I would consider the only practical standard to be someone who has registered to vote as a Republican. I don’t think it means anything in particular to register as a Republican because you can still vote any way you want, believe anything you want, and even among card carrying Republicans there is no clear consensus on what constitutes a true [del]Scotsman[/del] Republican.
The politicaly liberal celebrities seem to get a lot more press, so that may help create the perception that there are fewer politically conservative ones than ther actually are.
In my last two posts, I said that Denzel Washington’s voting record isn’t available to me, nor is it the centerpiece of any argument I ever considered making. (Unless you know how he voted in every state, municipal and national election since 1974, I submit his voting record isn’t available to you either.)
The list I linked to compiles the contents of several similar lists that have been floating around for years, and probably has some errors in it. Welcome to the internet.
I can keep this up as long as you can.
Translation, I have utterly no evidence that Washington is a Republican, but even after it’s been pointed out that he’s voted for Obama and been an outspoken supporter of him we should assume he is one and that the list I linked to created by some guy on the internet is credible rather than testament to the fact that I have nothing but sheer speculation. However, rather than admitting that I made statements I can’t back up I will merely make myself look stupid by insisting that Denzel Washington should be considered a Republican until proven otherwise because of what some guy on the internet said.
Sorry, but once more I really hope for your sake you never ridiculed either truthers or birthers because you’re behaving like one.
Most of us prefer to use reliable sources that have some credibility, but feel free to continue doing otherwise.
It’s up to you to prove that I ever have (and boy, did that come out of left field!). Afterwards, you can pick apart whatever I may have said about them with your counter-evidence. To avoid thread drift, I strongly suggest you not do it in this thread.
The whole of my thesis is yes, there are Republican celebrities, quite a few of them. I did a Google search and linked to one of the results. Your own links, including the one that you (snicker!) misattributed to ABC News, does squat to counter my thesis.
Returning to the OP: Is there a reason that there shouldn’t be a fair number of Republican celebs? I don’t think a film or record contract is issued with an ideology test in mind. Does it seem to you like there’s some kind of political lockstep largely in force?
I’m from Virginia, where you don’t have to register with any particular party. The rules there are, you can vote in any primary you want, but you can only vote in one primary. What are the rules in states with a lot of celebrities (California, New York, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee)?
California is the same last I checked, the same is true. In previous elections (2004 or 2000 and before?) Democrats let anyone vote, but you have to be registered Republican to vote R. The “must be registered in the party you want to vote for” seems to be especially common in caucus states, but you can often register on the spot (but not vote in the other party).
The actual claim was that it, being a conservative, was perceived as being harmful to ones career in Hollywood. Cites have been offered, as well as quotes from actors and other above the line people. How is that not evidence?
I wish that I had the inside dope on what jobs certain actors were passed over for, but unfortunately, that information isn’t public (for the most part, as occasionally competition for certain roles will generate publicity). Sure, many are able to continue to work, but maybe they’re working less frequently, or on smaller fare than what they had been - while it’s true that both Ron Silver and Jim Caviezel continued to work after 2004, I’m pretty sure that the work was on much lower budgeted things; or, as was the case with Silver, have a recurring role already established before 2004.
Prince Vince Gallo is definitely a Republican and it shouldn’t surprise anyone; his “racial eugenics” thing is an epic troll job, though, as are many things that he does. But he has consistently turned out good movies, even aside from Brown Bunny, which most people dislike but which I thought was pretty decent. I think even if Gallo churned out total dreck for the next 20 years, Buffalo 66 would make up for it.
In many states, party affiliation can be determined from voting behavior in a primary. That is, if you vote in a republican primary, you go on the books as a republican. Same for democrat. This can lead to some weird switches. Example: I know a town in Ohio where a recent mayoral primary featured an established, pro-business mayor against a traditional leftist democrat former mayor attempting a comeback. Also, the republican party did not field a candidate. So on primary day a great many long-term traditional republicans ended up being democrats for a year or two due to voting for the current mayor over the former one in the primary (since that was the deciding election). Hell, more than half of my Rotary group found themselves as democrats for the first time in their lives after that primary.
This is an extremely impractical standard in the context of American politics, where registration is not required, or universal, or necessarily indicative of how a person actually votes.
Because of the looseness of the American party system, there is a looseness in defining a “Republican” or a “Democrat” in America. It’s not logical to hold up registration as the sole or even the most important standard.
You have to pretty much collect the evidence and see what you come up with. Being nominated or seeking the nomination of a party for a particular office is just about as unambiguous as it gets. And there are other things, such as public support for a candidate of a particular part, fund-raising appearances, contributions, etc.
Given the totality of the evidence, it seems pretty clear to me, as clear as it can be in the American system, that Clint Eastwood is a Republican and Rob Lowe is a Democrat. Eastwood might have changed his mind, but unless he does something more overt than say “I’m not really a member of either party” (which is a disingenuous statement about 90 percent of the time when spoken by anyone) then I don’t think any significant weight has shifted the conclusion.
I don’t think it means anything in particular to register as a Republican because you can still vote any way you want, believe anything you want, and even among card carrying Republicans there is no clear consensus on what constitutes a true [del]Scotsman[/del] Republican.
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We’ve already answered the OP in so far as it can be answered, since it’s actually a fairly vague question. The OP was wondering if there were any Republicans who were celebrities, and the answer is that there are a lot of them. It’s not clear what proportion of them are Republicans, but it’s not a tiny proportion for sure. The question is vague in that not everyone is always registered for the same party, not everyone always votes for candidates from the same party, and not everyone runs for office (and there are some cases where someone runs for office under a different party affiliation than what they used to have). In any case, the majority of celebrities don’t even talk about their political beliefs, so it isn’t as though anyone has done a scientifically valid survey of their beliefs.
It’s certainly not true that anyone declaring themselves to be a Republican doesn’t get hired again. It’s hard to tell if they get hired less often. Some people claim so.
Again, as I said before, there have actually been slightly more Republican candidates winning major political offices in the U.S. than Democratic ones.
Rob Lowe was a Democrat back in '88 of course, but I think he has been gradually shifting rightward since he got married and had kids: one of those people who was wild and crazy in his younger days and now worries about his kids (and yours) doing the same dumb things he did.
Drew Carey and Tim Allen may vote Republican but I don’t think either one of them could clearly articulate why they do so. I suspect Tim Allen goes for the flag-waving patriotism stuff.
Kevin Costner has voted Republican in the past but showed up at a Democratic convention a few years ago. No idea how he votes nowadays but clearly he was exploring his options.
And who cares what Jessica Simpson and Britney Spears think about anything? They probably both come from “God Bless the USA!”-type backgrounds and have never questioned it.
I think if we wait long enough, Bill Maher will move back towards the center-right again.
Well I’m not sure how you are defining ‘practical’. We have a method that absolutely determines if someone is a Republican, and then we have a method based on guesses and opinions. By my definition, the absolute method is more practical.
I don’t really see what difference it makes. I used to live in a town in NY where many people registered as Republican once upon a time to make sure their trash was picked up. Others registered in various parties to have more say in local politics. I have no idea how they actually voted. If the OP is actually about conservatism instead of political party affiliation, I’ve already state my opinion on the matter, which still doesn’t presume to know what kind of a person someone is.
You say it is an “absolute method” in one sentence and then immediately contradict yourself. I think it’s pretty safe to say that even by your own account registration is not as reliable as you posit it is, and when you have other indicators of party affiliation, as you have with someone like Eastwood, I think registration easily rebutted as any kind of absolute method.
I didn’t contradict myself. When someone registers as a Republican, I know they are a Republican. What they say, how they vote, what causes they support, don’t tell me anything very useful about their political party affiliation.
In that case you have a seriously flawed understanding of party politics in this country. We live in a weak party state and “membership card” identification is not a significant part of our party system.
There are tons of people in this country who are registered as Democrats in areas of the country where there once was a one-party system. They routinely vote Republican, contribute to Republican candidates, express support for Republican candidates and causes. They’re Republicans. The registration in such cases is the least determinative of all the pieces of evidence.
Similarly, there are still localities in which one party dominates local politics. Plenty of people register for a party affiliation that they don’t have any real sympathy for just so that they can cast votes in primary elections “that count.”
Another example – at one point, I think, Al Franken made a big deal of the fact that Bill O’Reilly was a Republican but claimed to be an independent. O’Reilly took great pains to show that at some point he had changed his official registration from “Republican” to “independent.” Frankly, that weak sauce. That’s not how party affiliation works in this country. O’Reilly is a Republican, regardless of his registration status.
I have no idea what you are talking about. Political parties have specific membership as determined by the state (something I don’t like). Your claim is that political party affiliation is based on the opinion of others, which is ludicrous. You can accept the official membership, or at least what a person states, but I don’t hold stock in your opinion or anyone else’s about my party affiliation (none), or that of anybody else either.
No they don’t. Some states offer you the opportunity to register in order to vote in a primary. That does not constitute party membership, not by a long shot.
The question “Is Clint Eastwood a Republican?” is not the same question as “Is Clint Eastwood a member of the Republican party?” and is not adequately answered by a process that seeks an “official” membership list.
Furthermore, “membership” is a concept of limited usefulness in American politics. The only real “members” of the Republican party are the elected officials who have places in official party organizations, such as the House Republican Conference and Senate Republican Conference, and similar caucuses at the state level.
The membership question is really only relevant for people who are actually running for or holding elective office. For everyone else, including celebrities, “membership,” to the extent that it even exists in American politics, is only one of many bits of evidence.
You are incorrect. Even where the state does not keep these records, the parties have their own enrollment. They have internal organization requiring membership in order elect and appoint leadership positions. What on earth is your definition for being a Republican if you ignore official membership?