Text 6351, 109 rader
Skriven 2004-12-17 10:54:00 av VERN HUMPHREY (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av ALAN HESS
Ärende: time to divorce Hollywood
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AH>AS DISPIRITED Democrats mull various routes back to relevance, here's a quic
AH>and easy first step: Say goodbye to Hollywood.

AH>The attitudes and behavior of the film-industry elite are out of sync with m
AH>of the country, and linking the party with the West Coast glitterati makes
AH>national Democrats suspect with too many voters.

A while back, Fox News (among other organizations) did a comparison -- I
think the genesis was some Hollywood type (Martin Sheen) referring to
Bush as a "moron."

They lined up Bush and his cabinet and compared their educational and
life accomplishments with their Hollywood critics.  In one column, you
had PHDs, MBAs and so on.  In the other you had high school diplomas.
:-)

AH>Indeed, watching Howard Dean campaign around unpretentious Iowa with Martin
AH>Sheen and Rob Reiner in tow in the days before the caucuses, one could sense
AH>that the former Vermont governor had lost his way. Sheen, who in particular
AH>seemed to believe the campaign's events were really about him, would recite
AH>poem by Indian Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, fairly radiating
AH>self-satisfaction as he built to a crescendo. He and Dean would share a few
AH>jokes built around the oh-so-clever premise that because Sheen played the
AH>president on "West Wing," it was witty to call him Mr. President -- and witt
AH>still to have him refer to Dean that way.

Sheen is the guy who couldn't do a Southern accent when he played Robert
E. Lee in "Gettysburg."  A man ought to be competent in his own field
before he criticizes others. :-)

AH>It was a wearisome act that only served to undercut the blunt, unvarnished
AH>Vermont authenticity that had been one of Dean's principal attractions in th
AH>early days of his effort.

AH>Fast forward to left-wing filmmaker Michael Moore, whose real emergence on t
AH>campaign trail began as a supporter of General Wesley Clark. (It apparently
AH>didn't occur to Clark that it might seem incongruous having a figure who had
AH>denounced the American-led NATO intervention in Kosovo -- one who labeled Bi
AH>Clinton "a sad, pathetic," "ruthless," and "cowardly" president who lied to
AH>justify military force there -- endorse the general who had led that effort.

I know Clark -- there are a LOT of things that don't occur to him. :-)

AH>Moore soon plunged Clark into controversy by calling George W. Bush a
AH>"deserter," thereby wrapping legitimate questions about whether Bush had
AH>fulfilled his Texas Air National Guard obligation in the overheated rhetoric
AH>Bush hatred.

And Clark knows better -- his comments there tell you a lot more about
Wesley Clark than about George Bush.

AH>The avidity with which some prominent Democrats later embraced Moore's
AH>"Fahrenheit 9/11" -- a film whose thought-provoking antiwar message was cloa
AH>in cockamamie conspiracy theories and drenched with disdain for Bush --
AH>reflected their misreading of the country's anxious, uncertain mood. The ima
AH>of Moore ensconced in former President Jimmy Carter's box at the Democratic
AH>National Convention showed that that mentality had infected even the highest
AH>reaches of the party.

AH>For my money, only one star truly lent any campaign credibility. That was
AH>Michael J. Fox, who joined John Kerry on the husting to speak about the need
AH>for more stem-cell research. Listening to Fox's slurred speech and seeing th
AH>tremors he suffers from Parkinson's disease, one couldn't help but be moved.
AH>wasn't so much Fox's fame that lent power to his words, however, as his
AH>condition.

The problem here is, we're doing all the stem cell research we're
capable of doing.  There are adult stem cells -- and those are the ones
that hold out the most promise.

Embryonic stem cells are more difficult to work with -- and research on
them is NOT banned.  The President's position is that we can use the
existing strains, but to create more embryos just to kill them would be
wrong.

And there is no shortage of acceptable embryonic stem cells -- the
shortage is in people qualified to do the research.  At last count,
there were 3,500 frozen samples of embryonic stem cells going begging.

AH>Other stars may have helped Kerry raise money, but they also served to
AH>embarrass him, putting their unbridled contempt for Bush on proud display
AH>during a July fund-raiser at Radio City Music Hall. Whoopi Goldberg indulged
AH>a long riff that used the name Bush as a sexual pun. Chevy Chase belittled
AH>Bush's intelligence and mocked his pronunciation of "terrorist" and "nuclear
AH>(Didn't Jimmy Carter mispronounce the latter word too?) John Mellencamp sang
AH>song that called Bush a "cheap thug who sacrifices our young." And so it wen
AH>Kerry then made the mistake of saying that the stars had conveyed to the
AH>audience "the heart and soul of our country." His campaign was soon on the
AH>defensive, left to assert the performers' right to express their opinions,
AH>while stipulating they did not necessarily reflect Kerry's views.

Except that they obviously DO express his views -- if they didn't, he'd
have sent them packing.

AH>Now, the celebrities' contempt may well mirror the sentiment of confirmed
AH>Democrats. But it was hardly the way to win undecided votes. Or to offer an
AH>effective critique of a president voters are inclined to like personally, bu
AH>whose policies have left us entangled in an unnecessary war and awash in red
AH>ink. In the same way, post-election polemics that denounce Bush supporters a
AH>simple-minded rubes are unlikely to persuade them to consider Democratic
AH>candidates in future elections.

AH>The sooner the Democrats come to realize those points, the better their futu
AH>prospects will be.

They haven't yet -- they seem to be of the opinion if they can insult
and belittle Middle America enough, they'll somehow win us over.
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