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I love Ed Harris. Ed Harris is gorgeous. He's a brilliant actor who brings power and believability to every character he plays.

So infinite is my love for the palomino-haired Harris and his swoon-inducing jaw of desire, that when he refused to stand in respect for Elia Kaza's acceptance of a Life Achievement Oscar a few years ago, I let it pass.

Yes, I thought it was childish and petty for the otherwise perfect Harris to sit with his arms folded petulantly and his crystalline baby-blue eyes sternly staring daggers of condemnation at one of Hollywood's most gifted directors. And all because Kazan cared more about his country than his politics. But, I thought, lots of people are misinformed about the days of the Hollywood Ten and I figured Ed would eventually come around. Heck, maybe I could save him.

There was my beloved saying some very harsh (and goofy) things about my president not being "a real man". Yikes.

Eddie, Eddie, Eddie...come back to the light, mon cherie. Quel disappointment. I casually checked to see if his butt was a tight and high as ever and, sure enough, it was perfection. Unfortunately, Ed himself seemed a tad dumber. Was that possible?

I decided to kill the taste of the troublesome NARAL event by watching my Academy tape of "A Beautiful Mind". Harris is so good and so yummy in that movie that I just knew it would drive all unwanted negative images of my, possibly brain-damaged, idol out of my mind. I took comfort in the notion that the object of my desire had probably been bullied and corrupted by his shrill and contolling (shudder) wife (who was not only not good enough for him, but also aging badly).

As I watched Harris go about creating the character that brought him an Oscar nomination, my heart sank with a huge splash. All I could see was the childish, petty Harris who sat so hatefully, with his arms folded and his humanity diminished while a truly great man received a much deserved (and much delayed) tribute.

I contorted uncomfortably in my seat. Beads of pearly sweat danced on my brow. This wasn't good. Yummy people couldn't become flavorless or worse...inedible (!) over-night! Could they?

I raced to my library of films and yanked out "The Truman Show". Besides "The Right Stuff", where Harris played uber-hero, astronaut and ultimately, cranky Senator John Glenn, his lip-puckering, Oscar-winning portrayal of the beret-wearing TV director in "The Truman Show", is surely his manliest.

Uh, oh! Could it be? Instead of dreamy, he seemed cruel and self-obsessed. Desperately, I exchanged "The Truman Show" DVD for "Pollock". In "Pollock" his talent was electric. He was born to play this complicated man and he had been rewarded with yet another Oscar nomination.

But as I watched my future husband recreate the flawed genius who was Jackson Pollock...I thought he looked short.

I ran to the window and screamed down the hill to the cocooned drivers on the Hollywood freeway, "THIS CAN'T BE HAPPENING!!!!!"

But it was. I had lost my passion for Ed Harris. The blindness of my love had been cured. And why? I'll tell you why...because of his arrogant need to make me hear his stupid political views! This, in turn, forced me to see him as mortal, fallible and jerky. The idol had fallen. And I noticed it had a bald spot.

And so it has been with other "celebrities", actors, singers and acid-tongued comedians I used to hold dear.

Now that she parrots Gaulish, left-wing Democrat talking points, Janeane Garofalo just doesn't seem so brilliantly funny. And to me, George Clooney is no longer the new Clark Gable. Dustin Hoffman has become the Rain Man. Ed Begley always gave me the creeps so no loss there, but I have liked Jim Carrey since "In Living Color" and I thought Ben Affleck had a real future as a leading man (in spite of "Sum of All Fears"). Now I can't bear to look at any of them.

I'll never buy another Barbra Streisand CD. And not because of any boycott, but just because she doesn't seem that gifted anymore. Likewise, Sheryl Crow, the Dixie Chicks, Michael Stipe and Madonna. In fact, as soon as some bonehead entertainer stands under a "No Blood For Oil" sign or wears a stupid anti-war T-shirt (paging Viggo Mortensen), my brain creates some kind of celebrity anti-virus and makes me immune to their talent.

So all the show biz guilds and unions can save their breath whining about "McCarthyism" and "punishing Americans for speaking out". The anti-virus in my brain isn't listening. It has decided that being for this country and its president, is more compelling, sexy and entertaining than being against. I have no control over my feelings.

Tom Selleck once said (and I'm paraphrasing) "I don't know that I ever lost a job because of my politics, but I know I never got one."

Selleck is a patriot, a conservative and a Republican who, though gorgeous and hugely popular, has seen his career fade while nothing Robert Downey Jr. does renders him unemployable.

I have a feeling that now that this war is pretty much in the history books and our president is free to move on to domestic issues, the sour smells that emanated from the Martin Sheens, Sean Penns and Tim Robbins', will make them impossible to watch. Americans just might demand that Tom Selleck be elected to "The West Wing". They may find themselves immune to its current star.

Hey, thanks for that correction - I knew I was close!

As for these people hating Republicans it is fear of what they do not understand coupled with the fact they are very small people. Small people have small worries.

Funny thing is for a group of people who make their lives being creative they are all such conformists with each other. It is like the mob mentality and they cannot branch out and think on their own rather they seem to feel safety in numbers because their intellect is so lacking. They are utterly unable to bring themselves to be held accountable and then wonder why we make a decision that we can no longer stomach them.

And it doesn't seem to enter their brains that they are standing on a podium hurling hateful rhetoric towards a great number of people who are their paying audience. Just plain dumb.

Give my best to the highest paid bag check gang at the Mayfair.

And try not to be too hard on the greasemonkeys at the 76 on Beechwood/Franklin. I miss the waiters singing for their tips at Machelli's. Friends tell me I had a couple of great birthday parties there.

Always been an Italian Red for me... Especially the swanky kind with 2 legs, if ya know what I mean...

Indeed I do. I've been keeping company with many Italian Reds myself, but the wife says they can't have legs. I'm not wired for two-twenty anymore, anyway, if you get my drift.

That was a great letter Deb!! I feel the same way so many times over and over. I'm THE movie buff...and when these IDIOTS come out and say such assinine stuff it really pisses me off, because I know i have to do the right thing. It's like the time when Old Yeller had to be put down. It's sad to say goodbye, but at least there will be others to fill the void! Kudos to an excellent leter and thanks for sharing!

Jon

When an actor speaks, I get the feeling of a dead person spitting up on me. Or Kenneth Branagh casting Keanu Reeves in Shakespeare. I may have repressed memories.

Finding this essay was serendipitous (I was doing a google search on "tight and high butt") and delightful.

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