BOPsy Politics: What are the favorite movies of the candidates?
Now that the Florida votes are in and counted and the political race for President of the United States is down to about six candidates we decided to re-post a condensed version of an earlier post which addresses the important issue of what is the favorite movie of each Presidential candidate and what their choice might mean to us:
REPUBLICANS
Governor Mitt Romney (R-Massachusetts)
Mitt Romney has come under a lot of pressure after revealing his favorite film is the Speilberg/Lucas classic from 1981 - “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” The film about renowned archeologist ‘Dr. Indiana Jones’ (Harrison Ford) an expert in the occult who is hired by the U.S. Government to find the Ark of the Covenant, which is believed to still hold the Ten Commandments. There’s speculation amongst pundits that candidate Mitt Romney who had said previously (to the Boston Herald in 2007) that the Coen Brothers’ film “O Brother Where Art Thou” was his favorite flick changed it for political reasons. Perhaps he made the switch because the biblical undertones in “Raiders” signals to conservative and evangelical voters that he has more fundamentally religious tastes in film….
Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)
John McCain seems like a lovable old dude. I’m sure those Viet-cong did a number on him when he was a P.O.W. in Vietnam and that’s why his choice of movie favorite “Viva Zapata” from 1952 is a bit off-the-wall. Sure, it’s the story about Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, who led a rebellion against the corrupt, oppressive dictatorship of president Porfirio Diaz in the early 20th century, but the fact that the film isn’t that well known, is 55+ years old and is about a Mexican revolution is a little too much for the American electorate to swallow. I’d have advised him to pick “Platoon” or something from the Vietnam era that would have hammered home the fact he’s a veteran and no other candidate is.
Governor Mike Huckabee (R-Arkansas)
The evangelical priest turned politician has an interesting foursome has choices for “Favorite” film he lists, “The Godfather”, “Citizen Kane”, “Casablanca”, and “To Kill a Mockingbird” as his picks. Not a bad selection and with “To Kill a Mockingbird” I think he sends across his populist message that he’s a man of the people. Was very happy to see that he didn’t pick something insane like “Passion of the Christ” or “A Clockwork Orange” for that matter. Big relief….
DEMOCRATS
Senator John Edwards (D-North Carolina)
The fact that John Edwards choice for favorite film of all-time is the satire “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” from 1964 might be a big part of his problem. Sure the film which is about an insane general who starts a process to nuclear holocaust that a war room of politicians and generals frantically try to stop is akin to how the country has run itself over the train-tracks with the leadership of George W. Bush, but I think he’s missing the point and with this odd-ball choice is turning off about 75% of the electorate.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York)
I think its near-hilarity that Hillary Clinton picks “Casablanca“- the classic 1942 film starring Humphrey Bogart as her favorite. I mean think about, the plot is about an expatriate American who meets a former lover and suffers unforeseen complications. Both the sexual embarrassments and the fact her husband Bill Clinton is a noted philanderer would give me enough reason to advise her to pick another film as her favorite. Maybe something a little less risqué – like “Primary Colors”
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois)
The diverse ethnic make-up of candidate Obama might mean that he’s given the right to list a host of films as his choices for “Favorites” that’s why on his MySpace page the following classics are listed: “Casablanca“, “Godfather I & II, “Lawrence of Arabia” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.” A cornucopia of cinematic excellence in my opinion and the fact that he didn’t forget the great “Lawrence of Arabia” (my favorite film) makes me think the guy has his head on straight.
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2 Comments, Comment or Ping
terry
Imagine that, another wannabe MSM blogger that fails to accept Dr. Ron Paul as a viable candidate.
Jan 29th, 2008
admin
Hi Terry,
actually I considered adding Ron Paul to this article, but after searching the web for his favorite film and not finding it (as well as his MySpace page and Facebook page) and factoring in his less than 10% share of the Republican pie, he was left off. I’ll happily add him on if you can find his favorite films (on MySpace he chooses to use the space to promote something else…)
-Editor
Jan 29th, 2008
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