…just not out of that closet. ;)
Rather, he’s just made the startling public admission that — believe it or not — he’s a liberal. And he’s not afraid to admit it.
I am a liberal. And I make no apologies for it. Hell, I’m proud of it.
Too many people run away from the label. They whisper it like you’d whisper “I’m a Nazi.” Like it’s a dirty word. But turn away from saying “I’m a liberal” and it’s like you’re turning away from saying that blacks should be allowed to sit in the front of the bus, that women should be able to vote and get paid the same as a man, that McCarthy was wrong, that Vietnam was a mistake. And that Saddam Hussein had no ties to al-Qaeda and had nothing to do with 9/11.
This is an incredibly polarized time (wonder how that happened?). But I find that, more and more, people are trying to find things we can agree on. And, for me, one of the things we absolutely need to agree on is the idea that we’re all allowed to question authority. We have to agree that it’s not unpatriotic to hold our leaders accountable and to speak out.
[…] Bottom line: it’s not merely our right to question our government, it’s our duty. Whatever the consequences. We can’t demand freedom of speech then turn around and say, But please don’t say bad things about us. You gotta be a grown up and take your hits.
(via Mike)
Update: Apparently there’s a bit of a tussle going on between Clooney and The Huffington Post, where the above-quoted passage was posted.
It’s George Clooney versus Arianna Huffington in a standoff worthy of “Good Night, and Good Luck.”
The newly minted Oscar winner says he did not write a blog posted Monday on commentator Huffington’s Web site, though he gave her permission to use a compilation of his critiques of the Iraq war from interviews with Larry King and London’s The Guardian.
“Miss Huffington’s blog is purposefully misleading and I have asked her to clarify the facts,” Clooney, 44, said in a statement issued Wednesday. “I stand by my statements but I did not write this blog.”
You are absolutely right.
I wonder how we got to this place where we are persecuted for questioning our government.
If the Democrats have control and you question what they’re doing, you’re a concerned citizen. If the Republicans have control and you question what they’re doing, you’re a liberal. Like Clooney, I never understood why or how that became a dirty word.