Posted on 08/20/2002 4:48:09 PM PDT by HAL9000
The bets are on that Catherine Zeta Jones will one day by the First Lady of the United States.A bookmaker in her native south Wales is giving odds that the 32-year-old Hollywood actress will eventually swap her luxury LA home for the White House.
The gamble is that her husband, actor and film producer Michael Douglas, 57, will turn his part-time involvement in politics into a full-time commitment.
Observers believe that if he joined the Democrats he would lead the opposition party's campaign for the presidency and would be popular enough to win America's top job.
Michael Douglas is no stranger to the world on international diplomacy and negotiation.
In 1998 he was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace with a mission to focus worldwide attention on nuclear disarmament and human rights.
And, unlike most potential candidates for the presidency, he has already had a rehearsal of what might be involved if he is one day working out of the Oval Office.
In 1995, he starred in the film, The American President, in which he played a widowed world leader who begins dating again.
Now the Pontypridd-based bookmakers Jack Brown are offering odds of 6-1 he will grasp the nettle of US politics propel himself in the White House for real, making his Swansea-born wife America's first lady.
They are also taking bets on former first lady Hillary Clinton becoming the first female president, with odds of 4-1.
But it is the prospect of the Douglas-Joneses moving from make-believe to mainstream politics that is leaving the punters most excited.
A Jack Brown spokesman said: "If Michael Douglas became president then Catherine would be the first lady. It would certainly be a big move for a girl from Swansea but she's done pretty well so far."
In addition to being one of the most powerful teams in Hollywood, the couple have a fairytale marriage which has caught the eye of millions.
They share the same birthday - 25 September - 25 years apart, and have a son, Dylan, 2, named after Wales's most famous literary export, the poet Dylan Thomas.
Do we know of any Zeta Jones nudie shots? It is clear that this Aussie believes that Californians may be crazy, but he certainly can't believe that even the cretans who voted (often) for Gore would vote for Douglas. But, there is no doubt that, while the National Inquirer probably won't touch this story, the New York Times will pick it up and run with it, both on the editorial and front pages. It is just the kind of news they think is fit to print.
The real point is this: Ronald Reagan had a message which he honed over decades. He stood for something new on the political landscape. He was unafraid and unashamed of what he stood for, and he articulated it with passion. And the american people, it turned out, identified with his message in droves. And with regards to politics Michael Douglas is famous for...ummm...pretending to be president in a movie. A cardboard cutout, obediently mouthing the words his uppers put in his mouth.....hmmmm, on second thought the DNC is liable to actually embrace him as their candidate after all!
I still think Catherine Zeta Jones is hot. (And if what you say is true - I will start counting out my pennies tonight. How much would two hours cost?)
The real point is this: Ronald Reagan had a message which he honed over decades. He stood for something new on the political landscape. He was unafraid and unashamed of what he stood for, and he articulated it with passion. And the american people, it turned out, identified with his message in droves. And with regards to politics Michael Douglas is famous for...ummm...pretending to be president in a movie. A cardboard cutout, obediently mouthing the words his uppers put in his mouth.....hmmmm, on second thought the DNC is liable to actually embrace him as their candidate after all!
Excellent observations. Anyone who has read Reagan's radio scripts knows he was far more than a mouthpiece. Douglas is simply someone who went along with the left-liberal Hollywood crowd. Reagan was in opposition to that same crowd, and being in opposition is far more likely to lead to a coherent political philosophy that will sell out in the real world.
If so, I've lost respect for the BBC.
I don't think the oddsmaker stipulated who she had to be married to...Do ya think George P. Bush is too young for her? Probably toodecent, but not too young. :)
Testimony of Ronald Reagan before HUAC ( Oct. 23, 1947)
...
STRIPLING: As a member of the board of directors, as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and as an active member, have you at any time observed or noted within the organization a clique of either communists or fascists who were attempting to exert influence or pressure on the guild?
REAGAN: Well, sir, my testimony must be very similar to that of Mr. (George) Murphy and Mr. (Robert) Montgomery. There has been a small group within the Screen Actors Guild which has consistently opposed the policy of the guild board and officers of the guild, as evidenced by the vote on various issues. That small clique referred to has been suspected of more or less following the tactics that we associate with the Communist Party.
STRIPLING: Would you refer to them as a disruptive influence within the guild?
REAGAN: I would say that at times they have attempted to be a disruptive influence.
STRIPLING: You have no knowledge yourself as to whether or not any of them are members of the Communist Party?
REAGAN: No, sir, I have no investigative force, or anything, and I do not know.
STRIPLING: Has it ever been reported to you that certain members of the guild were communists?
REAGAN: Yes, sir, I have heard different discussions and some of them tagged as communists.
STRIPLING: Would you say that this clique has attempted to dominate the guild?
REAGAN: Well, sir, by attempting to put their own particular views on various issues, I guess you would have to say that our side was attempting to dominate, too, because we were fighting just as hard to put over our views, and I think, we were proven correct by the figures -- Mr. Murphy gave the figures -- and those figures were always approximately the same, an average of 90 percent or better of the Screen Actors Guild voted in favor of those matters now guild policy.
STRIPLING: Mr. Reagan, there has been testimony to the effect here that numerous communist-front organizations have been set up in Hollywood. Have you ever been solicited to join any of those organizations or any organization which you considered to be a communist-front organization?
REAGAN: Well, sir, I have received literature from an organization called the Committee for a Far-Eastern Democratic Policy. I don't know whether it is communist or not. I only know that I didn't like their views and as a result I didn't want to have anything to do with them.
STRIPLING: Were you ever solicited to sponsor the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee?
REAGAN: No, sir, I was never solicited to do that, but I found myself misled into being a sponsor on another occasion for a function that was held under the auspices of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee.
STRIPLING: Did you knowingly give your name as a sponsor?
REAGAN: Not knowingly. Could I explain what that occasion was?
STRIPLING: Yes sir.
REAGAN: I was called several weeks ago. There happened to be a financial drive on to raise money to build a badly needed hospital called the All Nations Hospital. I think the purpose of the building is so obvious by the title that it has the support of most of the people of Los Angeles. Certainly of most of the doctors. Some time ago I was called to the telephone. A woman introduced herself by name. I didn't make any particular note of her name, and I couldn't give it now. She told me that there would be a recital held at which Paul Robeson would sing, and she said that all the money for the tickets would go to the hospital, and asked if she could use my name as one of the sponsors. I hesitated for a moment, because I don't think that Mr. Robeson's and my political views coincide at all; and then I thought I was being a little stupid because, I thought, here is an occasion where Mr. Robeson is perhaps appearing as an artist, and certainly the object, raising money, is above any political consideration: it is a hospital supported by everyone. I have contributed money myself. So I felt a little bit as if I had been stuffy for a minute, and I said, "Certainly, you can use my name." I left town for a couple of weeks and, when I returned, I was handed a newspaper story that said that this recital was held at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles under the auspices of the Joint Anti-Fascist Refugee Committee. The principal speaker was Emil Lustig, Robert Burman took up a collection, and the remnants of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade were paraded on the platform. I did not, in the newspaper story, see one word about the hospital. I called the newspaper and said I am not accustomed to writing to editors but would like to explain my position, and he laughed and said, "You needn't bother, you are about the 50th person who had also been listed as sponsors of that affair."
STRIPLING: Would you say from your observation that that is typical of the tactics of the communists, to solicit and use the names of prominent people to either raise money or gain support?
REAGAN: I think it is in keeping with their tactics, yes sir.
STRIPLING: Do you think there is anything democratic about those tactics?
REAGAN: I do not, sir.
...
CHAIRMAN: There is one thing that you said that interested me very much. That was the quotation from Jefferson. That is why this committee was created by the House of Representatives: to acquaint the American people with the facts. Once the American people are acquainted with the facts there is no question but what the American people will do the kind of job that they want done: that is, to make America just as pure as we can possibly make it. We want to thank you very much for coming here today.
REAGAN: Sir, I detest, I abhor their philosophy, but I detest more than that their tactics, which are those of the fifth column, and are dishonest, but at the same time I never as a citizen want to see our country become urged, by either fear or resentment of this group, that we ever compromise with any of our democratic principles through that fear or resentment. I still think that democracy can do it.
Other than pointing out the what was going on inside Hollywood in the late 1940s, Reagan's testimony also reveals the tactics of the commies, still used today.
The Chairman (J. Parnell Thomas) was correct. "Once the American people are acquainted with the facts there is no question but what the American people will do the kind of job that they want done: that is, to make America just as pure as we can possibly make it. " Unfortunately, the people eare not being made aware of the facts.
Woody Harrelson = Secretary of the Inferior.
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