US Senator Chris Dodd is reportedly in negotiations to be the next president of the Motion Picture Association of America, a lucrative lobbying spot to protect and promote the interests of Tinseltown.
According to Politico's Mike Allen, Dodd is the only one to whom MPAA is talking.
If the MPAA asks Dodd what his favorite film is, I recorded the answer here at The Washington Note long ago -- A Man for All Seasons.
During the time Dodd offered opening comments on the screening of this film, the US public was experiencing massive incursions into its pool of civil liberties and the Bush/Cheney team were creating a class of enemy it decided deserved no humane path to justice. Dodd referenced Sir Thomas More and his views on the Devil, particularly this line:
I give the Devil benefit of law for my own safety's sake.
Dodd has his detractors, but the Senator put that out there in front of Senator Lindsay Graham and a room full of DC power types. He had already earned my respect for being someone who called for the anachronistic, ineffective Cold War embargo of Cuba to end -- but he also earned my support that evening for connecting culture to important contemporary policy battles.
So, I hope the Board of the MPAA asks Dodd what his favorite film is -- and I hope he gives them a good civics lesson.
-- Steve Clemons publishes the popular political blog, The Washington Note. Clemons can be followed on Twitter @SCClemons