Jack Nicholson riffs on politics (sort of)

"I, by choice, am not an activist at this point," Nicholson said. "I think Sean Penn is the greatest living American in a certain way, because he's a man of action. ... I feel by being a neutralist in this area, in my actual field of endeavor I can be more effective."

"You do not become militant if you wish to be a successful propagandist. Because all you will do is preach to the choir and further entrench your opposition."

He calls former British Prime Minister Blair a "rock star ... he's wonderful" and says he supports Hillary Clinton in the presidential race ("I'm a friend of the family"). Nicholson acknowledges being "a lifelong Irish Democrat. What more can I say? I voted for what's his name, (1988 presidential candidate Michael) Dukakis. This was the real test for a Democrat."

Yet he also won't criticize President Bush: "I'm always at odds with my own constituency. I support every president. Period."

"I wanted to do solar energy. I wanted to legalize drugs versus the terrorist problem, which I was aware of in the '70s. Because where else are they getting illegal money at that level?

"Enforce the monopoly laws of the Constitution they're so proud of, which would have eliminated Enron and the interlocking directorate of conglomeration. Double teacher salaries. Find a way to liase from a personnel point of view between the military and the domestic police.

"These are all non-starters, what they call in politics. My position as a whippersnapper was hey, any of you people relate to any one of these issues, I'll know you're seriously interested in fundamental change. Until you do, I'm not interested in pie-baking contests."

"How do they talk about these small increments of energy conservation when we burn 60 percent of the gas at stop signs and traffic lights?" he asked, eyes flashing.

From there, he was off: "Solar electricity is the only thing that can make an impact on this problem. It's too big. We don't have the ability to generate the electricity, to convert, unless we go to big solar. It's an engineering problem, it's not a scientific problem."


There is no momentum for solar electricity, he said, because of the powerful oil industry's ability to set the scientific and political agenda.

"There's nobody in the field, no teachers, where their livelihood is not dependent in some way on petroleum grants. And I'm not vilifying the petroleum industry right now. ... Fact of the matter is, say there is an evil genius. Every day that whatever the petroleum interest is keeps this from being understood, that man is doing his job to the tune of whatever they make every day."
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/26/film.jacks.politics.ap/

I guess he was either adopted or something about being raised by his grandmother or something along those lines led to him considering himself pro-life. Not sure what that means politically to him but obviously calling himself a dem (who are largely pro-choice) and a Hillary supporter likely mean he's not dogmatic about it and treats it as the more complex issue it is.

My mother is pro-life, saying she could never have an abortion, but is 100% pro-choice.

I'd say that a lot of people, in fact most of us would probably fit that description.

However, when a celebrity makes mention of that in a profile it usually counts as a VERY big issue for them and most people for whom that is a big enough issue typically count themselves as republicans.

Yes, I'm generalizing here. But my ultimate point was that it was good to see someone high profile calling themselves pro life but still considering themselves to be democrats.

But I always knew Jack Nicholson was a Democrat.

I bet he's the smart kind, though, the one that realizes pro-choice means just that, a choice.

After finding this info out he almost had a nervous breakdown.