Hollywood Star leans to the Right
CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE
A Hollywood conservative has headed East. It’s “Freedom Concert” time
for Jon Voight. The Academy Award winner will join Sean Hannity in
Cincinnati and Atlanta this weekend to honor fallen soldiers and present
college scholarships to surviving children. Mr. Voight — a warrior
himself in many ways — has been cogitating about the state of America,
meanwhile.
“There’s a real question at stake now. Is President Obama creating a
civil war in our own country?” Mr. Voight tells Inside the Beltway.
“We are witnessing a slow, steady takeover of our true freedoms. We are
becoming a socialist nation, and whoever can’t see this is probably
hoping it isn’t true. If we permit Mr. Obama to take over all our
industries, if we permit him to raise our taxes to support
unconstitutional causes, then we will be in default. This great America
will become a paralyzed nation.”
Be outraged, Mr. Voight advises.
“Do not let the Obama administration fool you with all their cunning
Alinsky methods. And if you don’t know what that method is, I implore
you to get the book ‘Rules for Radicals,’ by Saul Alinsky . Mr. Obama is
very well trained in these methods,” he continues, citing a television
campaign critical of the Republican Party and contentious town-hall
meetings about health care reform.
“The real truth is that the Obama administration is professional at
bullying, as we have witnessed with ACORN at work during the
presidential campaign. It seems to me they are sending down their
bullies to create fist fights among average American citizens who don’t
want a government-run health care plan forced upon them,” Mr. Voight
says. “So I ask again. Is President Obama creating a civil war in our
own country?”
MEGALISCIOUS
She’s blonde. She’s the bomb. And she’s got important relatives. Meghan
McCain, the woman who brought va-va-voom to the Republican discourse in
recent months, will rock ABC’s “The View” Sept. 9 as the first guest
co-host for Elisabeth Hasselbeck, now on maternity leave.
Ah, Meghan. She was the one (as ABC reminds everybody) who told Karl
Rove, “You had your eight years. Now go away.”
Commentary is running amok online: You go, girl, they say. You’re just a
dumb blonde. Take on Joy Behar. Oh, and say “hi” to your dad. Which is,
of course, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, onetime presidential
hopeful, war hero.
And what does he say?
“He’s very, very proud of his daughter,” a McCain spokeswoman tells
Beltway.
HAIL TO THEE
With cool fanfare, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) announced Thursday that a whopper, 3.3-inch hailstone fell July
16 in Vermont — deemed an official state record and adding, perhaps,
another wrinkle to the global warming argument.
The hailstone conveniently fell in the backyard of one Chuck McGill, a
NOAA meteorologist, who whisked it to the office for measurement and
photographs. But now what? The hailstone sat for weeks in the NOAA
freezer. Is it a has-been?
Not to worry. NOAA’s got it covered.
“Chuck’s taken it home again and put it in his own freezer,” chief
meteorologist Andy Nash tells Beltway. “These things can just sublimate
to nothing. You know, evaporate. Chuck’s determined to keep that
hailstone alive.”
LOCKED AND LOADED
The Second Amendment Foundation has accused MSNBC of “demonizing”
gunowners, says Alan Gottlieb, the Bellevue, Wash.-based group’s
founder. The segment shows a figure toting an AR-15 rifle outside the
national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, where President
Obama spoke earlier this week.
“There are Second Amendment rights, for sure, but also there are
questions about whether this has a racial overtone. I mean, here you
have a man of color in the presidency and white people showing up with
guns strapped to their waist,” anchor Contessa Brewer says in the
report.
“What MSNBC purposely did not reveal with the deliberately doctored
video is that the man carrying that sport-utility rifle was an
African-American,” says Mr. Gottlieb. “Yet all they showed in a brief
film clip was a close-up of the rifle against the man’s neatly-pressed
dress shirt. It was impossible to tell the man’s race. This is a
detestable attempt to manipulate public sentiment.”
POLL DU JOUR
* 30 percent of Americans overall say health care reform will create
“death panels.”
* 47 percent of Republicans and 45 percent of Fox News viewers agree.
* 20 percent of Democrats and 27 percent of MSNBC viewers agree.
* 28 percent of Americans overall say the press is not critical enough
of President Obama.
* 52 percent of Republicans and 8 percent of Democrats agree.
Source: A Pew Project for Excellence in Journalism survey of 1,003
adults conducted Aug. 14-17.
* Whispers, noise, hailstones to jharper@washingtontimes.com or
202/636-3085. Follow her at twitter.com/harperbulletin
