By now, we all know that Ben is on the bus and Whoopi caused a fuss. And reading the coverage of last week’s Democratic convention, one might be under the impression that there isn’t a single Hollywood name — happening or has-been — who hasn’t lined up behind candidate Kerry.
And yet, a Campaign Desk reader who keeps her eye on the gossip pages pointed us to what some reporters (and Republicans) would have people believe is a rare sighting — rarer, perhaps, than the elusive Punk Republican: The Celebrity Republican. The (New York) Daily News reports today that film actor Vincent Gallo, among other things, “will attend the Republican National Convention later this month,” vowing to help “promote and protect the Republican administration.”
While the never-ending search for the counter-intuitive storyline might tempt other journalists to pursue their own Celebrity Republican stories (after all, given Arnold Schwarzenegger’s successful campaign, replete with Hollywood endorsements, one would assume they’re out there), the Washington Times‘ Steven Zak will have you know that they may be hard to find. Zak reports today that he has “personally met one major television star.” This “major star,” although “secure in his career … nonetheless prefers to keep his conservative leanings discreet,” Zak writes, because he “knows the entertainment milieu” — giving us a new twist on the anonymous source debate.
Of course, there’s a third category of celebrities. According to actress Alfre Woodard, quoted last week in the Dallas Morning News, the entertainment industry is actually a “melting pot, with not only liberals and Democrats, but also Republicans and ‘lots of people who don’t care about politics.'”
Any takers on the Celebrity Who Doesn’t Care About Politics story?
–Liz Cox Barrett
