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WH 2012: Sarah Palin has some surprising celebrity admirers
As is the case everywhere else, the world of showbiz seems to be polarized by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R).
Celebrities such as Matt Damon either call her “totally absurd” or claim she “represents the good while exposing the bad and ugly,” as rock icon Ted Nugent has grandiloquently penned.
But there are also those who have expressed admiration for her personal character while remaining opposed to her politics. That doesn’t fit neatly into the Axis vs. Allies stories about her, and thus is often obscured by the media.
Musician and record producer Wyclef Jean doesn’t have warm words for her politics, but is an admirer who nods approvingly at her “swagger.”
“At the end of the day, anybody that has an opinion of their own and they’re starting something by themselves without following somebody, I admire it. … I like the swagger,” he told Fox News.
‘Swagger’ is jargon for the type of confidence that doesn’t care what opinion polls or critics might say, and considering Jean’s own brush with political celebrity — he filed for candidacy in the 2010 Haitian presidential election — it might not be a surprise that he looks so favorably on political “swagger.”
Looking back at the former vice-presidential candidate’s appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” senior producer Marcia Klein shares Jean’s assessment, calling attention to Palin’s “incredibly strong handshake.”
“A lot of people come to our show — actors, musicians — and they’re nervous … she was not nervous. I thought, ‘This is the most confident person I’ve ever met,’ ” Klein said in an interview with NBC’s New York affiliate.
But, according to some celebs who have met her, the personal warmth doesn’t come at the expense of that swagger.
British singer Adele professes distaste for Palin’s politics, but was nevertheless impressed by the former governor when she met her during the 2008 campaign.
“She was really, really nice. And I felt bad, because I had a huge Obama badge on my chest, and she only came up to my chest, and she’s looking at my Obama badge, bless her,” the singer told the London Free Press.
And, even though the former governor has been depicted as thin-skinned, thanks to her frequent gripes about the “lamestream” media’s treatment of her, the liberal actor Alec Baldwin says that could not have been further from the truth when he met her.
“Palin came there to get thrown in the dunk tank. She knew it, and she was gracious,” he said to Vanity Fair.
Another actor who is commonly associated with liberal causes, “Lord of the Rings” star Viggo Mortensen, steers his audience to a more nuanced view of Palin the Politician, one increasingly subscribed to in the wake of her continued influence on the American political discourse.
“I think it would be unwise to dismiss her because she is foolish and misinformed. People say there’s no way she will hold any significant office. … Don’t be so sure. I notice she’s starting to sound relatively eloquent in that superficial way she has … she’s not going away,” he said in an interview with the Daily Beast.
Comedian Dennis Miller has noted that same success:
“Is she a genius? No. Are the people who say she’s stupid every day geniuses? No,” he said on Fox News. “You know what my definition of genius is? When you get $7 million upfront for a book.”
Then there’s Sarah Palin the Mom, and which better celebrity to weigh in than Dr. Drew Pinsky, whose “Celebrity Rehab” tracks stars’ bouts with personal demons.
“Take the Palins’ politics out of it. They have done a remarkable job with [their daughter] Bristol. She is very poised and clear on who she is,” he told Radar Online.
Finally, singer-songwriter Jewel Kilcher, an Alaska native herself, offers perhaps the clearest example of someone who has firmly separated Palin’s politics from Palin’s person.
“I don’t think we agree on everything, politically, but as a woman, I really relate to her,” Jewel said in an interview with CNN. “I think a lot of Alaskan women are very can-do women. They do it for themselves. They get things done, and I really recognize that in her a lot.”
Somewhere, possibly fishing in the waters of Lake Iliamna, a Mama Grizzly is nodding.
Heinze is the founder of GOP12.com. Find his column, GOP Presidential Primary, on thehill.com
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