Posted on 11/04/2004 2:13:23 AM PST by goldstategop
Sherry Lansing, the soon-to-be-retired Paramount studio honcho and friend of Sen. John Kerry, is said to be "depressed."
Actress Sharon Stone, who stumped for Mr. Kerry in Wisconsin, reportedly was "traveling" yesterday. It wasn't clear whether the "Basic Instinct" star had fled the country, as she had hinted that she might do if the Democratic nominee lost.
There were tears and tribulations. Long sighs and short tempers. Shock and bawl.
For a rich and powerful demographic used to getting its way, Hollywood was downbeat yesterday as President Bush — more heinous than a mid-February release date to so many celebrities and other bold-faced names — made his gracious victory speech.
Not only entertainers were said to be dispirited. The literary crowd in New York was crying into its Evian.
"Sure, I feel terrible," said New Yorker editor David Remnick, whose published endorsement of Mr. Kerry was a first for the magazine. "There are a lot of long faces today."
And "Fahrenheit 9/11" propagandist Michael Moore's Web site actually went silent.
That's the same Mr. Moore who only a couple of weeks ago had paused in his anti-Bush road trip to opine: "I have a feeling that slackers are going to rise up in this election. The slacker motto is: Sleep till noon, drink beer, vote Kerry."
George Soros, the Hungarian-born billionaire who went on his own 12-city speaking tour and spent an estimated $17 million on ads and get-out-the-vote drives to defeat the president, posted a message on his Web site describing himself as "distressed."
"I'll be back," he wrote.
Buoyed by early exit polls that put their candidate ahead, many in Beverly Hills dined together and waited out the night. Slowly, their leading man faded from the political screen.
"There's a lot of disappointment out here. A lot of apprehension," said Robert Dowling, editor in chief of the Hollywood Reporter. "People are comatose."
It was the right coast versus the left coast, and the morning-after mood was described by Mr. Dowling as "somber." It left many Kerry supporters reaching for their Prozac vials.
"Mine is already empty," joked a high-level publicist who counts A-list celebrities as his clients.
"Everyone's so down. All the studio execs are bummed. I have to tell you, when gay marriage becomes a bigger issue than the Iraq war, we're missing something."
Long decried as out of touch with "the real America," Hollywood woke up to its worst nightmare on Main Street.
"This is definitely Kerry country," said Gabriel Snyder, senior writer for Variety, the industry bible.
One can only imagine the despair of the Hollywood stars over the specter of glittery state dinners and policy lunches that could have been: Barbra and Moby,, Uma Thurman and Viggo Mortensen, Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro, Bette Midler and George Clooney. Directed, perhaps, by Rob Reiner and Steven Spielberg.
Who knew "moral values" voters could triumph over production values?
Asked whether outspoken stars might regret their more vitriolic sentiments about the president, Mr. Snyder said he doesn't think there is a risk of backlash.
"My prediction is the political tenor will come down for a little while," the Variety scribe said. "I don't think anyone will say anything wild. Next week, of course, might be different."
Among the most shrill in past months: Jennifer Aniston, the "Friends" actress who called Mr. Bush "a [expletive] idiot." Actor Leonardo DiCaprio, who stumped for Mr. Kerry in Oregon and Florida and appeared in an ad for the Democrat on the Internet. Singer John Mellencamp, who described Mr. Bush as "a cheap thug."
Cher also threw her wig in the ring, calling Mr. Bush "stupid and lazy" during a sparsely attended rally at a Miami Beach disco in Florida.
Al Franken is also a loser today; Dennis Miller a winner.
Sean Penn, Whoopi Goldberg and Meg Ryan: losers. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ron Silver and Angie Harmon: winners.
Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi lost their full-throated bids to play at an inaugural ball. Larry Gatlin and Brooks & Dunn, call your agents.
Rap impresario Sean "P. Diddy" Combs made his preferences known, without using the names "Bush" or "Kerry," in urging the hip-hop nation to "Vote or Die." Fellow rapper Eminem put in a belated appearance with the animated video for his venomous anti-Bush single "Mosh," in which his "army" appears to veer from violence in the streets to voting at the polls.
What proved to be a tonic: Building 429 and other Christian rockers who urged prayerful consideration of the stakes on their "Redeem the Vote" tour.
"It was a very gradual thing," the Hollywood Reporter's Mr. Dowling recalled. "First it was Puff Diddy, then Bruce Springsteen came along, then Ben Affleck came out and the bandwagon rolled. It was slow to engage, and I'm not sure if Kerry wasn't just a surrogate for anti-Bush feelings."
"Celebrity testimonials may help [sell] erectile-dysfunction products," Marty Kaplan, communications professor at the University of South Carolina, told Agence France-Presse, "but in politics, they're mainly eye candy for the media."
Mr. Dowling agreed.
"It didn't work," he said of the Democrats' star-studded support.
Asked whether Mr. Affleck, who wasn't available for comment, would suffer any repercussions, Mr. Dowling laughed and alluded to the actor's latest box-office flop "Surviving Christmas."
"Ben Affleck," the Hollywood journalist said, "has more career problems at the moment than his political beliefs."
You are right. In other countries, the socialists are colored red, while the conservatives are Blue. The USA for some reason has it backwards. Europe for example, is all red. as was communist russia, China, etc.
It's just one of those glitches I guess.
For the life of me I've never understood how any rational person would look to an actor/actress or a singer or other performer to determine their political beliefs. Has the hollywood crowd become so stupid that they think only they can tell how America thinks? If they have, then they need to get out of California for a while and find out how the other half lives because the other half just re-elected George W. Bush and are very happy about it.
If I remember correctly, doesn't our flag have some red in it?
I believe the tradition is that the party who hold the White House at election time is portrayed in red while the challenger is marked in blue. In '08, the GOP will be red again. If the GOP nominee should lose, then in '12 the GOP will be blue.
What's distressing is that liberal causes somehow became the status quo! Thank God (I mean that literally)that George Bush realizes what this country is about. Thank God we get to keep our nation and not pass somebody's global test.
Rodney King: "Can't we all just get along?"
No we can't.
There is no middle ground on the sanctity of human life in the womb.
There is no middle ground on gay marriage.
They want unelected judges to control our lives. We want ourselves in charge of our lives.
They want socialized, government controlled medicine and health care. We don't.
We want individuals to breathe in personal liberty. They want the central "state" to call the shots.
They want the permission of a corrupt UN and cowardly France before doing what is obviously the right thing.
They want our guns taken away. We're busy loading them to be used against the evil in the world.
They want to run and hide from dictators and terrorists. We want to kill tyrants and terrorists by the trainload.
They call our good, moral leader "hitler."
They call devout Christians "Jesus freaks."
We are the serious grownups. They are the foolish, self-absorbed, naive and immature.
We won, handily. We decide.
So the 'Rats were red in 2000?
Intersting, thank you. I did not know this.
i cant help feeling like allowing myself a little self indulgent chuckle.
BWAAAAAHAAAAHAAAA HAAAAHAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAHHHAAAAA
BWAAAHAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAHAAAA.
whoa boy that felt good.
hope tim robbins and little wifey susan slept good last night. NOT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1
I was actually thinking about the people, not the Democratic politicians.
I have no hope for them. I am thinking of you me and the common politically active, intelligent conservative.
Maybe even the talk show hosts (of course their ratings would probably sink).
Bookmarked for all the rainy days for the next four years.
ah the answer is no.
liberalism is a virus that must be destroyed.
and i want the war within our borders to continue until the i'm ok your ok babbaling libs are driven back home to europe.
sorry E_R_F but this aint gonna stop. real americans are waking up to the fact that we are under attack from within and the enemy is coming into focus every day.
That is my recollection.
The sad fact is they do not want to leave California. Why? Because the vast majority of the actors, actresses, singers, writers, et al, came from the very background and area they so despise. They could not wait to get away from smalltown Iowa, Ohio, Montana, Wyoming, Oklahoma, etc., and hit the big city. I bet you a dollar to a donut that the majority of these people were picked on the most in school. If they were criminals they would be someones punk.
America has spoken.
Put them back in the closet.
BUMP
LOL! I meant purple in the overarching sense, including lilac, lavender, mauve,etc. You're right, of course, in the specific sense. (Except now their color seems to be "rainbow"!)
I wondered about their explanation back then.
Now,I'm sure in my own mind that it was BS and they're simply afraid of giving "commie red" to the Dims because it would be so fitting and cause more people to see the obvious.
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