Fatty Moore...

and his continuing quest to ensure Republican domination by making the Democratic Party irrelevant to most Americans. From the AP comes this story regarding Moore's feelings on Hollywood and politics. Says Moore: "It's actually the opposite. Democrats need to embrace Hollywood because this is where they need to come to learn how to tell a story.""

Well, that's just nice and dandy. Apparently spreading the word that President Bush is going to legalize rape (cough*CameronDiaz*cough) is simply 'telling a story." The problem with this picture is that most Americans like movie stars. We like famous people entertaining us. What we don't like is famous people who are supposed to be entertaining us spending their time lecturing us. If we wanted to be lectured, we would go read a political blog or turn on a talk show. While sometimes the two mix (as in IMAO's case, or someone like Mel Gibson or Ahnold, who practice 'mainstream' politics), Americans, for the most part, prefer to keep them separate. People like Fatty Moore and Cameron Diaz don't understand that. They feel that since we adore them as entertainers, we must also adore them as political activists. It doesn't help when the political views these entertainers take are out of alignment with what most of America believes. It also doesn't help that when these entertainers take these extremist positions on issues, they are quite rightly denounced as elitists, due to their large salary and seeming contempt for the common man. After all, if the common man was actually intelligent, he wouldn't even think of voting Republican, right?

Moore also spouts out this absurdity: " But Moore said he and liberal activists, including show business figures, had helped turn out millions of new voters who backed the Democrats on Election Day."

Let's look at this logically. He's basically talking about Moveon.org and the Rock the Vote tour. Moveon.org didn't do anything other than compare Bush to Hitler, thus energizing the Communist/Anarchist/riot and smash things Wing of the Democratic Party, while otherwise pissing everyone else in the nation off. Real smart. Rock the Vote sent various popular music artists around the country on tours. First of all, I heard of numerous Republicans who were planning on going to these concerts and just 'putting earplugs in' during the politics part. So the sold-out crowds at these shows shouldn't be used to justify comments regarding their political content. Secondly, most of these artists targeted relatively young fans, say, 18-30. In this past election, the 18-25 year old bracket did its usual civic duty and couldn't find time to vote in between partying and playing Counter-Strike.

I'm failing to see the connection here between Moveon.org/Rock the Vote and the prevention "of a Bush landslide."

Moore had this to say regarding the exceptions of Ahnold and Reagan: " Citing California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (news - web sites) and former President Ronald Reagan (news - web sites), Moore said, "America loves Hollywood. America loves the people in the movies and on TV. And the thing that the Republicans have already figured out is that America likes to vote for Hollywood..."

Both of those men won first and foremost thanks to their relatively mainstream politics. Neither man was or is a hard-core conservative or liberal. Both men's high-profile as movie stars helped (after all, how many times do you get to hear a politician promise to 'terminate' his opponent as he conducts a 'total recall' on him?), but they won primarily thanks to their populist policies and strong charisma. America loves Hollywood, yes, but America will only vote for those who it feels are relatively in line with its values. Most of America views Hollywood with disdain in this regard. Somehow I doubt that Hollywood is going to change, so if the Democratic Party wishes to stay relevant in this nation's affairs (as it must, if we are to have a functioning democracy,) it needs to shed the extremists and focus on mainstream politics. An inclusion of anti-abortion advocates in the party's leadership would be a nice place to start (they appear to be on the road to doing this; Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid is a hardcore Democratic, but he is also pro-life.) Another nice place to start would be to quit giving lip service to supporting the troops while providing tacit support to organizations that view them as baby killers and warmongers.

One last absurdity from Moore: "And I think we need to turn to Hollywood, because who wouldn't vote for Tom Hanks (news) or Paul Newman or Robert Redford or Oprah?"

Democrats, please, for the sake of this nation, GET RID OF THIS MAN!!!! America doesn't vote for celebrities BECAUSE they are celebrities. (Sorry for the unnatural paragraph jump...I had irreconcilable difference with Blogger. In other words, I want to smash my laptop into tiny pieces, like usual. Carry on.)

We vote for them because they have GOOD POLICIES. The folly of putting candidates up for election simply because they are popular will only lead a party down the road of further irrelevancy. This appears to just be another example of cultural and intellectual elitism from Moore. 'Who wouldn't vote for a celebrity because they are a celebrity? After all, we know most of America doesn't follow the issues, because they never vote the 'right' (left) way, so maybe if we run a popular celebrity, they'll vote for them instead.'

In other news, I got Glenn Miller's Greatest Hits, Miles Davis' Greatest Hits, AND How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb ALL for Christmas! Glenn Miller is a musical genius and great bandleader. He made and typified the Big Band sound. 'In the Mood' and 'Moonlight Serenade' never get old, although it is hard to imagine that 'In the Mood' spent numerous weeks at #1 on the Billboard charts, while 'Moonlight Serenade' topped out at #3. Regardless, I'm starting a movement right now to get at least one of these two songs played at Prom in the spring. Miles Davis, besides being the epitome of cool, is one of the greatest trumpet players of all time. His music features intricate harmony, always revolutionary soloing, and a warm, rich trumpet sound. Besides, the man worked and played with both John Coltrane AND Herbie Hancock. Enough said. U-2's new one is one of their best, I think. I never got their release before this, but I heard it wasn't that great; it didn't live up to their olden days. This one does. From the driving rock of 'Vertigo' to the power ballad sound of 'All Because of you' to the quiet reflectivness of 'City of Blinding Lights,' this cd showcases all of U-2's strengths: Bono's powerful singing, with its wide range of emotion and dynamics, always interesting and thought-provoking guitar riffs, and driving percussion. A great cd, and I fully recommend you go out and buy one.

Okay, that music section got a lot longer than I anticipated, but I just had to share my new music with you. A few final thoughts: courtesy of 2slick, get over to the Banty Rooster and check out this moving story regarding the SecDef's visit to Mosul. Also check out this post at this Milblog, again brought to you courtesy of 2slick. Something to consider the next time your hear the MSM moaning and groaning about the 'lack of support' we have among the Iraqi people.

Alright, normally I would have wrapped this up a looong time ago, but here's one last laugh, via Smink from In Iraq for 365, which is another Milblog you should check out. The post is his long, hilarious way of dealing with a persistent troll. Unfortunately, I've had the experience of dealing with a similarly uneducated troll with a lack of intelligence on a message board I frequent. I only wish I had Smink's eloquence in dealing with the problem.