Lee Dresselhaus / L’Observateur / September 27, 2000

So…you have to hand it to those outspoken Hollywood celebrity types. Theyreally know how to make the great American public make up our collective minds about an issue, don’t they? Why, according to the radio just last week Alec Baldwin, who is of course the epitome of politicized intellectualism, said that he would leave the country if George Dubya Bush gets elected in November. It seems that Baldwin thinksDubya is a murderer of sorts because as governor of Texas he has authorized the execution of a number of folks who had the misfortune to be sentenced to death by a jury of their peers. Baldwin says that he could notreside in a country run by a murderer.

Get out the crying towels, please. But before you do, let’s look at this a bit. First off let me say this. It must be really, really nice to have the luxury tomake such an asinine statement and not have the whole world think you’re an idiot. You can’t live in a country run by someone who had to make the gut-wrenching decision to allow some convicted murderer, someone who killed someone else’s son, father, mother or sister, to be put to death. Here’s abrief message to Mr. Baldwin. Please. Just shut up. Those Hollywood folks are something. They can’t live in a country run by aman who was doing his sworn duty as the governor of a state, but they can live quite comfortably and in clear moral conscience in one run by a proven lying philanderer.

Isn’t that strange? Or am I being a bit cranky this week? Take a good hard look at the way Democrats pander to Hollywood. Or is it theother way around? They have developed a weirdly symbiotic relationship, like a tick on a dog, or a leech on a fish, only in this case I’m not sure which one is the parasite. Hollywood needs the Democrats to push their politicallycorrect idea of an American utopia down the public’s throats. They gather upinto huge fund-raising herds and belt out their songs or speeches or whatever so that the Democrats can get into office. Just recently such afest raised $6 million towards Gore and other Democrats’ campaigns. Onesound byte from the fund-raiser showed Julia Roberts on stage saying that the word “Republican” is in the dictionary between “reptile” and “reprehensible.”Well. My, my. Cute. I wonder who wrote it for her? Don’t get me wrong, shelooked dazzling and sounded quite clever, and even got a loud round of applause and cheers for her little bunny punch. But if she were a Republicanand said something equally loathsome about Democrats she would have been crucified in the press the next day. That’s another of those little politicaldichotomies. Democrats can say what they want and not be labeled. IfRepublicans voice opinions that don’t flow with the politically correct tide they are called “right wing.”Anyway, Democrats are fast developing a dependency on Hollywood as well.

They need the high profile, vocal Hollywood celebrities to push their agendas.

Those celebrities have the ability to reach out to a lot of people. How can youget any better publicity than a twinkly Julia Roberts telling you how bad those mean old Republicans are, or a buxom Bette Midler belting out a song for Al? They’re a huge resource of public relations stuff for the Democrats. So aslong as the Democrats help Hollywood, Hollywood will help them.

See what I mean about not knowing which is the parasite and which is the host? The Democrats should come with a warning label these days that says “WARNING: Elect Us And You Elect Hollywood, Too.”I would like to remind the more gullible of us, me included at times, that these folks are ACTORS. That’s all. They won a genetic dice game and lookgood and have the ability to pretend to be things like spies and soldiers and stuff because they can memorize lines of dialogue and can do what some director tells them to do. They don’t have some special insight into thepolitical soul of Americans. Their opinions are no more valid than yours ormine and should largely be ignored. Just like yours or mine. A friend of mine despises Jane Fonda for her treasonous actions during the Vietnam conflict and refuses to see any movie in which Hanoi Jane appears.

Well, if you took that stand and didn’t go see movies in which some actor appears who has made an idiotic political statement, you’d never go see a movie. So I don’t bother with the personal boycott thing.By the way, I had intended to listen to both candidates and their view of the issues, then I planned of taking the unique approach of voting for whoever I thought would do the best job.

Now I’m not so sure I’ll do that. Dubya may have picked up a vote thanks toHollywood.

Like I said, they sure help you make up your mind.

LEE DRESSELHAUS writes this column every Wednesday for L’Observateur.

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