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George Bush Blamed for Mel Gibson's Problems? James Hirsen
THE LEFT COAST
REPORT Headlines (Scroll down for complete stories):
1. George Bush Blamed for Mel Gibson's Problems? Media critic Neal Gabler has come up with the ultimate lefty explanation for Mel Gibson's drunken ramblings from the back seat of a squad car. Writing for the Salon Web site, Gibson's problems are President Bush's fault, according to Gabler. Along with the hurricane devastation in New Orleans and skyrocketing gas prices, Gabler ties Gibson's tirade-under-the-influence to the radicalization of America "since the election of George Bush."
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Gabler writes that "the merger of evangelical Christianity, which has long had a tinge of racism and anti-Semitism, with right-wing Republicanism has had many effects on American culture and politics, but perhaps the foremost among them is that it has legitimized attitudes that were previously considered illegitimate by the custodians of the social order." According to Gabler, Gibson has been the beneficiary of the Bush "radicalism" and has courted "those for whom extremism in the defense of their version of liberty is no vice." Although Gabler admits that Bush has not actively sanctioned hate speech, he claims that by "fomenting the culture wars" and "polarizing the country" Bush "has given license to hate-mongers under the cover this time of an impending cultural Armageddon." To support his contention, Gabler cites Tony Snow's use of the term "murder" in relation to abortion or embryonic stem cell research and Karl Rove's labeling of Democrats as treasonous and weak on terror. This, writes Gabler, is feeding "the hate machine."
2. Mel Gibson's Hollywood Friends Speak Out Mel Gibson's numerous Hollywood friends have started to publicly speak out on his behalf. Actor Patrick Swayze told the UK's GMTV that Gibson is "a wonderful human being. He is not anti-Semitic." Swayze, who is starring in the West End production of "Guys and Dolls," said, "People say stupid things when they happen to have a few, and especially if you don't drink any more, or have limited your drinking for a long time and all of a sudden you decide to have one too many with the boys — you are stupid." Jodie Foster, who starred with Gibson in the film "Maverick," told the Los Angeles Times that when she first heard the news about Gibson's arrest, and the statements he had made, she refused to believe it. "Someone told me what had happened, and I said, ‘That is just so not true,'" she explained. After confirming the accuracy of the story, Foster evidently felt deep sadness that a man she considers "one of the nicest, most honest men I have ever met" had fallen in this manner. "Is he an anti-Semite? Absolutely not," Foster insisted. "But it's no secret that he has always fought a terrible battle with alcoholism. I just wish I had been there, that I had been able to say, 'Don't do it. Don't take that drink.'"
"Mel is honest, loyal, kind, but alcoholism has been a lifelong struggle for him and his family," Foster added. Producer Dean Devlin spent the afternoon prior to the arrest with Gibson. Devlin worked with Gibson on "The Patriot" and "Braveheart." "I have been with Mel when he has fallen off," Devlin said, "and he becomes a completely different person. It is pretty horrifying." "I consider Mel one of my best friends in Hollywood," Devlin revealed. "The day this happened, my wife had gotten this long letter from Mel full of congratulations [for the birth of the Devlins' first child] and talking about the joys of being a parent," Devlin explained. He then contributed a unique perspective on the issue of anti-Semitism: "She's Jewish. I'm Jewish. If Mel is an anti-Semite, then he spends a lot of time with us, which makes no sense. But he is an alcoholic, and while that makes no excuse for what he said, because there is no excuse, I believe it was the disease speaking, not the man." Devlin remembers that, while working on "The Patriot," Gibson went to a small South Carolina town and provided the financing to build a battered women's shelter. "He does things like that all the time," Devlin said. "When my parents were dying from cancer, Mel called me two and three times a week from on set, sent me names of doctors, books. He was totally there for me." 3. Steven Spielberg and Buddies Support Schwarzenegger The Hollywood left is in shock over the news that longtime Democrat stalwarts, filmmaker Steven Spielberg, moguls Jeffrey Katzenberg and Haim Saban, producers Jonathan Sheinberg and Bud Yorkin, and director Jerry Zucker have thrown their considerable financial and political support for California governor to Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger as opposed to his Democratic challenger, Treasurer Phil Angelides. The Los Angeles Times reported the story and quoted former Dreamworks political consultant Andy Spahn, who said, "It started with a personal relationship. They are friends." Saban's backing is particularly striking in light of the fact that he provided $200,000 to oppose the 2003 recall election, which was the election that ultimately placed Schwarzenegger in the governor's mansion. Unfortunately, in his pursuit for another gubernatorial round, Arnold earned the support of Hollywood libs with his triangulation-on-steroids approach to governing. He has embraced radical environmentalists, the biotech clone-and-kill coalition and the "I love big government" gang. The Left Coast Report imagines libs saying,"What's not to like?" 4. Paris Hilton: 'Who's Tony Blair?' Paris Hilton – about whom you can read about in this month's NewsMax magazine cover story, "Hollywood's Most Obnoxious: 16 Stars Who Drive America Mad" – recently illustrated why she was included in the list. Hilton compared herself to Princess Diana. The heiress, though, apparently doesn't have a royal grasp of world affairs. A GQ correspondent asked the affluent actor-singer-partier, "Do you fancy Tony Blair?" "Who's Tony Blair?" Paris responded. Hilton reminded all of us that despite her seemingly lack of intellectual prowess she is quite adept at adding to her fortune. "I've made, like, 200 million dollars in the last year, while J-Lo's only made 150 million dollars," she declared. 5. The Political Scoop on Michael Moore's Latest Film Fest The second annual Traverse City Film Festival just wrapped up six full days of movie screenings. But because its founder is the left's lightning rod, filmmaker Michael Moore, the festival had its share of controversy. For example, a movie studio begged the festival not to show a new documentary. Moore's festival responded by screening the movie a reported three times. The documentary in question is called "Jesus Camp," and it features a summer camp for fundamentalist Christian children. The movie's distributor, Magnolia Films, plans to market the film to Christians and is concerned about Moore's controversial reputation.
"The reality of the world we live in today is that if Michael Moore endorses it, tens of millions will automatically reject it," Eamonn Bowles, president of Magnolia Films, told All Headline News. Moore claimed that he originally had "no intention of showing 'Jesus Camp' in this festival." "The producers begged me to show it. I said OK. Then they sent me the film this week to show it in the festival. [Then], one day before its screening, after all its tickets have been sold, they sent me and the press a fax saying they want the film pulled," Moore said. Beth Milligan, a Traverse City native, reported from the festival for the local newspaper, the Traverse City Record-Eagle. Milligan told NewsMax that this year's festival had "exponentially improved over last year's in every possible way, including public perception." She acknowledged that many in the region were initially suspicious that Michael Moore's involvement would mean that a political agenda would taint the festival.
"The community has since realized, however, that this is not the case as ticket sales, attendance, letters to the local paper, and support by local conservatives and Republican politicians will attest," Milligan indicated. Locals were apparently happy about the boost the festival gave to the local economy. They also liked the fact that the festival presented classic movies free of charge on a giant, inflatable outdoor screen. Big Hollywood names were in attendance at the Traverse City event including Moore's agent Ari Emanuel, director Terry George, director Larry Charles and producer Lawrence Bender. At the screening of the documentary "Who Killed The Electric Car?" the audience was "amazingly vocal," according to Milligan's report. "People openly hissed whenever oil executives or President Bush appeared on screen, and catcalled various other figureheads throughout the film." A panel titled "Shooting War: You Say I-Raq, I Say I-Ran," focused on films made about Middle Eastern conflicts. It featured panelists Mani Haghighi ("Men At Work"), David O. Russell ("Three Kings"), Deborah Scranton and Zack Bazzi ("The War Tapes"), and Chuck Pfarrer (author of "Killing Ché"). Michael Moore was the moderator of the discussion. Haghighi, an Iranian filmmaker, lectured the audience on the politics of Iran. "Iranians love the American people," he said. "They enjoy American art, pop culture, etc. What they don't understand is how such a people could elect this government, and allow it to get to this point. It doesn't make sense." Haghighi said he feels safe in his home city, Tehran. "It's been easier for me to make my films there than it probably has for Michael [Moore] to make his movies here. Iran is a democracy. It is flawed, yes, but it is a democracy," Haghighi said. Another discussion panel at the festival was called "Is It Art? Is It Politics? Is There A Difference?" It featured Bender ("An Inconvenient Truth"), Mark Dornford-May ("Son Of Man"), Haghighi ("Men At Work"), Larry Charles ("Borat") and Malcolm McDowell ("Clockwork Orange"). Bender spoke about "An Inconvenient Truth." The producer said, "A movie that is essentially Al Gore giving a lecture is not the first pitch to a studio you'd make." Bender then explained that the reason his involvement with the film was worth it was because the issue of global warming is "the most important issue facing us in this century. The consequences of everything else pale in comparison to the consequences of global warming." Editor's Notes:
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