Clinton Snags Spielberg In Hollywood Coup

The Skinny: Former First Lady Lines Up Tinseltown Giant In Battle Of The Stars

(CBS)  The Skinny is Joel Roberts' take on the top news of the day and the best of the Internet.

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It's "the political equivalent of the Oscar." That's how the Los Angeles Times describes Sen. Hillary Clinton's snagging of an endorsement from Hollywood heavy hitter Steven Spielberg.

Spielberg had "flirted" with the possibility of backing Clinton's chief rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Sen. Barack Obama, but announced Wednesday that he was supporting Clinton.

Does it matter? Who knows. But the Times says it underscores something "Hollywood politicos have been saying for several weeks" – that "members of the largely Democratic entertainment industry are getting over their crush on Obama and are now looking at Clinton as a more likely presidential prospect."

But while Hollywood's fancy may be turning from Obama to Clinton, the Illinois senator is picking up strengthened support from another key constituency – upper-income blacks.

An analysis by USA Today shows Obama has received more than double the number of campaign donations from areas with large concentrations of upper-income blacks than Clinton.

Mosque Bombing Aftershock

The morning papers were grappling with the fallout from Wednesday's bombing of one of Iraq's most revered Shiite shrines – the same holy site that was heavily damaged in an al Qaeda attack last year, leading to a wave of bloody reprisals.

The Los Angeles Times called the latest attack on Samarra's Golden Mosque "a powerful blow to the U.S.-led security plan," and quoted the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraues, as saying he had "a terrible sinking feeling" after hearing about it.

In an interview with USA Today, Petraeus warned that the attack could unleash a new wave of sectarian bloodletting. Petraeus said that while Sunni vs. Shiite violence in Baghdad had been "trending down" recently, "we're going to have to see what the impact of this tragedy in Samarra is on that."

Although some retaliatory attacks on Sunni mosques have been reported, The New York Times said appeals for calm by Shiite and moderate Sunni leaders, as well as U.S. officials, "appeared to have headed off the risk of a new sectarian convulsion, at least for now."

But in more bleak news on the war front, the Wall Street Journal and other papers also note a new Pentagon report "casting doubt on the effectiveness" of the U.S. military's three-month-old troop surge in Baghdad.

The Pentagon assessment, says the Washington Post, shows no drop in overall levels of violence in Iraq since the start of the troop buildup, "as attacks have shifted away from Baghdad and Anbar, where American forces are concentrated, only to rise in most other provinces."


FBI: Snooping Crossed Lines

An FBI audit reveals that the bureau broke rules and potentially laws while collecting personal information during national security investigations far more often than previously acknowledged.

The Washington Post, citing an internal FBI audit, said the agency "potentially violated the law or agency rules more than 1,000 times while collecting data about domestic phone calls, e-mails and financial transactions in recent years." The audit looked at just 10 percent of the bureau's national security investigations since 2002, so the actual number of violations is likely to be much higher.

The vast majority of the cases involved FBI agents holding onto records they received from telephone companies and Internet providers which the agents "did not request and were not authorized to collect." But in more than two-dozens cases, agents requested information that "U.S. law did not allow them to have."

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[boglow]

Who cares who Mr. Spielberg endorses?

[prinzowhales]

Fantastic! A real 'ET' moment! Flash!...'Cattle-Futures' Clinton gets support from purveyor of maudlin mush! EXTRA! EXTRA!...

Rupert Murdoch, who runs FOX, is also providing funding for this odious ambulance chaser...Its a real Hollywood threesome of Israel-firsters we're dealing with here. War with Iran is what they want, if not under the FOX-supported Bush, then under another 'face' in the Establishment stable. The deaths of our children for the sake of Big Oil, Big Money and the mad 'Greater Israel' scheme of the Likkud and their ilk.

[rushlimpdrug]

And the Spieldberg goes to . . . .
envelope please . . .

[ioweign]

One man - One vote! Except in Florida

[jwhitmann]

Intercourse Hollywood
Who the heck do they think they are.

Some blogger yesterday wrote that we
need "separation of hollywood & state"

BRAVO

[infidel_us]

Please let us know when she also "snags" Pee Wee Herman and Carrot Top. Geeezzzzzzz!!!!!

[katg21]

Democrats are for the poor...suckers.

[mikealford3]

I wonder what the greatest effect of this partnership will be.

Will this enhance Hillary's bid for the White House?

or

Will this cause box office revenues to drop for Spielburg movies?

[hermit22]

yep, i agree with "separation of hollywierd and state".

hollywierd has done so much damage to the culture already if they "support" someone i think that candidate is suspect.

[sjc_1]

Fascism is defined as the merging of money and power. When corporate money meets political power, you may have a marriage not made in heaven.

Perhaps we need a separation of board rooms and state to go along with the other recommendations. What is good for business is not necessarily good for America.

[infidel_us]

tax's an structure so we are more like Cuba ..Hey what a deal..Chavez maybe her running partner..
Posted by FARTKNOCKER2 at 12:21 PM : Jun 14, 2007

And don't forget socialized medicine.....like Cuba. I'm sure she, like Mike Moore (or less), feels the Cuban healthcare system is far superior to ours.

[gunownerdan]

Is America an oligarchy, an aristocracy, or a plutocracy?
I find it strange that someone who supposedly cares about the holocaust and the sacrifices made during WWII would endorse someone like Hitlery Clinton.

Blacks are the ones that Obama hurts the most with his support for H-1B, go figure.

(For those who don't know what I'm talking about, studies have shown that Americans can't even get an interview in Silicon Valley if their name sounds too Black. H-1B is negative action in that respect: Americans, those who still have a job in high tech anyway, are training people from overseas in basic computer science. They should be training Americans who want to do something besides flip burgers, but can't because of racism in hiring. Wake up America, people from Asia (India and China mostly) are not "better" in some way at programming computers. I've met many H-1B's, I know.

Clinton and Obama are both in bed with the tech executives in perpetrating that myth. Best thing to do is vote for Kucinich in the primary, and write in Lou Dobbs in the main election when Kucinich loses.

[sparks224]

Barack Obama would get huge number of Republican supporters if he could just get his wife to publicly promises to stay in the kitchen and bake cookies.

[montraville]

People who complain about Hollywood - please understand this - NO ONE IS LISTENING TO YOU.

In America, where I come from, there is such a thing as Free Speech. Which means you can say anything you feel you need to, and no one can stop you. (Note, I am not censoring you in saying this, although by attacking Hollywood, YOU are attempting to censor ME.)

True, not all movies are great. There's a lot of horrible Chuck Norris and Charles Bronson stuff out there, but face it, Hollywood IS America.

(Plus it's one of our biggest export exchange earners and biggest employers. Otherwise the only thing we have to export is Nascar licensing and crappy kid-killing ATVs.)

[donnie900]

The only problem I have with hollywood is that on Oprah Winfry once I watched this mexican lady put on this teerful face in a hot minute, and then in the next, laugh. So I have a real hard time distinguishing between good acting and honesty. If actors were vacuum cleaner salesman, I'd have 10 vacuum cleaners in my house, and not a one of'em would work.

[donnie900]

And they'd be twice the price and just look nice.

[donnie900]

"Who'd ya buy that big diamond necklace fer?"

"Oh, me vacuum cleaner."

[hermit22]

montraville, hollyweird is NOT america.

they might have the pompous notion they are, but duh!

most of hollywierds "exports" are a pimple on the american national face.

the richard gere stink assulting miss world, or whatever title she has, (burn in effigy etc.)is probably more of a realistic world view of hollywierd actors than what hollywierd flatters itself to be. hollyweird is an excuse for 1 billion muslims to look cross eyed at america, and the christian population never brags about hollywierd much either. duh. hollyweird brags about hollyweird....duh.

[mike71067]

Wow! A left-wing Hollywood millionaire supporting a Democrat! That's a shock! I'll bet this is a real rare case.

[montraville]

Hermit,

Oh thank you for that. Thank you for acknowledging to everyone that Hollywood is an important tool in fighting against the religious extremism that threatens America.

I didn't even seek to make that point, but you did it for me. I don't care what America-haters think of Hollywood. In fact, if America-haters are also Hollywood-haters, than all true Americans must by Hollywood supporters, right?

Thank you thank you thank you...

[mike71067]

"Hollywood IS America."
Posted by montraville at 01:42 PM : Jun 14, 2007

Although the left-wing wackos in the entertainment industry may believe so, they are not representative of America. Most Americans, although we enjoy their movies, music, etc., believe that actors and actresses are complete idiots. Their liberal worldviews are not in line with the views of real Americans. That's the truth.

[montraville]

"Most Americans, although we enjoy their movies, music, etc., believe that actors and actresses are complete idiots. Their liberal worldviews are not in line with the views of real Americans. That's the truth."

You can dislike them all you want. That's your Constitution-given right and right on with you! Please just understand that just because we live in California and New York, we automatically accept some kind of second-class status and we aren't true Americans. We're just as American as you are, we just bring in a helluva lot more foreign exchange.

[mike71067]

"Please just understand that just because we live in California and New York, we automatically accept some kind of second-class status and we aren't true Americans. We're just as American as you are, we just bring in a helluva lot more foreign exchange."
-Posted by montraville at 02:46 PM : Jun 14, 2007

I'm not referring to the citizens of those areas (I was born in SF and raised in Southern CA); rather, the entertainment industry. They are a small minority with liberal worldviews that do not line up with the rest of us - but because of the reach of their medium (television, movies, etc.), they have the ability to bring those beliefs into our homes. That's their agenda. Yes, they want to entertain, but they want us all to think the way they do on the issues. That's what most Americans have a problem with, and that's why we do not have a TV in our house.

[hrdstonewall]

Finally some intelligent and respectful discussion. My congratulations to all of you who respect each others right to expression while still offering an insightful debate. My opinion: Hollywood sells a product; when that product sells, then more is offered along the same lines and features; the moment their product stops selling, then their trends change to adapt the consumers' preferences. Hollywood will go from right to left, green to bling in a heartbeat if money is on the table.

[hermit22]

montraville, you, like hollywierd so often does, missed the point completly. hollyweird does NOT fight religious extremism....it is a wart on the face of american that makes many people from around the world want to vomit on america. hollyweird INSITES religious extremism.

when the hollyweird "exports" show america as so filthy and vulgar these people logically want to shun an "invasion" of that sort of duh culture.
who can blame them?

t.v. etc. has gotten so vulgar....and don't use tht boring old "well turn it off them" nonsense....t.v has gotten so often vulgar it is like a wart with pus in it on the american culture. and hollywierds remedy is to "not look" rather than CLEAN THE PUS OUT.

[hermit22]

hollyweird doesn't "sell" on t.v.

consumers are FORCED to subsidise all the fools and floosies on t.v. when the consumer buys a jar of peanut butter, car, pickup, can of pork and beans. every little welfare mother's food stamp dollar has a slice taken out of it to subsidise some fool on t.v. the giant slice of the cut in the grocery budget that goes to the advertizing dollar goes into the pockets of producers etc. stockholders ad nauseum....how ever you spell...."makes me want to vomit". do not brag about hollyweird exports. like mickey rooney said, the honchos get the fortune, the star gets a million "and a tuna sandwich for YOU" to the rest of the hollyweird drudges & hopefulls.if every advertizing dollar had a huge slice that went to good CHURCHES rather than hollyweird what a much better culture this would be.

[gunnerv1]

I knew I didn't like Spielberg for some reason.

[gunownerdan]

Stupid people worship hollywood celebrities, and stupid people are what the "leading candidates" are going to rely on for votes.

[montraville]

"consumers are FORCED to subsidise all the fools and floosies on t.v"

(...gee...SOMEONE hates capitalism. Not me....)


"That's what most Americans have a problem with, and that's why we do not have a TV in our house."

(Your choice. I have three, so I'll carry your load.)


"these people logically want to shun an "invasion" "

(...your sympathy for the values of America's enemies is upsetting.)

[iceman_1960]

"Spielberg... announced Wednesday that he was supporting Clinton."

All right !!

His backing really helped John Kerry turn the corner in 2004.


"Your husband's all right, Mrs. Brody. He's fishing. He's just caught a couple of stripers. We'll bring 'em in for dinner. We won't be long, we haven't seen anything yet. Over and out."

[iceman_1960]

"Most Americans, although we enjoy their movies, music, etc., believe that actors and actresses are complete idiots. Their liberal worldviews are not in line with the views of real Americans. That's the truth."
- Posted by mike71067 at 02:31 PM : Jun 14, 2007

There are some Conservatives in the entertainment industry. They're not the majority, but they aren't blacklisted or ostracized either. Some are among the most successful: Bruce Willis, Ahhhnold of course, Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson (ok, strike that name from the list), Tom Selleck, Kevin Costner, Britney Spears (ok, strike that name from the list), Angie Harmon and many others.

[frb01]

She may very well win the nomination, her problem is that she has very high negative poll numbers, and she is not based on her financial records poor anymore. How that plays in the media is anyone's guess, but given her track record she needs all the help she can get.

[hermit22]

montraville, your brain is slithering around, missing the point again. to put things it really plain english, PEOPLE ARE TIRED OF HOLLYWIERD DUMPING GARBAGE ON THEM.

your lack of sympathy for the values of americans is what is upsetting.

i don't know WHO you are....but you need your head examined. twisting hollywierds lack of responsibility for there adverse effects on the culture into "sympathy for america's enemies"....is convoluted.

"hates capitalism" is a convoluted twist.
give consumers the CHOICE of t.v. that they wanted to SUBSIDISE: helpful churches, programs, education etc. OR floozies and fools on t.v....now that CHOICE would BE capitalism.FORCED payments to fools-floosies are not nice!

did anyone see the CBS ad running every ten minute today during the ellen show of Floozity Huffman announcing to the world she was worried her boobs were going to fall out of her dress ? Floozity Huffman was a real blight on kids watching a show which had so many delightful animal clips. CBS needs to be ashamed again.

[hermit22]

"separation of hollyweird and politics" is just a good figment of someone's imagination, just like the "separation of church and state" is a bad figment of missguided imagination. it is not real. did you see the PBS report on Jefferson recently from the AMERICAN UNIVERSITY? they went back into REAL history...not just the perpetual repeat of something that never really existed...."the separation of church and state"....is just a misguided quote that people drag out when they don't want religious people to have a voice....

[iceman_1960]

"Where in the hell is the constitutional amendment demanding the separation of Hollywood and politics!"
- Posted by ozilot at 09:34 PM : Jun 14, 2007

Mother of mercy, is this the end of Rico?

[beadazzle]

Excuse me who,in their right mind is going to vote for a woman who helped her husband lie about papers when they had a law firm,plus who has a husband who has an over active libedo. If she can't take care of things at home how the hell do you expect her to run this country.

I would rather vote for Obama than her and I'm a woman. As for hollywood they always use their money to get what they want. They have their own little click and if you don't go their way,your out.

How about another 8 years of people losing jobs and homes and each other. How about our kids needing PE in school and prayer. It sure didn't hurt us baby boomers to have PE and prayer in school. We also didn't have kids trying to kill kills and teachers,if we had a beef we went out side and duked it out,or talked it out.

Put another republican in there and the next 4 years will be worse than it ever has been. Gangs controling the streets. Crooks getting out of jail and prison faster for lesser crimes. Gas way higher,food way higher. The rich will get richer and the middle class which is now joinging the poor class will be the next poor class,so all it will be is the rich against the poor.

[jbright9]

Hillary will make a great president. She will have my vote and I am a long way from the Hollywood elite. At least she has a brain and good judgement which is a LOOOOOOOOONG way from what we have today. Whoever gets the job will have a mess to clean up.

[prinzowhales]

A vote for Clinton, Obama, or any of the other Establishment candidates touted by the media will mean the continuation of the noxious Bush policies. The Clintons are crooks, just like their partners in crime, the Bush family. It seems only yesterday that H. Clinton was getting pay-offs in the form of cattle future profits from Tyson Foods--a major polluter in Arkansas.

It seems only yesterday that her husband was committing statutory rape in an Arkansas government office of a friend, a convicted felon, while governor-- enjoying the favors of a young girl in exchange for drugs (according to court documents). These drugs were not hard to come by for Governor Clinton, they came through the Mena, Arkansas airport where he used his office to protect the drug and money smuggling undertaken with Bush proteges like Barry Seal, a notorious drug importer, who, when set up and gunned down, was found to have George Bush, Sr. private office number in his wallet.

Voting for a Clinton is like voting for a Bush...just bobbing for turds in a barrel.

[katg21]

Hillary will make a great president. She will have my vote and I am a long way from the Hollywood elite. At least she has a brain and good judgement which is a LOOOOOOOOONG way from what we have today. Whoever gets the job will have a mess to clean up.
Posted by JBright9 at 08:38 AM : Jun 15, 2007

What makes her qualified? Is it because she's a girl? Why don't you do a little research on her; you'll find that what you see (what the media wants you to see) isn't what you get.

[mike71067]

"Hillary will make a great president. She will have my vote and I am a long way from the Hollywood elite. At least she has a brain and good judgement which is a LOOOOOOOOONG way from what we have today."
-Posted by JBright9 at 08:38 AM : Jun 15, 2007

Well, what we have today is a LOOOOOOOOONG way from communism, which is how I like it. Hillary wants to impose socialism on us. Have you listened to any of her speeches lately? When the was the First Lady everybody hated her for pushing that *** on us. Now she's an actual contender for the White House, and she's very open about her socialist views. I fear that ssome people are either ignoring that or are too dumb to catch it.