Posted on 07/12/2008 11:31:35 PM PDT by null and void
IF BARACK Obama doesn't win November's presidential election in the United States, "you can kiss the Democratic Party goodbye", the actor and director Robert Redford told an audience in Dublin last night.
Speaking at a public interview in Trinity College in advance of his conferral with an honorary degree by the university today, Redford said he hoped Obama would win because while John McCain "represents yesterday", the Democrat embodied the sort of change America needed.
Asked by Michael Dwyer, film correspondent of The Irish Times, if he was looking forward to "regime change" in the US, Redford said: "Yes. Where my country is at the moment, I'm not confident of anything. I'm hopeful.
"I think Obama is not tall on experience . . . but I believe he's a really good person. He's smart. And he does represent what the country needs most now, which is change.
"I hope he'll win. I think he will. If he doesn't, you can kiss the Democratic Party goodbye. I think we need new voices, new blood. We need to get a whole group out, get a new group in."
The 71-year-old Redford is best known for his roles in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Stingand All the President's Men. He won his first Oscar as a director for the emotional family drama Ordinary Peoplein 1980.
After receiving a standing ovation from a crammed auditorium when he arrived just before 6.30pm, Redford spoke of his close relationship with the late Sydney Pollack, and of the protracted process of bringing to screen Jeremiah Johnson- an innovatively-made film that still brings him pride but was initially unloved by the distributor - culminating in its proper release four years after it was shot.
Redford told Dwyer he rarely watched his own films. "I'm not comfortable with it," he said, adding that the first time he watched his own performance in The Stingwas when he sat down to show it to his grandson.
"When he told me he hadn't seen The Sting, I said: what's wrong with your mother? And then it came out that I hadn't seen it either. So we watched it. I thought it was great."
Since the 1970s Redford has campaigned on green issues and has been a critic of the environmental policies of US president George Bush in recent years. He recalled laconically how, when he spoke out against energy companies' interests in the 1970s, their representatives would deride him as "only an actor".
"That had a lot of weight . . . until Reagan was elected. Now things have changed so much. You're not alone out there."
Asked what he would say to the G8 leaders if he was at their summit in Hokkaido this week, Redford said he would challenge the argument that drilling in places such as Alaska was more essential than ever now that oil prices were so high.
"I would make a great case for why that's absurd and why there's a better picture to be drawn from new technologies. I would hit that point very hard."
And does he harbour political ambitions of his own? "No. Never did, never would. That would be a great mistake."
© 2008 The Irish Times
Why do I care what Robert Redford thinks..about ANYTHING? Or for that matter, throw in Spike Lee, Scarlett Johansen, Bernie Mac, WHO THE HELL CARES? Why is this news?
Robert Redford is as dumb as a shoebox full of dead D-cell batteries.
It really is amazing that there is an audience anywhere for his opinions about anything.
Why is it news? Dunno.
Why did I post it? The Drudge title, “Robert Redford: ‘You can kiss the Democratic Party goodbye’ if Obama loses..” amused me.
I wonder if Redford realizes he's one of the old farts from the 60s who's well on his way to being irrelevant in the Obamaland of the new voices and new blood.
That’s “mean spirited” he sells salad dressing and lemonade.
I have an opposite take. If Obama wins, it spells the end of the Democrat party.
I have an opposite take. If Obama wins, it spells the end of the Democratic party process.
(Ummmmmm, are you thinking of Paul Newman?)
More betrayal from the Hollywood left. If men like my grandfather were in charge of this country, these men would be licking paint in Guantanamo.
I know you people can’t sense my rage through my text, but I am honestly about to break my keyboard in half. I can’t take it any more. It’s like I should have been born 70 years before I really was, when men actually stood by their country and the men who defended it.
Redford....isn’t he some ass, or actor or something?
Sorry,I always confuse those holly wood types.
If Obama wins you can kiss the country goodbye.....
Robert Redford has for years been involved in liberal/leftist politics. He has been involved in many “environmental” causes. This despite the fact that he lives on a palatial estate in Utah and has dozens of vehicles. He also uses private aircraft extensively. I’d give anything to know what his carbon-footprint is. In short Robert Redford is a fraud and a hypocrite in my opinion. He tells the rest of us to conserve energy and reduce our standard of living but he has no intention of doing this in his own life.
Robert Redford will never put his views on the line. He will never appear on TV Shows or Radio Stations where his views might be challenged. In short, in my opinion he is somewhat of a coward.
Robert Redford was a good-looking guy in the 1960’s and 1970’s and was a good (but not great) actor. Why anyone would care what he thinks(feels) about anything other than the movie industry is beyond me. Leave it at that.
Salad Dressing Queen isn’t that Paul newman... King of Abortions!!!
Same here, WHO CARES? Those people are paid to entertain the mindless idle-minded masses not tell us how to vote.
Time to invest in kleenex and puffs, I sense the winds of change taking place. Obama is exposing himself.
[I think we need new voices, new blood]
Well, STFU because your voice nor your blood is new along with your botoxed, facelifted, leathery mug. Go pretend to jump off a cliff with Newman.
(’You can kiss the Democratic Party goodbye’ if Obama loses..)
That is the objective.
I’m there with you.
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