Piers Morgan Fawns Over 'Razor Smart' Alec Baldwin, 'Talking Like a President'
Alec Baldwin is part of the Hollywood liberal elite, but that didn't stop CNN's Piers Morgan – whose job is to be an objective and fair interviewer – from pressing him to run for office. Morgan professed that he is a "political fan" of Baldwin in a Wednesday night interview.
"People will be watching this, Alec, saying, look at this guy. He looks razor smart tonight. He lost a bit of weight. He's talking like a president," Morgan kissed up to Baldwin. Later he asked if "part of you always harbored the possibility that you could one day run for the presidency?"
What are some of Baldwin's well-known political stances? He appeared with liberal Democrats to push for campaign finance reform, criticizes nuclear power, is a card-carrying member of PETA, and supported the recent Occupy protests. Baldwin has also made headlines for his Twitter rants against Republicans and conservatives. And yet Morgan claims to be "political fan" of the liberal actor.
And looking more like a liberal hack than a professional journalist, Morgan also teed the actor up to bash Republicans. After airing a montage of quotes from GOP presidential candidates, Morgan quipped "Quite a good time to be a comedian, I would have thought, Alec," in mockery of the Republicans.
[Video below.]
Morgan also aired Baldwin's SNL performance as Governor Rick Perry and segued into another petition for him to get into politics. "[I]t seems to me you get just a little more pleasure out of tormenting them [Republicans] comedically than you would from actually doing the stuff yourself, Alec, which is a bitter disappointment to political fans of yours like myself who would love to see you run for office," Morgan cooed.
A transcript of the segment, which aired on January 25 at 9:04 p.m. EST, is as follows:
PIERS MORGAN: Do you think that President Obama has the gumption, I guess, to carry through what he said in the speech? Do you think he's actually going to start commissioning those kind of dreamy inspirational projects which will get the whole world gasping in awe?
(...)
MORGAN: When we look at the Republican candidates, down to four now, obviously, I've done a little montage which I thought might bring a smile to your face of some of their greatest moments recently. Let's watch this.
(Video Clip)
NEWT GINGRICH, Republican presidential candidate: The sacrament of marriage is based on a man and woman, has been for 3,000 years, is at the core of our civilization, and it's something worth protecting and upholding.
RICK SANTORUM, Republican presidential candidate: Any type of sexual activity has absolutely no place in the military.
MITT ROMNEY, Republican presidential candidate: We could start with - with his idea to have a lunar colony that would mine minerals from the – from the moon. I'm not in favor of spending that kind of money to do that.
RON PAUL, Republican presidential candidate: How many people here would use heroin if it was legal? I bet nobody would put to – oh yeah, I need the government to take care of me. I don't want to use heroin so I need these laws.
(End Video Clip)
MORGAN: Quite a good time to be a comedian, I would have thought, Alec.
(...)
MORGAN: People will be watching this, Alec, saying, look at this guy. He looks razor smart tonight. He lost a bit of weight. He's talking like a president. And yet, when you were given the chance to confirm if you would run for mayor of New York City, you finally said you wouldn't. And there are people like me going, but why wouldn't you, Alec Baldwin?
(...)
MORGAN: Alec Baldwin playing Texas Governor Rick Perry on Saturday Night Live. I mean, obviously, you – it seems to me you get just a little more pleasure out of tormenting them comedically than you would from actually doing the stuff yourself, Alec, which is a bitter disappointment to political fans of yours like myself who would love to see you run for office.
(...)
MORGAN: But the way you're talking it seems to me this is not something you've completely ruled out. I mean, you've obviously – you've not decided to go for New York mayor at the moment but could that change in the future? I mean are you still –
ALEC BALDWIN, actor: That's a - that's a possibility.
MORGAN: - in the back in your mind thinking –
BALDWIN: That's a possibility. I mean, the only reason I say that is because right now the timetable I'm on – workwise, careerwise, contracts I have signed, and obligations I have – would make running for mayor, for example, very, very difficult.
I mean, is it something I could do? Possibly. And I see people running for mayor. I mean, to be very plain-speaking, there are people who are running for mayor who I'm overwhelmingly indifferent about, most of them. There's a couple of them I think if they made certain changes they'd be okay, and there are certain people who are running for mayor that I'm appalled that they're running for mayor and I'm appalled that they've raised so much money, and I'm appalled that they're being taken seriously considering some of their – some of their past actions and some of their past records.
MORGAN: I mean, when you see, Alec, when you someone like Arnold Schwarzenegger become governor of California, you must think to yourself, I could do at least as good a job as that?
BALDWIN: You'd be reading my mind if you said that. Yeah. I would agree with you there. Yeah, I would agree with you.
(...)
MORGAN: I mean, has part of you always harbored – and be honest here. Has part of you always harbored the possibility that you could one day run for the presidency?
BALDWIN: Well, I think that it's something that I used to think about a long, long time ago. It would be a little late in the game for me, I think, to set my ship on a course that would lead to that ultimately. I mean it's something – that's what I wanted to do my whole life and quite frankly when I got in to the business I'm in now, it was a very – on a personal level.
- Matt Hadro is a News Analyst at the Media Research Center
