~ Blue Jays ~
Posted on 03/15/2006 8:11:39 PM PST by doesnt suffer fools gladly
Jessica Simpson snubs Bush Wed Mar 15, 2006 10:50 PM ET
By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Concerned about politicizing her favorite charity, singer-actress Jessica Simpson on Wednesday turned down a invitation to meet with U.S. President George W. Bush, a snub that left Republicans dismayed.
The apparent final word that Simpson would be a no-show at a major Republican fund-raiser with Bush and congressional leaders on Thursday night came after a day of conflicting reports from her camp and organizers of the event.
The blond star of the film "The Dukes of Hazzard" still plans to visit Washington on Thursday to lobby members of Congress on behalf of Operation Smile, a non-profit venture offering free plastic surgery for disadvantaged children overseas with facial deformities.
People close to Simpson said she declined a request to appear that same evening at the gala fund-raiser of the National Republican Congressional Committee -- even after she was offered some private face time with Bush -- because Operation Smile is a non-partisan group.
"It just feels wrong," one Simpson insider told Reuters on Wednesday, adding that the actress keeps her political views private. "She would love to meet the president and talk about Operation Smile ... but she can't do it at a fund-raiser for the Republican Party."
NRCC spokesman Carl Forti said he was surprised at Simpson's position.
"It's never been a problem for Bono," he said, referring to the U2 rock star who has met regularly with political leaders of all stripes to promote various causes, including Third World debt relief. "I find it hard to believe she would pass up an opportunity to lobby the president on behalf of Operation Smile."
Although Simpson's publicists insisted she never had planned to attend the fund-raiser, Forti said the actress initially accepted the NRCC invitation when it was extended on Tuesday night, only to change her mind the next evening.
Forti said the Republican group had even arranged for Simpson to dine at one of the head tables with U.S. House of Representatives Majority Leader John Boehner, an Ohio Republican. The NRCC hopes the $2,500-per-plate dinner event will raise $7.5 million for Republican candidates in the congressional midterm elections in November.
Simpson, 25, a Texas native who started out singing in her church choir, became a star on the Christian music circuit as a teenager and crossed over to the pop mainstream with her major-label debut album "Sweet Kisses" in 1999.
She became an overnight MTV sensation in 2003 as co-star of a reality show chronicling her first year of wedlock with fellow pop vocalist Nick Lachey, but she filed for divorce in December after three stormy years of marriage. Simpson is currently featured wearing cowboy boots and hot pants in a TV pizza ad.
Pretty soon Bush won't even be able to get face time with Justin Guarini.
If she had visited a Hillary '08 Fundraiser, you people would all be howling.
Any airhead who compliments the Secretary of the Interior during a tour of the White House for the fine job done decorating it doesn't needs to represent like airheads. The RATS!
HA!
Jessica is actually intelligent. She just plays off the ditz routine for laughs.
I am sorry. I cannot make it any simpler.
Wow. She did the right thing. Go figure.
Dixie Chick.
Dixie slut.
~ Blue Jays ~
She needs to take off her clothes before she can snub me
She had one of the highest scores on the senior placement test.
True enough.
I can't believe that we're actually complaining that a celebrity isn't more like Bono....
I like a beautiful woman with brains!
I love you, Lauren Bacall!
Jessica is NO Mrs. Bogart!
I'm not? Well, then, now that Nick's back on the market, who needs Jessica anyway? :)
-Dan
By participating in a Republican Fund-raiser featuring President Bush, Simpson would alienate fully half of her audience (perhaps more, the guy isn't exactly popular right now).
Why should she court negative public opinion when she is trying to promote a charity?
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