The Right Wing's Own 'False Prophet'

Like so many kvelling George Costanzas, frantically waving a bill of sale to a used LeBaron convertible as proof of their brush with fame and an Academy Award, right-wing bloggers are falling over themselves to wrap themselves in the glow of "the great Jon Voight."

Reason: Voight's incrediby irresponsible, un-American, and dangerous description of the president of the United States as a "false prophet" at a Republican fundraiser that also featured those Bobbsey Twins of Hope, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich. You'd think Voight was playing his best-known current role (outside of grandpa to the offspring of Branjelina) -- that of 24 madman and insurrectionist Jonas Hodges -- when he spewed this garbage into the business end of the Congressional GOP:

It's no wonder that the Russian newspaper Pravda, the former house organ for the former Soviet Communist regime, has said the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath-taking speed. We can blame Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Chris Dodd, George Soros, David Axelrod and their ilk for the downfall of this country. It saddens me greatly to think we were the great power for good in the world. We as Americans knew America to be strong. And we were the liberators of the entire world. We are becoming a weak nation. Obama really thinks that he is a soft-spoken Julius Caesar. He thinks he's going to conquer the world with his soft-spoken sweet talk. And really thinks he's going to bring all the enemies of the world into a little playground where they'll swing each other back and forth. We and we alone are the right frame of mind to free this nation from this Obama oppression.

But oh the paroxysms of pleasure quivering in the downtrodden conservative blogosphere.

"A strong conservative voice," praised the Infidel Bloggers Alliance, a conservative blog that features the classy "Infidel Babe of the Week."

"Voight in 2012?" asks the pragmatic right-wingers at Hot Air (I'm rooting for Palin-Gingrich, personally).

"Not your typical Hollywood libtard!" enthuses the obsessively named FireAndreaMitchell blogger.

"Brave man," cooed Michelle Malkin.

There are others, as Voight enjoys that moment in the sun reserved for retirees and recent converts to an ideology, but why go on? This is better anyway - and emblematic of the true value of the newly-minted conservative star:

Follow Tom Watson on Twitter: www.twitter.com/tomwatson

Comments

[Avery Castille]

Voight's not completely wrong in his assessment of the current state of our country.
Obama is being tested virtually everyday by other countries and he continues to fail
each time. I would just like to see our President stand up for America, and stop
Apologizing for everything.

[Ponzipundit]

(My comment below was a response to the comments on this page by PINO and ProudLiberal Democrat. I had intended it to be part of that thread.)

[Ponzipundit]

Exactly. Bush/Cheney can hardly be said to have "kept this country safe." Don't forget that under Bush/Cheney the FEMA response to Katrina was criminally incompetent b/c Bush II had appointed a leader based on cronyism rather than competence.

Bush/Cheney also failed to act on pre-911 intelligence about an imminent attack. They also invaded a sovereign nation based on deliberately false pretenses, and incompetently waged the war which put our troops at risk and which dramatically increased recruitment propaganda for our enemies.

Furthermore, Bush/Cheney gutted regulations on banking and the stock market as well as regulations on air, water, and consumer protections.

As for scary Big Government (which is what the Right Wing, I think, means by "Marxism," right?) Bush/Cheney allowed government wiretapping of private individuals without a warrant, allowed so called "extraordinary rendition", allowed torture, and allowed indefinite imprisonment without trial, charges or representation.

And Bush/Cheney did all of this while consolodating power into the executive branch, and running one of the most secretive, least transparent, American governments in history.

There are some things about the Obama administration that I am not thrilled about, but my god, by comparison with his predecessor, the last thing I would think anyone would accuse Obama of would be "dangerous incompetence," "not keeping us safe," "harming the economy," or "interfering with individual liberties" (like a Stalinist or Fascist ).

[jsgaetano]

Republicans sure love themselves some vapid, brainless, washed-up actor in-tie-lektuals.

Voight just may be the next Ronald Reagan!

[MajorKong]

Ain't that Voight feller one o' elitist Hollywood actor types?

[SkelDaddy]

Jon Voight, the new Charlton Heston.

Voight's best work was in Deliverance; in a manner analogous to the hill billies' treatment of Ned Beatty, it would appear he has become one of those having their way with our nation.

[zest]

Voight an obvious facist.

[mommadona]

He's an ACTOR, for goodness sakes.

And not a very good method one at that.

Republicans truthfully don't 'get it' - they STILL believe John Wayne was born onna horse and that Ronald Reagan was ACTUALLY 'The Gipper' - IT'S FANTASY, FOLKS - ALL '24'/JACK BAUER of it.

Made up in some kid's head. Written down for your enjoyment, chicken littles.

WHERE ARE THE ADULTS?

[Avery Castille]

I am a Republican, and I am pretty positive John Wayne was born pretty much like all of us, and Ronald Reagan Played the "Gipper" in a movie, the Jack Bauer comparison not sure what you meant. I don’t want to come off as rude but I think we should eliminate
any far right and far left opinions from all serious conversation about the future
of this great land of ours, don’t you think?
I agree we need real solutions to our problems not finger pointing

[mommadona]

Uh....you might want to talk to YOUR side - and stop it with the patronizing. The stuff that I've heard tripping off the tongues of the koolaide drinkers is:

# 1 - always worded the same way, and parsed accordingly: talking point, du jour.
#2 - patronizing to any sort of discourse, starting from the point "I am right, so PROVE me wrong, cause you can't because I'm right.

#3 - lack of common benchmarks for discussion. I am a Viet Era woman Vet -"hey, dike!" gets thrown out a lot as a greeting. And "you aren't a Christian and you aren't an American".
Where to start?

#4 - FAITH based politics. "The lord told me that this political ideal is right, so therefore I will follow it blindly" WTF? Are they all so insecure in themselves that they refuse to acknowledge that 'free will' given - handed to them on a silver platter - by said "higher source".

So, if ya wanna have a conversation - have to. I'm a well-educated artist that has a minor in Philosophy.

If ya wanna patronize me and consider me "not one of U.S" like most of the (yes I will say it) MALE members of the Republican party - eat dust.

[strangelet]

The first thing I thought of when I read about Voight's speech was the incredible amount of hate that the Dixie Chicks got from the rightwing when one of them offered a one-sentence diss of W.

OMG, you can't say that about OUR PRESIDENT. Boycott, boycott, death threats, angst aplenty.

Oh, I guess it's okay if our President is a Democrat.

Unfortunately, boycott isn't really an option here since Voight doesn't have much of a career left.

I'd like to see him define "Marxism".

[Avery Castille]

The Chicks were not on American Soil when they made the comment, big difference.

[theclosetconservative2]

In the article Jon Voight is portrayed as being similar to the Jonas Hodges character he played in "24." I say he's lucky that he got the part. Most actors that deviate from the Obama worshipping liberal orthodoxy get frozen out in Hollywood.
He said that Pravda reported our decent into Marxism as happening with breathtaking speed. Voight is attacked as irresponsible for saying it, but I don't think anyone can deny the charge. http://theclosetconservative.com

[strangelet]

Um, I can deny it. In fact, I do. Now, prove me wrong. Start by defining "Marxism".

[Avery Castille]

Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, though the name "Marxism" has been used by many with political perspectives those men would likely reject. Marxism is a political-economic theory that presents a materialist conception of history, a non-capitalist vision of capitalism and other types of society, and a non-religious view of human liberation. At its core, Marxism holds a critical analysis of capitalism and a theory of social change. The original Marxian vision consisted of three complementary parts, each of which is hard to separate from the other two:

[PINO]

The people who voted for obama are just beginning to wake up to exactly what they brought in. The 'change' they envisioned is not the 'change' they have gotten."

The relentless campaign to build obama as the answer to all our needs is cracking. obama's handlers know what people want and they give it in a package that can be read off a teleprompter.

The only problem, the American people are finally waking up to the fact that we have a president "unfit" for command.

[ProudLiberalDemocrat]

Huh?

9/11 happened on Bush/Cheney watch. Stock market/economy collapsed on Bush/Cheney. Torture without value happened because of Bush/Cheney. Unemployment near 10% because of Bush/Cheney. 2 unwinnable wars started by Bush/Cheney. Largest deficits ever by Bush/Cheney. $150 oil because of Haliburton favored energy policy of Bush/Cheney........

President Obama has been in office a bit more than 100 days - already he's logged more productive hours as President than Bush/Cheney.......

It's a shame that the only thing the GOP has to enjoy is bigotry to hope and ideas.

[Avery Castille]

Your right!,
I would add it’s a matter of work ethic, when President Clinton & President Bush took office they did not blame things on the prior administration and they both probably could have. What they did was roll their sleeves up and went to work.
President Obama seems to blame everyone but himself, and that’s starting to
annoy the American people. Hopfully he will get it together I am praying for him

[zanngra]

Are those the people in your head. President Obama has a 65% approval rating, you might want to pedal your wares on a facts optional site, fox, michelle malkin to name a few. Knock yourself out.

[kps888]

Voight is just cashing in on the easist way to get a little free publicity these days: say something outrageous and then bask in the free media coverage. His agent probably came up with the idea. The same PR strategy employed recently by such luminaries as Clay Aiken and Jon and Kate.

[Toplyn Iyoha]

john voight is a national disgrace! for a respected thespian of his calibre who is admired across racial, ethnic and political lines to make the statements he made about our president, i believe is absolutely classless.

He has lost my respect forever.

[Avery Castille]

Losing your repect, I bet that hurts him.

[aofh]

HuffPost's Pick

What I find troubling about these GOP voices is the state narcissism, the collective fantasy where "we" are the hero come to save the whole world from folly. That fantasy has underpinned policy--both domestic and foreign--for a long time. I think Obama, starting with the campaign, has begun to put those underpinnings in relief providing us a new way of looking at and thinking about ourselves and the world. This is good because as long as the fantasy prevails we are "perfect" and nothing will change because nothing is broken.

[dinglebe]

I am relieved that there is finally momentum from within the U.S. to save the world FROM us. Had we continued down the neocon road of bluster and aggression, the effort would have had to come from our antagonists and it would have become quite unpleasant. And our antagonists would have grown in number, including some heretofore allies.

[Avery Castille]

MOVE!

[newtonsapple]

He certainly upstaged Newt, didn't he? New's ego must be sore right now!

[Pupadup4oBama]

yeah, weren't they expecting SP to do the same?
Awww...poor Newtie...

I so don't feel sorry for him.