Hollywood Conservatives Emerging from the Shadows

Photo of Matthew Sheffield.

Conservatives in Hollywood emergeHollywood conservative? As oxymoronic as that may sound, there are a few out there, the one endangered species that the left is not interested in protecting.

In an excellent article for the Weekly Standard, Stephen Hayes takes a look at a small band of conservatives and libertarians in Tinseltown. No longer content to stay quiet, they've created an underground group called "Friends of Abe," a reference to "Friend of Dorothy," a codeword formerly used when homosexuality was taboo in Hollywood with the intent to parallel the intolerance that is currently exacted on Republicans in the entertainment industy.

I've had the pleasure of attending a few such gatherings thanks to "NewsBusted" creator Bruce Roundtower and can verify that some of Hollywood's biggest names are involved.

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Besides meeting together, the Hollywood right is now teaming up to create an upcoming movie called "An American Carol" which pokes fun at anti-Americanism among liberals and how their disdainful attitudes sometimes end up helping Ameria's enemies. All of this is detailed in Hayes's article. This is a movie every conservative needs to see.

Kudos to director David Zucker for coming up with the concept and for being willing to come all the way out of the conservative closet.

An excerpt from the Hayes article:

David Zucker believes we are in a "new McCarthy era." Time magazine film writer Richard Corliss recently joked that conservative films are "almost illegal in Hollywood." Tom O'Malley, president of Vivendi Entertainment, though, dismisses claims that Hollywood is hostile to conservative ideas and suggests that conservatives simply haven't been as interested in making movies. "How come there aren't more socialists on Wall Street?"

But Zucker's film, together with a spike in attendance at events put on by "The Friends of Abe" (Lincoln, not Vigoda)--a group of right-leaning Hollywood types that has been meeting regularly for the past four years--is once again reviving hope that conservatives will have a battalion in this exceedingly influential battleground of the broader culture war. [...]

On one of the days I was on set, McEveety had invited Vivendi Entertainment president Tom O'Malley to meet Zucker. Vivendi had just agreed to distribute the film and had promised wide release--news that had the cast and crew of An American Carol in particularly good spirits.

O'Malley and Zucker chatted about the fact that O'Malley is the nephew of Candid Camera's Tom O'Malley and that they are both from the Midwest, among other things. Zucker thanked him for picking up the movie, which will be one of the first for Vivendi's new distribution arm. O'Malley told Zucker that he was particularly interested in this film in part because he, too, leans right.

Such revelations are common occurrences at the periodic meetings of the secret society of Hollywood conservatives known as the "Friends of Abe." The group, with no official membership list and no formal mission, has been meeting under the leadership of Gary Sinise (CSI New York, Forrest Gump) for four years. Zucker had spent a year working on a film with Christopher McDonald without learning anything about his politics. Shortly after the film wrapped, he ran into McDonald, best known as Shooter McGavin from Adam Sandler's Happy Gilmore, at one of these informal meetings.

"It's almost like people who are gay, show up at the baths and say, 'Oh, I didn't know you were gay!' " Zucker says.

From the beginning, Zucker knew what the political message of An American Carol would be. His problem was how to make it funny. [...]

"We really didn't have to do a lot of stretching," says Zucker.

When he heard Rosie O'Donnell claim that "radical Christianity is just as threatening as radical Islam in a country like America where we have a separation of church and state," he knew he had several minutes of material.

In the film, a rotund comedian named Rosie O'Connell makes an appearance on The O'Reilly Factor to promote her documentary, The Truth About Radical Christians. O'Reilly shows a clip, which opens with a pair of priests walking through an airport--as seen from pre-hijacking surveillance video--before boarding the airplane. Once onboard, they storm the cockpit using crucifixes as their weapon of choice. Next the documentary looks at the growing phenomenon of nuns as suicide bombers, seeking 72 virgins in heaven. A dramatization shows two nuns, strapped with explosives, board a bus to the cries of the other passengers. "Oh, no! Not the Christians!" O'Connell's work ends with a warning about new threats and the particular menace of the "Episcopal suppository bomber."

Update 2008-08-05. The original version of this article incorrectly stated that FOA is involved in the production of "American Carol." That is not true, it is a project of some individual members. I regret the error.

—Matthew Sheffield is the creator of NewsBusters and its Executive Editor.


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We are the ones they have been waiting for.

It's about time.  I will definitely be awaiting this movie.  It is hard to find movies that have conservatives as headliners like Gary Sinese and John Voight in them.  Hope this becomes a new trend in Hollywood.  If they see money in it, they will put out movies on it no matter what the political leanings of the stars. 

 

"The future is not set.  There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

michaelyon-online.com

Nofate

"It's about time". So right. I've always wondered why movies  which poked fun at, or told the real truth about the libs are not made. Frankly, I never thought I'd live to see the day. As for Hollywood conservatives, there are probably many more than are reported.

NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"

Those Hollywood

Those Hollywood conservatives must be diamond mine deep underground.

McNotObama '08

iveseenitall & Chriss Norman

Many of them are very underground, but it seems that things may be opening up a little due to the presence of money in the form of McEveety and O'Malley.  The Standard article was very uplifting for those of us out here looking for something more positive out of the entertainment industry.  I had no idea Kelsey Grammer was so outspoken:

Kelsey Grammar:  "The accepted way to speak about America is in the voice that disrespects it. And the voice that's unacceptable is the one that loves America," he says, wearing the uniform of an Army general and sipping from a bottle of pomegranate juice. "How did we get here?"...Grammer, who is friends with Ann Coulter, says he quoted her once to some of the young people who work for him.
"'Ann Coulter,'" he says, recalling their horror and assuming their voice. "'She's the antichrist.' And I said: 'What the f-- do you know about the antichrist? You don't even believe in Christ.'"

And I gotta find out more about this guy:

Robert Davi:  "No one on the left wants to admit that radical Islamists want to kill Americans, the Jews--everyone in the West," Davi says. "I try to talk to my friends on the left and they just don't get it. Most of them have never even heard of Sayyid Qutb. How can you have an intellectual discussion about the war we're in without knowing who Sayyid Qutb is?" 

Of course, I had to go looking around so I found an article in the Washington Times:  Hollywood's Conservative Underground
'Friends of Abe' Group Mmeets Quietly
.  An Opinion Journal piece from 2004, Rebels With A Cause:  Are Hollywood Republicans on the verge of a big break?.  Then I stumbled onto a site called the "Hollywood Congress of Republicans" which was very interesting.  They have a list of recommendations of what they consider to be "right" leaning entertainment world types, although Arnold is still on it, so take it for what it is.   They also link to a site called "Modern Conservative" which carries a Hollywood section.  There, in an article by Mr. EPluribus- "Hail to the Heroes", I found this gem about the Viet Nam war.  And, by the same guy, this about the guerilla congress going on right now (links to MRC's eyeblast TV!).

So I guess the Republican/conservative voices are not completely silenced, but it would be nice to hear more.  A little of the in your face attitude that they have gotten from the libs for years now.

I would love to see a movie showing what the world would be like if we decided to suddenly end the use of eeevil oil.

 

"The future is not set.  There is no fate but what we make for ourselves."

michaelyon-online.com

"And I gotta find out more

"And I gotta find out more about this guy: Robert Davi."

Ah yes, he was FBI Special Agent Johnson (no, the other one), from the first "Die Hard."

Also played a Bond villan in "Licence to Kill."

*****

"People only insist that a debate stop when they are afraid of what might be learned if it continues." - George Will 

Ask Ronald Reagan

I've always wondered why movies  which poked fun at, or told the real truth about the libs are not made.

I refer you to Ronald Reagan, who fought the communist takeovers of the Writers Guild and the Screen Actors Union.

  MSM - shaping all the perceptions you need to believe, then confirming it with a poll.

HOLLYWOOD FASCISM...

On the subject of John Voight, I caught the Rusty Humphries Show on XM last week with Andrew Breitbart filling in for Rusty. He was talking about his editorial he wrote for the Washington Times( there is a link about it in this story under related stories), it was about Hollywood's liberal "elites" & how mean spirited & intollerent they are. Appearing next to his piece was one written by John Voight, & he was talking about conservatism & Hollywood, & it got a bit of a backlash with at least one idiot(I don't remember who or in what paper/mag it was written in) calling for him to be blacklisted.

Andy had a fellow Hollywood media conservative on with him to discuss it. He talked about how his Father-in-law is Orson Bean who was a comedian  back in the day. Today, Bean is a conservative, but he was blacklisted by Hollywood for his outspoken political views. He said that being a conservative in Hollywood today gets you treated worse then being blacklisted for being a lefty back then. I guess since he has been on both sides of the tracks, I'll take his word for it.

If that is true, & I tend to believe it, it does not shock me at all. Those who are committed to leftist political ideology are very mean spirited, angry, & are extremely vindictive. I shake my head at those sorts of people & laugh, but I NEVER take my eye of of them, I don't trust them.

 

"...it's still We The People, Right?"  Megadeth 

Seinfeld Reference

Nofate...it's Jon Voight - the Voight you speak of was the former owner of George's LeBaron convertible. ;)

As far as libs vs. conservatives in Hollywood, I vote with my wallet. I wouldn't even rent a 'Lions for Lambs' DVD to play frisbee!

www.ArmchairEnergist...

I don't care if the makers

I don't care if the makers of satirical movies are conservative or liberal, I just think they should poke fun at the best targets. The Left has been ripe for skewering for so long and now, finally, someone has the nerve (and the money) to do so. If the movie's successful, maybe it'll make it "safe" for others to do so.
I knew Zucker had a sense of humor about liberals, when in Naked Gun 2, Lt Drevin was in a blues bar, where depressing music was playing and the camera panned the walls showing pictures of the Hindenburg, the Titanic, and Michael Dukakis.

McNotObama '08

and incidentally there are

and incidentally there are tons of socialists on Wall street

just had to get that in somewhere:) 

So when does the movie come out?

I hope it's before the election. I'll watch this one no matter what kind of reviews it gets.

If it even gets reviewed, I

Dee,

If it even gets reviewed, I can imagine what the MSM movie critics will write. They'll put cyanide in the ink.

McNotObama '08

Hi Chris - you are right - they may ignore it completely

if they are not able to get a good distribution company to carry it. That is what happened with Indoctrinate U - that film never made it to the theaters. I'm sure it would have done better than many of the leftist flops. Ben Stein's Expelled had a marketing budget and good distribution so the critics panned it. It still did well at the box office.

I keep meaning to buy Indoctrinate U because they have it available for purchase at the web site now.

I know Zucker's films did

I know Zucker's films did well in the past, but since I'm not very current with the movies, I didn't even know what he has produced since the heyday of "Airplane!" and "Police Squad". Like a lot of things, the media figures if they ignore it then it doesn't exist.

McNotObama '08

Chris - I just looked him up on IMDB

and it shows he directed Ruthless People also. I loved that film. I wasn't big on the Airplane! and Naked Gun films because I'm not really into slap stick. My husband loved those. Now slap sticking some liberals around - that would be different - I wouldn't miss it for the world. ; )

I always will associate him

I always will associate him with the slapstick stuff. I'm not saying it's true, but someone once observed that the difference between men and women was that men laughed at the antics of The Three Stooges - I know I do. :)

McNotObama '08

Chris - My husband loved the Three Stooges also

I've only had one girlfriend that I know of who liked the three stooges. It is definitely a guy thing. I normally like a lot of guy type films and sports but slap stick and boxing are two things that I just can't understand people liking. Now my son is taking Boxing. Yuck! I hate it. He isn't sparing though and I hope that never happens.

I only knew one girl in

I only knew one girl in college who appreciated The Stooges genius - she was a guy's gal (she could drink us all under the table too - but that's another story). As for boxing, I figure it's much better to watch than to participate. Still, it's very athletic and probably good training for other things.

McNotObama '08

Chris - that whole training for other things

was how they got me to agree to it.

There is one slap stick movie that I love - but it's a foreign film - it's called Adam's Apples. That film totally cracked me up. I also found myself laughing and really enjoying Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and that was kind of slapsticky in parts. Those two films kind of mixed dark comedy with slapstick and also had a lot of unique things about them. The slapstick was kind of secondary.

If this movie is half as

If this movie is half as funny as the Airplane and Naked Gun movies, I'll definitely see it. 

Who knew a conservative could be so funny? :-) 

Shooter: I eat pieces of s--- like you for breakfast.

Shooter McGavin is conservative.Awesome!

 

I might have to take him to Red Lobster now.Ha!

Oh may their group grow

Oh may their group grow stronger with time, letting more and more conservatives that are in Hollywood to be able to shout.... Free at last...free at last!

I cannot wait to see this, really looking forward to it...sure hope it has tons of success if it is good.

I cannot wait for some humor too...the Rosie O'Connell character...how rich is that?

Going to be fun to watch the looney left being portrayed as they are with humor.

 "America isn't the problem...America is the solution." ~ Rush Limbaugh

Bullwinkle's Politics

Although a Trotskyite in his youth, Bullwinkle became a conservative Republican in his later years.

...but still a subversive.

...but still a subversive. :)

McNotObama '08

Boris & Natasha

No. Boris and Natasha were the subversives. They portrayed themselves as labor activists when in reality they were NKVD operatives who took their orders directly from Moscow.

Rocky had a brief flirtation with Stalinism but ended up as a staunch supporter of Goldwater.

Not to get serious, but

Not to get serious, but wasn't the humor of R&B considered "subversive" at the time? I don't mean the literal characters, but the writing. As a conservative, I sometimes feel subversive against the liberal and politically correct establishment. Know what I mean?

McNotObama '08

Rocky had a brief

Rocky had a brief flirtation with Stalinism but ended up as a staunch supporter of Goldwater.

Yeah...I have always felt his campaign staff made a serious blunder by going after the squirrel vote.

Jer

Boris Badenov defected to

Boris Badenov defected to the West and lived to a ripe old age in Houston, Texas, where he invested in real estate. He later said he liked everything about America except liberals.

An American Carol

The movie web site is...are you ready?

http://www.moovealon...

Go to the site to sign up for updates.

To read and participate in blogs about the movie at IMDB:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190617/board 

Thanks glfwiz - I signed up!

I hope everyone here does the same

Thank you for the

Thank you for the link........ I signed up!  Sent the link to a few of my friends too........ 

 

 

"How come there aren't more

"How come there aren't more socialists on Wall Street?"

Because they would need brains AND have to work, so they end up are in government, entertainment, publicly funded social programs and Green ventures.

Yeah, that "logic" got a

Yeah, that "logic" got a laugh from me too. But more importantly, does he even understand the question? What does the lack of conservatives in Hollywood have to do with socialists on Wall Street? There is not logical connection. But somehow, the mind of a leftist can connect them.

Maybe this is the connection: Socialists don't wanna work. Conservatives aren't ALLOWED to work.

"Israel and Palestine should have their countries taken away from them, put in timeout, until they can prove they can get along." - balboa, ignorant bastard, 3/17/08

Not sure about that Mr.

Not sure about that Mr. Kafir, ask yourself what politics George Soros is and then ask yourself what Socialism really is.  There are two views of Socialism, the one based on propaganda to deceive the masses and the other the arrogant condescending elitism of self appointed saviors.  Just as there are two views of Socialism, there are also two groups of liberals, those who follow mindlessly spouting the propaganda and those who lead deceitfully creating the propaganda.

Never underestimate your enemy, the Greens, Soros's and Sulzbergers of the world have lots of money.

 Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.  

Actually,

the "socialists on Wall Street" comment is quite telling. The subject is a lack of Conservatives in hollywood, but the liberal mind flows seemlessly to "socialists". I mean, he didn't say "...liberals on Wall Street".

"This
liberal would be all about socialize -- uh, uh, would be about
basically taking over and the government running all of your companies."-Maxine Waters 2008

Or take the world of academia....

...and the great quote from Ghosterbusters when Ray is talking to Dr. Venkman about going from the college campus to the business world (thereby explaining the domination of liberalism in higher "education"),

"Personally, I liked the university.  They gave us money and facilities.  We didn't have to produce anything!  You've never been out of college.  You don't know what it's like out there. I've worked in the private sector.  They expect results."

I'm so impressed.

Looks like the Hollywood all star team showed at "Friends of Abe" brunch.

I know how to win wars!

Hollywood Conservatives

There were your firebrand conservatives of Wayne, Bond, Mclaglen, Ford , Monjou and others but there was that in between group who kept things on a more even keel--Carole Lombard--Cagney--Jimmy Stewart-- Fonda (Henry) Wayne Morris , Read about him a great hero. and many others too numerous to mention.  They were real heroes in a World War of real danger to themselves and their fellow citizens.  What have we today?--The blame America 1st crowd, the 5th columnists for any CHANGE, To denigrate patriotism and American  values is the Hollywood norm.  Seriously is there any actor out there today that you would trust as a  soldier next to you on the line?  Wakeup Hollywood conservatives, there are a few of you out there and you will be supported .  As long as you offer a good product.  Mainstream media and the movies are declining because the liberals are shoving their idea of truth down our throats.  It's a different world fom 1950 til 2001.  it changed everything.  We are a country at war.  Not conventional but more lethal than anything since World War II.  Wakeup America.

"Don't let the bastards grind you down."

Red

According to IMDB, it is due

According to IMDB, it is due out October 3rd.

Looking at the different character names, this film is going to be a doozy...

Leslie Nielsen is on the

Leslie Nielsen is on the cast list. How perfect!

That's about as long a cast list as I've ever seen for a film. Interesting.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1190617/ 

*****

"People only insist that a debate stop when they are afraid of what might be learned if it continues." - George Will 

Dave Zucker did some really

Dave Zucker did some really good film shorts in 2006.  I hope he will do some more.  Madeleine Albright and Iraq Study Group

I have an excellent plot for his talents:

Obama throws another liberal constituency thrown under the bus after he got their money and votes in the primary.  This brings to mind the song, Another one bites the dust by Queen.  Just think of Obama as the bus driver with a line of people standing in the travel path of the bus and this tune playing in the background.  The bus runs over the lib constituencies and bounces to beat of the song.

http://www.youtube.c...

 Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.  

Even though I've repeatedly linked to it

I feel the need to link to the classic Reason Dave Barry interview again, because of this passage:

Reason: Last fall you wrote a piece in the Tropic and explicitly
acknowledged being a libertarian. . .

Barry:: John Dorschner, one of our staff
writers here at Tropic magazine at The Miami Herald, who is a good friend of mine
and an excellent journalist, but a raving liberal, wrote a story about a group
that periodically pops up saying that they're going to start their own country or
start their own planet or go back to their original planet, or whatever. They
were going to "create a libertarian society" on a floating platform in the
Caribbean somewhere. You know and I know there' s never going to be a country on
a floating anything, but if they want to talk about it, that's great.


John
wrote about it and he got into the usual thing where he immediately got to the question
of whether or not you can have sex with dogs. The argument was that if it wasn't
illegal to have sex with dogs, naturally people would have sex with dogs. That
argument always sets my teeth right on edge.


And I always want to retort
with, "You want a horrible system, because you think the people should be able to vote
for laws they want, and if more than half of them voted for some law, everyone
would have to do what they said. Then they could pass a law so that you had to
have sex with dogs."


I was ranting and raving about this here in the office.
So my editor, Tom Shroder, said "Why don't you write a counterpoint to it?"


So I wrote about why I didn't think libertarians are really doing this kind of thing
so that they can have sex with dogs. I discussed some of the reasons that
a person might want to live out of the control of our federal, state, local, and
every other form of government. Actually, I don't think I even called myself a
libertarian in the article. I think Tom Shroder identified me as one.

Reason: Did that give you pause, coming out of the closet on this?

Barry::
I guess libertarianism is always considered so weird and fringe that people
assume that you're in the closet if you don't go around talking about it. Usually
in interviews we're talking about humor writing and they don't bring it up.
Because I don't write an overly political column, people just assume I'm not. I
guess nobody assumes anybody is a libertarian. It's a more complex political
discussion than most people are used to, to explain why you think the way you do
about public education or drug laws, and why it's not as simple as being for or
against something.

Reason: Did you get any mail about being a libertarian
after that article?

Barry:: I got a few letters, mostly pretty nice. One or two
letters saying, "Here's why it wouldn't work to be a libertarian, because people
will have sex with dogs." Arguments like, "Nobody would educate the kids."
People say, "Of course you have to have public education because otherwise
nobody would send their kids to school." And you'd have to say, "Would you not
send your kids to school? Would you not educate them?" "Well, no. I would. But
all those other people would be having sex with dogs."

About "the closet." I remember Dorschner's long Tropic article, and Dave's being modest. Barry's less than one page counterpoint logically destroyed Dorschner's entire antilibertarian argument. And the "leave libertarians alone island" idea Dave mentioned in the 1994(!) interview still exists (but only as an idea, still) today.
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

Floating island, you know

Floating island, you know that is technically feasible sarc.  I've thought about that myself for quite a while, does that make me a Libertarian???

 Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.  

Well, it's a boat

So it will probably cost more than even the wealthiest libertarians can imagine, but having that cofounder of PayPal around as well as Milton's grandson can't hurt. I'd sure as hell want to visit, at least. But something deep inside me suspects the forces of evil will attack if it ever gets beyond the planning stage.
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

Hey, like virtually all

Hey, like virtually all things in life, there is a cost price point for land as well.  How much money does it cost to buy an acre of ground?  Depending on where you buy that could be anywhere from $10k to a million.  Let's lump on top of that annual property taxes.  How much money would it cost to say build a flat floating surface of one acre, say about 5 ft high?  That would depend greatly on the construction techniques and materials. 

  Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.  

There are other costs, too

For example, defense. It's said Sealand had a few 12GA shotguns and there was a rumor of them obtaining a .50 cal. of some sort, but they still got invaded at least once, and they were repeatedly threatened. And then a generator fire pretty much destroyed the place.

But Sealand lacked the tropical climate imagined by most dreamers, and Prince Michael didn't welcome most guests. Any tropical floating proto-nation full of wealthy potential hostages would need more than just small arms for defense.
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

Security unfortunately is

Security unfortunately is an aspect any State has to spend money on.  There will always be those who have not that see the easiest way to get what they want by taking it from others.  Which means any pro-state must have an armed militia or paid professional security force or combination thereof.  Liberty can never exist without weapons to secure it.  This is why the idea of an utopia is just a panacea, it discounts baser elements (selfishness) of human nature.  So what if you have an island full of kind selfless people, it only takes one well armed thug from the outside to bring that dream to an ugly end.

 Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid, starving the poor one gallon of ethanol at a time. Fill your tank with E85 and cull a village.  

Nobody's talking utopia over here

Every single description of the prospective inhabitants I've seen has included either the word "rich" or "wealthy." The question becomes "how does a non-state entity legally buy/test non-small arms?" since libertarians can be relied-on for militia weaponry. Along with "what level of large arms such as antisubmarine/antiaircraft weapons is right for defense against hostile states? (Especially since in this particular case "defense" wouldn't just be a euphamism) No, I'd say this nonexistant floating island's a lot further from calling itself utopia than the latest Demopublican deal on Medicare.
JMR

The tax & spend drug war looks racist in the real world.

I am so happy

I had tears in my eyes reading that.  I can't wait till it comes out.

 

 

A donut with no hole is a danish"