Jessica Lange: “If you support the war against Islamic radicalism, you are not a nice person…”
[posted by Justin Levine]
Ok, actress Jessica Lange didn’t quite say that exactly. But she sure came close in my eyes.
Like many, I now consider myself one who agrees that Bush has handled Iraq poorly (among many other issues). However, this exchange between Lange and writer Michael Coveney had me cracking up by exposing the loony litmus tests that the Left often puts on people:
“George Bush really has whipped up the most poisonous scenario of neighbour against neighbour over the war in Iraq. It’s disgusting. I can’t tell you.” But she does. “There were times when it was really lovely to be out there and against the war. But then I had anti-war stickers on my car and some big fucking pick-up with an American flag tried to drive me off the road. It was scary and I was scared.”
I suggest that her mood was the result of her rather soft, hippie-liberal Democratic anti-patriotic fervour, and that perhaps she would be a whole lot worse off if President Bush wasn’t defending her “way of life” and “civilised” (read privileged) values against the Islamic threat. The suggestion, I have to say, does not go down well. “What? What are you saying here? I thought you were a nice person.”
So if you even consider the fact that we would still be even worse off without Bush, you are “not a nice person” in Lange’s view. Got that folks? She could have made a semi-intelligent response by explaining how one can support a struggle against Islamic fascism without necessarily agreeing that the best tactic was to first open up a major front in Iraq. But instead, she chose to give a childish response to a perfectly reasonable challenge.
I think South Park co-creator Matt Stone put it best – “I hate conservatives. But I really f*****g hate liberals.”
Kudos to Michael Coveney. He shows how to do entertainment journalism right when confronted with loony actress types. There is no need to be politically confrontational in an interview. However, there is also no need to let controversial statements go by without a respectful challenge (even in a “Devil’s Advocate” style of questioning). Coveney threads the needle perfectly in my view. He writes in a personal style, but doesn’t allow that personal style to mutate into overt bias.
L.A. Times writers – please take note.
[posted by Justin Levine]
This is just putting words in someone’s mouth. Lange said that she didn’t like being pushed out of the road by some crazy guy. The interviewer answers with a dishonest argument about how fomenting a civil war in Iraq is somehow connected to “defending her way of life” — which has nothing to do with the crazy guy in a pick-up. This is not what a nice person would say — and Lange point this out.
NN (f82c0b) — 1/26/2007 @ 8:01 amQuibble: don’t you mean “…consider the possibility that we would still be even worse off without Bush”? I think it’s possible, even probable — that’s why I’m pleased that I voted for him twice, even though, being in Minnesota, my vote didn’t matter much — but it’s not a fact.
Beyond that, sure. Where I live, one has to either let an amazing amount of Langeish nonsense slide by — giving consent by silence — or spend a fair amount of time and take a fair amount of heat registering an objection to it.
Joel Rosenberg (677e59) — 1/26/2007 @ 8:03 amWeb Reconnaissance for 01/26/2007…
A short recon of whats out there that might draw your attention….
The Thunder Run (59ce3a) — 1/26/2007 @ 8:12 amIt really has nothing to do with Bush or the war. Some folks just think that their BS doesn’t stink, and are offended when you question it.
Thee subject, or indeed sanity, of the comment is immaterial. Either you make supportive noises or you are judgmental and mean.
Kevin Murphy (0b2493) — 1/26/2007 @ 8:52 amI’m willing to bet that Jessica Lange like so many other actors in Hollywood has, at best, a high school education. Like many actors and actresses in Hollywood they are long on money, short on formal education. Listening to actor’s and actresses’s thoughts on foriegn policy is like listening to an electrician’s thoughts on brain surgery. The site below is very illuminating. It compares and contrasts the education of Hollywood stars vs. our elected officials.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/starsandpols.htm
Mason88 (8dceed) — 1/26/2007 @ 8:53 am“[Bob Dylan is] my idol. So is Che Guevara.”
You missed a lot, NN.
Phil Smith (7d963d) — 1/26/2007 @ 9:10 am“Entertainers and stars are all the same thing; they’re all on one side of the issue, they only know that Clinton is right, the Democrats are right and no matter how they persecute people or how fraudulent they are, they’re always right. There’s a sick need in actors to prove to themselves that they’re great compassionate people, that they’re great humanitarians because they feel guilty. They’re getting paid for nothing, they get paid billions of dollars for nothing, they know they don’t deserve it, so, because most of them got no talent, they got no brains, they got nothing. They’re basically morons!”
Jackie Mason
nk (47858f) — 1/26/2007 @ 9:10 am“#
I’m willing to bet that Jessica Lange like so many other actors in Hollywood has, at best, a high school education. Like many actors and actresses in Hollywood they are long on money, short on formal education. Listening to actor’s and actresses’s thoughts on foriegn policy is like listening to an electrician’s thoughts on brain surgery. The site below is very illuminating. It compares and contrasts the education of Hollywood stars vs. our elected officials.
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/s/starsandpols.htm
Comment by Mason88 — 1/26/2007 @ 8:53 am:
Don’t overvalue formal education. (Lincoln had little or no formal education.) That is NOT the point. Look at the academy.
It’s far more about actually exercising independent judgment based on analysis of data from good sources.
Which part of that sentence is actually being provided by our education system today? By our news media? Certainly none of that is supplied by Hollywood.
Dan S (8771d0) — 1/26/2007 @ 9:19 am“George Bush really has whipped up the most
paranoidpoisonous scenario of neighbour against neighbour over the war in Iraq….I had anti-war stickers on my car and some big fucking pick-up with an American flag tried to drive me off the road. It was scary and I was scared.“I said, ‘Milburn, I do believe that just had to be our neighbor, Granny, of the HillWilliams’. They’ve stalked us all the way from Beverly to New York!’ And I was fucking scared.”
J.Peden (3fd0a4) — 1/26/2007 @ 9:31 amI’m willing to bet that Jessica Lange like so many other actors in Hollywood has, at best, a high school education. Like many actors and actresses in Hollywood they are long on money, short on formal education.
From the link Patterico provided:
This article is crap. “What will she tell me about current events? Oh shocker! It’s not flattering to Republicans. Who would have thunk it?” It’s a love-fest about the actress with some anti-Bush crap thrown in. The author should have just stuck to the entertainment angle. The anti-Bush stuff looks like it was just thrown in to make the word count requirements.
Darkmage (4de99c) — 1/26/2007 @ 12:47 pmNN #1:
And you know there was a crazy guy in a pick-up with an American flag trying to push Jessica Lange off the road because of her bumper stickers because … ?
Maybe Jessica Lange imputed ill will and wrongful actions to Crazy Pick-Up Guy because of his “big fucking pickup with an American flag.” In other words, maybe he didn’t try to push her off the road. Or maybe he did but not because of her anti-war bumper stickers. Or maybe he weaved into her lane to look at her (she is the Jessica Lange, or at least she used to be). She did not know his motivations but we know hers, because she concluded he must have responded to her peace-loving ways.
Of course, maybe the crazy pick-up guy doesn’t even exist … but the important thing is Jessica Lange knows he could exist so that makes this story legitimate.
DRJ (e69ca7) — 1/26/2007 @ 1:27 pmPatterico… get to work! 🙂
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-libby26jan26,1,7000069,full.story?coll=la-headlines-nation&ctrack=1&cset=true
That’s SO far off it’s… well, typical.
Dan S (8771d0) — 1/26/2007 @ 2:30 pm“It is illegal to knowingly divulge the name of a CIA employee.”
Since when?
Dan S (8771d0) — 1/26/2007 @ 2:31 pm“But Martin said that neither Cheney nor Libby had suggested that the identity of Plame be divulged as part of the game plan. She said that she had no knowledge of either actually doing so.”
You have to ignore the headlines of LA Times stories if you are looking for truth.
Mike K (6d4fc3) — 1/26/2007 @ 3:08 pmBlah-blah-blah. Jessica Lange is obviously one of the “blame the guy in the pick-up with American flag first” crowd. Blah-blah-blah. How are your thoughts regarding the existence of that guy (or Jessica’s love for Che) relevant to the fact that claiming that Jessica Lange thinks that fighting Islamic terror is “not nice” is putting words in her mouth?
Nikolay (f82c0b) — 1/26/2007 @ 3:12 pmNikolay:
?
DRJ (8b9d41) — 1/26/2007 @ 3:22 pmDRJ,
NN (d035f8) — 1/26/2007 @ 4:06 pmI’m sorry, was “blah-blah-blah” very offensive, or what? Your point was that Jessica Lange invented this guy in a pick-up. My point — even if it was so, it wouldn’t change a bit the fact that the title of this post is misleading. What Jessica Lange said was merely that changing any conversation to the subject of Bush’s supposed defending “the way of life” (a notion that actual facts don’t support) is not nice.
NN,
I didn’t find your comment offensive, I just didn’t understand it – hence the “?”. However, I guess I look at things in a different way. I don’t find it offensive when people tell me they question my opinion. In general, I welcome the opportunity to courteously discuss or debate. However, I find it offensive when they act “nice” to my face and then question or complain about my opinion behind my back. So if I were Jessica Lange, I would welcome the reporter’s candor and take that opportunity to engage in a polite yet spirited debate, just as you and I seem to be doing.
DRJ (8b9d41) — 1/26/2007 @ 4:25 pmBy the way, NN, my point was not that Jessica Lange invented the Crazy Pick-Up Guy but that she couldn’t be sure about his motives for whatever (if anything) happened between them.
DRJ (8b9d41) — 1/26/2007 @ 4:28 pmIt comes down to this. I believe in the very best this Country has to offer. Lange, and idiots like her, believe in the worst. Despite the fact they sit in their pampered little towers and enjoy the fruits that this nation has given them.
If I outlive her, I’d like someone to tell me where she’s buried so I can piss on her grave.
Jack Burton (40fb78) — 1/26/2007 @ 4:31 pmNN – Are you Nikolay or have you decided to stand in for him in this debate?
DRJ (8b9d41) — 1/26/2007 @ 4:33 pmLange is a good-looking babe and a fine actress.
TruthProbe (b0f421) — 1/26/2007 @ 5:47 pmDoes she even know anything about Che? I think she just likes the shirt with the neato picture of Che. Even if you admire someone’s ideals, you need to examine how they carry it out Ms. Lange.
Posnerposer (10887a) — 1/26/2007 @ 6:35 pm“I hate conservatives. But I really f*****g hate liberals.”
This is how a lot of people feel, myself included. I consider myself a realistic libertarian, unlike that nut job in NH holed up in his home right now. Small government and personal freedoms, without the extremes like “all drugs are legal”, are the things I strive for. Even though I am for social freedoms, people I know on the left say I’m a conservative due to my anti-entitlement stance. Go figure.
It’s this myopic view of the far left (Ms. Lange included) that will eventually undermine the liberal/progressive cause. Liberal/progressives have grabbed the attention of people with short attention spans… for the moment… by proposing the “easy way out of it all”. If their wish comes true and we leave the Iraqis hanging out to dry (again), the enemy will need to travel across the Atlantic to kill Americans, which they WILL do. Not to mention how Iraq will rot from the inside out as Iran & Syria unabatedly go to “work” when we’re gone. Once that happens (and I sincerely hope it NEVER does), everyone will have no choice but to work together instead of pointing fingers, calling each other names, and hiding in their respective bunkers.
Perhaps Ms. Lange expects some King Kong-like anti-hero to save her like he did in ’76. That didn’t work out so well for him then, either.
Johnny Ringo (9f9066) — 1/26/2007 @ 8:11 pm“It comes down to this. I believe in the very best this Country has to offer. Lange, and idiots like her, believe in the worst”
-Jack Burton
What in the HELL does that mean?
I have no idea.
We’re so surprised that there are stupid actors out there? It’s not like this is some stunning revelation.
Jessica Lange only has a high school education, but here’s a news flash for you guys: so do thousands (if not millions) of conservatives (and liberals) who are just as vocal about their opinions.
Someone said it earlier, the article is crap. Nobody cares.
I don’t know why it’s such a big deal.
Leviticus (3ecf05) — 1/27/2007 @ 8:35 amIt means just what it says.
Jack Burton (40fb78) — 1/27/2007 @ 10:54 amYou “believe in the very best this country has to offer”?
Leviticus (c18e26) — 1/27/2007 @ 4:25 pmThe very best what? Government? Army? Cuisine?
And do you believe in… whatever it is… like you believe in the Tooth Fairy? Like you don’t *know* that we have the very best (x), but you have a gut feeling about it?
Don’t start anything with the Tooth Fairy, Leviticus. We are going to be dealing with her for the next ten years or so, starting with replacing baby teeth and moving on to braces, and I don’t want you putting her in a bad mood.
nk (41da82) — 1/27/2007 @ 4:44 pmI don’t explain myself to some liberal cocksucker. Not today, not ever.
Jack Burton (40fb78) — 1/28/2007 @ 8:34 amThat’s good, Jack, because apparently you can’t.
What makes you think I’m a liberal, by the way, rather than an individual who loathes stupid behavior?
nk: My apologies. I can certainly understand your desire to avoid subjecting your childrens’ teeth to the mad whims of some airborn dental-school dropout. In the future, I will try to keep my opinions about the Tooth Fairy to myself.
Leviticus (d68932) — 1/28/2007 @ 9:18 amLeviticus,
Yes. Jack Burton’s Comment #29 totally sucked. It’s the World Professional Wrestling Federation fake machismo way. You handled it perfectly.
As for the Tooth Fairy, never piss off a lady with a pair of pliers who can sneak into your bedroom while you’re sleeping. 😉
nk (d5dd10) — 1/28/2007 @ 7:25 pmQuiet, man! She’ll hear. Think of the children.
Leviticus (028564) — 1/28/2007 @ 7:40 pmJESSIC LANG wsnt she the one in that crappy remake of KING KONG back in 1976? she still cant act worth a hill of beans
krazy kagu (8b6422) — 1/29/2007 @ 12:03 pmJessica Lange was the one who was in that purtid remake of KING KONG why dont she get a life
krazy kagu (91408b) — 3/9/2007 @ 7:59 am