It’s Okay for Conservatives to Like Liberal Entertainers
by Kurt SchlichterIt’s time to take on the most important issue facing American conservatives today: Can a self-respecting right-winger be a fan of Alec Baldwin?
The answer is “yes.” Allow me to demonstrate why:
–
Now, that clip from 30 Rock is, without a doubt, one of the funniest damn things I’ve ever seen. Bizarre, obnoxious and unbelievably politically incorrect, it’s a welcome reminder that television need not be a soul-sucking void of mindless time-killing.
Baldwin was awesomely amoral in Miami Blues. He was awesomely arrogant in Malice. He was just plain awesomely awesome in Glengarry Glen Ross. And as NBC Vice-President of Television and Microwave Cookery Jack Donaghy, he continues his track record of awesomeness and fully deserves his multiple awards and nominations. But does he deserve a conservative’s appreciation?
Like so many successful liberals, Baldwin is a lifestyle conservative. He talks Left but he works Right. Look at his resume. He works a lot and he’s good at what he does. Of course, he’d never offer the same prescription of hard work and competency as a remedy for what ails the rest of the liberal base – demanding that those of us who actually produce something subsidize those who don’t is so much more morally gratifying than demanding personal responsibility from one’s own allies. But we can’t expect much more from Baldwin – he suffers from the terrible handicap of a prestigious American university education, so of course he’s politically confused.
The problem with Baldwin is not his liberalism. I live in Los Angeles and here he’s practically a John Bircher. The problem is that he can be so tiresome about it when he goes public with it. Baldwin called Dick Cheney an “oil whore” and thinks he should be indicted for war crimes, which as we know is silly – the only thing wrong with the former Veep was his moderation. He’s spouted off with stupid comments about Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Matt Drudge – guys with big microphones – and ended up the worse for it. Pampered Hollywood stars are not used to push back and it makes them huffier than a Blue Dog getting asked about death panels.
Baldwin even went on late night TV in the 1990s and made unfunny jokes about stoning Henry Hyde to death. Henry Hyde? How could anyone be that mad at Henry Hyde? He was like a congressional koala.
Baldwin is an angry liberal and is sometimes an angry man. His anger manifested in a horrendous telephone message to his tween daughter which someone in his bitter ex-wife Kim Bassinger’s camp decided to release (classy move, Kim – nothing like using your kid as a piece in a game of emotional Stratego). Apparently, the kid was supposed to be there for a pre-arranged phone call and wasn’t and Baldwin flipped out. The tape was pretty ugly, Baldwin was clearly pretty upset, and he got a lot of flak. Still, in his defense, I’m not sure that when one gets mad at one’s kid one necessarily needs to do so in the soothing tones of Mr. Rogers. The biggest child-rearing problem in Hollywood sure as hell isn’t parents being too assertive with their kids.
But the thing about Baldwin is that his political musings and controversial family life generally don’t cross over into his art. If you want to see what he thinks about the global warming scam, you can find him giving you the full benefit of the atmospheric science research he conducted while earning a masters of fine arts in his Huffington Post column. But you are not likely to see it in his acting – with an amusing exception being his self-deprecating turn when Sarah Palin visited Saturday Night Live.
So how can conservatives respect this guy as an artist and patronize his work? That’s easy – because we actually have lives, we conservatives are not freaks who let personal politics infest every part of them. The notion of running through a political litmus test every time we flip on HBO is ridiculous. And anyway, excluding all liberal media and entertainers would pretty much leave us to watch Fox News and maybe those old Indian head test patterns.
Now, there are some folks whose politics and work are so intertwined, intentionally or otherwise, as to make patronizing them a political statement. Hanoi Jane Fonda is one. You stick a revolver in my ear and whisper “Watch On Golden Pond or I pull this trigger” and my response will be, “What’s the caliber?”
I had the honor of interviewing Admiral James Stockdale in 1987, long before this Medal of Honor winner was Perot’s running mate. I know from Admiral Stockdale – both from talking to him and from seeing his broken body – what those North Vietnamese bastards did to our men. During the Gulf War I carried an extra 5.56 mm round in my BDUs pocket to ensure that after I emptied my seven M16A1 magazines I would still be able to avoid capture. Fonda sucked up to the punks beating and starving our POWs and shooting at our pilots. Those guys may forgive that wizened, VC-hugging crone, but not me.
I also won’t listen to the Dixie Chicks – not because of their dim bulb politics but because they suck.
Arbitrarily walling yourself off from popular culture icons who don’t vote your way is generally counterproductive. But conversely, when artists get “political” the results are usually terrible … or terribly funny!
If you want a challenge, try getting through Dead Man Walking without cracking a big fat smile. Tim Robbins directed Sean Penn and Susan Sarandon – a triple threat of Hugo Chavez-smooching fellow travelers! – in this film about a condemned murderer who the film assures us is the real victim. It’s comedy gold!
My favorite part is the hilarious lethal injection scene that Robbins chooses to shoot like a crucifixion – get it? Whoa, heavy imagery, dude. All that’s missing is a subtitle that reads: “Attention: This represents Jesus somehow.”
This isn’t unusual. Politics + Art (generally) = Crap.
The Clash’s worst album is Sandinista – okay, Somebody Got Murdered is freakin’ awesome, but it’s a damn three-record album and it’s got one good song. Even De Niro, who I would watch in a Cialis commercial, can’t save Wag The Dog. The less said about W, the better – not that anyone ever had much to say about it, especially phrases like “Let’s go see W.”
The only dull Simpsons episodes are the ones with heavy-handed politics (illegal immigrant episode, I’m looking at you). Aaron Sorkin is intermittently talented, but The West Wing was unwatchable. Even our beloved 24 comes to a screeching stop whenever they stop shooting jihadists and start sharing their feelings about shooting jihadists.
Alec Baldwin has the sense to keep his awful, awful politics to himself, thereby allowing us the ability to enjoy his undeniable talent. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t mock his baffling left wing views. We have a moral obligation to do so. We’ve already gotten two or three of the four Baldwin brothers on our side (I’ve lost count). Alec, you’re welcome whenever you’re ready to step to the Right.
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202 Comments
That is screamingly funny.
The only window on black folks Jack Donaghy has is Fred Sanford, and J.J.Walker,
and yet he knew enough about his troubled talent to get to the heart of the situation.
Well written and awesomly performed.
I have to start watching this show.
the flip side of the argument is that by paying to see Baldwin, you feel like you are handing money directly to moveon.org when I'd rather be trying to support guys like Jimmy Arone or Gary Graham. As I said in a comment yesterday, if I wasn't a little hypocritical, I wouldn't watch anything, but if a guy pisses me off enough, I hate to fund them.
Good post and interesting perspective. Something we will all monitor this fall is the inclusion of Rush Limbaugh and other conservatives into some Family Guy episodes. My guess is that they will be some of the highest rated shows Seth M has produced. Whenever Hollywood chooses not to take itself too seriously, it usually creates fun entertainment which of course makes them a lot of money. Then they use it to fund projects like the previously discussed "Steam Experiment", anti-war movies and other such tripe.
I have to agree with Jed here. I don't want to become too much of a tight-a**, I see your point about not walling myself into a cultural hole, but gee whiz I just can't stand, for instance, to watch a Matt Damon movie anymore (I loved the Bourne stuff before I found out that Matt Damon is really just Matt Damon, not Bourne after all..). Well, I have one big form of entertainment still, I'm a nerd & really into anime and Asian horror movies, and they don't beat you over the head with their liberal politics in that stuff. Usually!
Good article though, I will perhaps reconsider some of the folks on my "banned" lists. But dang, what I really want is to see more folks like Gary Graham and Victoria Jackson and Kirk Cameron and Bill Cosby in movies & shows. Why not??? Gimme!
Does this mean we can enjoy Gauguin paintings, too?
So very, very true, Kurt. Similar to my DJing days, when Prince, Madonna or Michael Jackson reliably populated dance floors for me, the less I know about their private lives the better. On-screen (or albums), though — damn!!!
[...] out the Internet snitch brigade: Report on fishy health czar office Kurt Schlichter, Big Hollywood: It’s Okay for Conservatives to Like Liberal Entertainers Stop The ACLU: NY Times Says Obama Astroturf Org. Fails To Ignite The Clampdown: The Chicago Way [...]
I have to say that Alec Baldwin is a very talented actor. He's absolutely hilarious in 30 Rock. I do enjoy his work. I generally don't cut myself off from actors because of their politics, but I do have some exceptions too. Fonda, Robbins, Sarandon, and Penn can get their money from someone else. Baldwin has come real close to joining their ranks, I'm hoping his brothers can talk some sense into him…..
They've proven their contempt for America and their desire for a socialist utopia and I'm not obligated to fund their madness. next time Sean "Batsh!t Crazy" Penn wants to smooch with Hugo Chavez, let him do it on someone else's dime.
I'm with you on this.
Amen to that, Vincent.
I love Victoria Jackson… she's definitely due to explode on the growing conservative circuit. Her latest article here on BH on attending her first protest is amusing, honest, and insightful. Kinda captured how I felt going to MY first tea party protest back in April. Jackson is one sharp, funny, intelligent woman… and she's on OUR side. Imagine that.
That was funny? I've never seen the show, so maybe that's why I don't get it.
What's funny about "Dead Man Walking" for me is that I thought it was very well made. I loved the performances and the Christ imagery and all of it. I particularly liked that despite all of its message, the murderer was justly executed. The character's transformation would be a matter between him and God. So if the film was meant to actually change my support of the death penalty, it was a complete failure.
At the end of the day, what gets to me is when a Celeb starts with the "trendy" politics, which is always left leaning and elitist. There always seems to be an insult thrown in about rednecks or flyover country or the general brainlessness of people who don't share their views–which my guess is that about 80% don't share their views mostly because those views appear to be jibberish.
One cannot help but wonder: do these people thinks those of us in the vast Middle of this country are morons? That's the thing that grates on my last nerve. There are a very select few celebrities that I have completely lost respect for because of their utter hubris– Sean Penn, Tim Robbins, Matt Damon, and Cheryl Crow are four (although I will always watch Shawshank Redemption because it is awesome).
Other than the top offenders, I will watch anyone. I expect true artists to have strong opinions and that's all good. Just don't insult millions of people while you are pontificating some bogus new agey philosophy or whatever and I'm there.
Baldwin is no fan of the working man, I can not separate my politics from entertainment. Below are Baldwin quotes directed at Hannity.
"Why would I want to come on with a no-talent, former-construction-worker hack like you?"
"no-talent whore" and an "incredibly ignorant boob from Long Island."
Funny you should mention Prince:
http://newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations...
Now I doubt he a rightist conservative. His political contributions may be more about disliking someone. But it is interesting that his only contributions, he is a born again Christian, and he is really pretty quiet about politics.
But it is funny, back in the early 80's, between the three, MJ and Madonna, I thought Prince was the weird one. Considering what we now know, Prince is pretty mainstream.
Funny you should mention Prince:
http://newsmeat.com/celebrity_political_donations...
Now I doubt he a rightist conservative. His political contributions may be more about disliking someone. But it is interesting that his only contributions, he is a born again Christian, and he is really pretty quiet about politics.
But it is funny, back in the early 80's, between the three, MJ and Madonna, I thought Prince was the weird one. Considering what we now know, Prince is pretty mainstream.
Well, he is not on my list of actors or actresses that I will not watch…. Robbins, Penn, Saradon, Jolie, and the list is growing… SPRINGSTEEN and a few others… but I have to say that Baldwin does not really get to that level for me and I can say I think that he is funny in 30 ROCK and a few times on Saturday Night Live he has been hilarious!
That's the thing. If they can separate their own personal views from their work then fine. But don't stand in front of a microphone or camera and spout off about how ignorant people are that don't share your views. Too many of the elitists do this.
And I agree about Shawshank redemption. Just a great movie. Penn has done some great movies too, I just can't stand that they did these great movies and then turned out to be foaming at the mouth nutbags….
The thing about Alec Baldwin's politics is they are so crazy,I can't tell if he's serious or just pulling everyone's chain. I think he's serious, but it's so off the wall, it really doesn't matter to me. I think he's funny.
When you get into the Tim Robbins level of smug-liberalness, it's hard for me to enjoy anything he does, even if I would otherwise like it. It helps that I think he's a no-talent ass-clown.
I think there is a difference between an entertainer who is simply liberal and someone who goes out of their way to insult people of an opposing viewpoint. I find the problem with a lot of liberals is that they tend to be against things rather than for things. I don't have a problem with someone who talks about their support for Obama (even though I don't care for him). I do have a problem with someone who rails against Sarah Palin.
Another thing that bothers me is that these people are in show BUSINESS. When you have a product you are trying to sell, you should try to offend the least number of customers possible. I know these celebrities would say they are artists, but they have to realize they don't live in a vacuum. If people stop watching a show because of the star's outspoken opinions, it's not just the star that suffers. Once the show is canceled, the make-up artists, cameramen, grips, etc lose their job. I think that making controversial statements knowing it could potentially hurt everyone that depends on them for a job is a very selfish and thoughtless thing to do.
Tell ya what Kurt, you kiss up to Baldwin, I hold a grudge.
Besides, the SOB is suppose to be in France.
,
I don't have a problem watching anything with Alec Baldwin in it. I thought he made a terrific Jack Ryan in The Hunt for Red October. It's Tina Fey who annoys me no end.
Early Sorkin was good. My wife got me into Sports Night. There were a few preachy episodes, but for the most part it was an incredibly enjoyable series with great characters and great interplay. It doesn't seem to have been until a few seasons into the West Wing that Sorkin started taking himself too seriously full-time and became nigh-unwatchable.
Alec Baldwin is very good in his role on 30 Rock. sure, he's an idiot and bad parent in real life, and his politics are of the moonbat variety, but i can still watch the occassional episode of 30 Rock without feeling as though i'm funding the vast left wing conspiracy. at least 30 Rock is a comedy. that Aaron Sorkin show about late night comedy was a different matter. watching that dreck really was like handing your bank account info to MoveOn.org. unfunny, unpleasant, self-important, and thoroughly stocked to the rafters with bonafide lefties and commies. yuk!
Of course they can. The real question, can liberal entertainers keep their mouths shut?
And that's a interesting point. I would say the Character Jack Ryan is rather conservative. Written by a conservative author, Clancy. Played by Baldwin, Harrison Ford, Ben Affleck. Which just is the point of the article. Separating the character from actor.
I often try to convince my friends that it really is okay to watch liberal performers. (A frequently used argument is "You don't want to be like those liberals who freak out every time they hear that some celebrity's a conservative, do you?")
That said, I'd use almost any example except Alec Baldwin. I cannot bear to watch him anymore, not because of politics, but because of the "thoughtless little pig" incident. And as for Basinger, if I had an ex-husband capable of such cruelty to our child, and then capable of putting on a halo and proclaiming to the world that HE was a poor put-upon abused father, you'd better believe I'd be bitter. (I hope someday we find out that it was the kid herself who leaked the tape. I'd stand up and cheer for her.)
Kurt, This is a great piece, and a subject I've opined on for months here at BH. I'm with you. Like Mel Brooks famously said "Without Jews, fags and gypsies there is no theater!" I grew up in Cambridge, OK? I have no problem with that crowd whatsoever. Only with the ones that have problems with me or my beliefs, and attack relentlessly and for no good reason but to demonize and hate.
Megan Fox with her "white trash" statement is a perfect example. But even Alec Baldwin is smarter than that. I guess the real question here is, how much political abuse do we take from an A-lister before we cut 'em off? Let's also be real here. What is the other side seeing from us to like? Yet I believe the difference is that we attack positions, not people. Big difference.
Well there are some (lefty) entertainers i can stomach and some just cross a line that i won't tolerate.
I used to love steve Martin until he hosted snl and in his mono. bashed bush,
Not surprising but i'm just fed up, i instantly turned the channel and grabbed the three Martin movies i owned and threw them in the trash.
Enough is Enough!
Agree. Don't watch it – and if this clip is any indication – don't need to change my mind.
By and large, I have always liked Penn's work. I just cannot take the man and it ruins his movies for me.
I concur completely. Somehow Alec Baldwin's liberalism just comes off as goofy, whereas Tina Fey, in her newly appointed position as The Official Royal Designated Sarah Palin Imitator Laureate, appears pretentiously smug. ____I think a complete conservative conversion is in the future cards for Alec. The signs are all there.
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I enjoy lefty performers and lefty performances just fine, as long as they don't outright insult me. A work of collectivist art like "The Grapes of Wrath" is wonderful, while the hyper-contrived, stupid and insulting anti-racist screed "Crash" I found abominable. It's all about quality, not politics.
I like the movie "Big", "Toy Story", and"Cast Away", but I got rid of them after Prop 8 and Tom Hanks went off on Mormons. If I support an actor who is trying to undermine me or something I believe in I feel like a hypocrite. When I buy his movies, I am giving money to his causes instead of mine. And why watch these guys when conservative comedy is so out there
Can I just give a SHOUT OUT to Bill Whitle and PJTV?!!! WWAAHHHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!
My 17 year old son watched Whittle's videoblog about inconography and then bought a "LOL" shirt off the internet to wear to his high school. I love the empowerment that is happening on the internet today.
I'm with Kurt all the way on Hanoi Jane. I will not allow any film, talk show appearance, commercial, etc. with her pruney puss pass through the air waves in my house. My niece was spending the night with me and said she was going to watch "Monster-In-Law." I told her that she would not watch it in my house and if that didn't suit her, I would be glad to take her home. I tried to explain to her why, but to a 13 year old today, the Vietnam War is practically antiquity. (I also make her remove any jewelry that is adorned with the footprint of the American Chicken which is so popular among the young these days.)
I agree! I'm seriously considering giving 30 Rock a pass this year, not because of Alec Baldwin but because of Tina Fey. She's becoming annoying and preachy about her politics.
Sorry…My dislike for the man, not his politics, taints any possible entertainment value!I
I hated Studio 60 (or whatever it was called)! They prided themselves on being politically balanced, but the only reason they had any conservative characters on the show was to give the liberal characters a punching bag. You can't pat yourself on the back for airing opposing viewpoints when one viewpoint is always allowed to win.
Irrelevant.
The poster below is correct.
Paying these people by consuming their products is directly responsible for destroying our country.
They must be shunned and forced out of public life.
They are not Americans and to subsidize their treason is treason.
Yes, Tina Fey has morphed into a smug little ball of liberal garbage, just bristling with self-importance. She gives me the impression of not being as smart as she thinks she is….
Family Guy hasn't been funny since it got political.
I stopped watching after Blue Harvest.
I'm sure McFarlane finds his juvenile anti-Christian, anti-Semitic references and his attacks on Republicans screamingly funny, but the fact is, he's nothing but another partisan hack now.
"Alec Baldwin has the sense to keep his awful, awful politics to himself…
No, he doesn't, which is precisely the problem. Baldwin is an uneducated know-nothing blowhard with a big mouth. He's exactly the type of liberal I boycott.
A liberal entertainer going into politics makes about as much sense as a court jester being crowned king.
It works the other way too. I'm Jewish (and not a very good one) and I know the founder of Chick-fil-A donates to various religious organizations to which I would never give money. But that won't stop me from enjoying their food ("From my cold dead hand!" to borrow a phrase.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-a#Religiou...
It works the other way too. I'm Jewish (and not a very good one) and I know the founder of Chick-fil-A donates to various religious organizations to which I would never give money. But that won't stop me from enjoying their food ("From my cold dead hand!" to borrow a phrase.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick-fil-a#Religiou...
Nope. My brother (as conservative as I, maybe even more so) has been trying to get me into 30 Rock. I will not do it. Granted, if I refused to watch every entertainer who was liberal my TV would never be on, but just not Tina Fey and Alec Baldwin.
Not for two people who have their current careers ONLY because of their political leanings. How else to do you explain 30 Rock's dozens of Emmy noms despite the fact that its ratings suck on ice? It's the industry shaking Fey and Baldwin's hands for making fun of Sarah Palin and GWB.
No sir. I will not watch. Ever.
I put my wife through the ringer telling her what I will and will not watch (to which she dutifully ignores me and watches whatever the heck she wants to ) But when she asked me about Alec Baldwin i told her that he is a leftoid asshat, but can act and is funny as hell. She and I both got to see this episode (this is one of those shows I will not watch – now you know what I mean by "dutifully ignores") and we were rolling (that's laughing very hard) at this scene.
You are spot on with his characters in Glengarry Glen Ross and Malice (he was a sadistic son of a bitch in that one).
Still, he is a liberal and this is where we would all say to him – shut up and act!!!! (or per Laura Ingraham, "shut up and sing")
My favorite Alec Baldwin scene was on Saturday Night Live when he was a Boy Scout troop leader trying to molest Adam Sandler.
Can you seperate the politics from the acting?
I've seen a lot of Alec Baldwin's work, and as opposed to, say, Tim Robbins or Matt Damon, if I didn't know about his liberal leanings from the media, I never would have been able to guess he was on the left side of the spectrum. That to me says wonders.
But personally, he passes this most important test with me – would I feel completely comfortable sitting down and having a beer with this man? Yes, yes I would, which puts him in the same pantheon as only one other liberal celebrity, the late Bill Hicks. Hardcore leftist, but cool as hell.
"The Simpsons" is in general past its prime, but over the last few years (probably due to the producer or writers, but I'm too lazy to check credits) has tilted pretty far to the left. The heavy-handed illegal immigration season finale was by no means the worst such liberal diatribe, even if it did dumb down the debate to first-grade Care-Bear levels of heavy-handed political correctness.
It's sad to see "The Simpsons" go down the MacFarlane road of shrill liberalism, given its past as one of the few shows on prime-time to take half of its political jabs at the left. I still watch "The Simpsons" because, left-wing tilt aside, it is still one of the wittier shows on TV. As a Minnesota native of mostly Norwegian descent I found the use of the Norwegian-American community of Ogdenville as the stand-in for Hispanics in Groening's simplistic immigration morality play hilarious, even if I disagreed with the message.
I'd say the media was more responsible for appointing Fey with that particular title. She had a TV series to run and, while I'm sure she had a lot of fun doing Palin, she probably would've been just as content to let someone else do it. Amazingly enough, on 30 Rock, they never mentioned it at all.
I'm a Fey fan but I can see why some might see her as smug. Though I have to respectfully disagree with the poster below – I don't find her preachy (she's not exactly Tim Robbins or Susan Sarandon).
I'd say the media was more responsible for appointing Fey with that particular title. She had a TV series to run and, while I'm sure she had a lot of fun doing Palin, she probably would've been just as content to let someone else do it. Amazingly enough, on 30 Rock they never mentioned Palin at all.
I'm a Fey fan but I can see why some might see her as smug. Though I have to respectfully disagree with the poster below – I don't find her preachy (she's not exactly Tim Robbins or Susan Sarandon).
"Dead Man Walking", like "American Beauty", is an example of a technically well-made movie I enjoyed watching while completely disagreeing with its message.
I also like George Clooney's performances in "The Perfect Storm", "Burn After Reading", and "O Brother, Where Are Thou", even thought Clooney has been another reliably liberal mouthpiece in Hollywood. The latter two Clooney films have not-so-subtle political themes, too, but I still watch them.
Of course, if I did make politics my litmus test for entertainment, I'd have a lot of time to fill, since most entertainers in film, comedy, or popular music lean left today.
"She gives me the impression of not being as smart as she thinks she is…. "
In other words, a Hollywood liberal.
Thank you. So often now my sister and I will begin to laugh at the celebutards during commercials and find it enhances our viewing pleasure. Laughing at Baldwin is free and drowns out the propaganda Big Phara ad. Win win.
Some of them can. The ones that can't get a lot of airtime which is so annoying. Everytime I see a comedian or actor or empty-headed nutsack like Jon Stewart, the timer starts going off in my head. How long before they bash Bush or Cheney or conservatives in general? It's just a matter of time….
They never fail to disappoint. It's so lame and weak and lazy. I just roll my eyes and change the channel….
"Alec Baldwin has the sense to keep his awful, awful politics to himself" — ?
Uh…since when?? Baldwin spouts off every chance he gets, always has. But as with so many stars whose work I admire and whose politics I abhor…I find myself alternately commenting on them in ping-pong fashion: he's brilliant, what an idiot, I love him, what a douchbag! Ha — good thing I'm a Gemini, it's fun.
Great article, Kurt!
Mine is when he was playing wii with the 2 other guys…..
I can remember Homer saying, and I quote, "Lousy Liberals…."
haven't heard it in a while, too bad they took the cowardly route….
Same here! Peace signs are all the rage on clothing, backpacks, etc. but I will not allow my 11 year old to own anything decorated as such.
Also, no Fonda films. Ever.
What about the NPR/Christmas scene where he was selling his "Schwedy Balls" cookies? I still can't believe they get through that scene without laughing.
I have to agree with you about Clooney. He seems to get into the characters onscreen and not bring any of his politics into his portrayals, unless it's a political film from the get-go (Good Night & Good Luck, The Good German, & Syriana). "O Brother, Where Art Thou" is one of my favorites, not because of him but as more a sum of its parts.
That's a classic. Did he do the "Cork Soaker" skit too?
I didn't think it was funny either…I've tried to watch 30 Rock on a few occasions and no matter what episode it is I don't get it.
Give me Frasier…comedy that is actually FUNNY…not this random weird crap.
I knew there was a name for it….
…You say anti-racist like it's a bad thing…?
People need to understand that they DO NOT have to agree with someone politically and/or morally to enjoy their craft. If you find something you like, be it art, sports, TV, etc… why do you need to find out what the creator of it 'believes in'? What does that matter? I love music and sports, but if I analyzed the moral and political compass of every musician and football player I like, and ditched the ones whose views I didn't agree with, I'm doing myself more harm than them… If you enjoy someone's work, enjoy it for what IT is… not for WHO's behind it. Talent is talent. Movie stars, celebrities, artists, athletes and musicians are NOT here to raise your kids. They aren't paid to be role-models either.
That was the sketch that made me unable to see him as a serious actor, which is either a huge testament or insult to his acting abilities.
Some time after that sketch aired, I saw Pearl Harbor in which Baldwin plays James Doolittle. I couldn't take it seriously – I just kept thinking "Schwedy Balls."
There's also the episode where Bart becomes famous as the "I Didn't Do It" boy. There's a line of people waiting to see him and Grandpa Simpson says something like, "I have to pay to see my own grandson. That's the Democrats for ya!"
Sorry… I used to love Tom Hanks, but ever since he called me "UnAmerican" I get the
gag reflex every time I see him.
Exactly how many years did he serve in the military…….hmmmmm
Funny, funny clip. I can put up with liberal entertainers as long as they ENTERTAIN; if they start to preach, I'm outta there.
Beethoven and Mozart were, by some accounts, fairly seedy characters, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying their music.
Tom Hanks and Ronnie Howard, however, will have to make some major atonement before I spend a dime to view their work after the hatchet jobs of "Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons"
Alec Baldwin is one of the best actors we have today. period. However, acting, like most of the arts, is usually rooted in emotion more so than in reason and calm thoughtfulness – as is liberalism. Liberalism is almost never truly about solving problems but in the liberal's emotional need to feel good about themselves. That is why they can create ridiculous failed government policy and still think they have accomplished something good simply because of the good intentions they felt when they enacted it, and actual results be damned.
Actors like Baldwin are all about the drama. That's why Baldwin and Penn and Sarandon and so many of these talented people use such hyperbolic, stupid and overly dramatic language when they talk politics. For them it is really all about creating the drama.
Of course there are great conservative actors, but most of them prove to be more thoughtful, less likely to pop off emotionally and do not feel the need to emote politically and make fools of themselves with overly dramatic and silly political statements.
I'd like to take slight issue with your assessment of "Dead Man Walking". I agree with your characterization of the film as a whole but the flashback to the truly gruesome crime at the end was a startling counterpoint to the rest of the film.
Destroying our country!!
Shun them! Force them out!
Treason! Treason! Treason!
Boy I bet you're a fun guy at parties, Mike.
If Hollywood would start making Christian-friendly entertainment, I would watch regardless of who's in it. Yeah, like that's going to happen.
Also, I don't mind liberal actors using their microphone to speak out if they are thoughtful and intellectually honest like Mike Ferrell. It's just when they clearly aren't using the brain God gave them or just trying to get attention that I turn them off like Megan Fox is doing right now.
Alec Baldwin is with out doubt the Greatest American Actor now living. I gave him a pass on the phone call, look his ex wife purposely moved across the Atlantic, just so that it would be very hard to impossible to see his daughter on a regular basis. In Divorce Men have no rights and will loose no matter what. The man was being stripped of being a father and we I would have issues with it too. Yea the call was foolish, but emotions make people do foolish things in the moment. The best thing he could have done is take up hunting and fishing just to stick it in that nut job ex wife of his, and maybe find some sort of peace for his anger problem. It's sad, I don't think he as a single person in his sphere that I would call a real friend, a lot of yes men and leaches no doubt. It must be the price one pays for being such a great artist. And this coming form a very Right wing Guy.
"There always seems to be an insult thrown in about rednecks or flyover country or the general brainlessness of people who don't share their views"
Hear, hear.
They have different political opinions than me? Great. Everyone thinking the same would be boring.
They use their celebrity status to advance those views? Okay. They have the right to speak out, and if people want to assume celebrities have any special political insight because TMZ takes pictures of them… well, that's their problem.
They toss out gratuitous insults? Why should I want to support their employment, again?
Nothing wrong with being against racism as long as you don't climb a fifty-million-dollar soapbox to lecture a presumably ignorant public about it. or however the hell much that piece of dreck cost.
Oh, it's a simple enough explanation: "We were in a big war and that b___h was rooting for the other guys to kick our @$$es."
Heh, I know what you mean.
I really got annoyed with Leno's gratuitous attacks, especially on Bush after Obama was inaugurated. Each night, I gave him one freebie. The second attack, I'd change the channel and then email the show telling them how many minutes into the monologue I switched off, and what show I switched to.
Now, if the joke was legitimately related to something in the news, that was fine. But a few weeks out of office and Leno was still running "George Bush is this dumb" skits? Or when Bristol Palin's engagement was called off. Fine, make the joke for a couple of days, Bristol Palin had given an interview after she turned 18, so there's an argument for her being a legitimate public figure. But making the same joke, targetting her for a week, just for breaking off her engagement?
Generally I try not to let an actor's politics get in my way of watching their work, no matter how much I might despise their political leanings. But right now I can't hardly stand to watch Tina Fey because of her hit job on Sarah Palin. No matter how funny she might be otherwise, I can't believe she did that character for the entertainment value. She did it because she wanted to destroy Palin politically, IMO.
He still has PTSD from his years playing Dungeons and Dragons.
I'm a gamer, and I rented "Mazes and Monsters" once, years ago. Hilarious. I wonder if MST3K ever did it?
I loved all of those NPR segments on SNL. Remember Julianne Moore as the "Heaven's Gate" type cultist? And of course we can't forget "Schwetty Weiners".
I have heard both Michael J. Fox and Rick Schroeder say in interviews that the reason there aren't more conservatives in acting is because actors have to be able to play a character without judging his/her motives, intentions, viewpoints, etc. If they do seem to be judging their character, then there is a disconnect and the audience can perceive it. This seems to come easier to liberals. While it may make sense for acting, its a disastrous translation to the real world. Many seem to think they can operate in the same way in both realms. In real life, you have to make judgments about people and their point of view, otherwise it all ends up in the morass of relativism, where nothing can be judged right or wrong.
I had heard countless bad albums, before The Clash came along. I'd heard numerous bad doube-albums before the Clash came along. But until the Clash made "Sandinista," I'd never heard a TRIPLE record album wihtout a single good song on it. Just by sheer, dumb luk, you'd think that ONE of the songs on that album wouldn't bite!
And it's NOT as if they weren't capable of much better! There are great songs on every other Clash and Big Audio Dynamite album. But "Sandinista' makes Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Love Beach" sound like a masterpiece.
As for Alec Baldwin… well, we won't be sending each other any birthday or Christmas cards. But if you've seen"Glengarry Glen Ross," you know that he completely outclassed a magnificent cast, in a part that only lasted 5 minutes.
I' guarantee that, at least once a week, someone walks up to Alec and quotes "Glengarry" lines to him. Every day, at some Starbucks, I'm betting somebody jokingly snarls ""Put that coffee down! Coffee is for CLOSERS!"
In the grown up world you want effect behavior you hit them in the pocket. My wife and I used to see a movie a week a few years back, not any longer. We are down to a half dozen a year and shrinking. I will not subsidize anti-American loudmouths like Alec Baldwin. If I know they (you know whom I refer) are in the movie, I will not spend the money.
One of the reason '30 Rocks' works so well is because it purposely works against Politically Correct stereotypes.
For example Liz is the ultimate PC liberal character but almost always abandons her PC ways when inconvenient and is consistently mocked and shown up by the conservative Jack Donaghy who, more often than not, is in the right. Tracy Jordan is a black character so super-sized and un-PC it becomes its own joke and the same for Jenna, history's greatest dumb blond in a time where "Hollywood" isn't supposed to stereotype dumb blonds.
Truly intelligent comedy and an Emmy winner for a reason.
I wouldn't pee on Alec Baldwin if he were on fire.
For me, it' s not so much a question of finding one particular actor entertaining or not. One can agree many are, however the questions becomes why support actors that are so openly anti-God, anti-Conservative, and rabidly anti-American?
Do we or should we support the likes of Sean Penn, Danny Glover and the myriad of far-left actors that do nothing but mock the right just because they happen to be funny or entertaining?
Mean while, solid actors that are pro-America, life, conservatives etc, are struggling to get the recognition from Hollywood that most main stream Americans identify with.
By continuing to put money in their pocket ,we empower them to continue their vilification of anything that is not rooted in socialism, thus validating their views.
Perhaps if the bulk-ward of Americans that identify themselves as conservatives stopped seeing the movies these actors make, making them less popular at the box office, thus diminishing their relevance, maybe…just maybe they would get a clue….then again, maybe not.
Just a thought….I could be wrong, but any actor that goes on a rampage of anti-Christian, anti-God, anti American diatribe, pretty much seals the deal for me…this includes Baldwin…though I did in fact enjoy some of his previous work…but no more.
Well if its any consolation he probably wouldn't pee on you either.
You're a moron, Kirk. As a stodgy, low-brow crankshaft Conservative, you are not allowed to use phrases like "comedy gold," don't you know that?
Surprising that you find a clip of Jack imitating black people as the "funniest thing ever." Douche.
Good point, I love the show but save the terrorist neighbor episode I'm constantly surprised how likable Jack is (he's crazy but so is everyone else on the show) and how warmly he's portrayed. Liz's liberal lameness is just as likely to be played for laughs as Jacks conservatism (which is really a parody of coservative-ishness). It's just a great great show. I love Alec Baldwin's performances, Jane Fonda who committed a crime against our soldiers is a whole other story.
truliberty, Robert Duvall, Bill Murray, James Caan and Benicio del Toro just made a big Fidel PR trip to Havana. You sure you don't want to rethink that hypothesis? I still like his movies. I just know now. First I found out too, o pal in true liberty. Sucks, doesn't it?
http://movies.msn.com/movies/article.aspx?news=42...
LOL, True enough.
I dunno. I might go see one of his movies someday if he'll listen to Rush…. Kidding.
Slate did an article about 30 Rock called "I Want to GOP There: 30 Rock's Weird Conservative Streak"
http://www.slate.com/id/2217712/?from=rss
Food for thought.
Alec Baldwin is a tool….
But DEAR GOD…. that was funny.
I love Alec Baldwin, and I don't even watch 30 Rock (hysterical clip btw). He is the best SNL guest star, and he's a damn good actor. I don't need entertainers to agree with my politics, I just need to see some humility – Baldwin's "brass balls" speech, penned by Mamet, is one of the great diatribes. Most lib entertatiners are annoying – Baldwin's not one of them. His appearance w/Plain on SNL sealed the deal for me – he's worthy of our time and attn, politics aside…
I agree too. Obviously no one wants to become a hermit and wall himself off from people who disagree with him. On the other hand, no one wants to contradict his beliefs, let alone contribute to the demise of his cause.
The "money trail" issue is especially impractical to solve in our large and complex society. What does an opponent of abortion do, say, when the only two (practically speaking) computer operating system manufacturers donate to "Planned Parenthood?" Do you build your pc yourself and download Linux?
The only answer is to be scrupulous in your logic and honest in your reflection, and then accordingly and consistently follow through in action. One must use good judgment. You don't have to proselytize your cause, but you don't have to let yourself get stepped on either. Know where you stand on issues, how important they are to you, and which issues are more important than others. Know where other people stand too. To most of us, select issues are fundamental and there are others rational and good people can disagree on.
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