I don’t think Libertarian describes too many Hollywood people. I think most of them would be more likely to align themselves with Martin Sheen and Alec Baldwin than with, say, Kurt Russell or Tom Selleck.
Most Hollywood people are anti-gun, and FOR big government in education, welfare, the environment, and in controlling industry.
They may not want to give up THEIR money in taxes, but that doesn’t make them Libertarian - it makes them hypocrites.
I didn’t say you said Springer was mayor of Baltimore, Wendell. Knowing that Springer had been a mayor, and knowing you’ve demonstrated some knowledge on this issue, I did assume you simply confused one sleazy talk show host who announced he might run for mayor with another who actually had been mayor, trying to pull your response to London_Calling’s comment and Sam Stone’s comment on that comment together.
I am careful when I quote people. You’ll note I said “Perhaps Wendell Wagner was thinking of…,” not “Wendell Wagner said…”
Nobody’s metioned Sessue Hayakawa, actor and US Senator.
Regarding Nancy Kulp, I believe she served in the California house for a while, though never made national office.
I also heard recently that some other actor whose name escapes me is now mayor of Pakm Springs, Sonny Bono’s first foray into politics. Anybody know who it is?
Well, let’s see here.
The Japanese-American man who was elected to the Senate from California was S.I. Hayakawa, who was a former college president. He was best known for being well-rested in the Senate as he was prone to falling asleep frequently.
Nancy Kulp ran for office in PA as stated earlier. You are confusing her with Sheila James Kuhel, who’s already been discussed here.
The present mayor of Palm Springs is William G. Kleindeinst. He’s an architect.
aramis writes:
> Nobody’s metioned Sessue Hayakawa, actor and US Senator.
Are you being funny, or have you really confused Sessue Hayakawa, the Japanese actor, with S. I. Hayakawa, the professor and Senator?
johnson, go back and read my post. I was replying to London_Calling. He was the one who was claiming that Jerry Springer was planning to go back into politics and I was just saying that even if he did want to, he had no chance. I wasn’t thinking of Geraldo Rivera at all. I wasn’t replying to Sam Stone at all.
I think the implicit philosophy of many rich actors is libertarian. They don’t tend to publicize their philosophy because someone with a libertarian philosophy simply doesn’t give a damn what other people think of them. The rich actors who are liberals tend more often to publicize their political philosophy because part of being a liberal is caring what other people think about you. This means that liberals are more likely to obnoxiously try to show off to everyone what wonderfully great guys they are.
Senor Wagner, awesome job of herding cats here… The OP (regarding Hollywood types in elected office) seems to have topped off with but a couple additions, and now, you’re right; can we get it switched to GD and let loose the hounds ?
(heh-heh for lousy mixed metaphor…)
I don’t think there’s any coincidence that, for the most part, people who live in a fantasy world would be liberals.
Is Dinesh D’Souza considered a celebrity? I just know him as an author.
I previously wrote:
> What about musicians or athletes? - equal amounts of huge
> egos, poor education, and lack of perspective about what
> the world is like.
Can anyone come up with some musicians or athletes who have succeeded in American politics? I’ve been thinking about it, and I can only come up with the following examples: J. C. Watts and Jack Kemp (Republican representatives) were professional football players, Bill Bradley (Democratic senator) was a professional basketball player, and Jesse Ventura (independent governor) was a professional wrestler. (You decide whether wrestling counts as sport or acting. Let me just note that Ventura actually spent longer as a radio host than as a wrestler.) Sonny Bono (Republican representative) was a singer and songwriter, and perhaps I shouldn’t have included him among the list of actors since that wasn’t much of his career.
In so far as I can guess at the average politics of musicians and athletes, I would say that musicians tend to be cultural liberals and athletes tend to be cultural conservatives. I doubt that either group tends to differ in economic political positions much from what other Americans of about the same income believe, just as I doubt that actors tend to differ much in economic political positions from other Americans of about the same income.
I don’t particularly want actors, musicians, or athletes running for office.
A couple of Hall of Famers, Steve Largent from the Seahawks is a Republican congressman and Jim Bunning (who pitched for the Phillies and Tigers) is a Senator from Kentucky.
Actors & Actresses
Charlton Heston (NRA President, conservative)
Bo Derek (Republican)
Rick Schroder (Conservaitve, NRA member)
Chuck Norris (Republican)
Ronald Reagan (Republican actor turned President)
Gary Oldman (conservative British actor)
Kirt Russell (libertarian)
Bruce Willis (part-time Republican)
Sarah Michelle Gellar (pro-gun)
Tom Selleck (pro-gun, somewhat conservative)
Mel Gibson (pro-gun)
Arnold Swatzenager (Republican, fiscal conservative, but liberal on some other issues)
Dixi Carter (Republican)
Singers & Musicians
Ted Nugent (pro-gun, libertarian)
Loretta Lynn (Republican)
Pat Boone (Republican)
Sonny Bono (Republican Congressman, now deceased)
TV Personalities and General Entertainers
Bill Maher (libertarian)
Ben Stein (Conservative, pro-gun, pro-life, writer for American Spectator)
Authors
Dave Barry (libertarian)
Tom Clancy (pro-gun)
Sports Figures
Karl Malone (pro-gun NBA star)
Nolan Ryan (pro-gun Hall of Fame pitcher)
Steve Largent (pro-gun Hall of Fame receiver and U.S. Representative)
J.C. Watts, Jr. (pro-gun all-American quarterback and U.S. Representative)
Brad Johnson (pro-gun)
Jack Kemp (Republican representative, former NFL player)
Jessie Ventura (Libertarian)
Steve Largent (Republican congressman, former Seahawks player)
Jim Bunning (Kentucky Senator, former pitcher for the Phillies and Tigers)
Another Sports figure is Bill Laimbeer, former center of the Pistons. He is constantly mentioned as a senatorial or gubernatorial candidate here. He’s campainged for Republicans.