Hollywood Heavies In NYC For Hillary
It looked like one big party, but it was also a big fund raiser.
Hollywood's elite feted first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton Wednesday in a 53rd birthday bash that pumped $2 million into her New York Senate campaign - and poked fun at politics at the same time.
Actors Robert De Niro, Chevy Chase, Tom Cruise, Cameron Diaz, Ben Affleck, Nathan Lane and music stars Cher and the Rev. Al Green were among the star-studded cast, with President Clinton as the keynote speaker.
Cher arrived fashionably late, putting comic actor Chevy Chase on the spot, who joked the famous star was having "last-minute liposuction." Emcee Nathan Lane quipped that Cher was delayed because the police officer escorting her had locked his keys in his car.
"It's kind of like waiting for Godot," said Mrs. Clinton shortly before Cher arrived.
"So I'm the late Cher, I'm really sorry Hill," Cher told the first lady, whose birthday is actually Thursday.
Each guest paid at least $10,000 to watch actors rib leading political players and hear Al Green sing Let's Stay Together.
 De Niro, with Mr. Clinton (AP)SIZE> |
A highlight was when De Niro tried to teach the president how to say "forget about it" in a heavy New York accent to which Mr. Clinton replied, quoting a De Niro line from Taxi Driver: "You talkin' to me?"
In another comedy set, actors from Saturday Night Live interviewed an out-of-work Bill Clinton for a place in a New York apartment building, telling him his legal fees of $40 million and salary of $200,000 a year did not help his application.
After being introduced by Tom Cruise as "one of the greatest leaders of the United States," Mr. Clinton joked that De Niro and Cruise made more money in eight minutes than he had made in eight years as president.
He then paid tribute to his wife and told the audience how he had first met her when he was a "scruffy, stylistically challenged guy" in the Yale Law Library and she walked up to him from across the room and introduced herself.
"I couldn't even remember my name," President Clinton recalled, saying the first lady's forward approach proved she had the "requisite aggression" to be a true New Yorker.
"If you just keep working for 13 more days, she is going to make you profoundly proud," said Mr. Clinton of his wife's Senate bid against Rep. Rick Lazio. "On top of that, she looks pretty good to be 53 years old," he added, to laughter.
The first lady joked she had told some people she was 43 years old, conceding this was "fuzzy math," a reference to comments by Republican presidential nominee George W. Bush about Democratic choie Al Gore's economic plan.
"I will work hard for you. I will pick up your dry-cleaning and do the dusting and vacuuming," Mrs. Clinton told the crowd, in reference to a spoof video introduced by Affleck.
On a more serious note, Mrs. Clinton urged people to "get out the vote", saying that there was still a lot of work to do before election day on Nov. 7.
"Spend these next 12 days trying to get people out to vote," the first lady said.
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