We need him and other brave souls in Hollywood. I bet Clint could find him some work.
Michael has now become my favorite actor.
When i saw Michael Moriarty's face I thought to myself Oh No he's said something anti-American. He''s one of those Hollywood Clowns who don't know their asses from holes in the ground but insist on opening their trap anyway. He's always been a wonderful actor and a very likable cat to me and I've been a fan since forever and now he's going to ruin it all for me by chowing down on the former administration and calling people who aren't behind Obama's ideas crazy, racist, uneducated fools BUT he turned around and made me more a fan. Made me proud! What's he doing in Canada when we need him so much back home? I would love to see him on the same stage with John Voight! Two terrific actors with brains to match. Two calm, kind, straight arrow gentlemen….Do they know how rare they are?
Moriarty has been living in Canada since about the mid-90s. I saw him on TV back then talking about Waco and the Clinton administration's lack of respect for the Constitution. He stated back then that Canada had more freedom than the US.
You have to love this guy.
Ah i enjoyed that read . Always enjoyed his acting but never knew his view on our once great country was as patriotic as mine . sometimes feels as if i'm alone . bet he felt that feeling also . Sellout , Suck-up . or your gone !
Big Hollywood Productions? This is the only way to fight leftwing Hollywood. Get investors and start producing movies with a Conservative bent. Not propaganda films like Michael Moore or Al Gore's stuff but good entertaining movies that will openly mock and ridicule the leftwing misfits, malcontents and propagandists. When you need a villain use some lying liberal journalist, or a community organizer, maybe some union goons and most definitely democrat politicians. Build it and they will come.
Well. What a jaw dropper of an interview.
Moriarty / Palin 2012 ! I'm serious !
Well, thank you very much for ripping the words straight from my fingertips. JEESH!
My God the man is pithy ONE MORE TIME
In light of what Obama swore to at the inauguration – "to uphold the Constitution of the United States" – it's a grotesque charade, a lie, a black comedy of immensely ominous implications for individual freedom in the world. Obviously Obama will be obliged to claim that at the inauguration the Chief Justice was putting words in his mouth! He never had any real obligation to uphold the silly principles contained in the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights!
All the President's so-called plans and achievements are as forbidding as Chamberlain's concessions at Munich.
The current Obamamania reminds me a bit of the movie The Stuff, starring Michael Moriarty.
In the film, The Stuff was brought down by Moriarty with the help of right-wing talk radio!
Not all of us here in Hollywood need to be flushed out. I agree that LA could use a good cleaning, but there still needs to be the "good bacteria" to promote health in the system.
(It's the Screen Actors Guild – SAG. And you might be surprised that many of the "charter" members are more on our side than not. Now the young 'uns …)
Great interview. I want to see more of it (and him).
Here here! "Racists" of the world Unite!!
Lolz
And Michael, you were excellent as Eric Dorff in the miniseries 'The Holocaust'.
Michael Moriarty writes pretty regularly for a publication called "Enter Stage Right." You can find it online and if you search his name you can find an archive of his articles. (Sorry, but I can't remember whether they were in ESR itself, or in the related blog. Go look. You'll find it.)
He's written some very cogent and articulate pieces, by which I mean, of course, that I agree with pretty much every word he says.
Go check it out. Something to do in all those hours when we're NOT watching TV.
Present company excepted! Lord knows, like Lot at Sodom & Gomorrah, there's always a few righteous living in an unholy land. F.A.G – you must have seen Team America, World Police? Those were the boobs I was referring to, and I'm sure that there are many more out there in La-La land who would be prime candidates to join – they just need their own representative marionette figures. Ed Begley Jr. comes to mind – Trey and Matt could do a sequel with him and Al Gore as the villains.
L@O sucks now and has for a while. I only watch reruns of the old episodes. I can't blame MM for ditching Hollywood. It's a tough place to be for anyone with common sense.
To paraphrase an old soft drink commercial: I'm a racist, he's a racist, she's a racist, we're a racist, wouldn't you like to be a racist too?
Back in the 1970's Moriarity was in a movie with Robert DeNiro called "Bang the Drum Slowly". It was about 2 friends playing minor league baseball, one of whom was suffering from terminal cancer. Two great actors, Moriarity and DeNiro before their climb up the ladder. DeNiro attended "The Little Red School House" in Manhattan which is a school for the progeny of affluent leftists. DeNiro never seems to spout off on politics, or anything else, for that matter. I recommend "Bang the Drum Slowly" highly.
Except for their gun laws. I'd never be able to live there, though the crime rate is much lower, I would still rather have the right to self-defense.
Last Friday L&O had another leftist show with a slam at Joe the Plumber and McCoy seeming to respond to critics of the show being too liberal. It also introduced the novel legal idea that if armed thugs break into your place of business and start beating your employee, you have no right of self-defense if you think it's just a "shakedown". On the other hand, the abortion episode was pretty even-handed, revealing that the late-term abortion doctor had killed the baby delivered after a botched abortion.
What a blatantly conservative guy…Good stuff.
"EAT 'EM! EAT 'EM!"
Only 100 Sean Penns? Please, that's not even close to a fair exchange.
Are you calling me a F.A.G.? You're a racist, straight up!
No – I knew where you were coming from. I was just trying to head everyone off at the pass before they jumped on that bandwagon. We need to be entertained. I don't think that most people will pay for movies or TV programs from people who don't make entertainment as their profession. Therefore, we need to change the business from the inside. I know there are people here, many people, that would love to be a part of that movement.
It's kinda like the joke: what do you call 100 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.
Thank you MM! I've not watched L&O since you left. All it's incarnations are way to liberal for me.
Excellent interview, and great to hear from you. Hope to hear from you more often! I'm a Beck fan, too.
Actually, I think it would make me a homophobe – except that I don't fear homosexuals, just dislike the militant ones.
I would hope and pray that there are members of SAG that would be willing to take on that monumental task. I'd be more supportive of Hollywood if that would happen and the result would be entertainment that is palatable to not just jaded liberals and elitists.
You're right. It's my poor attempt at wit, I won't try to explain it. I just didn't spend enough time massaging the funny bone on that one.
I echo your prayers. (two or more…) I so want to be a part of the group that takes this business in a real mainstream direction. I guess that I need to put on those social niceties that don't quite fit right on me, the individualist, and search out the leaders.
No offense taken! Best of luck on your endeavors – you and the other conservative members of the SAG are going to need it.
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What massive effing hypocrite Moriarty is. I'm sure while in "self-imposed exile" up north, he's availed himself of Canada's "socialist" universal health plan to pay for his care after his various bouts with alcoholism, injuries suffered as a result of bar fights, pills and therapy for his long-standing bipolarism. I guess that's one aspect of Big Government he doesn't mind so much. And I guess his issues with NBC don't prevent him from cashing those fat residual checks NBC-Universal sends him every quarter for his work on L & O. Great actor, sad sad man.
Okay, "African-American comedy". Like Tyler Perry or some crap. There!
Or what do you have when you have 100 lawyers buried up to their necks in sand?
Not enough sand.
Fantastic idea!….Andrew are you listening? Something for the rest of us between Hollywood and Manhattan. Let's Roll!
Michael, you need to come HOME to America! We need people like you to get on the next political bus and campaign for our next president…Sarah Palin!!!!
[...] Via Big Hollywood. [...]
MICHAEL, COME HOME!
MICHAEL, get back here NOW ! Don't make me come there and get you.
How about throwing in a Woody Harrelson to make the deal even sweeter!
Hey dude we need Mr Moriarty in Canada where libs rule.
L&O was my absolute favorite show until four years ago. I watched every episode. After Jerry Orbach died, there was no reason to watch.
Are we not supposed to learn from South American illegals tis better to run than stand for anything?
Thank you.
I stopped watching L&O when he left too. It's just a WH propaganda tool now. If I want propaganda I can to to youtube and run some of the old "Why We Fight" clips.
What a fine actor and a great gentleman. Come BACK – there're lots of us coming out of the closet now – who refuse to be muffled! God Bless you Michael!
And it will continue until WE THE PEOPLE put a stop to it. How? Hit them in the wallet. We should not buy any product form any company that advertises on Law and Order no matter how much we like the product, then write the company and tell them why. If they pull their advertising, fine. If not, then they are saying they agree with the anti-Americanism of this show. Until we're willing to put our money where our mouths are, nothing will change.
Lemme see if I got this straight — this great libertarian and advocate of small government moves to a country that has arguably one of the biggest most intrusive Big Brother social welfare systems in the western world, that has outlawed the death penalty, that has one of the strictest gun control apparatus in the world, that has recently awarded its highest civilian honors to a notorious renegade abortion doctor, that refused to support our war against Saddam Hussein., that gave refuge to our draft dodgers. Not only does he move to that country, he embraces it, praises it and lives off the fat of its land. And you idiots are pissing all over yourselves calling this guy a hero of conservatives, a true blue ideological ally of Palin, etc.? You're actually buying his schtick? He's a better actor than I thought.
Aren't tons of black comedies on TV?
Aren't black, white, yellow and other colors people in this COUNTRY and WORLD?
if you are black
if you are white
if you are other color
PLEASE ACCEPT YOUR COLOR and SHUT UP
Please Canada, WE GIVE YOU THE ALMOST WHOLE HOLLYWOOD actors if send Michael BACK.
I like this man's focus and guts. It must have torn him up to see his talent and passion to his art get marginalized in a Hollywood that rewards sheep that follow the pack.
Maybe it is good that he retired, now that I remember that my wife had a huge crush on him. It's a tough choice, but I still would choose to have him back here stirring up the zombie left and acting better than the posers that now occupy the airways and movies. I'd make that sacrifice.
Mr. Moriarty should get together with Rush since the NFL won't have him. Form a production co. hire a stable of writers who adhere to truth and common sense, and get shows reflecting our values back into American living rooms.
MM must be a little misguided on Sarah Palin. She comes across as a conservative, willing to take on big oil etc. She claims she hates big government etc. In actuality, she just craves the limelight, is a populist, grew the largest state budget in Alaska's history and then quit the office. MM needs to re-assess his support for newcomers to the political stage. I live in Wasilla, Alaska and know Sarah personally. Like the person, hate the politician.
Nooooooooooooo, whyyyyyyyyy… US….why do you hate us so….. Please don't send all those rotten celebrities here. We elected Stephen Harper (Conservative Party) for a second time to be our Prime Minister, conservative Canadians are trying to keep the local left from destroying our country and you want those far-left bastards here in Canada, if they're granted citizenship (Oh, the Horror) I can already see them lining up to vote for NDP (google it). Please, have some compassion for normal Canadians (who vote conservative), if not for us, then at least out of respect for Mark Steyn, don't send them here!!!
Horror struck Canadian
For invoking Harper and Steyn in the same paragraph, I hereby crown you as an Honorary Conservative American.
I couldn't stand Benjamin Bratt on that show. His character seemed cocky to me (that's actually a reason I can't stand a lot of TV show cops. They seemed to think that being authoritative means you must act like a jerk.) And I couldn't believe the way female characters always seemed to gush over how good-looking he was. I don't understand why Julia Roberts put up with him as long as she did.
Thank you
Much honoured.
About that *U*. Never mind. It's Thanksgiving. So, I'll humour you.
Like I told you before, quit yer whining and go. There are no room for whiners when it comes to fighting for this country. Don't let the door hit you in the a$$ on yer way out either. I have no sympathy for you.
Hmmm Im guessing he comes here for medical his pockets are deep enough to not have to stand in the welfair lines and you sir are an ass. By the way there is no shame in being an alcoholic only a practicing one. So Bryan stop drinking so you can start thnking
Nick this may suprise you but there are patriots living in Canada, England, Mexico, Iran, and shangrila. We dont judge people for where they live we all have our reasons for being where we live. I am trying to run a business in the socialist state of Michigan not an easy task, but im still a patriot even though I live under Democratic Tyrany.
This guy Moriarty chose to go live in Canada. Nobody forced him. He "defected" to a socialist country. And while there he's using their socialist health care, living happily by their socialist rules. He's no patriot. He's an opportunistic coward.
I know from his previous posts that Bryan's a liberal shit-stirrer, but on Moriarty, he's right. The guy's a whiny self-pitying coward hiding in a socialist shangri-la. It's very easy to criticize our country from afar — Hell, that skirt-chasing dirtbag Clinton did it while he was studying in England. If Moriarty had any balls, he'd come here and fight his fight in the arena where it counts.
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