This could get interesting:
Picture This: Ben Affleck, Senator From Va.
If you liked him as Bennifer . . . you’ll love him as Benator!
That’s the hot new idea being tossed around by Virginia Democrats, who are desperately searching for a big name to challenge the reelection bid of rising GOP star Sen. George Allen next year, now that outgoing Gov. Mark Warner has ducked out.
I’d love to see someone send George ‘Dingbat’ Allen packing. But I don’t know if Ben Affleck is the person to do it.
Chris Bowers thinks it is very bad idea.
Someone like Affleck would be a horrible, media sucking distraction from the 2006 campaign. This would be the equivalent media circus of the 2003 California recall election. It would destroy the generic advantage Democrats are poised to hold in 2006, and from which they will reap huge benefits if Bush’s approval rating stays low.
So, please God, no, don’t let Affleck run. The last thing we need in 2006 is for the star of Gigli to be our most recognizable national face.
What say you? Take the poll.
Oh PUUULEASE — this is the party ya’ll support?
Yes, by all means, please put Ben Affleck up for Senator, hell, there’s been Reagan, and Arnold, and Sonny Bono and if our blog ads are to be believed Lyn Swann — what the fucking hell and why not?
Now if you were going to put Tim Robbins up, that would be a different story for me….
is a politically involved guy. He’s fairly smart. But I’d like to see him cut his teeth on a lower office before thinking about the Senate. He seems a little raw to be a member of the Senate. And it would be a distraction.
I think George Clooney could be a serious politician. I think Fred Thompson was a serious politician (although I didn’t agree with his policies). Thompson also had experience as a Watergate counsel. So, he had more than acting on his resume.
Agreed. Better to start in a lower office like this guy:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/8/newsid_2523000/2523371.stm
Go ahead. Make my day.
You mean like an action hero non American body builder running for Governor of one the the largest states first time out of the box…???
Sounds like the “centrist” aren’t pleased with a librul running…
Arnold ran for governor right out of the box.
You must KNOW that isn’t what I was asking about, musn’t you??
I don’t know the history of Arnold? Do I come across as that ignorant to you?? I’ll have to work on it.
No, what I was asking you about was the “centrist” crack.
No, what I was asking you about was the “centrist” crack.
…
Do I come across as that ignorant to you??
Well there is only one centrist mentioned in the post who “thinks it is very bad idea.”…you take a guess
What am I supposed to be guessing about here?
How ignorant I come across to you or who the centrist is?
Actually forget it — you’ve pissed me off with enough of your answers that I don’t care what your answer to these questions are.
Be sure to check every website for the big Democrat listing — i cannot believe you think that makes for qualifications….
Be sure to check every website for the big Democrat listing — i cannot believe you think that makes for qualifications….
How about just reading the post that this thread is attached to… not that difficult.
That would be real nice too. So sorry that I actually tred to understand your point of view.
I’m not sure who the centrists are but I can assure you that I’m not amongst them. In fact I agree with many of the things that you have written here. I just believe that Affleck would be a sideshow, a distraction. Whatever positives that he brings to the table would be overshadowed by his other non-political activities.
not you the ones who came out immediately to critize him yet embrace Casey et al
I have read the entire thread.
Perhaps you should read the post also.
I read the post — maybe you should try not being so sanctimonious all of the damn time — you have good points to make sometimes but you are abrasive as hell and very vauge on solutions while being BIG on criticism.
I read the post
Then what is the problem?
You make a very good point...
He can’t be worse than Casey or Langevin or Taylor…
and people who walked on the moon or tried to walk on the moon! You are slipping Cat.
What?
I”m not going to bash him for some recent cinematic, and girlfriend, missteps. He’s an expectant dad now! And he was in one of my favorite indy films, “Boiler Room.” — RENT IT!
He’s also a seriously dedicated activist and Democrat. An ass-clown, he is not.
But I think that Bowers makes a very strong point. We don’t need celebrity diversions in the press. That said, he’d do a better job, probably, than a lot of people. He’s smart and hangs with a lot of smart people. And he probably knows infinitely more about politics than Arnold.
poker player — which means that he, unlike our current group of Democratic legislators, knows the value of taking a calculated risk…
The only upside I see is that it would keep him from “acting” — something he does not do well.
He was good in “Boiler Room” and in “Good Will Hunting,” which he also co-wrote.
In 1993, he directed “I Killed My Lesbian Wife, Hung Her on a Meat Hook, and Now I Have a Three-Picture Deal at Disney.”
Bet you didn’t know that… huh? HUH?
More info at Imdb.
copy you can shoot me?
Good in Boiler Room and excellent in “Changing Lanes.”
I wish I could vote for him.
Ben Affleck’s acting still sucked in spite of them!
to consider in this context is the fact that the Dems are having a hard time finding a candidate that can reasonably be expected to beat Allen.
Affleck is definitely a progressive too. If elected he might be the most liberal member of the Senate.
But, offsetting that, he will have a hard time relating to Virginia voters. There is a cultural divide there that would be hard to bridge.
Plus, I think he is hard to take seriously.
listening — send him to me — I have lived all over the state of VA from Nothern Virginia to the college town of Blacksburg and have met and worked with many a Virginian from the folks who live hidden and forgotten in the Applachians to the prison polulations to college students and tech geeks — if he can’t relate, I can teach him….
But I might have been influenced by his looks. 😉
What were you saying about acting skills?
Uh huh. Coburn should be nominated for a fucking Academy Award.
If we could all get our act together, with Bush’s poll numbers, Iraq, Katrina, Rita, Frist stock rumours, Delay’s ethics violations, Brown’s resume padding, need I go on….we should be able to put Hitler up for any seat open anywhere and win. Let’s get serious and take back the majority folks. We need to work independently in each of our states looking for Hackett type candidates. You know, ones that will speak up, tell the truth, still not corrupted by corporate money. can we do this?
What are your local targets for 2006, Aloha?
Mine is Maria Cantwell, and only Maria Cantwell. She will have a very tough race if that SAFECO CEO GOP candidate catches on at all. Or Karl Rove can portray her as a latte-drinking high-tech millionaire.
My Congressman is a conservative Democrat, Norm Dicks, and he’s a shoo-in — he’s heavy on military and CAFTA but that pleases his heavily military constituency. (He’s also very good on environmental issues, which consoles me.)
Well, we may have a fairly easy time depending on who the repubs decide to put up instead of “Duke” the crook Cunningham has announced he will not run for reelection. I am liking Francine Busby very much and look forward to meeting her next month at a meeting to get aquainted. I read her website and what she has done locally for the schools etc and she is pro-choice and isn’t shy about saying it. So far so good. So right now that will be my focus. Just starting to try and get into DFA meetings and meeting others willing to be the change they want in the world.
I like Ben okay, but I hate the whole celebrity-driven culture thing. So I vote NO! Let’s try to get serious about our government.
You’re right.
But i have to wonder what possessed the Republicans to go after helmet-hair idiot George Allen. He looks like an over-the-hill local TV news anchor, and things just go downhill when he opens his mouth. What I’m trying to say, inartfully, is that the Republicans seem to have very superficial reasons for THEIR candidate choices.
follow suit?? Hey, it’s your party, but for crying out loud — this is a “new hot idea”?!
a) it ain’t new
b) it ain’t hot!
No way … just thinking about it all, and am thinking out loud.
There has to be something — a mad kind of science — to the kind of boobs they choose, who do seem to get elected. Affleck is surely much brighter than Allen and, like Sybil writes below, he is knowledgeable and articulate. I think it’d be unwise to toss him aside merely because he is a celebrity.
I’m a Canadian outsider.I have heard Ben Afleck talk politics on Bill Maher’s old show on ABC. He is erudite and well-versed in American politics. He is no bimbo.
And compared to some Senators I’ve heard speak, he is a genius.
getting genius status out of comparing someone to a US Senator is setting the bar pretty damned low!
You know that what matters is what state voted them in. I think she meant that the Senators from the states where a higher I.Q. is considered important to holding office and making decisions that affect the globe Ben could hold his own in a conversation with. She is also saying that the states who think it is important to vote in a regular guy with a regular I.Q. score of 100 so nobody feels lorded over or talked down to have Senators inferior to even the likes of Ben. Wow, Fuck It…….Ben for President!
I am not sure I understand what you’re talking about — Va has a low IQ? Does CA? They voted Arnold in. MI?
I don’t get it.
PS I would really appreciate it, if you would quit using my name in posts, there’s a reason I didn’t use it in my screen name. Thanks.
I wish I’d seen that show, Sybil.
He’s also got a lot of real-life business experience, having produced several films and developing projects like the HBO — what was it called — Project Greenlight? I think it’s on Bravo now.
And, since everything in Hollywood is done by committee — often by huge committees — he is well-practiced in the art of communicating with a variety of people with differing perspectives.
Those are assets. Background that many people who’ve only been in politics don’t have.
(Just more thinking out loud … trying to think of all the pros and cons.)
Terrible Idea..First off..Why Virginia? Ben is from Boston. Second…All of the dirt they will dig up on Ben with his past drinking & Drug Abuse. As far as I am concerned he can barely act. I know he is an activist, however I think it best that he enjoy his new life with his new wife and the kid on the way. Give Ben another 5 years to get his act together and have him get involved in local politics working his way up the ladder. I also agree about it being a distraction. We need more Hacketts not Afflecks. Now…Paul Newman against Lieberman in CT. I can hang with.
Well, that says it all about the sorry state of the Democratic Party. If that’s the best this brain trust can come up with, I’m seriously concerned about 2006. Ben “I never voted in my life, but I’ll be a spokesperson for voting” Affleck? I suppose it could be argued that the best way to challenge an empty suit like Allen is with an empty head like Affleck, but it’s not a strong argument. If they’re going to ape the GOP’s strategy of pinning their hopes on the Governator, couldn’t they at least pick an actor with a handful of original thoughts to offer? Or have we all just accepted the Rovian idea that as long as it looks like a government, it doesn’t actually matter if any real governance occurs.
that that is the ONLY thing it is about??
Appearances, my dear, are apprently everything!!
PS Will you tell me story about cool air from CO coming to visit me in TX?? I don’t care if it’s pure fantasy, I just want it to appear to be cool!
😉
Ummmmmm…anyone else having a problem with this thread running into the ads or is it just me. Other diaries are not doing this. Anyone?
but I try not to fret when the machine acts up – ‘ignore it and maybe it’ll go away’ usually works for me.
Can you empty your cache and try? Do you have much memory left in your ‘puter at the moment?
I only have 512 RAM and have to reboot periodically to keep things loading nicely.
I’m not seeing that problem here, so …
ok here comes the computer illiterate question of the day. What is cache and how do you empty it?
In Firefox you go to “Preferences…” under the Firefox menu.
In Safari (on the Mac) there’s an “Empty Cache” menu option.
Not sure about IE — I have it on the machine but rarely if ever use it anymore…thinking about ditching it except for if I do get into web design I’ll need to test pages in it…
Thanks Cali…I have IE.
Aloha, you go to tools at the top of toolbar, then options and then click, clear history, and delete files, you can also clear cookies, but then you will probably have to relogin on some sites. I think that should do it.
Just spotted your post Diane…thanks sweetie.
Sent to me by Darcy after I sent her this story’s URL:
Go here to read all and to see the embedded links.
— Baby-eater is linked to another Defamer story — I haven’t checked yet to see what THAT’s about.
I was going to bring up the point that Affleck doesn’t live in VA and how that might cause a problem. Moving to Charlottesville? Cool. It’s an hour up the road from me and judging by the alternative newspaper that gets distributed around Lynchburg it’s packed with yoga instructors, massage therapists and has a spa where they heal you with colored stones. Definitely don’t have those sort of folks hanging in Lynchburg…
Sure. Because we all no how much southern voters love carpet-baggers. Let’s see: a liberal, northeastern, celebrity carpet-bagger — where do I sign onto this grand vision. Who is coming up with these ideas? Republican moles trying to destroy what’s left of the Democratic Party?
I think the Dems should run Alan Alda against Allen – just to confuse everyone.
This is the difference between the Dems and the GOP… only in the GOP dreams would they have someone like Ben wanting to “join the team” instead they make do with the Sonny Bonos and the Lynn Swans
If Ben went to the GOP and said we wanted to run in a state where they had no bench … how much you wanna bet that the GOP would already be coaching and prepping him. Swan has been in training for over a year now… no one said that he is just an old football player with ABSOLUTELY NO POLITICAL EXPERIENCE AT ALL… kinda like Sonny Bono.
Yet, here Ben an intelligent, articulate well known person is mocked… oh yeah… let’s get behind Casey and Langevin instead… very interesting indeed.
Lay it our for me point by point — why would I support him to serve in the Senate?
He is progressive
He is well versed.
He is well known.
He is rich and good looking ….an Edwards (who also had looks and money and self financed)
He can bring in new people especially yound people into the party…he’d have the women’s vote.
If the GOP can “clean up Bush, Arnold and Sonny Bono” I think Ben has more than enoough to work with….
I could not care less what he is going to do for “the party” — what is he going to do for ME?
Personnally I am looking for candidates who actually want to represent their constituents in Washington.
And you live in VA?
for me, please? people at dKos think they’re progressive too.
Well then take it up with Kos on his definition of progressive.
You used the word — I want to know what you think it means because, outside of the blogosphere it don’t mean much — if you can’t even define it, that’s pathetic.
My definition of progressive is fiscally conservative and sociall responsible… what Kos’s defintion you will have to ask him.
I’m not ASKING what his definition is — Jesus, what is your difficulty?? I was asking for a definition of progressive in the context that you used it, by way of illustrating that it means different things to different people, I noted that people at dKos also use this word to describe themselves.
Too complex? Or do you just enjoy being shitty?
I AM ENDING THIS DEBATE NOW I HAVE ANSWERED ALL OF YOUR QUESTION AND YOU CALLED ME A BITCH … SO YOU CAN GO TO HELL
Sorry — you’ve been acting like a bitch — I’ve been asking questions and you’ve been answering them with snide and shitty remarks — you go to hell — you don’t get to END THIS DEBATE when you want to — you are uite full of yourself. I have lost all respect I had for you.
ARE YOU DRUNK?
I just don’t take shit off of ANYONE — and you have been consistently shitty to me, I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt up until now, but you can’t even ask direct questions without being an asshole.
You get what you give. Again, so sorry for bothering you with my questions about your point of view — obviously you can’t be bothered, and franky at this point, I could care less what you think. About anything.
of my questions” — that is utter bullshit.
“Fiscally conservative and socially responsible” is how I describe a GOP moderate like Christine Todd Whitman. That’s not a progressive, that’s a placeholder. If that’s what the word has come to mean these days, then it has drifted considerably from its origins. Progress and conservatism are mutually incompatible.
Frankly, when the status quo is a state of profound decline, it’s questionable whether any kind of conservatism is a good idea. What we need is someone who is fiscally responsible and socially progressive — in the old sense of the word.
BEST REASON:
Ben would make a BOLD contrast against a GOP and will stand up and state Democratic principles.
He will give the GOP a run for their money and debate vigorsly on the issues… which are too afraid of doing now
… it is ludicris hearing Kaine calling Kilgore’s pot black in regards to reproductive rights… one half shade of differnce between the two.
Give the a GOP a run for their money?
So?
So…so
That what democratic principles are? so…so?
Do you even have an opinion about this or are you just interested in being snide and rude? You are doing well at the latter, and piss poor at articulting the former. Is this how you will motivate voters? I really thought you were a bit more politically savy than this — guess I was mistaken.
you said:
So?
perhaps I missed the part where you asked about:
That what democratic principles are?
Yes, you missed the TITLE OF THE POST — is that not clear?
— and you have the nerve to tell ME to read things???
How do you know Ben will do this? Just asking, maybe you have read it some where?
One more reason:
He is not afraid like these meally mouthed Dems who won’t even type the word Democrat on their websites….
Type democrat on his website??
this is not persuasive!
considering that about 50% are refusing to even put the word Democrat on their website…I think it is a good start
I just saw this one today:
http://www.fawcett4congress.com/
The only mention of Democrat is in the title of a newpaper article the linked.
What’s up cookie?
email me or call me if you really want to know.
… campaign managers!
(Tracy, he might fall asleep on your hotel room floor some night .. just think about that.)
Oops, I already used that one for an excuse. So many passed out progressives and so little time.
we agreed I was nonresponsive 🙂
And… is there something you’re not telling me, Tracy?
Besides, you’d never dream of running some dumb jock basketball player for senate.
And you wouldn’t run some freakin’ astronaut. What political experience do you get from being a test pilot?
In reality, there are a variety of skills that go into governing that can be acquired in any of a number of arenas. Including show-biz… although I’d think directing would be more applicable than acting.
Personally, I think Affleck comes across as too young… and as a pretty-boy, even if in truth he might be sharper than one might expect. Remember, perception counts for a lot.
After all, John Edwards suffered from a perceived lack of gravitas… but then again, he was running for president.
Arnold appeals because he seems ‘strong’. Same with Clint Eastwood. Same with Reagan.
Therefore… maybe not Ben Affleck. Get me Harrison Ford on Line One.
This is an open race… if he had to primary with Hackett of course I’d say no… but as usual the DSCC will find a Brad Carson type to run… further right than the GOP…
“And I must just say that it’s not just enough to put the Democrats back in power. I don’t want the same old Democratic party that’s just sat around on it’s butt and thought that if it was like the Republicans it might win an election once in a while. We’ve got to have real change in this country.”
Howard Dean on the Ed Schultz Show: 9/8/05
Jesus H Fucking Christ people…please get a grip. If Ben Affleck is the BEST we can come up with for dog catcher let alone the Senate no wonder we cannot win elections. This is just absurd. Arnold is a fucking joke and he will by no means be reelected. He has proven how incompetent he is.
What ever happen to the candidate that came up through the ranks and proved himself to be a candidate worthy of our votes? You know, the guy or gal that started on the local schoolboard, ran for city council, became mayor, ran for congress and then maybe governor or senate. Are you really telling me all we need is a pretty face with name recognition…no GD experience? Again, totally disgusting. Just my piddly 2 cents worth.
Why can’t somebody run who isn’t a millinaire and is interested in politics and worked they up to a postion?
Affleck is a pompus ass.
I guess this means no Benator. Okay, no Benator! I can fathom it but I seem to be a little bit alone in the deep end.
I too could see it.
There are too few people who go into politics for the right reasons. I think that if Affleck did run, he would do so because he genuinely wanted to help.
And regardless of what anyone thinks of the guy, that alone makes me think we shouldn’t be so quick to denigrate him.
Especially considering that other “more qualified” celebrities might see how Affleck is treated by the left, and decide it isn’t worth the trouble.
My $.02.