I flipped over to C-SPAN last night and saw Ron Silver onscreen. For a minute, I thought that the cable channel was televising a repeat of the DNC. I've known for a long, long time just how liberal Silver is. Supposing that he was just another leftist weenie, I usually ignored him. Imagine my surprise when I heard this line:

"Even though I am a well-recognized liberal on many issues confronting our society today, I find it ironic that many human rights advocates and outspoken members of my own entertainment community are often on the front lines to protest repression, for which I applaud them, but they are usually the first ones to oppose any use of force to take care of these horrors that they catalogue repeatedly."

About time someone in Hollywood said it. Afterwards, Silver spoke with Brit Hume on Foxnews and discussed his views. He was, of course, in favor of many liberal domestic policies. What I was unaware of, though, was that Ron favored a "muscular, pre-emptive military that should be used for humanitarian purposes." When asked by Brit what had finally moved him away from many of his liberal comrades, Silver mentioned 9/11. You'd think that that would be the defining moment for most people. Unfortunately, too many of the effete Hollywood ilk seem to have disconnected their brains from all logic and reason. Anyway, I misjudged Ron SIlver entirely, considering him just another mindless Hollywood leftist asshat. I'm glad to admit that I was horribly wrong and welcome his support in the war on terror.

Update: Here's the transcript of Silver's comments to the convention.

Update #2: Jay Nordlinger has more on Ron Silver. Excerpt:

I suppose the speech on Monday that I most enjoyed was that of Ron Silver, the liberal actor. He still considers himself a liberal — but, like Koch, he is a 9/11 Democrat. Before the GOP delegates, he said we must "never forget, never forgive, never excuse." He lingered over that phrase "never excuse," and it is, indeed, worth lingering over. He opined that we are "engaged in a war that will define the future of humankind" (I wish he had said "mankind," but I can't have everything). He stressed that the other side — TerrorWorld — started this war, and he pointedly referred to our "coalition" (something the Democrats in general are loath to do). And I really liked, "History shows that we are not imperialists" — so, cryingly true; rather, "we are fighters for freedom and democracy."

And I really, really liked his shot at "the entertainment community" for declaring a love of human rights and then doing everything possible to keep President Bush from advancing them.

Quite interesting was that he expressed support for our "commander-in-chief," as distinct from "president." Yes, this is a 9/11 Democrat; he wants that War on Terror prosecuted. And still more interesting was his interview with Brit Hume, later in the evening. He said that he was pretty much a domestic liberal — on abortion, on stem cells, on health care; and yet he favors school vouchers. (He mentioned, too, that he has supported SDI from earliest Reagan days.) As for the Left, they backed Clinton's "humanitarian interventions," and did not require that he obtain permission from the U.N. The Left would be supporting a lot of what's happening now — except that they are "blinded" by their "hatred" of George W. Bush.

Ron Silver is not blinded. When Hume remarked that he had fallen away from the Left, Silver responded that the Left had fallen away from him. In this, he sounded rather like President Reagan. I wish I could say more about Silver's speech, and that interview. I am grateful — really grateful — for him.

Update: Ace agrees that Silver gave a great speech. However, he does raise an interesting point that I had forgotten about. Excerpt:

Nice guy? Brave guy? Smart guy? This fucker killed Jean Claude Van Damme's wife, the delectable Mia Sara. What, we're all of a sudden just giving people a pass for that?

Can I second the sentiment about Mia Sara?

Posted by: Physics Geek at 01:53 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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