Hooray For Hollywood

HOORAY FOR HOLLYWOOD.... For quite a while, Republicans, including the McCain campaign, have taken quite a bit of pleasure in admonishing Barack Obama for enjoying endorsements (and contributions) from the Hollywood crowd. And yet, guess who's headed to Tinseltown to rub elbows with stars of screen and stage?

As Democrats celebrate in Denver next week, Republican presumptive presidential nominee Sen. John McCain will be trying to fire up some star power of his own by collecting checks and support from conservatives in Hollywood.Mr. McCain will attend a fundraiser at the Beverly Hilton on Monday, the day the Democrats' convention opens, bringing together top leaders from the Los Angeles business and entertainment communities, according to an invitation for the event obtained by The Washington Times.

Show business publication Variety reported that Angie Harmon, David Zucker, Jon Cryer, Lionel Chetwynd, Craig T. Nelson, Jon Voight, Craig Haffner and Robert Duvall are among those expected to attend.

The truth is, Republican Hollywood-bashing has always been pretty silly. Sure, there are probably more Democratic movie stars. And yes, the entertainment industry makes for a convenient cultural foil for the GOP base and the Bill Bennett crowd, which still occasionally blames Hollywood for societal ills.

But events like McCain's fundraiser are a reminder that Republicans look to movie stars for support just as much as Dems do. Indeed, Republicans tend to take this one step further, turning to Hollywood for candidates (Reagan, Schwarzenegger, Fred Thompson, et al).

I don't really expect the right to stop bashing Hollywood, and I don't much care that McCain is going to be hanging out with Jon Voight, but if the presumptive Republican nominee is going to hang out with movie stars, it's hardly unreasonable to wonder if the McCain campaign is going to stop slamming Obama for doing the same thing.