More Rightie Spew
The Independent's David Usborne has written the latest piece about Jon Voight having become a kind-of poster boy for right-wing, "Friends of Abe" Hollywood, with of course a requisite mention of yours truly for that comment that I'm sick of trying to explain to the right-wing morons who don't want to hear the specific, rational-minded truth to begin with.
A torrent of fresh hate-mails began pouring in yesterday ("you are a third rate little creep...you are eloi") after Voight did his guest shot on The O'Reilly Factor. Here's a portion of a transcript of what was said:
Bill O'Reilly: "Jon Voight wrote an op. ed for the Washington Times saying he didn't trust obama on foreign policy issues among other things. We talked to [Jeffrey] Wells a few days agoand he denied that was a threat but it sure sounded like one. Joining us from Los Angeles is Jon Voight. I told Mr. Wells, this is exactly the same thing that happened in the 50's when people who were left leaning were called Communist and blacklisted from the entertainment industry. Now what he wrote and what i have heard others say is that conservative actors run the risk of not being hired. Do you believe that?"
Jon Voight: "Well, let's hope not, Bill. Of course, i had many friends among those people who were blacklisted and a very dark time for Hollywood. i don't think anybody wants to go back to that. Just, you
know...all i can think of is that this fellow is a little out of line and hopefully he will recover his senses.
O'Reilly: Okay, but, you know, by putting yourself out there as a Mccain supporter and criticizing Barack Obama that this isn't going to play very well in Hollywood. You are outnumbered about 100 to one out there."
Voight: "I was doing an interview a couple of days ago and somebody was just very surprised that they had a conservative in Hollywood, and which is really, of course, it's quite -- it's humorous on the one hand because obviously this is a democracy. We require dialogue and interaction and you need to have free speech and competing ideas in order for us to be healthy and grow."
O'Reilly: "You are a little bit more outspoken. It is an emotional situation with Barack Obama. It isn't like Kerry or Gore. It's very emotional. and that's what I saw from Mr. Wells, the Hollywood blogger. he admitted he got mad that you were criticizing his guy because some people, the sensitive community, but they have so much emotion tied into Barack Obama. And then in your Washington Times article you pretty much said 'hey, look, I don't believe the guy has got the chops to go up against the terrorists who want to kill us.' That's not an emotional argument. That takes it out of the emotional range."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on August 12, 2008 at 11:32 AM
comment #1
cinefan says ...
O'Reilly: "You are a little bit more outspoken. It is an emotional situation with Barack Obama. It isn't like Kerry or Gore. It's very emotional. and that's what I saw from Mr. Wells, the Hollywood blogger. he admitted he got mad that you were criticizing his guy because some people, the sensitive community, but they have so much emotion tied into Barack Obama. And then in your Washington Times article you pretty much said 'hey, look, I don't believe the guy has got the chops to go up against the terrorists who want to kill us.' That's not an emotional argument. That takes it out of the emotional range."
Can anyone explain what the hell O'Reilly is talking about here? I've read it several times and it seems like nothing but nonsensical gibberish with no clear point.
Posted by cinefan at August 12, 2008 12:12 PM
comment #2
corey3rd says ...
Jon is a "Friend of Abe Simpson."
Posted by corey3rd at August 12, 2008 12:12 PM
comment #3
LYT says ...
If Nancy Pelosi were to convene a "House conservative activities" committee, and send subpoenas to everyone in Hollywood, then it would be the equivalent of the blacklist.
But not until then.
Posted by LYT at August 12, 2008 12:31 PM
comment #4
kinks541 says ...
Jeff, no comments about the "Hot Chicks Dig Obama" ad?
http://tpmelectioncentral.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/08/new_mccain_web_ad_hot_chicks_d.php
Posted by kinks541 at August 12, 2008 12:32 PM
comment #5
Geoff says ...
cinefan:
O'Reilly's big thesis right now is that nobody knows who Barack Obama is...so it's all based on emotion and no substance if you're are voting for him.
Posted by Geoff at August 12, 2008 12:49 PM
comment #6
BurmaShave says ...
If Voight supported Rudy that means he's not actually that conservative, just a warm-blanket security guy like Ron Silver or Dennis Miller. If so, he really should have refrained from getting into the issues he did in his column.
Posted by BurmaShave at August 12, 2008 12:50 PM
comment #7
Terry McCarty says ...
BurmaShave wrote:
If Voight supported Rudy that means he's not actually that conservative, just a warm-blanket security guy like Ron Silver or Dennis Miller.
If I remember correctly, Miller was moving rightward even before 9/11. Assuming he's one of those who went Republican because he doesn't like paying taxes on the cushy Santa Barbara lifestyle he enjoys.
Posted by Terry McCarty at August 12, 2008 12:53 PM
comment #8
scooterzz says ...
o'reilly and voight...together on screen in october....
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190617/
reserve your seats now....
Posted by scooterzz at August 12, 2008 12:57 PM
comment #9
Joshua Mooney says ...
Not to diminish Jeff''s role as a power-broker in any way, but I have to ask again: How does Jeff's comment on his blog that IF he were in a position to hire actors (which he isn't), he would likely bypass Voight constitute or even hint at a Hollywood blacklisting? Is Jeff a studio chief? Is he a congressman? So how is Jeff "out of line"? Stupid. Still, this is all more entertaining than "Mad Men." In my opinion.
Dennis Miller is from Pittsburgh, by the way.
Posted by Joshua Mooney at August 12, 2008 1:08 PM
comment #10
cinefan says ...
Thanks, Geoff, for the clarification. I only wish that O'Reilly had articulated his point there as well as you did but, then again, he wouldn't be Bill O'Reilly if he made an argument intelligently and articulately...
Posted by cinefan at August 12, 2008 1:10 PM
comment #11
Clark Perry says ...
For the past eight years, the neo-cons and their water-carriers have been screaming "SHUT UP!" at anyone who disagreed wtih them, with shills like O'Reilly screaming the loudest.
Let's not forget that Ann Coulter advocated the bombing of the NY Times building. Other outlets "joked" about liberal labor camps and political executions. For what? For daring to disagree with an administration that has now been exposed as 100 percent wrong on literally every issue.
Now that their failed policies are no longer being swallowed by a gullible public, this same contingent is bellowing about people trying to silence their free speech?
It's a smokescreen designed to make them look oppressed. Nobody's advocating a blacklist. The left may hold sway among the creative forces in Hollywood, but remember the money strings are controlled by studio heads, almost all of them centrist or right-wing.
Voight voiced his opinion and then Wells -- who's in no position to control the hiring and firing of anybody outside his website -- gave his. That's all that happened.
Look past the smoke, people. See their desperation and fear for what it really is, and don't give in to it.
Posted by Clark Perry at August 12, 2008 1:16 PM
comment #12
Terry McCarty says ...
cinefan mentioned O'Reilly's stream-of-consciousness ramble:
O'Reilly: "You are a little bit more outspoken. It is an emotional situation with Barack Obama. It isn't like Kerry or Gore. It's very emotional. and that's what I saw from Mr. Wells, the Hollywood blogger. he admitted he got mad that you were criticizing his guy because some people, the sensitive community, but they have so much emotion tied into Barack Obama. And then in your Washington Times article you pretty much said 'hey, look, I don't believe the guy has got the chops to go up against the terrorists who want to kill us.' That's not an emotional argument. That takes it out of the emotional range."
To me, it sounds like Bill wants to sterotype all Obama supporters as ineffectual, emotion-prone cult-of-personality liberals--and create a new narrative of Jon Voight as tough guy swimming against the Hollywood leftist tide who won't get fooled again by liberal dogma.
Posted by Terry McCarty at August 12, 2008 1:16 PM
comment #13
Mgmax says ...
Nice picture of George Jones at a Giuliani rally.
Posted by Mgmax at August 12, 2008 1:27 PM
comment #14
Jack Price says ...
"And then in your Washington Times article you pretty much said 'hey, look, I don't believe the guy has got the chops to go up against the terrorists who want to kill us.' That's not an emotional argument. That takes it out of the emotional range."
Explain to me how a gut reaction can fall outside the range of "emotional"? Does John Voight's statement address anything but an overpowering fear that is more or less knee-jerk in nature, seeping in Manchurian Candidate-level paranoia and a largely black/white understanding of international affairs?
Outside of the BBC, I've completely lost hope in broadcast journalism as a means for any measure of intellectual development or public service. Cognitive Dissonance is all but impossible to achieve in the glut of pandering ratings-centered programs that make up the news today. Debate is nothing more than a battle of semantics, and no one walks away with anything new gained other than (potentially) a graeter sense of "we're right and you're wrong."
O'Reilly's fooling himself if he doesn't think his viewers are some of the most emotionally frail types out there, and it would be a great disservice to many intelligent and well-read conservative or republican citizens to lump these bottom feeders in their ranks.
If anything, the O'Reilly sycophants are nothing but sheep in need of a shepherd.
Posted by Jack Price at August 12, 2008 2:03 PM
comment #15
DarthCorleone says ...
Clark Perry>> Very well said.
Posted by DarthCorleone at August 12, 2008 2:15 PM
comment #16
Krillian says ...
I lean right, but if it was between Jon Voight and another Oscar winner in his 60's, I would see if the other Oscar winner had anything as embarrassing on his resume as Baby Geniuses II and the Bratz movie.
Then again, he's Angelina Jolie's dad, so that'd be cool to only be one degree away.
Posted by Krillian at August 12, 2008 3:30 PM
comment #17
Jay T. says ...
Anyone else notice that Voight has basically turned into his character in Enemy of the State?
Posted by Jay T. at August 12, 2008 4:38 PM
comment #18
Richardson says ...
Krill - he probably has the least embarrassing career of any Oscar winner in 'Pearl Harbor'. Even if you just wanna say nominees, it's between him and Alec Baldwin. (Ah, what a difference five years makes.)
Posted by Richardson at August 12, 2008 5:33 PM
comment #19
swordandpen says ...
And exactly why are Jon Voight's pollitical opinions worth discussing? I didn't know being a has-been gives a person credibility in political debate.
Posted by swordandpen at August 12, 2008 6:32 PM
comment #20
Ghost072 says ...
Excellent post, Clark Perry. It should be broadcast from rooftops until it breaks through the white noise/misinformation campaigns that the right has become so expert at running...
Posted by Ghost072 at August 13, 2008 6:36 AM
comment #21
Rosebudsthesled says ...
Corey3rd: I think I have a transcript of McCain's nomination speech in three weeks.
"One trick is to tell 'em long stories that don't go anywhere. Like the time I had to take the ferry over to Shelbyville! I needed a new heel for my shoe. So I decided to take the ferry to Morganville, which is what they called Shelbyville in those days! So I tied an onion to my belt--which was the style at the time! Now, to take the ferry cost a nickel, and in those days, nickels had pictures of bumblebees on 'em! 'Gimme 5 bees for a quarter,' you'd say. Where was I? Oh, the important thing is that I had an onion tied to my belt--which was the style at the time! It was one of those big yella onions; we didn't have any white onions because of the war..."
Posted by Rosebudsthesled at August 14, 2008 5:35 AM
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