Show-biz conservatives begin coming out of closet

Some say they keep quiet about their political leanings in order to get work.
By PAT CRAIG
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
ELL, I TOLD MY CON-gressman and he said, quote: 'I'd like to help you son but you're too young to vote.'" -- "Summertime Blues," an often re-recorded rock 'n' roll tune by Eddie Cochran
Take it back to that generations-old rock tune, or to Jimi Hendrix making the national anthem cry at Woodstock, or even to Roseanne Barr's crotch-grabbing version of "The Star Spangled Banner": Politics has danced its way around arts and entertainment for years.
Lately, however, that gentle political minuet has turned into a full-tilt, frontal assault, marching toward the left and leaving those with more conservative viewpoints without much of a tune to whistle.
Plays with titles such as "Laura's Bush," movies such as "Fahrenheit 9/11" and anti-Bush rock tours such as "Vote For Change" are getting the attention, while more conservative efforts, where they exist, are more moderate and lower in profile -- for now, anyway.
Some in Hollywood's under-30 crowd, inspired by the success of Arnold Schwarzennegger, are proudly beginning to wave their conservative colors, according to Democrat and documentary filmmaker Jesse Moss, whose "Rated R: Republicans in Hollywood" aired on AMC.
"It's a growing voice in the entertainment community," he says. "Arnold has opened the door for young Republicans in Hollywood by proving they can be proud of their views and still succeed in the entertainment business."
Conservatives on board
The entertainment industry's conservative A-list doesn't sparkle as brightly as that of the liberal side. Those who have come out solidly for re-electing George Bush include Ben Stein, Jessica Simpson, Ted Nugent, Gene Simmons and Greg Kihn. But more names are coming to the front in the areas of production and writing, along with performers such as Patricia Heaton, Pat Sajak, Chuck Norris and Drew Carey, who styles himself a libertarian, "someone who can support the war and get high," is how he puts it in Moss's film.
What's an artistic young conservative to do? Conservatives -- who, in Moss's documentary, sound much more like moderates in the Schwarzennegger mold -- used the term "closeted" to describe their feeling about working in the arts.
Essentially, you keep quiet about your political beliefs if you want to work, they said.
Screenwriter and longtime conservative Lionel Chetwynd describes the process as being "whitelisted," the opposite of being on the old Hollywood blacklist of the '50s. If you are whitelisted, you have a better chance to be involved with projects.
In the film, Sajak said work goes to those best able to do it, liberal or conservative. The problem is more social -- much of the networking in Hollywood is done at parties, which typically don't include many conservatives. Now, however, the Hollywood conservative element is large and public enough to begin its own networking.
Prevalence of labeling
Country singer Toby Keith, a strong supporter of the Iraq war and many of the current Bush administration policies, discussed in an interview with the Boston Globe in July the idea of forming assessment of people based entirely on their politics.
"I just laugh at those people and I wear that as a badge of honor," he says. "I'm thinking, 'Where do you draw the line on that?' If your kid gets his toe cut off with a lawn mower and you rush him to the hospital and you get in there and find out the surgeon is a Republican, do you delay the friggin' surgery? You know what I mean? Where do you pick and choose on my right to be an American? What cracks them up is the look on their faces when they find out that I'm a registered Democrat. That kills them."
Like media outlets grasping for the "right demographic," political parties have started touting the personalities supporting their causes. For example, the Republican Party has attracted the support of several major Christian musical groups, including the Grammy-winning Third Day, which appeared at the Republican National Convention earlier this month, in the same session as Vice President Dick Cheney.
But voices from the right are much better represented in talk radio and television chat shows than in theaters, galleries and concert venues.
Some say that's because conservatives are entertained by the works and ignore the politics. Others say those in power to make artistic noises from the right are just beginning to do it.
Minister's view
"The conservatives have stopped throwing rocks," says the Rev. David Bruce, an Ashland, Ore., minister who operates an online program called "Hollywood Jesus."
"You hardly saw any protests at the last 'Harry Potter,"" says the Rev. Mr. Bruce, who has an informal group of commentators who write for his Web site about the theological nature of films and television. "In fact, Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of the Christ' turned the corner on conservative artistry. The movie, a vivid and graphic look at Jesus' life, was supported, particularly by conservative Christians, by the busload, not so much because it was a religious movie, but because it was a realistic film.
"There has been an amazing shift in the American public, and particularly the religious public," says Mr. Bruce, "but few in Hollywood have caught on yet."
What Gibson offered his audience was an extremely violent film, rated R, and at the same time a conservative viewpoint. Mr. Bruce says Hollywood figured the conservative side was willing to kiss and make up, so it started making what they believed to be conservative-friendly family films.
The problem is, the image that film and theater have of the conservative rube is about as accurate as the multiplex Satan image that many conservatives have of Hollywood and New York.
Conservative audiences want realistic films that tell sophisticated stories, Mr. Bruce says -- stories with a good message, not cloying ones.
Seeking inclusion
Screenwriter Chetwynd has somewhat less lofty ambitions for conservatives.
"All I want is what Albania has -- a two-party system," he says. "And that's not anything more than having the right to sit at the table, and be represented along with the Democrats. I think the liberal voice in Hollywood has become more and more extreme over the years, and that has made a number of people uncomfortable. They are trying to seed a more neutral pose, something more moderate."
Greg Kihn yearns for some sort of middle ground.
"Politics has been replaced by rants, and I favor dialogue," he says. "My daughter has a bumper sticker that says, 'Embrace diversity.' Well, embrace my diversity, too."