The Obama camp is constantly chanting their mantra about how McCain is "out of touch" with the average American. But then yesterday's news had this delicious tidbit:
Obama raises $9 million at Streisand benefit
Nine million dollars in one evening. Are these guys kidding? And they wonder why Obama’s already flaccid poll ratings are sinking even further? For heaven's sake, is any place more out of touch with the average American than Hollywood? This is the world where a talentless dimwit can take home an eight-figure salary for 110 minutes of poorly-spoken dialogue in a badly written movie. A world where spouses and significant others are tossed aside like last season’s reruns. A world of conspicuous excess; of private planes, multimillion-dollar mansions, gold toilets, expensive cars, haute couture ballgowns, teams of nannies, chefs, drivers, bodyguards, masseurs, agents, managers, personal trainers, nutritionists, and therapists-on-call. A world where plastic surgery is a rite of passage. (And there are a lot of passages.) These folks take home from one awards ceremony goodies that are worth more than what Cindy McCain wears in an entire campaign season. Oh yeah – they’re just like the average Joe.
And they’re such great role models in their personal lives, too. For the past three weeks we’ve seen poor Bristol Palin – and her mother – get raked over the coals for an unplanned pregnancy. Meanwhile Hollywood starlets have made illegitimacy a BFOQ to be on the "A list," and the media drools over them. (Want proof? Go look at archives of People magazine over the past few years and see if you can find ten Hollywood stars - female or male - who have bothered to get married more than 9 months before having a child. If at all.) The divorce rate in America is about 50%. What is it in Hollywood – 95%?
And in how many other industries is substance abuse, repeated failed attempts at rehab, and simultaneous embarrassing 24/7 reality TV coverage guaranteed to jumpstart a flagging career?
This would all be tolerable, if weren’t for the fact that Hollywood is also populated with a bunch of pompous blowhards who have – on average – a high school education, and yet who see fit to pontificate for the rest of u