One Republican I know suggested...that actor Gary Sinise might be our savior. According to news reports, he’s part of an underground group of conservatives in Hollywood—an act of bravery in itself. His stated belief in American exceptionalism might end up being a powerful contrast to Obama’s “American apologist” mantra.
So what the GOP needs is...another actor-politician? I'm not convinced that actors generally make good politicians--all the money in the world hasn't made Warren Beatty or Rob Reiner even close to plausible candidates for public office here in California. It's true that Arnold Schwarzenegger managed to get elected governor here, but considering that the entire state (save for Maria Shriver and his kids) loathe him virulently I wouldn't say that he's a successful test case). Granted, a lot of that has to do with California being a big real estate collapse state, but it also has much to do with budget fights and his complete lack of connections with his party's legislative delegation. In any event, I wouldn't call Arnie a success, exactly, and the jury's literally still out on Al Franken, though it can work, as Ronald Reagan was obviously a pretty effective politician.
This just makes me wonder the extent to which the right is interested not only in finding candidates who share Reagan's views, but also someone who shares Reagan's background. I actually do think that this is largely on the mark. This supposed Reaganism was supposedly the impetus behind Fred Thompson's fizzled nomination, as well as the only plausible reason for the push for Mel Gibson to enter politics (which has admittedly cooled recently). I'm not against actors being political, though I can't help but feel that this renders GOP attacks on Hollywood more than a little hollow. "Hollywood is a destabilizing force on our culture and its values are alien and hedonistic, except for the ones that agree with us" is not exactly the sort of thing to raise folks' hackles in Middle America.
