Posted on 10/21/2013 2:51:10 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Actor Steve Buscemi has finally broken his silence to tell the world his expert opinion on the government shutdown.
Buscemi opined about the shutdown and much else in a wide-ranging with The Guardian.
“I think the shutdown is ridiculous. I think the Republicans in Congress are holding the country hostage. I think it’s criminal. I don’t see why they’re allowed to do it,” he said.
Buscemi, 55, said he hopes voters punish the politicians behind the temporary halt of about 17 percent of the federal government at the next possible opportunity.
“The tea party faction of the Republican party are holding the Republican party hostage,” he explained. “They’ve hijacked it. I don’t understand their philosophy. I think that in their own hearts and minds there’s a reason why they feel they’re doing good. But I certainly don’t agree with it. And I hope the shutdown effects change. I hope people remember this in the next cycle of elections.”
The Guardian lovingly describes the Brooklynite (who also has a second home in upstate New York) as a blue-collar liberal.
“I’m not against capitalism, but it’s another thing to blame the victim,” Buscemi told the British daily. “A lot of poor people have made something of themselves but nobody does it on their own. Everybody needs help. There’s nothing wrong with having government help, and I think if your goal is only to make money, that’s not a worthy goal in and of itself.”
The website Celebrity Net Worth values Buscemi at an estimated $35 million. The site says he receives a salary of $75,000 per episode for his work as the lead character on “Boardwalk Empire,” a pale and generally pointless imitation of The Sopranos.
“The idea that the money would trickle down to the poor is condescending, and doesn’t work,” Buscemi added.
Delving into other areas of politics, the high school graduate and former ice cream van driver took a page out of Thomas Frank’s prosaically liberal book, “What’s the Matter with Kansas?”
“So many working-class people across the country vote against their own interests,” Buscemi explained to his British interviewer. “It all comes down to culture wars: the right has always been able to use abortion and gay marriage, and in the past women’s rights, but all those things are starting to erode. There really isn’t much they can throw up as a smokescreen anymore.”
Buscemi also noted that he is somewhat dissatisfied with President Barack Obama and that he didn’t have his first girlfriend until he was 22.
Describes the show AND the actor.
From a guy who probably employs a whole team of tax lawyers and accountants to find tax loop holes.
LOL. That was my first thought. Love The Big Lebowski.
Never heard of him so don’t think I need to pay attention to what he says about anything.
Laz killed a thread today when he posted that he would "not hit that" (photo unrelated)
Gosh, and I was just WAITING to hear what this TV actor had to say about it. Whew!
why is it noteworthy what an actor says about anything going on in politics?
Steve Buscemi.....another great actor with rocks for brains.
As they brought up the book “What’s The Matter With Kansas” by Thomas Frank, basically everything Frank claimed about why Kansans (and most conservatives) vote conservative is bunk. Most conservative Kansans vote for conservatives for economic issues...social issues are secondary.
Limo lib loser ping. Thanks Tailgunner Joe.
If I still went to the MOOOOOVIES....I would stop!!!!
"And I hope the shutdown affects change". Just thought I'd throw that in!!!
It’s tough listening to him lecture on poverty and “blaming the victim”, then go home and count his $35 million!
They don’t get it, they don’t see a dole economy of 15 million on disability, 100 million Americans on some type of food assistance. It is incredible to think this nation cannot afford a decent economic opportunity to a full third of the population that they cannot even feed themselves without a government hand-out! It is a disgrace, with the average food stamp patron now staying in the program for years - it has become a source of income, not a safety net.
Hey Buscemi, wake up and smell the nuclear radiation under the door, we are living with free bread and circus, with staggering numbers on the dole, with government workers paid to recruit people on food stamps, with millions believing they can do better without working, and proving it! Obama is making it worse!
The Dems own this, the have authorized the debt on 15 trillion in spent anti-poverty money starting with LBJ, and the numbers have worsened! Dems burn money, and they destroy much of the utopia they seek to create. They have not bettered any of their constituency, only enriched themselves. People are poorer and blacks have done worse under Obama. Figure it out............
*sigh* another favorite actor of mine turning out to be a total dimbulb.
Steve Buscemi another DIM-BULB trying to be bright.
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