Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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July 3, 2007 8:43 AM
Lane Smith Set to Announce Presidential Run?
I've finally put my finger on what fascinates/disturbs me so much about the concept that Republican Fred Thompson is a frontrunner for president, beyond the fact that he has spent a third of his life on the planet as a corporate lobbyist. It's basically accepted fact that Thompson was an entirely lackluster - and lazy - U.S. senator, and that his current status as a presidential frontrunner really has primarily to do with his side career as a small-time character actor on the TV show Law & Order and in a spate of B Movies, including those memorable gems of cinematic history like Baby's Day Out and Iron Eagle III. We know Thompson's acting career is by far the most important factor in his billing as a major frontrunner because if someone of a similarly thin political resume without the Hollywood bit parts floated his name for a run - say, someone like former Republican Senator Lauch Faircloth (NC) or Peter Fitzgerald (IL) - that person would be utterly ignored by the media and political Establishment.Now, it's true - we've had an actor president before named Ronald Reagan. But what's different is that while Reagan was a B movie actor, he was also a LEAD actor. That is, he actually starred in movies, which at the very least explains the fame he used to ascend to the White House. Thompson, by contrast, has never ever been a star in any movie (other than that massive nationwide blockbuster that nobody saw apparently called Last Best Chance). And yet, somehow, this man is now universally billed in the media as a Very Famous Actor. Even if you do count his bit-part appearances on Law & Order, this billing is absolutely absurd, to the point where I've got to believe his Beltway media billing him as a "well-known actor" accounts far more for his current notoriety than anything he's ever done in his modest acting career.
Look, I wouldn't dare argue that people don't know Fred Thompson's face from his various uninspiring movie and television cameo appearances.But what I am saying is that there's something pathologically insane about the media and political elites attempting to ordain a man as a frontrunner for Most Powerful Person on Earth by manufacturing the concept that this man possesses ubiquitous "fame" somehow derived from a mediocre collage of single-epsiode bit parts on shows like Matlock and Roseanne 15 years ago. It's fine to become President having once appeared on a few installments of Matlock. It's entirely not fine to become President primarily BECAUSE you appeared on a few installments of Matlock.
The insanity inherent in this makes me wonder really how ridiculous could it all get? There are a lot of actors exactly like Fred Thompson - that crew of middle-aged white men who seem to have been in every single movie you've ever seen. People like Maury Chaykin, Joe Don Baker, Lane Smith, and Bruce McGill (the most famous of this crew for his throat-strumming role as D-Day in Animal House). What's next? Will one of these fine thespians run for president and enjoy a coronation as a Very Famous Actor and thus Very Serious Candidate for President from the Beltway media and the national Republican Party elite?
Hell, these guys have at least as much on-screen experience in movies about politics as Thompson does, and as we all know, that's what's really important. Take the Distinguished Gentleman - the 1992 comedy making fun of corrupt Washington. This movie is a keeper when playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, as it features a virtual cornucopia of these ubiquitous character actors that seem to appear everywhere. Same goes for My Cousin Vinny, a flick which is, at its core, about the breakdown of America's legal system and whose ensemble again features a strange convergence of Fred Thompson-ish nobodies.
I mean come on all you reporters, RNC operatives and Serious Pundits cloistered there in Washington - you've gotta start being fair. If Fred Thompson's breakthrough performance as Bernard Oxbar in Curly Sue qualifies him to become the most powerful person on the Planet Earth, doesn't Lane Smith's performance as a congressional chairman in Distinguished Gentleman and his spellbinding appearance as a hard-nosed county prosecutor in My Cousin Vinny give him at least as solid credentials for billing as a serious presidential contender?
UPDATE: I've been informed that Lane Smith sadly passed away in 2005. That's unfortunate, but thankfully that's no problem for Republicans and the Beltway media looking for the new new 2008 presidential frontrunner. I'm sure the Draft Bruce McGill for President campaign has already started...
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
Ronald Reagan and Fred Thompson are not a whole lot different. They're both pretty darn good at playing politics the Hollywood style and they love to get their fake populist "right" all stirred up. The way the fake populist "right" stirs up voters' emotions on frivolous social issues to get them to vote against their own economic and secure well-being is what Thompson is ready to do. Tennesee had nothing to gain from his tenure as it was just like us South Carolinians had NOTHING to gain from Strom Thurmond's CRIMINAL tenure. It's ironic but probably not a coincidence that Fred Thompson would get to be a show-off on the sleazy "Law and Order" show when his very own support of the policies meant to create more anarchy and disorder in this country and around the globe are on display through his voting record and rightwing talk on the media outlets all these years ! Unfortunately, since most of the candidates in both parties are just as bad as he is more or less, expect Thompson to get a "free" pass by both the elites and the voters should he win the primaries of course.
The cult of personality / leadership worship is alive and well in the USA. Television, film and commercial advertising have succeeded in reviving the superstitious worship of authority. As presidential candidates tailor their campaigns and prepare their self-adulatory bio pics, their PR teams will create images of infallibility. But whomever becomes our Great Leader will find him or herself completely ineffective. Their hands will be tied by the unelected corporate entities to whom they have sold themselves. As society breaks down, the important focus will devolve to the local level, where it belongs. Caligula wannabes will hopefully find their way to the ignominious endings they deserve.
I always thought Lane Smith looked uncannily like a Hollywood version of Bob Dole, and was surprised he didn't play MORE conservative, white Republican characters.
Thanks for pointing this out, David.
Just for the record, Fred Thompson, was the Minority Counsel for the Republicans on the Senate Select Watergate Committee. Based on that "performance", he was later elected to the Senate, R-Tennessee. His later activities obviously never reached his Watergate "high." I am not at all surprised to see the corporate press/TV/radio fawn and slobber all over Freddie boy. Especially in view of the lackluster Repubthug candidates.
DiNiro..!
Rob Devoe as Vice President..
w/Kevin Spacey as Secretary of Defense..!
They would scare the shit outta an enemy even many of our friends..
Walkin for President 2008
Results, fear, style..
Walken for President 2008
Results, fear, style..
Don't forget that Lane Smith also played Clark Kent's Editor at the DailyPlanet on the Superman series with Dean Cain.
We could run his corpse or failing that a potted plant or a cute Armadillo.
But yeah its truly pathetic to see how low the pundity class and MSM have gotten by fawning over a corrupt nobody like Thompson, especially when you compare him to Ron Paul(about the only honest republican around and not afraid to speak the truth). Hell, Paul makes the other GOPers look like moral and mental pygmies.
To me it also points to a system that is rigged against anyone who isn't tied into WallStreet and the monied elite that runs this country behind the scenes.
Fred Thompson is a 'good ole boy.' There are lots of them in the country (repressed white male anger).
Geeze, you get my hopes up and then squash them.
I thought it was the Lane Smith who illustrated such classic as The Stinky Cheese Man, The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, and Math Curse.
I have to put my vote behind Joe Don Baker because I had a drink beside him in Sardi's famous theatrical bar in New York City 1n the early seventies. He was a young man in a hurry, a young unfriendly giant. I was a little squirt of a famous theater director. Neither of us knew the other and didn't speak. He'd make a great president I'm sure. Happy 4th everyone.
Don't forget about California's Governator, Arnold Schwarzeneggar. His main "qualifications" aren't even his acting ability, but rather his bodybuilding "skills."
Economic Populist Forum
Jag for president!
She's loyal, honest, comes from a working dog background, and has been the advisor to Montana's governor Brian Schweiter for the last few years.
She's smarter and better qualified than our current president!
Border collies unite!!!
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