Connecticut Commentary: Red Notes from a Blue State

Everyone in Hollywood wants to be a libertine -- like the Marquis de Sade, who also was an amateur revolutionist -- or perhaps they wish to emulate ex-Presidents John Kennedy and Bill Clinton. Kennedy was a tolerable Catholic because Catholic dogma did not live loudly in him, and the husband of Hillary Clinton was permitted indiscretions with cigars and interns because he was a hale fellow well met with a photographic memory, whereas ordinary politicians rely on Google and an expensive staff of brash know-it-alls. To be an artist, after all, is to be in perpetual revolt against the usual pieties, conveniently listed in the Decalogue. Marriage among the Hollywood elite, for instance, is considered but a temporary interruption of multiple liaisons, and adultery, sex outside the boundaries of marriage -- “You shall not commit adultery” -- is rampant.  Andy Rooney, whom everyone will admit was a nice guy, had eight wives, the same as Henry VIII, none of them executed fortunate...

Depending upon which report one credits , former U.S. Sen, Chris Dodd may be on his way to Hollywood to accept a position as a lobbyist for Tinseltown. Citing a person close to the Motion Picture Association of America, the Los Angeles Times reported that “Dodd had emerged as the top contender and was now the only candidate in negotiations for the job, which pays $1.2 million a year.” The transition from the U.S. Senate to Hollywood should be effortless for Dodd, who in the past has rubbed shoulders with some notable denizens of Fantasyland. No doubt some critics of the former senator will get in their licks. When Mr. Dodd threw his hat in the presidential ring sometime past, a Washington based British journalist writing for the Tribune Review noted sourly in a column that Mr. Dodd had been friendly with Bianca Jagger, Mick’s ex-wife. The columnist noted bitterly in a January 2007 report that Mr. Dodd was known as the Senator from Accounting” owing to the legislation he had ...

Hollywood turns out to put on the Ritz for its favorite candidate. This line is certain to be a favorite for those on the right blinded by the Hollywood blitz. Standing in the courtyard of the Greystoine mansion, surrounded by a Hollywood glow, Obama said through a spokesperson, "I don't know who showed up down in Florida where he [Senator McCain] raised $5 million but my guess is that it wasn't a lot of nurses, firefighters and police officers. The whole corporate lobbying community is rallying to his side. We're going to have to struggle to keep pace. You can't challenge that group and not expect them to have a lot of money." The struggle goes on.