# Adam Baldwin is a member of the Tea Party **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152 "2010-04-23T20:48:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/1 "2010-04-23T20:48:21Z")
Well, this is profoundly disappointing: Apparently, Adam Baldwin a tea-party enthusiast: [An Interview with Actor Adam Baldwin: Tea Party movement, the media, and engaging the liberal left.](http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2481828/posts) /_sings sadly_ Jane … the man they call Jane … ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/2 "2010-04-23T20:53:31Z")
I don’t find it that surprising, really. (And if you think about it, it is perfectly in keeping with the themes of _Firefly_.) ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/3 "2010-04-23T20:56:09Z")
Is he the blond one that played Barney Rubble? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/4 "2010-04-23T20:59:13Z")
> [@alphaboi867](#): > > Is he the blond one that played Barney Rubble? 😕 You may be the last Doper who isn’t a giant Firefly fan. 🙂 He played Jane Cobb - the Hero of Canton! ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/5 "2010-04-23T21:01:40Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > I don’t find it that surprising, really. > > (And if you think about it, it is perfectly in keeping with the themes of _Firefly_.) Well, yes, but the Alliance government in the Firefly 'verse is legitimately evil. The attitudes espoused by the Firefly protagonists are reasonable, and make good sense - _in the Firefly 'verse_. For this guy to bring those attitudes into the real world is disappointing. Doesn’t take away from the quality of his work, of course - I can still enjoy Firefly, and appreciate Baldwin’s excellent acting and comic timing. But it’s disappointing to learn that a fellow whose professional skills I hold in high regard is someone I’d find quite disagreeable as a regular bloke. ---
**Author:** ![Kolga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e56c9b/32.png) [@Kolga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kolga)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/6 "2010-04-23T21:08:17Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > You may be the last Doper who isn’t a giant Firefly fan. 🙂 He played Jane Cobb - the Hero of Canton! Nitpick - Jayne Cobb. And this is a bit disappointing. Obviously, it doesn’t take away from his acting talent, but it makes me :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/7 "2010-04-23T21:10:29Z")
Goddammit, don’t tell me these kinds of things! ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/8 "2010-04-23T21:18:44Z")
At least he’s not a Scientologist. … …Right? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Excellent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f19dbf/32.png) [@Mr.Excellent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Excellent)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/9 "2010-04-23T21:21:33Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > At least he’s not a Scientologist. > > … > > …Right? It seems unlikely - the Teabaggers are mostly a Christian Right group. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/10 "2010-04-23T21:27:46Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > You may be the last Doper who isn’t a giant Firefly fan. 🙂 He played Jane Cobb - the Hero of Canton! Damnit! :smack: I saw “Baldwin” and immediatly assumed it was was on Alec’s D-list little brothers. I probally should’ve looked at a photo before posting. :o ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/11 "2010-04-23T21:52:37Z")
He’s also a contributor to Andrew Brietbart’s “Big Hollywood”, and is a regular guest on 'Stage Right", a right-wing talk show hosted in LA. He’s even hosted it a few times. This just makes me like Adam more. And by the way, he’s very well spoken and very well read. He was probably the smartest person in the Firefly cast. He’s also by all accounts a really nice guy. The show’s theme was always strongly libertarian anyway. So come to the dark side! Join us and we’ll rule as… no, that’s not it. Join us, and we’ll stop ruling. I disagree that the alliance was unabashedly evil. It certainly had secret divisions and organizations that were evil, but its supporters were basically liberal do-gooders. River and Simon’s parents were cultured people of high standing who believed strongly that the Alliance was a good thing - a beacon of light brought to the anarchistic Independents. It provided health care (being a doctor was the highest calling they could imagine), education, and enlightenment. To them, opposing the Alliance for any reason wasn’t just dangerous - it was dishonorable. They disowned their own son because he refused to obey. They looked the other way while their daughter was carted off for the Alliance’s own ends. They were true believers, not evil monsters. Remember the exchange between River and her teacher during the opening to Serenity? The teacher certainly believed in the Alliance. She thought it was a beacon of light and was working for the good of all. She couldn’t understand why the Independents opposed them. The young River didn’t know anything about actual evil stuff the Alliance might be doing, but she knew that they were opposed anyway, and for good reason. Here’s the exchange: **Teacher:** “With all the social and medical advancements we can bring to the Independents, why would they fight so hard against us?” **River:** “We meddle. People don’t like to be meddled with. We tell them what to do, what to think. Don’t run, don’t walk. We’re in their homes and in their heads and we haven’t the right. We’re meddlesome.” **Teacher:** “River, we’re not telling people what to think. We’re just trying to show them how.” Nothing about evil stuff here. Just that the Alliance doesn’t have the right to tell people what to do, even if their intentions are good. From the teacher’s standpoint, she thinks she’s right, that her viewpoint is the enlightened one, and that it’s the obligation of society to educate others so they may also see the light. Sounds pretty liberal to me. I’d also point out that the Independents opposed reunification long before they thought the Alliance was evil. And actually, I’m not sure the Alliance even was evil - even the disaster on Miranda was caused by an attempt to make people more peaceful. I’m sure that the intentions of the people doing the experiment were every bit as good as those of the liberals like Margaret Sanger who approved of Eugenics in the early 20th century. And don’t forget - the Alliance isn’t a dictatorship. It’s a parliamentary democracy. Certainly the Alliance does evil things - but for the same reason that many big governments wind up doing evil things - they try to do good, and things don’t go according to plan. So they cover up, or they intrude more to fix the mess they made, and it gets worse. Before you know it, the blue hands show up. But they’re just cleanup men for the bureaucracy. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/12 "2010-04-23T22:03:50Z")
Well, my days of not taking him seriously are certainly coming to a middle. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/13 "2010-04-23T22:16:29Z")
I was following him on Twitter for a while, but he was constantly spouting all this right wing stuff that just got on my nerves, so I removed him from my list. Not that he cares. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/14 "2010-04-23T22:17:45Z")
**[Capt. Malcolm Reynolds](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0277213/)**: Y’all got on this boat for different reasons, but y’all come to the same place. So now I’m asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. Sure as I know anything, I know this - they will try again. Maybe on another world, maybe on this very ground swept clean. A year from now, ten? They’ll swing back to the belief that they can make people… better. And I do not hold to that. So no more runnin’. I aim to misbehave. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/15 "2010-04-23T22:27:53Z")
It’s very much in keeping with his Colonel John Casey character on _Chuck_. And I don’t listen to people on either side just because they’re celebrities. Celebs make the worst political spokespeople, with a few interesting exceptions. ---
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/16 "2010-04-23T22:32:10Z")
Good for him. Not ALL celebrities have to be left wing. I have never heard him bitch about anything so it doesn’t bother me at all. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/17 "2010-04-23T22:48:18Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > This just makes me like Adam more. And by the way, he’s very well spoken and very well read. He was probably the smartest person in the Firefly cast. He’s also by all accounts a really nice guy. Jewel Staite was a guest at a local convention and when asked if Nathan Fillion was as much a father-figure IRL as Mal was to Kaylee, she laughed and said he was more like the annoying little brother – Baldwin was the father-figure. He helped both her and Summer Glau – both quite young at the time – develop their acting skills and was just an all-around good guy to know \ except for his politics. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/18 "2010-04-23T23:10:57Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > It’s very much in keeping with his Colonel John Casey character on _Chuck_. That’s true. And it almost seems like he’s not acting when he’s on-screen as Casey. ---
**Author:** ![Ston\_Col](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Ston\_Col](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ston_Col)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/19 "2010-04-23T23:16:55Z")
Well, there’s a Christian Right Tea Party, and an atheist libertarian Tea Party. Which one is he? ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2010, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152/20 "2010-04-23T23:50:19Z")
Hardly seems surprising, given the roles he takes. Oh, well. He’s still a good actor. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/adam-baldwin-is-a-member-of-the-tea-party/537152.md?page=2)