Family Guy: McCain/Palin = Nazi

Ah, serendipity.  On the same day the Hollywood trade magazine Hollywood Reporter ran an article detailing how Republicans and conservatives in Tinseltown often feel bullied by their liberal colleagues, the TV show Family Guy featured a story line in which supporters of the McCain/Palin ticket were equated with Nazis.

Talk about the proof being in the pudding.

Of course it is no surprise to anyone that Hollywood is a bastion of liberal narrow-mindedness, but the Hollywood Reporter story “Republicans in biz feel stifled, bullied” [1] gave voice to the problem which is rarely publicly acknowledged by movie moguls.  In fact when conservatives complain about the liberal bias and ideology that seeps through almost every frame of celluloid and video Hollywood exports as entertainment, they are dismissed as out of touch, uptight, unimaginative people who want to return to the days of Ozzie and Harriet.  So kudos to Hollywood Reporter scribe Paul Bond for this timely article. 

The opening graphs of Bond's piece sum up the stilted ideological battlefield on which those rare Hollywood Republicans find themselves.

At a recent event for Republicans in Hollywood, an actress was asked whether she had ever worn her pro-Sarah Palin pin to an audition.

"You must be joking!" she said with a laugh, adding, "But I see Obama stuff all the time."

It's no secret that the entertainment industry is overwhelmingly liberal -- political donations this presidential cycle from the movie, TV and music industries recently were running about 86 percent Democrat versus 14 percent Republican. But being outnumbered is one thing, being bullied by your liberal co-workers into keeping your opinions to yourself is quite another.

Is that what's going on? Yes, say many of the industry's conservatives. That's why secret organizations with such names as "SpeakEasy" and "The Sunday Night Club" spring up every so often. They're not conservative per se, they just let it be known that attendees of their gatherings may freely discuss politics without being chastised for not toeing the liberal line.

So you can't wear a pro-Sarah Palin pin to an audition and hope to get hired.  But if you're a producer of an often-raunchy prime time animated series, like Fox's Family Guy, you can put a McCain/Palin pin on a character wearing a Nazi uniform.  According to Nielsen Media Research, that is what 9.1 million viewers saw on the October 19 episode.  H/t to Noel Shepherd at Newsbusters [2] for bringing this despicable bit of bias to CMI's attention.

Imagine if a similar stunt were pulled but with an “Obama/Biden” button on the Nazi-wearing character.  Don't you think such an outrageous tactic would be leading the cable newscasts and roundly condemned by the liberal pundits?

In the Hollywood Reporter article, Stone quoted blogger Andrew Klavan, an “accomplished novelist-screenwriter” and conservative who noted that like the movies Hollywood puts out “TV is too one-sided” as well.  Klavan told Stone, “They don't even make fun of Barack Obama.  How is that possible? The guy's hilarious.”

He may be hilarious, but with 86 percent of the message makers in Hollywood on his side, he is also well insulated from criticism writ as entertainment.  Compare that with recent attacks on McCain and Palin. Senator McCain was caricatured as a cannibal on an episode of NBC's Medium [3] last season.  Sarah Palin is now the subject of a new pornographic movie, Who's Nailin' Palin, from Hustler publisher Larry Flynt.  [Interestingly news sites like former Vanity Fair and New Yorker editor Tina Brown's The Daily Beast.com think Flynt's work is newsworthy enough to mention. (CMI cannot in good conscience link to the offensive video.)]

The Hollywood Reporter noted that some prominent conservatives are seeking to level the playing field, or at least shine a light on the extent of the problem.  Andrew Breitbart, who runs the popular news aggregate site Breitbart.com, is starting a “Big Hollywood” blog on the site with “40 industry conservatives tasked with …highlighting liberal intolerance.”  Breitbart told Stone, “There's an undeniably vicious attitude against those who dissent.  Hollywood is the most predictable place on the planet, not exclusively because of politics but because of narrow-mindedness.”

Stone, whether intentionally or not, reinforced that point by quoting liberal actor Eric Roberts, who said while he “wouldn't chastise” Sarah Palin supporters he'd “feel sorry” for them.

Kristen Fyfe is senior writer at the Culture and Media Institute [4], a division of the Media Research Center.