May 27, 2005
The Angry Beaver of the Week!
And the first Angry Beaver of the Week award goes to...Warren Beatty. I'm sure he'll want to put it on the shelf with all of his other prestigious awards, including the Oscar he won for directing 1981's Reds...wouldn't you know it was a film about Communists?
Beatty decided to use a commencement speech at UC Berkeley's Goldman School of Public Policy to do some good old-fashioned Republican bashing, taking on fellow actor and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The actor who played a senator in the 1998 flop Bulworth "told graduates he doesn't want to be governor, although he thinks he could do a better job than Schwarzenegger and believes there are other Democrats who would be better still."
Following loser John Kerry's lead, Beatty didn't describe how he would make a better governor than Schwarzenegger, as he obviously feels his braying should be enough of an opiate for the unwashed masses. He did, however, put in a plug for raising taxes on the rich. (Nine out of ten Democrats surveyed recommended higher taxes for people who pay taxes.)
Fortunately for the citizens of California, he hasn't "ruled out" running for governor, even though he's much longer in the tooth than Schwarzenegger...68, compared to the Governator's 57. (Perhaps he'd have his sister, the reincarnation queen Shirley MacLaine, in a special advisory capacity to the governor.) To rule out a run, he said, is to say, "Take me out of the mix and don't listen to me any more." Please, Warren, please say you won't run.
In a comment that was surely meant to question Schwarzenegger's brainpower, Beatty spewed forth this little gem: "Can't we accept that devotion to the building of the body politic is more complex and a little more sensitive than devotion to body building?" It's also more complex and a little more sensitive than devotion to one's own self-image, but Beatty conveniently ignored that as he used the commencement podium to beat up on Schwarzenegger, who didn't even have the chance to debate him.
Beatty tried to cushion the blow by saying he has a "soft spot" even for right-wing actors. How charitable! Next, he'll be saying he'll be able to feel something for actors who can't seem to break out of commercials and B-movies. Mega-stars like Beatty can afford to be gracious to the little people.
As usual, anyone in blue Hollywood who even dares to wear red is considered open season by self-proclaimed "progressive" celebs. Yet despite being involved in politics for many years, Warren Beatty has yet to actually do something other than carp about what others dare to do...which is to actively seek solutions to the state of California's many problems. In his speech, Beatty capitalized on Schwarzenegger's current dip in the polls. However, as it is for Hollywood, so it is for politicians...the crowd is fickle, demanding immediate gratification. When they don't get it, polls go down. Beatty should understand that, for as they say in LaLa Land, "You're only as good as your last film."
And so Warren Beatty, for blowing the horn of criticism without having a solution to the problem, and for crassly displaying his obvious envy of Arnold Schwarzenegger, is Blogmeister USA's Angry Beaver of the Week.
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