Celebrity State Department, Part Deux:

Once again, the blogosphere precedes the popular press in a media theme. While we've been ranting or raving about the political verbosity of celebrities related to the possibility of war in Iraq for days now, OpinionJournal finally caught on yesterday, and today it's the Philadelphia Inquirer.

Of course, the Inquirer is my local rag ... and when Katherine called "Get your laptop ... here's your first post of the day," I knew it was going to be good. And it was indeed the perfect compliment to my morning coffee (again, Kona, not French Roast). Unfortunately, I think it's going to skew the results of my poll toward Susan Sarandon. Also unfortunate is that the on-line version lacks these quotes from the front page of the Magazine section article (Michele, take a deep breath):

"I think war is based on greed, and there's huge karmic retributions that will follow ... the best way to solve problems is not to have enemies." -- Sheryl Crow

Yes ... all those Kurdish women and children who were gassed to death in their homes simply never should have chosen Hussein as an enemy. Same for those 14 million Jews and Hitler. That would have been the "best" way to solve the problem. Perhaps they were all paying some "huge karmic retribution."

"Let us find a way to resist fundamentalism that leads to violence. Fundamentalism of all kinds, in al-Qaeda and within our government ... our fundamentalism is business, the unfettered spread of our economic interests throughout the globe." -- Susan Sarandon

Wow ... Susan was actually making sense there for a minute ... until she argued for the cessation of economic expansion and the seizing-up of the world economy. Because I'm sure failing to create a global middle-class would be a fatal blow to fundamentalism.

"The government itself is running exactly like the Sopranos." -- George Clooney

Does his ability to be moronic know no bounds? I'm going to have to run a second poll just so Clooney can win. Although, I have heard rumors that Condi Rice holds NSC meetings in the back room of infamous D.C. theater of dance Camelot.

"Yes, [President Bush] is racist. We all know that, but the world is only finding it out now." -- Danny Glover

Danny Glover calling Bush racist ... I'm sure Colin Powell and Condi Rice agree. But there are also voices from the other side of the philisophical fence ... the first I've heard, frankly (perhaps this is an indictment of the press, which I've recently learned is actually pro-conservative ;-):

"I don't need to see any smoking guns except the one that just killed Saddam Hussein, quite frankly." -- Dennis Miller

"Members of the entertainment community are always on the front lines to oppose repression. But they're also opposed to the use of force to end it, which is inconsistent." -- Ron Silver

"I just want to say to all the great men and women in the armed forces right no, and their families who let them go, 'Thanks.'" -- Patricia Heaton

"Simple logic tells you that if somebody wants you dead you have one course of action: To get them deader sooner." -- James Woods

Not particularly articulate, but certainly a point of view from Mr. Woods.

"Nations do not pass from the scene because they have too much defense, and if we have to err, let us err on that side. Defense is our greatest priority." -- Ben Stien

Not quite on-point re: Iraq, but it's always good to see Ben Stein refute Paul Kennedy. As I've written before, I respect the right of anyone to peaceably state their opinion ... but at some point you have to wonder what the hell is going on. I think we're at that point. Thank God wisdom prevails ... in this quote from John McCain:

"If Washington is a Hollywood for ugly people, Hollywood is a Washington for the simpleminded," cracked maverick U.S. Sen. John McCain.

Indeed.

UPDATE: Charles chimes in at LGF with a post on James Earl Jones (who shows some guts)