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April 2008
Elsewhere on the WebVictor Davis Hanson’s Private Papers Victor Davis Hanson Archive on National Review OnlineTour Books
A War Like No Other How the Athenians and Spartans Fought the Peloponnesian War
by Victor Hanson
Amazon.com’s Best of 2001 Many theories have been offered regarding why Western culture has spread so successfully across the world, with arguments ranging from genetics to superior technology to the creation of enlightened economic, moral, and political systems. In Carnage and Culture, military historian Victor Hanson takes all of these factors into account in making a bold, and sure to be controversial, argument: Westerners are more effective killers.
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson, John Keegan Hanson, for those who somehow have missed him until now, is a professor of Classics at California State and also is a part time farmer, both of which have contributed to his writing as a military historian. As a classicist, Hanson is well versed in the sources in their original Greek, and as a farmer he understands how agriculture affected the experience of the Greeks at war.
by Victor Davis Hanson
by Victor Davis Hanson
Hanson relates the life stories of his farmer neighbors, writing that their way of life will likely soon disappear, thanks in part to a federal system of agricultural subsidies that favors large-scale, industrial farm corporations over individual “yeomen.” This is a sobering and eye-opening book. by Victor Davis Hanson On first glance, The Soul of Battle appears to be three different books: biographies of two well-known generals—Sherman and Patton—and one who is virtually unknown today, the ancient Greek leader Epaminondas. Yet Victor Davis Hanson, a classics professor and author of The Western Way of War, makes a compelling connection between these three men. They were “eccentrics, considered unbalanced or worse by their own superiors” who led democratic armies on missions of freedom.
by Robert B. Strassler (Editor), Victor Davis Hanson (Introduction)
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April 19, 2008 10:25 PM
Give Me a Warren Oates or Jack Palance Any DayWhat’s Wrong With Hollywood? One difference is the steady decline in the quality of male actors. We simply do not have a James Stewart, Burt Lancaster, Henry Fonda, Gregory Peck, Bill Holden, or John Wayne any more, much less brilliant against-the grain actors like a Robert Duvall, Lee Marvin, Jack Palance, or a Yul Brenner, nor character actors like a Slim Pickens or a Ben Johnson. Today’s he-man actors don’t even sound the same as the old breed. Compare the speech patterns and intonation of Humphrey Bogart, James Cagney, Spencer Tracey, Henry Fonda or Bill Holden to those of a Sean Penn, Tom Cruise, or Tom Hanks—and there seems to be a new, but separate species of male. The appeal of a Robert DeNiro, Al Pacino, or Daniel Day-Lewis is that they sound like, well, the old breed rather than sensitive metrosexuals. Some of you will sigh: Victor, Victor, actors only reflect the society that produces them. We don’t have a Henry Fonda or Jimmy Stewart because we aren’t Fondas and Stewarts any more. Perhaps, but what I also don’t understand is that we know that excellent war films—Breaker Morant, Saving Private Ryan, and Das Boot—win over critics and audiences. Why then do we keep seeing snoozers like Redacted, Lions for Lambs, or Stop Loss? Is there that little talent left? Obama’s Problems—Let Me Count the Ways I continue to get barrages of furious mail from Obamiacs, full of self-righteousness, and outrage that anyone might dare criticize the next Messiah. So some additional thoughts: By any standard measure, Democrats should win the November election by a landslide. The dollar is collapsing. Fuel is sky-high. The deficit is too large, the economy stagnant. The war goes on; real estate prices have nosedived. Food is climbing each month. Many of these problems are due to the entry of China and India into the world economy, as hundreds of millions of new consumers are demanding the consumer lifestyle that Americans take for granted, and resources are now bid upon by the entire globe. Nonetheless, the American political tradition mandates that a President gets the credit he doesn’t deserve for good times, and the blame for the bad he didn’t completely earn. So instead of McCain running even or better against Obama or Clinton, he should be polling 10-15 points behind. Why, then, is McCain doing so well? Much of the answer is the Obama-Clinton cat-fighting; but Obama has also shown an inability to come clean the first time after an embarrassing disclosure or gaffe. By now the public expects instead that more of his serial half-truths will follow ad nauseam.
Michelle Obama. After the “no pride” and “mean” America speeches and interviews, someone should have given her a written script, lest she trumps Mrs. Kerry’s wacky performance in 2004. But she’s back at it again with her “raise the bar” and “had to pay back those college loans” shrillness. Yet once again, new events always overtake a problem not solved. So this week the 2007 Obama tax returns revealed over $4 million in income. In that context, the same old whine about Ivy-League student loans, summer camp costs, piano lessons, et al. are becoming even more tiring. The Obama campaign’s challenge: can Michelle give a single uplifting speech in which she sounds the theme of America as a land of opportunity—or at least the notion that she is hopeful and confident, given that she received an Ivy-League education, bought a $1.6 million house, and makes over a third of a million dollars in salary? If not, by September she will become a Saturday-Night-Live caricature of the proverbial whiner, and by November a would-be, post-modern First Lady who travels the world explaining to others what’s wrong with the United States.
Cut out the analogies. They are usually false and such similes only reveal a disturbing pattern of mendacity. Sen. Coburn is not similar to Bill Ayers: the former is a US Senator who offered the idea of a hypothetical death penalty for the abortionist should abortion ever become a capital crime; the latter was an unrepentant terrorist in deed.Obama’s grandmother is not analogous to Rev. Wright: what she says in private is not the same as what Wright declaims in public; suggesting that black males might frighten solitary women has a basis in the fact that black young males have higher than average incarceration rates; there is no basis in fact for Wright’s claims that the US government created the AIDs virus or that Israel and South Africa created a special racial bomb. Wright is not like a typically eccentric “uncle”, since we pick our pastors, not our relatives. Anytime Obama tries to talk in the abstract or evoke similes to excuse a lapse (the “everyone does it” defense), he only makes things worse. Cut out the use of “they”, as in the yokel “they” who cling to guns, or Michelle’s “they” who raise the bar on her. Who is this “they”? A President leads “us”, not “them”. When the Obamas are in charge, will they be “they”? But no matter. We are in the realm of prophets and holy men, and we must trust in Lord Hope and God Change that are immune from answering bothersome facts. Trust what I really think, rather than what I say and do, is the new Obama creed. Comments (69)James- The Historian :R.Richard Schweitzer :Are we not seeing something that was raised before, and then ignored by, the American electorate in 1993: "Does 'character' count?" More importantly perhaps, what weight will the electorate give to "character" in the presidential election, given the general lack of weight given in congressional contests? Are we seeing "revelations of character" as politicians (as they must) attempt to generate perceptions of themselves by others? Do the means by which those attempts are made not reveal a great deal about the true character of the individual? But, will that be seen as important, much less vital, to the individual interests of the electorate? On those questions will turn the next election. Frank Miller :Professor Hanson, Your comments about movie-making and finding the right actor to portray a hero strike a loud chord with this director. I was insistent, through the casting of my new movie, THE SPIRIT, to find a lesser known actor, so that the audience would, as they did with Richard Donner's wonderful SUPERMAN and his perfect choice of then-unknown Christopher Reeve as the Man Of Steel, see the Spirit as the Spirit, not as a vehicle for an established star. It wasn't easy to find my hero. Dozens were auditioned. I learned that while Hollywood produces many skilled male actors, it produces very few men. Gabriel Macht emerged as a matinee-idol dream of a hero, and he and I worked very closely for many months as he crafted his part. So it was difficult to cast the part. But I still believe the fault lies not with the acting talent available, but rather with movie-makers' intent. Look around: modern Bogarts like Bruce Willis crave good, heroic roles. Clive Owen brings back the verve of Sean Connery, adding his own Chandleresque twist to the job. Mickey Rourke is certainly a tragic presence--and an heroic one--worthy of the best comparisons with Jack Palance , in Rourke's performance in my SIN CITY. And Gerry Butler in 300 would certainly put the great Charlton Heston to the test. Add to that Matt Damon in the BOURNE series, and Brad Pitt whenever they let him show what he can do, and, though they are few, I argue that the talent is there. To mangle the words of the Bard, the fault lies not in our stars, but in our studios. FM J.E. Dyer :Interestingly, a whole lot of today's he-man actors are from Australia. I would mention that there are black actors of tremendous stature who, at least on screen, project personae of more old-fashioned maleness, like Sidney Poitier, Denzel Washington, Lawrence Fishburne, James Earl Jones, and Morgan Freeman. We've seen a decline of standards with she-woman actresses commensurate with that of the men, I think. Where are today's Norma Shearer, Claudette Colbert, Myrna Loy, Jean Arthur, Bette Davis, Katharine Hepburn, Anne Baxter? A Henry James character looking for an "interesting woman" would not want to troll (much of) Hollywood's modern cinema. Apart from some superb older actresses like Meryl Streep, Kathy Bates, and Glenn Close, real acting combined with interesting femininity can be hard to find. Angelina Jolie? Please. Although again, one would like to see black stars like Angela Bassett and Alfre Woodard working more. But they'd be out of place in a catsuit, and surrounded by high-tech gizmos and special effects. Oh, well. M.E. :Indeed, “we are in the realm of prophets and holy men”: Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Wright, Rev. Eric Lee, Jimmy Carter… But I image this new Saviour of America Obama from Ka-ka-ma (Ka-ka-ma is a mysterious country in Zulu mythology from where the Liberator of all black people should come) in pagan style (I hope Rev. Wright’s followers forgive me for my poetic liberty) as a Black Dionysus accompanied in his expeditions and travels by ecstatic Maenades and other strange beings. Why not? If black theologians affirm that Jesus Christ was black, why can’t the god of wine be also black? The most favoured animal of Dionysus was a black panther. So through this superb feline we can in a natural way to pass from a Greek god to an American Messiah. I know I run the risk of being called “racist”, but I only develop a thought of the black liberation’s theologians seeking to go beyond the narrow limits of traditional white theology. So I see Obama-Dionysus climbing Mt. Cithaeron with his euphoric entourage of bacchantes who in the highest point of their exaltation tear him to pieces and eat them feeling the direct presence of the adorable god in their souls and stomachs. TLM :Professor, I completely agree with your characterization of Hollywood actors and the roles they play. I also think TV, which I watch rarely, is worse in this respect. I have yet to see or hear of a normal male character on a TV show. And the commercials are worse. Show me a commercial where the man knows what he's doing and I'll watch TV for a day and show you a hundred where the man is an idiot and being corrected by a woman. Doesn't matter if it's about finances, sports or changing the oil on your car. Men have become foils to highlight women's superior intelligence, common sense etc. Small wonder we have metro-sexuals, or that our boys are doing so poorly in high school compared to girls. Hollywood has been emasculating them for years. Jeremy :The same people that support Obama are the same people who acquitted and support OJ Simpson. After repeating their anger enough and blaming others for their failings, they actually start to believe what they are saying. That is why Obama has a great chance to become President. I can shake my head and laugh when stupid angry people acquit a murderer for reasons unrelated to the facts of the case, but when they start having the power to elect a President for reasons that dont have anything to do with his experience and ability, this country is screwed. All the smart people I know who are leaders and better at running things then Obama make millions in the private sector so they can insulate themselves and their families from the failings of our society. I just wish these people were the ones running for President. Instead we get the kind of losers we have today running for President. Scary. Jimmy J. :Another gem of an essay. Hits the right points with the right tone. I am so tired of hearing and talking about Obama. I was tired of Hillary before the campaign ever started, but at first I thought Obama was kind of interesting......someone different. Alas, not so. Six and a half months to go and I'm bone-tired of the whole doggone thing. Like you I have not been to but one movie in the last year. Trooped off this afternoon to see Ben Stein's movie, "Expelled." Got there ten minutes before screen time and found that the theater was already sold out......for the 4pm and the 7pm showings. What? Methinks this film may be a sleeper. I understand it argues for academic freedom and free speech in a very entertaining way. Going tomorrow and looking forward to it. steve macdonald :To which I would add, get your facts straight(er). M.E. :Following Obama’s political fortunes I recall the celebrate phrase of Napoleon (from a letter to Abbé du Pradt about the retreat from Moscow): “From the sublime to the ridiculous there is but a step”. Obama hasn’t conquered Moscow yet (i.e. the White House, which is much more worthy than the Kremlin), but he appears ridiculous already. I have only some doubt about the word “sublime”. For Rev. Wright’s pupil (differently of Napoleon) the sublime isn’t a natural state. Like a clown before an astonished public he climbs a mount made of all kinds of waste and after slides down the slope remaining covered by the rubbish that helped him to ascend so high. Ridiculous! Dave Begley -Omaha :1. "The Vantage Point" with Dennis Quaid and William Hurt was very good. And pro-US. 2. "We are the ones we have been waiting for." That's one of Obama's main campaign slogans. 'Nuff said there. rob : I watched a great old movie the other night, "The Train", starring Burt Lancaster. Set in Paris in the final days of WW11, it's about a group of French railroad men trying to prevent a German Colonel from escaping into Germany with a train filled with priceless French paintings. In one amazing scene, Burt Lancaster is up in an observation tower in a train yard, and in one unedited shot, he runs over to the ladder, slides down about 30 feet, then runs and jumps onto a speeding train (no stunt men here)...as I watched, I couldn't imagine a male star of today pulling off a stunt like that. You're right, VDH...they don't make 'em like they used to. Jim Rockford :Mr. Dyer There are a whole host of actresses who play or can play real women. Many of them quite young: Amber Tamblyn, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Zoey Deschanel, Michelle Trachtenberg all come to mind. Their common complain, voiced carefully? That it's hard to play against eternal man-boys. Hard to look good and play a woman against them. The preference for man-boys as Mr. Miller suggests is driven by Hollywood's own internal dynamics. A socially isolated elite contemptuous of traditional standards of masculinity. No wonder Hollywood has trouble holding onto it's bread and butter, young men. That writ large is the problem for the Democratic Party. Nora Ephron's screed against the "racist/sexist" Pennsylvania is sadly enough, not a parody. Bill Saunders :Dr. Hanson, I am so sick of Hollywood's Culture. I used to enjoy it a lot more, until the late 1990's and early 2000's. The Grammy's, Emmy's, Critics's Choice, Screen Actors Guild, Oscars. The multiple marriages, drug scandals, murders, petty crimes, and lawsuits. The movies made only for profit, and no message. Movies which glorify war, death, destruction, drugs, murder, crime, greed, scandal, sex and infidelity, the mafia and organized crime; and bring millions of dollars into the actor's lives. How am I, Bill average from Ohio, to decipher all of this self aggrandizing, profiteering, immorality, sex, drugs and rock and roll? I have very little time to consider such things, I have to work 50 to 60 hours per week minimum, assist my family through the trials and tribulations of this life, and try to have fun with my 2 weeks paid vacation. Don't get me wrong, I am no saint, and I have done things I am ashamed of; But I do not have the capability to influence millions. I do not have the monetary resources, or contacts, to advance my personal opinions and beliefs on a world wide scale. Nor can I pull a Sean Penn and jump on an airplane with a First Class ticket and jet of to the Middle East to "talk" to Saddam Hussein! The Term "Hollywood Elite" is tossed around at times. Whatever that means, the "HE" has clearly embarked on a mission that is wrought with inconsistencies as much as their personal lives are wrought in scandal. A challenge to all readers: The next time you take a visit to your local movie rental store, take a closer look at the movies. When you see movie previews at the theatre on the Internet, or in the newspapers, take a closer look at what you see. Look at the titles, themes, and the actors in them. LOOK REAL HARD. Perhaps you will se what I see. A bunch of spoiled rotten loud mouths who are filled with hypocrisy (as much as they are filled with sex, drugs, murder, crime and infidelity), and profit from what they condemn, like movies of war, crime etc., and live their personal lives alarmingly close to the lives they portray in the movies. One has to be rich to think the way the Hollywood Elite thinks in the first place. LSD :I couldn't agree more with your disgust for the current crop of Hollywood bad boys. I recently watched Jack Palance with Bridgett Bardot in 'Contempt.' It's a fascinating performance and has the added attraction (for students of architecture) of featuring the incomparable Casa Malaparte on the island of Capri. I carefully provoke that you are getting close to sympathizing with Dinesh when you recognize the vacuous and immoral qualities that Hollywood broadcasts to the rest of the world. I would suggest that it would be hard to find anyone anywhere who has access to television, who does not feel a familiarity with American life and values, when in reality they are fed Hollywood's line and not anything that remotely resembles real life and American values. -Far from advocating government control of creative work, I prefer to make them suffer by not buying a ticket! They are a bad-smelling bunch who has the nerve to suggest that America needs a bath. Happily, Americans are getting tired of it. I have to add that I find it hilarious that Hugo Chavez is allotting air time for 'Bay Watch.' He should be happy to know that there is plenty more of that kind of stuff coming down the pipe. -I understand that Kim Jong Il is also a fan of the worst of Hollywood. -No wonder they hate us. John Moore :One wonders if the anti-American propaganda coming from Hollywood is more successful than it appears - perhaps it sells well in the anti-American world? On a related note, how much of the negative impression the world has of America is a result of the ideological position of Hollywood, as reflected in its products. Watching TV leads to the conclusion that Americans are criminals, silly and/or immoral. Movies and TV constantly exaggerate the negatives of US policy (Law and Order's hammering on torture is an example), but this is probably taken as real by many watchers, especially overseas. Hollywood has a lot to answer for. John Moore :One wonders if the anti-American propaganda coming from Hollywood is more successful than it appears - perhaps it sells well in the anti-American world? On a related note, how much of the negative impression the world has of America is a result of the ideological position of Hollywood, as reflected in its products. Watching TV leads to the conclusion that Americans are criminals, silly and/or immoral. Movies and TV constantly exaggerate the negatives of US policy (Law and Order's hammering on torture is an example), but this is probably taken as real by many watchers, especially overseas. Hollywood has a lot to answer for. Bmoon :I agree with the thesis that the decline of Hollywood is with the producers, specifically the scripts they write or choose. How many more movies do we have to watch of: 1. Right-wing, pro-business/military, sometimes associated with religious extremists (only Christian ones of course) cabal plotting to overthrow/assassinate "progressive" government/candidate? Grrrrr. 2. Anti-war, anti-business, anti-military propaganda.....yaaaaawn. 3. Dysfunctional, narcisstic elitist Hollywood/NYC family (usually they are some sort of writers or psychologists...yaawn) live out their painful, vacuous banality on screen as if it were interesting. yaaaawn, smack, smack. 4. 30, 40, 50 somethings still living like irresponsible adolescents, sleeping around, using drugs, smoking cigarettes, unable to love, everyone is in "therapy"....snore. The last straw for me was, after the insufferable spate of anti-American, anti-war movies I refused to see, I chose "Sniper," with Mark Wahlburg at the local Blockbuster. It turned out to be the same conspiracy theory crap- right-wing conspirators in the CIA want to assasinate another liberal, black, popular JFK-like (the myth not the real one) candidate for president. This time however, the evil Republican capitalist conspirator terrorist group was headquartered...guess where? Right! Lynchburg, VA. That was it for us. We have only seen "August Rush" at the movies this year (we studied up on it first,) and have bought only bootleg movies for $1 or $2 around the corner. If it is the same crap it goes into the circular file. No more money from us for Hollywood. Ron Kean :Dear Professor, I'm in the middle of '1942' a book by Winston Groom - my 2nd favorite war historian. I've just completed chapters about Battan and Guadalcanal. I'm going to feel like hell getting into in my Toyota tomorrow morning. Isn't some Hollywood moneyman thinking he's throwing good money after bad making Anti-American trash when kiddie anamation is raking it in? Readers of the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times are the yokels now. John Costello :In terms of actors we no longer have, you should correct the impression that Robert Duval is no longer with us. Check the IMDB.com site -- he has four movies forthcoming. Other than that you are spot on. Darren :Professor, There are a few men left on television. Kyle Chandler does a very good job in 'Friday Night Lights' protraying a father, husband and mentor to the players on his fictional football team, the characters of Eric and Tami Taylor on that show are probably the most realistic married couple on television. Maybe not Stewart or Cagney good, but I encourage you to judge for yourself. Nathan Fillion did a good job with Captain Malcom Reynolds on 'Firefly', though like 'Friday Night Lights' that show was one the network was ambivalent about despite the enthusiasm of its fans. To your point, it's not just the actors. If writers cannot give voice to an "old breed" man without laughing up their sleeves, and producers can't greenlight a script they find trite because of the presence of an "old breed" male character, there's not a lot left for the actors to do. May promises to be a banner month, with Iron Man, Speed Racer and the new Indiana Jones movie opening. What is somewhat sad and even more indicative of your point is that of all the films scheduled to release, the one I am most anticipating is WALL-E, if for no other reason than Pixar's incredible track record of commenting on the human condition with bits and pixels. Kelly W. :I've recently seen my first two movies in at least a year. The first was 'Horton hears a Who' (yawn, but the kids loved it), the second was Nims Island (I really liked that one, I even liked Jodie Foster though it had echo's of Romancing the Stone). In the last movie they ran a trailer of the new Indiana Jones movie. In one short clip Indy has apparently been beaten up by...guess who! Go ahead and guess. If you guessed a Nazis you would be wrong, it was by US military personal. As far as I could tell he was busy escaping from, and beating up US soldiers for half the film. I could faintly hear the echo of cheering foreign audiences. I guess running from and outsmarting the Nazis has been done before. We know how Hollywood hates to repeat what has already been done. >> William Casey :Regarding "What's wrong with Hollywood", the tragedy is that the people who should be reading your article are products of the public school system and wouldn't comprehend what you are saying - if indeed they can read. Richard Aubrey :The last few movies I've seen have been "300", the Harry Potter series, LOTR, United 93. However. Given the optimism with which Hitler and Mussolini (who thought the Brits, once a magnificent race of adventurers were now a line of tired rich men's sons) began the Second World War, it could be they read too much Wodehouse. Or paid too much attention to the Oxford Union debate of '33. Or both. Be a shame if Code Pink, Obama, and Hollywood managed to convince our enemies that we're ripe. Michael Buckley :Frank Miller and VDH and The Spirit?! On the same post?! It's like the Hero Triumvirate. Pat Minicucci :Dr. Hanson: kcom :2. "We are the ones we have been waiting for." I've heard that line before, of course, but upon reading it again I'm struck by how "Star Wars-y" it sounds. When Obi-wan Kenobi uses the Force to convince the Imperial Storm Troopers that "These aren't the droids you're looking for," it has an echo in that sentence by Obama. Perhaps that's the key to his meteoric rise. Maybe the Force is strong in that one (as Darth Vader might say) and when he says "We are the ones we have been waiting for." it doesn't need to make sense. It's what's behind the words that counts. Cromwell :Come on, how about Russell Crowe? He was magnificent as Jack Aubrey, and as the outlaw in 3:10 to Yuma. Yeah, maybe he is a jerk in real life but he's a righteous heir to the mantle of Grant, et al. And how about Dominic West, who's so good as Jimmy McNulty in The Wire? Don :Where are the good war movies? They're on the PC, PS3 and Xbox. Check out Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. 3 million copies moved at $50 bucks a pop. Been on the market since last year, and still one of, if not the, top seller in the vid game industry in the first quarter of 2008. It's set in the contemporary world, with, SURPRISE, the Yanks and the Brits as the good guys taking on the real threats. Just check the teaser video linking missions in the game by Youtube'ing Call of Duty 4 - Splintered Edge, click on the one listed for MichaelBarnes. A couple more generations of tech, and who'll need Hollywood? Xanthippe :It's a little unfair to compare actors of days of yore, when studios controlled media access to a much greater extent, to actors today. Actors' reputations and images were very, very carefully protected. Be careful to avoid donning the rose colored glasses of nostalgia. Modern actors - how about Bruce Willis, Harrison Ford, Mel Gibson? Tom Hanks is comparable to Jack Lemmon - he's an everyman type, not a hero type. I think Frank Miller is spot on, above. The problem with movies is not the fault of the actors, it's the studios. (With regard to a good modern western, see The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (starring Tommy Lee Jones)). nocomme1 :Here here on the analysis of what is missing in modern-day male Hollywood stars. Some the the welcome exceptions have been pointed out by other posters but no one has yet specifically mentioned Russell Crowe who is probably the most prominent leading man today who could easily have slipped into many of the more manly roles of yesterday's leading men. I can't imagine any other modern star pulling off Cinderella Man or Gladiator, two movies with a retro sensibility, other than Crowe. Even in his personal life he seems to be more Mitchum-esque than many other prominent modern leading men. He's a little too quick with his fists, a little too impatient with bs; not a perfect guy, by any means but not an airhead either and not a spoiled brat-packer. Kind of guy you'd like to hang out with. Leonardo DiCaprio? I don't think so. Also a head nod to Frank Miller whose comments above make perfect sense from one of the few directors who has managed to make films that break through the rules of the zeitgeist and still make a bundle. John McGinnis :To: Mr. Miller, Director Sir, I am sure there is talent in HWood. But I think the more salient point Dr. Hanson was trying to make is the breadth of the talent in a single individual. Could you imagine Bruce Willis doing a romantic comedy like 'The Philadelphia Story'? Boy I certainly could not and Bruce is a good actor. Could you imagine Jim Carrey doing 'Sands of Iwo Jima'? Ditto. Some blame can be applied to the collapse of the studio system that used to train new talent how to act. But that still does not explain the pitiful genre of movies that we see today. Not only is the Western been tapped out but so has adult romantic comedy, adult fiction; in fact darn near anything above the age of 35. It would be nice to see a decent film of Americana without car chases, shoot outs, overt sex and half the film being CGI. Regulus :Great post, Dr. Hanson. As to those who say that we don't produce Humphrey Bogarts, Jimmy Stewarts and Lee Marvins anymore, I recall reading from the Midway chapter of your book Carnage & Culture - when you referred to men like Lem Massey and Wade McCluskey - that in today's era of "Jasons" and "Ashleys" we'll never see the likes of those men again. You were right. If Hollywood ever gets around to making a "Planet Gor" movie, I'd like to volunteer to play the guy who says, "On Earth there are many males, but few men." Substitute "In Western civilization" for "On Earth," and I'd still be able to say that line with a straight face. 2klbofun :Who needs hollywood male role models when we have men like Victor Davis Hansen, Mark Steyn, Glenn Reynalds, etc. in the blogosphere. Gabe Skee :Doesn't Rupert Murdoch own a movie studio or two? Why can't a realistic, inspiring war movie about Iraq or Afghanistan get made at a Murdoch studio? Think about it - The Bourne series, the latest Bond movie, even Blackhawk Down were blockbusters because of the heroism and stoic sacrifice of the protagonist(s). That is what people pay to see, not some conspiracy theory with a plot woven around it.
Bill Whittle :Dr. Hansen, My day job is as editor of SHOOTOUT on AMC, a movie-business talk show hosted by Peter Bart of Variety and producer Peter Guber. Every week we examine the complete spectrum of Hollywood political thought, from far left on one hand all the way to extreme left on the other. The degree to which the decision-makers live in a liberal-cliche bubble simply boggles the mind, and it would be amusing if it were not so tragic to see these very bright people struggling to understand why the movies that portray Americans' fathers and sons, mothers and daughters in uniform as baby-murdering rapists somehow -- bafflingly! -- do not do well at the box office. While I certainly have piled on about the actors like Penn and Robbins, I have to admit that my view of the town has been tempered greatly by the work of people like Gary Sinise, who has simply seemed to respond to every call made to him to give up his time and energy to head overseas again and again, and yet again, to play for our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan with his Lt. Dan Band. Likewise, Jon Voight is a genuine patriot, and I think Powers Booth did the voice-over for a John McCain ad. Denzel Washington, Drew Carrey, and several others also have done a great deal under the radar. As someone who feels this contempt for Hollywood more strongly than the average Joe -- if such a thing is possible -- editing the likes of Bill Maher, Tim Robbins and Michael Moore can require frequent energetic walks around the block at times. But it would be a shame to throw the baby out with the bathwater here, and I think it bears mentioning that while the overall color of Hollywood is so blue as to be ultraviolet and visible only to bees, there are in fact large numbers of well-known faces who genuinely love and honor America and give a great deal of time and effort on her behalf. P. G. :Dr. Hanson, Actors don't reflect the society; actors try to project themselves onto society. When they don't succeed they resent the society for its unenlightened defiance. Alas, they sometimes do succeed, but their appeal is deceiving: people are drawn to their celebrity, not their art. The harder they work to project themselves (like in snoozers you mention) the faster their audience will dwindle to cranks and people who didn't get the message that actors are now phony-baloney. PaulM :Professor Hanson: Aside from the shallowness of Senator Obama, his remarks in San Francisco about frustated Pensylvanians "resorting to" guns and religion, imply a "pity those poor unfortunates" attitude on his part, which also seems to have an underlay of Marxism. Eric Blair :Who is this 'they' Heh. That reminds me of a line from "The Duellists"--Harvey Keitel's demented French officer's reply to a similar question: "They! They! When did the Emperor not have enemies!" Just take out Emperor and replace with Obama. It works on lots of levels. HollywoodWeary :You certainly resonate with me. I am sickened by current politics and even more so with Hollywood. I turn all news off if it focuses too long on any political candidate; the current Democratic hopefuls in particular. I haven't gone to see a movie in over a year and have so desire to do so in the future. william :Stanley O'Neill was the first black president of Merrill Lynch. Just recently there was a profile of him in the New Yorker. The profile offers, I think, a cautionary tale of how the Obama presidency might pan out. O'Neill was an outsider with no loyalty to the corporate culture of Mother Merrill. He brought in other outsiders to head the different divisions and to cut jobs. Up to a point, the strategy worked. O'Neill increased profits and used these profits to buy back shares which further increased the per share earnings. Perhaps the profits would have been better invested to increase the reserve funds. In any event when the credit crunch hit, the company fared badly. O'Neill, like most unsuccessful CEO's of our era, walked away a rich man, but he left behind not just a failed strategy but a failed company. Many of the delicate tendrils of loyalty and gratitude that a successful corporation puts forth to help them flourish in a dry season had been destroyed. Perhaps the company will survive but in a much diminished form. Perhaps the money we are spending in Iraq would be better invested in homes for diabetic unwed mothers or whatever. In my opinion though losing a war will damage not just the credibility of America to her allies but will also damage the patriotism of her most loyal citizens. The Ayers of this country consider patriotism a kind of jingoism and wish us to be rid of it. If the deer-hunters of Pennsyvania should ever feel as betrayed and alienated and paranoic as Rev Wright's church members, America will lose more than just a skirmish in Iraq. Tim Deters :Victor, Calvin Dodge :rob, While I'm in general agreement with the premise of this article, it's not fair to use Burt Lancaster's performance as representative of his peers. Before going into acting, Burt was a circus acrobat (see "The Crimson Pirate" for more examples of his agility), so his athletic prowess was far greater than the average actor of HIS time. boqueronman :Hollywood. What a mess. This subject strikes close to home since my son is completing a university program for actors. He's looking for his SAG card and will soon be heading for LA. He'll be facing a tough situation. We often have discussion on this very subject. The movie business - in its current incarnation - consists of animated features, comic book heroes, and so-called romantic (usually pre-teen humor) comedies. The revenues from these movies are then used to produce culturally and politically leftist propaganda films. It has gotten so bad that if there is any question about the material, I stay away. The field of non-political action films has largely been abandoned to Jerry Bruckheimer, who is laughing all the way to the bank. As for TV, that is pretty much gender feminism, with nods to the other PC shibboleths, 24/7, or endless variations of "reality" shows. Unwatchable. Luckily I have access to many BBC/Granada programs here. While Britain is suffering its own PC crisis, surprisingly, their film industry remembers that Shakespeare was born there. The vast majority of their dramas still deal with recognizable foibles of being human and, thus, are invariably interesting. The overwhelming professionalism of British actors vs their U.S. counterparts is beyond dispute. Whither Hollywood and its entertainment business? The lack of creativity and quality will eventually catch up. The world in general will probably move to other sources. What does that leave us here in the U.S.? Lean times. cfbleachers :VDH Hollywood, Sen. Obama, Michelle Obama, Jimmy Carter...weaves the saddest tale of what greatness could have been, only to have been made toxic by a political theft of soul. Hollywood nearly 60 years ago became infatuated with Communism and has passed down romantic pastel infused paintings of the most brutal and sadistic regimes that subscribe to it. This more than half decade romantic interlude is not a well kept secret, but to point to it...is to be instantly branded as a "red baiter", "McCarthy-like", and jingoistic. Sadly, it is not enough that the romance remains, but that in order to justify the continuing dance and dalliance...America, Americana, patriotism, capitalism, free market enterprises, and the military must be slandered. Leftism has evolved into open hostility against all that we are, and a continuing slander against all we have ever been. Sen. Obama has spent a lifetime being nursefed this hostility and antipathy. He sat at the knee of "Frank" the CPUSA member and learned the lesson, taught in our modern movies and screeched from Rev. Wright's pulpit. Sen. Obama has been drawn to this hostile and virulent message like a moth to a flame. Whether it is his attraction to "Frank", or Rev. Wright, or Rev. Meeks, or Rev. Moss, or Rev. Farrakhan or Ayers and Dorhn...or even in search of his father beyond the grave. Sen. Obama has embraced those who hold the post-modern hatefest of America (and Israel), throughout his entire life...seeking them out as the most radical professors at college, embracing their message through exaltation with Rev. Wright, socializing and providing political cover for the urban terrorists like Ayers and Dohrn. It is no surprised that his "advisory team" is littered with the likes of Brzezinski, Malley, Power, Lake....the Carter team of internal poison. Carter sees himself above American diplomacy, because Carter never saw himself as America's President...he saw himself as a "one world" leader...still does. He sees himself not as a humiliated office seeker, soundly turned away at the polling booth, but rather as "leader emeritus", sort of a retired king, who still holds the crown of a monarchy of the mind. He is a doddering fool, intent on creating a fiefdom of anti-Israel windmill tilters and one-world utopian subjects. He is Garfield Goose, last king of the United States, a snapping puppet to Mideast sultans pulling his strings. Sen. Obama wants that same "one world" kingdom. He shows no signs of embracing Americana (flag pin, hands in pocket during Pledge) and wishes to "talk to enemies", because that's how one-worlders address issues. Mouthing platitudes at them, while Rome burns. Sen. Obama learned how to "handle" the "typical white person" while growing up. They responded best to soft words, articulately delivered and mesmerizing. It's a form of duplicity that has served him well, as he stretched as far left as he could manage...with black liberation theo-politics...drenched in Marxism and racial warfare. It is little wonder that Michelle's anger and hostility is so much closer to the surface. (not proud, we are mean, slothful). She has not taught herself to keep the hostility buried deeper behind soft words. This country has been immersed in a propaganda war against it for 60 years. The deadwood media, the alphabet news networks, academia and Hollywood have picked up the mantle and carried it forward. Why can't we find someone to play the role of the hero any longer? I'm not sure we could recognize him if he appeared in front of us today. Every article, review, book and blurb about him would be unflattering, a mountain of slander...and it would take a hero to help us dig out from under it. Steve White :I would respectfully suggest that the current group of 'war' movies are missing the two common themes of the great war movies: 1) the good guys are good. We identify with them. We want to be them, even if they die in the end. The good guys do the good things. They complete the mission, they save their people, they stand up for what is right. They make a difference. Now compare that to Lions for Lambs, in which the protagonists are a reporter, a political operative, and a college professor; all of whom advocate walking away from the fight at hand. Compare that to Stop-Loss, where the hero is the one who refuses to fight. Who wants to emulate that? 2) the bad guys, who are indeed bad, are not us. The bad guys are identified as the ones who do bad things, and they are someone else. They are the Nazis, the communists, the French, the Persians, someone other than the people with whom we identify. A great war movie makes clear that we are good and they are bad, and that we are the ones who are going to win. Now compare that to Redacted: who are the bad guys there? Why, we are. We're the rapists and murderers. Gee, just what I want to spend nine dollars on, to be told how bad I am. Now occasionally one can challenge contemporary thinking with a critical war film, such as All Quiet on the Western Front. But it's a very occasional film that pulls it off successfully. So the modern films that Dr. Hanson correctly assails fail to gain an audience for a simple reason: they invert who the good and bad guys are. And we know it. That is why they fail. ak :Without sounding like a conspiracy weirdo myself, I have to wonder if Hollywood isn't churning out these anti-war moneypits for "posterity." That is, even if the movies are unpopular and lose money now, the directors are still getting their digs in. Will these movies someday stand as what "America" thought and felt in the 2000s? You hear all the time about old movies that were failures in their day but have since become classics. I shudder to think that someday Jarhead or The Government Killed My Baby Boy or whatever other moronic anti-Iraq movies they've released will be seen as classics. We just finished watching John Adams. Through it all, I thought how sad it is that they couldn't find any decent American actors to play Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton (not that he was born in America, but still), etc. But Hollywood doesn't seem to have any grown-up character actors. They're all celebrities who just play themselves in different scenarios. abu al-fin :Obama and his disciples intend to bring the millenium down to Earth. Utopian visions abound. If they think that reality sucks now, wait until they are in control. George Orwell roll over. P. G. :Dr. Hanson, You are right. Contextualization is meant to cloak either fickle principles, or principles that are anathema to common decency. Luckily, Americans recognize such sophistry for what it is. Obama is like the modern he-men of Hollywood: no cojones. Jon Card :Actually, we have a number of talented actresses right now, largely because the Disney "farm leagues" of the Disney Channel, ABC Family, Disney's recording studios, and Disney Studios, in combination with Disney's marketing strategy of targeting adolescent girls, has turned out a number of very talented young women. I'm a fan of Keira Knightley (the Pirates trilogy and Princess of Thieves were concurrent or predated her breakout in Bend It Like Beckham and were both from Disney) and Anne Hathaway (herself, though that I hate all the movies she's in she was in a number of Disney films before working for anyone else), and, despite the scandals, Lindsey Lohan is a very talented actress (people forget that, until her recent nude photos, she'd refused to appear topless in any film; I suspect her exposure to the paparazzi was a reaction to that and the nude photos were an attempt to get out from under it all; in any case, she did an number of made-for-TV films for the Disney Channel after Parent Trap before returning to the big screen). They aren't allowed the same level of class as their predecessors because of the impulse to reduce all female parts to nudity. Banjo :I forget which lovely flower grows from a pile of dung, but the comparison can't be applied to Hollywood. A turd blossom, to employ Bush's term of endearment for Rove, is what we get instead. When Michael Ovitz, the uber-agent, was thrown from power he blamed it on the powerful gays who control the Hollywood scene. It is folly to expect wholesome product from this crowd. Orion :One fact overlooked in your analysis of the Hollywood actor of today is that under the old studio system a "major" actor might make 5-10 films a year of moderate budget and various formats. Today it's unusual for an A-line actor to star in more than 2 films a year, usually mega-budget films, and often sequels to each other. So they just don't get the experience or range their predecessors did in "the good old days". And the real problem of course is that Hollywood has adopted such an antiwar bias that they no longer will produce films that Americans want to see. They seem to have taken Jon Stewart's mocking advice to heart: "We can't let the audiences win." Denny, Alaska :Her Hillaryness and BO are now arm-wrestling to see which shall lead the Democratic party into the political wilderness come November. Indeed, this should have been the Dems' year. Now, well, if these two are the best the party has on offer.... Jerseyman :I offer my grand unified theory of why the movies are almost universally awful today compared to even the "B" movies of the Golden Age. Filmmakers in the past came into the industry as fully formed adults from myriad backgrounds. Many were WW1 veterans. Many were survivors of harrowing immigrant experiences. Some were honest-to-God cowboys, seamen and miners. Those who did spring from the theater or had the benefit of higher education were the product of classical training in their art or in what used to be known as the "liberal arts". As such they were inheritors of that grand, and now derided, Western Canon. Today, our filmmakers, are as often as not, the soft, coddled and cosseted product of our "elite" schools. These are the - mostly white- suburban children with straight teeth, high SATs and well stoked self-esteem. Few if any have ever been in the service, dug a ditch, carried a hod or associated with those who do. They went in a straight line from Montessori to Princeton, Yale, Harvard or Stanford. Learned their craft in class at NYU or UCLA in association with a cohort from an identical background and with an identical worldview. Today, of course, there are no "low-blows". We always go for the groin-kick. We always go for the gun. Women are always eager to copulate- especially if they are youngsters and the heros are geriatric. Rather than respecting, loving or reinforcing the values and attitudes that keep the country going, our post modern, ironists shred every notion, institution or expression that might in any way refer to decency. But why? I think it is essentially very simple. Those tough old birds who built Hollywood knew that they were tough old birds. They were willing to duke it out because they had. After a few belts many of them still did. None of them had experienced an adolescence that lasted from 13 to 30. But, today, those soft young men sitting in their air-conditioned offices sipping bottled water, really know that they are not men. That they have not been, nor will they ever be regarded as men amongst men, so their films are projections of their own fantasies and insecurities. Of course all the girls are easy and all the pistols 50 calibre. Of course they can lip-off to the bad boys and get away with it, of course they deride the heros whose heroism is outside their ken. It is simple projection: the nastiness on the screen that seems so appalling to us is, indeed, the inner state of these new Hollywood types. What is particularly galling is not just the spectacle of this vulgarity of itself, but that it also serves to instruct Americans and the rest of the world in their own decadent mores. The highly educated, white collar workers of today. This youth who have had all their shots, every advantage, and live lives of unparalleled possibility, are now being instructed through the most powerful propaganda imaginable, in the fine points of murder, torture and debasement. The finest minds in filmdom seem bent on translating the most perverted imaginings into vivid Hi-Def. Instead of hard handed, blue-collar workers being instructed in the art of being a gentleman by Stewart, Cooper or Grant, we now have the college graduate, information managers being tought to be thugs in a hundred vicious scenarios. Instead of shop-girls and factory-girls being presented with a vision of glamor by Bergman, Lamarr or DeHavilland, we know use the film industry as a slut school for unformed American teens. After all, thugs need ho's, right? As DiSouza rightly pointed out, how can the Islamists not despise a culture that produces the likes of "Hostel", or that gives the Oscar to "It's Hard to be a Pimp"? By the way, I am far from a prude. It is just a sense of proportion that seems to be lacking. As pointed out in Dr. Hanson's original article the question arises; why are all of the Hollywood Iraq films vigorously anti-American? Of course the filmmaker has the right to question, criticise and deplore, but how can their chorus be so uniform? Is there no case for America? for Beauty, for Faith, for Courage, for Art? Laika's Last Woof :"I have yet to see or hear of a normal male character on a TV show." What about Adama from BSG? Jim Rockford :Captain Malcom Reynolds on Firefly doesn't really apply to old-style masculinity. He's more an updating of McCabe and Mrs. Miller in space. A revisionist Western. A jerk who treats people differently according to where they are in life, and is ruthlessly amoral. It was the revisionist westerns that killed the Westerns. Oddly enough guys like Tom Selleck are reviving that (also the Mystery Genre) with masculine performances in TV movies. Three Burials is pretty awful. Every man is depicted as either stupid or depraved, illegal immigrants noble savages, the Border Patrol corrupt racists, and the protagonist as futile as anything else. The women are not depicted much better either. TV, though it's dominated by women (look at the advertising constantly depicting men as fools) is oddly enough, filled with late 30's - early 50's men who play ... men. Consider: William Peterson, Mark Harmon, Anthony LaPaglia, Gary Sinise, James Woods, Damian Lewis, Rob Morrow, David Caruso, Kiefer Sutherland, Kyle Chandler, and you get a totally different story. Sutherland could not really make it in movies, he was typecast as a character actor (see his turn in DARK CITY). But he does well on TV. As do Peterson, Caruso, Woods, who all ended up falling into TV from film. As much as film has failed to provide a masculine presence, TV has delivered. Californio :Ah, Hollywoodland, er I mean "Hollywood"! I blame William Mullholland. If Los Angeles only had the water it should have been limited to, it never would have grown over 100k in population. My relatives and I would still be here, of course. And no obnoxious movie business here either! CW :I have always believed that today's actors simply do not have the life experiences of actors of the past. If you read the biographies of Lee Marvin (Marine severely wounded at Battle of Saipan), Robert Mitchum (spent time in Georgia chain gang), Charles Bronson (WWII vet and former coalminerZ), and others, you realize that these were men as tough in real life as they were in the films they starred. Role research was not required for these type of men to play toughs, cowboys, soldiers, cops, boxers, or down on their luck types. Living through a depression and fighting in a war gives a certain level of authenticity that the Hanks, Cruises, and Penns will never be able to transfer to their screen roles. While the idea of Tom Hanks or Tom Cruise as hitmen (in Road to Perdition and Collateral, respectively) is laughable, Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson (in The Killer and The Mechanic, respectively) do not give the viewer any reason to question their capability for violence. The Marvin, Mitchum, Bronson and others of their generation were men first and movie stars second. They were simply more believable because they had gathered the raw materials of life's broad spectrum by living it. Arthur Taylor :RE: Obamas Problems I think a lot of republicans are making the same mistake the dems did when Kerry ran against Bush. they keep going on and on about why THEY hate Obama and why THEY would never vote for Obama and How ANYONE would be better. But just like when Bush ran and the Dems couldn't fathom voting for Bush, the reasons the opposition is giving as to why they wouldn't vote for Obama are not reasons that will stop the democratic base or the Obama independents from voting for Obama. Miwok :I blame the Californios. Jerseyman has it right. Which begs the question: How does an urban boy make an acceptable passage into manhood? What are the proper challenges that our society offers? lordsomber :ak : "Without sounding like a conspiracy weirdo myself, I have to wonder if Hollywood isn't churning out these anti-war moneypits for "posterity." That is, even if the movies are unpopular and lose money now, the directors are still getting their digs in." FWIW, From what i've read, Hollywood makes 80% of its revenues from overseas, so they probably don't even care if a film tanks here. They can slag the US and still make bucks. George Best :As time passes our expectations for everything increases. We demand way more of our actors today then we did 40-60 years ago. The scripts are more complicated, and the scenery in the movie itself requires so much more effort. It is easier to be considered brilliant when your audiences expectations are simple and plain. People evolve so the comparision of who the actors are today versus years ago is not proper. The only reason we put down these actors is they have become so arrogant that they think their political views matter when they dont. They are much better at their craft today when compared to actors of previous generations, yet movies are made with reckless abandon producing a lot of crap but crap that people still watch. I just wish they wouldnt talk about politics. A better discussion would be the music made today versus 40-60 years ago. The opposite is true when it comes to music. Kids today have no good music and nothing since the 80s has any redeeming value and nothing matches the music of the 60-70s. Nathan :Oh come now, masculine roles are what you get Australian actors for, that should have been obvious by now! Laika's Last Woof :Commenter "Frank Miller" (the real Frank Miller?) had a point about 300. The gayest men on screen since "Brokeback Mountain" were also the most manly. John the Libertarian :Brad Pitt as Achilles in Troy. It goes on and on and on. This is a specious argument. Hollywood is a business. Yes, it has its liberal elitists who want to make more ill-conceived save-the-world movies, but honestly, that spate of Redacted and other anti-war crappers that tanked? They all came out around the same time because they went into production roughly the same time, when Iraq was going poorly (pre-surge) and polls showed Americans didn't approve of the war. So the producers were all betting that the time of their release would put butts in the seats. It's a highly speculative industry. There are PLENTY of conservatives in this business. Don't kid yourself that the mathematics of bell-curve distribution and standard deviations doesn't apply to this industry as well. No one ever seems to mention the quality products Disney animation puts out. Or when The Nativity debuted. Or the Lord of the Rings, one of the most pro-conservative-values good vs. evil tales ever told. True, the awards shows have taken a decidedly leftward slant. But don't think Hollywood is not painfully aware of how dismal the audience is for those shows, and why. The liberals in this town truly believe as other liberals (in the media, on the View) that everyone thinks exactly the way they do. What can you say, it's a narcissism disorder. But try to keep in mind that the classic hero's arc storytelling is not only philosophically conservative to its very root, but also that it will remain the most enduring and safest-bet money maker in the movie business. John the Dennis Miller Libertarian :And how could I have forgotten: Denzel Washington! JFarr :Dear Dr. Davis, Forgive me for being off topic but I do not know where else to write to you. I would love to hear your thoughts on the "global food crisis." Thank you. Frank Miller :I go back to my central point. The talent is there, in plenty. It's Hollywood who lacks the vision to create for us a new hero. Not one defined by "powers", but my manliness itself. FM
amr :Some pundits and bloggers have reversed the situation confronting Mr. Obama and asked how the media would treat a Republican candidate for president in similar circumstances. If it was revealed that he had sat in a church for 20 years having a racist preacher ranting lies about America. That he had associated with Robert Rudolph the unrepentant individual who was convicted of the 1996 Olympics bombing, the bombings of a "gay" nightclub and two women's abortion clinics among other ill advised associations. The Left and the media would be screaming that he was unfit to serve and I would agree. I was forced as a child to pay for a window some friends broke because I was with them at the time. Why is it now fashionable to not be judged by the company you keep? Well, I still do judge on that basis and Mr. Obama would fail my mother’s test of character. I remember the outcry in the media when Mr. H.W. Bush picked Mr. Quayle for his vice presidential running mate in 1988. He had served in state government management positions, two terms as US representative and was on his second term as senator. Neither Mr. Obama nor Mrs. Clinton has the experience that Mr. Quayle had and Mr. Quayle was considered too young and inexperienced for vice president. Oh my how opinions have changed in regard to experience and youth today. As for Hollywood, I could care less. Apparently for some reason ideology wins over profit. Sort of like party over country. Isn’t that just old fashioned un-American? Comments have been archived for this page. |
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Dr. Hanson:
1. You are proving the theroy that one always gets the most flak when immediately over the target thus posing the biggest threat.
2. The Obama's are most certainly a part of the elitist "Do as we say, not as we do since we know what is best for you" crowd that has been around in America since our founding.
Apr 20, 2008 10:06 AM