But Actor Ron Silver Stands Up for American Values & Bush

MRC ^ | 11:35am EST, Tuesday February 11, 2003 | Brent Baker

[fight_truth_decay]

Not all Hollywood celebrities are ungrateful, anti- American lefties. Prompted by a Wall Street Journal mention a couple of weeks ago about how actor Ron Silver denounced the head of the European parliament for his anti-American attitude, FNC's Beltway Boys brought Silver aboard their Saturday show.

Silver, who plays liberal campaign strategist "Bruno Gianelli" on NBC's The West Wing, made clear he does not agree with the politics of the show's "President Bartlet," Martin Sheen. Silver told Beltway Boys co-hosts Fred Barnes and Morton Kondracke that Europeans "criticisms are logically incoherent...they hold inconsistent views that we're utterly materialistic, and then we're insufferably religious. We're boring conformists, and then we're reckless individualists. We're racists, but then we're too politically correct." When Kondracke suggested it's a problem caused by George W. Bush since Europeans liked Bill Clinton, Silver refused to accept the premise.

MRC analyst Patrick Gregory noticed the interview segment on the February 8 program and checked the tape against the transcript.

Barnes segued into a discussion with Silver about anti- Americanism by recalling how last month in "Switzerland, for the International Economic Conference there, you had a run in with the head of the European parliament who accused or at least suggested that the U.S. has become an imperialist power in the world, and you responded rather aggressively to him. Tell us about that incident, and also about the level of anti-Americanism that you discovered there."

Silver recounted: "Yeah, that dinner was a culmination of events over the past several days where the subtext of almost every fora was anti-Americanism. It was very visceral, it was very intense, and to my way of thinking and some other people, it was very incoherent logically, and I'll get to that in a moment. But at that dinner, the EU had a dinner that night about the 'new Europe,' and they were being very self-congratulatory about their values, and implicitly they were suggesting that America was an imperial country, trying to impose their values on the rest of the world, which I don't think is a bad idea by the way, I kind of think our values are fairy universal and might be helpful. But we got, it was a question and answer period, and I think it was with Pat Cox, who was the President of the European parliament, and I asked him a question, and it got a little heated. What the Journal article left out is after that dinner, Pat and I went out and we had a jolly time drinking the night away."

Kondracke soon pressed Silver: "I take it thought that you judge from the entire experience that elite opinion in Europe is hostile to the United States. And I just wonder whether there is something that George Bush could have done coming on as President, because Bill Clinton didn't seem to have this problem."

Silver disagreed: "No, I don't think George Bush could have done anything. I think he's doing exactly the right thing, and I think it's genetic. It's written into the genetic code, the hostility toward America. I'm not an analyst, and perhaps a therapist would be better equipped to talk about it. But it's something going on that is so interesting, because their criticisms are logically incoherent, and they're very self- defeating, and I think it provides some sort of psychological comfort for them. But they hold inconsistent views that we're utterly materialistic, and then we're insufferably religious. We're boring conformists, and then we're reckless individualists. We're racists, but then we're too politically correct. It goes on and on and on."

Silver added: "I kind of link Rumsfeld's 'old Europe versus the new Europe,' and we saw it in the last two weeks, with France and Germany, who were not with us on June 6, 1944, I don't know why we expect them to be with us today."

Barnes: "Well they aren't."

Silver: "But a lot of other European unions you know, signed that letter and have come on board."

Asked why Hollywood is so anti-war, Silver suggested: "My opinion is that the entertainment community along with other advocates -- human rights organizations, religious organizations, are always on the front lines to protest repression, but they're always usually the first ones to oppose any use of force to take care of these horrors that they catalogue repeatedly, and I find that inconsistent as well."

Kondracke: "So was there, what was the tension like on the set of The West Wing, you and Martin J. Sheen?"

Silver: "Well we've kind of avoided politics, I mean Marty has his politics, I have my politics. I do like the fact that he is committed, I disagree strongly and vehemently with his views about most things. But I like the involvement, I think it's a civic duty to be involved and I'm glad he raises his voice."

For a transcript of the interview, with a photo of Silver: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,78141,00.html

[cake_crumb]

"I would bet that more Hollywood people than you'd think agree with Silver. The list is growing. And those idiots out front like Clooney and Hoffman will soon look very stupid."

My mother just said the same thing when I told her about Silver...she said they were probably 'afraid to come out of the closet'.

[dfwgator]

Charlton Heston put it best, "there are more closet Conservatives in Hollywood than closet homosexuals."

[Marysecretary]

I'D like to join Tom Selleck, whether he's in obscurity or not. He's my hero. Best looking legs in town and a great smile with dimples. Ah, one can look...

[rogers21774]

Announcement to all West Wing fans! Look for Ron Silver's character to be written out of the show soon. I'm betting his character will have a heart attack as a result of diet high in red meat and fast food. Or maybe he'll die in an automobile accident when his hybrid electic automobile is crushed under the wheels of an evil Hummer 2, driven of course by a conservative, gun carrying NRA member.

Just a theory.

[Mr. Jeeves]

Silver used to be a die-hard Clintonista - I guess maybe he's grown up.

[JoeSixPack1]

Did a lite search on Silver and came up with this, don't start hoisting Silver up on a podium yet, This is from Thursday February 11, 1999.

http://www.mediaresearch.org/cyberalerts/1999/cyb19990211.asp#5

Excerpt:

5. Actor Ron Silver has nothing but contempt for Republicans, especially after they went after his President. All this week ABC’s Politically Incorrect is being taped at the Warner Theater in Washington, DC. On Monday’s show, MRC analyst Jessica Anderson documented, Silver, who is now co-star of the NBC sit-com Veronica’s Closet, scoffed at how Republicans control "the people's House" when "they don't like the people." Later he charged that the 13 House managers "are every bit as flawed as our President, but they were lucky and, thank God, they didn't have Starr with $40 million going after them for seven years."

Thursday’s guest list included Sam Donaldson and the stridently leftist Richard Belzer, star of NBC’s Homicide. Politically Incorrect airs daily after Nightline and Washington area viewers should be aware that WJLA this week is not delaying the airing for 30 minutes as it usually does to accommodate Extra! This week Politically Incorrect is running at 12:07am.

On the February 8 Politically Incorrect Silver appeared with fellow liberal Ann Richards and opposite Republican Congressman Matt Salmon and Wheel of Fortune host Pat Sajak who more than held his own. Here are a couple of Silver’s diatribes, the first of which will be posted Thursday morning on the MRC home page after Kristina Sewell cues it up:

-- Silver: "I think it's really an important question to figure out what the Republican Party is gonna do after this. I mean, they've shut down the government, and they are very proud of it, and then they didn't want to be blamed for it. Then in '94, they came in, the revolution, right, the class of '94 came in and they said, ‘We're grassroots, and the people,’ and here we are in '99 and they're saying, ‘The thing wrong with the country is the people because they don't get it and they're not outraged enough.’"
Sajak: "No."
Silver over cheers and applause from audience: "And wait, wait, Pat, let me just finish this. Now what has the Republican Party done when they had the House, the people's House? But they don't like the people. But what have they done? [Laughter from audience] What have they done? They renamed National Airport. They tried to shut down the government. [Cheers and applause] And they're trying to get into your bedroom to find out what you're doing. What kind of party is that?"

-- Silver: "Pat, Congressman [Matt Salmon], is there no sense of shame on your part or the party about the clear, cheap hypocrisy on the part of many of the House managers and the party? You're talking about Henry Hyde, Helen Chenoweth, Bob Livingston, Bob Barr....Isn't there any, wait, is there, is there no sense on your part that the Founding Fathers, your 13 House managers, are every bit as flawed as our President, but they were lucky and, thank God they didn't have Starr with $40 million going after them for seven years."

-- Silver: "Matt [Salmon], don't you think the party has a problem? You're clearly hostages to the right-wing fringe of your party."


No more than Hollywood is hostage to the left-wing fringe. -- Brent Baker


And there is plenty more on the above link.

[Coop]

Re: the headline, how does one apply to get a job as a "But Actor"? And what needs to be included in the resume?

The resume isn't the real concern. It's the interview!

[blake6900]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't this the same Ron Silver that defended Kirintong during his "Monica" debacle? Seems to me he chanted the same "It's his personal life" mantra that the Democrats were so fond of...

[JoeSixPack1]

You are 100% correct.

[cake_crumb]

Sheen has a right to his views. Silver has an equal right to HIS views. Each of us has a right to support those who agree with our viewpoint. Or not to support. Such is the nature of a free America. The question is therefore moot.

[dfwgator]

Seems to me the guy had a change of heart. Even Ronald Reagan was a Democrat at one time. It's more likely that he has always been a Republican, but was too scared of the DNC Hollywood Mafia to speak out now.

[Textide]

I think there's a middle-ground. There are bound to be loyal followers of political causes that express their convictions only in the voting booth. I wish more celebrities would do this, but then again we wouldn't have as much fun with them.

[Johnny Gage]

Silver, who plays liberal campaign strategist "Bruno Gianelli" on NBC's The West Wing

I'm betting that next season, if not sooner, his contract will "somehow" be dropped and he won't be on the show.

Most likely killed off my a right wing, gun loving, white male.

[BibChr]

"No, I don't think George Bush could have done anything. I think he's doing exactly the right thing"

Well, paint me green and call me a pickle.

Dan

[Interious]

He had clearly been a vociferous liberal.

There obviously has been a conversion.

[ambrose]

Isn't he the one who said "Those are our planes now!!" At Clinton's first inauguration?

[Destructor]

"I'm betting that next season, if not sooner, his contract will "somehow" be dropped and he won't be on the show. Most likely killed off my a right wing, gun loving, white male."

I'd be willing to call that a sure thing!

[AbsoluteJustice]

LOL so true so true!!!!

[pikachu]

Announcement to all West Wing fans! Look for Ron Silver's character to be written out of the show soon. I'm betting his character will have a heart attack as a result of diet high in red meat and fast food. Or maybe he'll die in an automobile accident when his hybrid electic automobile is crushed under the wheels of an evil Hummer 2, driven of course by a conservative, gun carrying NRA member.

Close. But I peeked at the script. Silver's character is driving a SUV when the vehicle goes crazy and runs over many people all by itself. The SUV finally crashes into a MacDonalds where big macs surround Silver and force their way down his throat. Then a sudden blast of global warming, the secret sauce superheats which causes silver's to finger to twitch (opps, forgot to mention that his finger is stuck in the trigger guard of a large caliber pistol that was made by a special interest backed company that seeks to over through the barlett administration) and sets off the 120 gallons of spilled gas from the tank of the SUV). It is later found Silver was wearing fur underpants that kept him from getting out of the SUV and a doctor pronounces that he would be alive if he did not wear fur, eat meat, sit in a SUV, or carry a firearm.

Martin Sheen's character will just shake his head, sigh, and then sign a presidential directive banning everything but watching TV.

[seanc623]

Ron Silver is destined to join Tom Selleck in obscurity. The Hollywood Liberals don't tolerate those that don't agree with them.

Tom Selleck may be obscure to Hollywood elites these days, but he recently co-produced and starred in the highest rated movie in the history of cable TV (ironically on Ted Turner's TNT network).

He's making movies his way that reflect his values and love of our western heritage and I'm very glad for the opportunity to enjoy his work again. His most recent film Monte Walsh was excellent and I highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in history or just great story telling.