Democrats turn to 'The Simpsons' for advice on political strategy

Harry Shearer is the voice of several popular cartoon characters on "The Simpsons" including Principal Skinner, Mr. Burns, Smithers, and Ned Flanders. It appears Shearer is also what passes for a political commentator from the American left these days. I’ve caught Shearer’s act several times on cable news shows discussing domestic and foreign policy issues alongside other liberal celebrities-turned-statesmen Ronny Reagan Jr., Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Maher. That tells you something about the brain drain in liberal quarters.

It’s also indicative of how the political left and Hollywood elite feed off each other to dominate the Democratic Party. Shearer and Maher are not exactly Hollywood heavyweights, but there are other "celebrities" who bankroll liberal causes and contribute heavily to the Democratic Party. They’re also behind the virulent blame-America rabble that props up Cindy Sheehan, the Edith Bunker of the anti-war movement.

Many of today’s celebrities are known as much for their politics as their professional achievements. What can we learn from Barbra Streisand, Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Alec Baldwin, George Clooney or Ben Affleck? Something other than how to make bad albums and film flops? Baldwin promised to move to Canada if George Bush won reelection, but last I checked he was still living in the Hollywood hills.

That’s not to say there are no conservatives in Hollywood. But admitting you’re conservative in today’s Hollywood is akin to confessing you’re a member of the Communist Party in the 1950s. You would be committing professional suicide. Not counting tough guy actor turned California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, about the only Hollywood types who’ve been willing to publicly admit they’re conservatives are Bruce Willis, Bo Derek, Ben Stein, Pat Sajak and Tom Selleck.

Author James Hirsen detailed the stranglehold the left has on Hollywood in his best seller, "Tales from the Left Coast." The blurring of news and entertainment is not a good thing. And if you want more proof that liberals control Hollywood, look no further than "Commander in Chief," the new Geena Davis show about the first female president. The people behind the show are former Clinton employees who’ve been out of work since 2000 and would like to get back to the White House in 2008.

I don’t mind if liberals have a fantasy show on TV about running the White House. That’s as close as Democrats may get to running the country in our lifetime. But isn’t "The West Wing" enough? Do we need two prime time series depicting gallant liberals battling evil Republicans to fix all of the nation’s problems?

I’d like to see a reality shows featuring a group of washed-up actors and has-been politicians living in a big house or stranded on an island. It can star the last two Democratic presidents — Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton (actually the only two Democratic presidents in the past 36 years). Carter and Clinton may have been inept as the nation’s chief executives, but they certainly were entertaining.

Hirsen has a new book out called "Hollywood Nation: Left Coast Lies, Old Media Spin and the new Media Revolution" in which he argues that celebrities should not use their status to impose their radical political agenda on the rest of us. "Movies, TV shows, music and other entertainment products don’t merely amuse us or divert us from reality; often they convey messages about political, social and cultural issues," Hirsen writes. "And since Tinseltown remains such a liberal bastion, as we witnessed during the last presidential election with the Dem fund-raising machine, those messages usually come with a distinctly lefty twist."

Despite countless examples of how Hollywood’s liberal elite influence American politics, Hirsen makes the argument that for all the wealth and access to the public that the Left Coast has, liberals are losing the battle for the hearts and minds of the American public.

Conservatives have scored significant victories. Mel Gibson personally financed "The Passion of The Christ," a movie that no Hollywood liberal would touch. It went on to gross $600 million worldwide at a time when the majority of films lose money. With Jennings, Brokaw and Rather gone, the left-tilting network news is little more than filler between the Geritol ads. Fox News dominates cable, scoring higher ratings that all its competitors combined.

Conservatives dominate talk radio, where the much-ballyhooed Air America liberal network is on life support. Conservative authors routinely top the seller list despite The New York Times’ attempts to embellish sales figures for left-wing authors. Somewhere in Barbra Streisand’s mansion, there are entire rooms filled from floor to ceiling with books by Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Conservatives have also made the best use of the Internet. While Howard Dean and his disciples use the Internet primarily to beg for money, conservatives use it to spread ideas.

E-mail Tony Phyrillas at tphyrillas@pottsmerc.com