In Hollyweird, it's a fact of life that not every movie an actor is in is a hit. This doesn't change the bankability of certain actors. Just because this one was a flop doesn't mean that Matt Damon doesn't put butts in seats. It just means that the vehicle he chose this time wasn't that good.
I am saying these two sayings aren’t always true. The fact people are swearing off certain actors for life is not evidence of bad publicity being good publicity.
How many people actually swear off actors for life? In reality, not that many. Most people aren't news junkies. Most could care less about an actor's politics as long as he's in an entertaining movie. It wasn't Matt Damon that made this most recent flick a flop. It was that no one wanted to see (yet another) movie about the war in Iraq.
If the star of the film had been Matt Noname instead of Matt Damon the film would have flopped far worse. Probably 90% of the people that saw it went to see a Matt Damon movie not a "Liberals Bash the US" movie.
Of course, if the star of the film had been Matt Noname it wouldn't have cost $230 Million to make either.