A Puzzlement

[stoutfellow]

The following is not intended entirely seriously.

There is a general perception that Hollywood and the USAn entertainment industry in general are hotbeds of political liberalism. I find it striking, therefore, that all the actors who have been elected to office, at any level, that I can bring to mind have been Republicans.

Think about it. George Murphy. Ronald Reagan. Fred Grandy. Fred Thompson (OK, that's a marginal case; he was a lawyer and a politico before he was an actor). Sonny Bono. Clint Eastwood. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Am I missing anybody?

If you extend the definition of "entertainer" to include athletes - not a notoriously liberal bunch - the picture changes a little. Jim Bunning, Vinegar Bend Mizell, Bob Mathias, J. C. Watts, Tom Osborne - all Republicans. Bill Bradley was a Democrat, of course, and Jesse Ventura ran on the Reform ticket. Does Gerald Ford count? Byron White comes to mind - he was a Democrat, though he proved to be quite conservative on the Supreme Court - but he wasn't elected to anything.

Anybody else?

Comments

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Indeed so. From what I can see, he served in the late '80s and early '90s. As I recall, Georgia was one of the last Southern states to tip Republican at the local level; do you happen to know when that happened? (I have some resources I can check when I get home tonight, if not.)

[filkferengi]

My Learned Spouse says GA went Repub in the 2000 & 2002 elections.

Hth. :)

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

That's consistent with what I remember; they elected a Republican senator (Mattingly) in 1980, but I think he only lasted one term. Both seats went Republican in the last two elections. I don't know about the House, but I'd certainly believe the 2000-2002 time frame.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Last two elections

I mean 2000 and 2002, of course.

[stoutfellow.livejournal.com]

Ack. Paul Coverdell was a Republican, right? Was he elected or appointed?

[filkferengi]

Our Learned Friend says that Coverdell got elected, with the help of the Libertarians [whose candidate got 2% of the vote & forced a run-off, which Coverdell won]. Ze Spouse has particularly fond memories of a commercial, in which a little old lady talks about how Wyche Fowler [the other candidate] was "too liberal for Georgia". Himself also suspects a song or poem may have been involved.

How's that? [cueing up the theme to "Mr. Ed", especially the part about "go right to the source, and ask the spouse; he'll give a good answer, then snore down the house" {blatantly untrue, but it rhymes & scans, which is as much as one can ask of any parody, especially after midnight.}]

Hth. :)