At the same time, the 70-year-old crooner charges that there is an unwritten Hollywood blacklist against conservatives.

"Definitely, I've been a victim of it for years," he told NewsMax.com in an interview. "There have been many roles, movie roles and TV things that I was really ripe for. And if I was considered at all, I was immediately shut out because of the liberal mind-set of the guys who hire and fire."

However, Boone still advises young would-be actors and recording artists to "make God your agent, which is what I did. That is put Him in charge. You know He gave you your ability. He knows how to open doors as no other agent can. And he knows what's going to make you happy and what's going to fulfill you."

He says it is a mistake for a conservative entertainer to hide his views under a bushel. "Oh, please no," he answered NewsMax. "One of the things that makes any entertainer successful is being distinctive. So if you have strong views and faith or political ideas, make them known, and that will let you come out of the crowd."

Boone would first advise any young person not to pursue a career in show business at all because the industry is "capricious, unfair and a long shot of being at the right place at the right time." But if you're conservative and take the risk, he says, be yourself.

The singer, who is noting his 50th year in show business, did not back away from his earlier charge in a TV interview that he thought CBS had committed an act of treason in releasing the photos of the prisoner scandal in Iraq.

"That information was used to kill our people in a time of war," he charged. "You can't call it anything but treason. But they call it freedom of the press."

Boone talked to NewsMax after a breakfast speech to delegates and guests attending the Republican National Convention. The event was sponsored by the seniors advocacy group 60 Plus.

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