Vote for Alec Baldwin? Probably not, but I'm a Donaghy man all the way
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- May
- 13
I used to love Alec Baldwin. Then I hated him, not personally but in the way you hate a loudmouth celebrity jerk.
Then 30 Rock came along, and I love him again, the way you love a brilliantly funny actor whose personal life you realize is not one bit your concern.
Baldwin, long a magnet for public ire and admiration, has never had an easy time staying out of the news, and he usually has had his big mouth to blame. That’s not simply my opinion; it’s the journalistic conclusion of 60 Minutes correspondent Morley Safer, who interviewed Baldwin for a fantastic piece that aired Sunday.
Safer comes right out and calls Baldwin dumb for letting his mouth get the best of him. But he also calls him one of the finest actors in America and one of the more interesting actors of his generation.
I’d say Baldwin was simultaneously charming and defiant in the controlled setting of the interview, whether it was about his infamous voicemail tirade to his daughter last year or his decision to turn down the big-bucks role of Jack Ryan in the Tom Clancy series. (There’s also a great appearance by 30 Rock co-star Tina Fey.)
The headlines that ensued touched more on Baldwin’s possible political ambitions than his tabloid troubles of the last year.
FedBlog points to his 30 Rock character Jack Donaghy’s new job as “Homeland Security Director of Crisis and Weather Management” and wonders aloud if Baldwin might just have a future inside the Beltway. After all, the writer notes, the new chief human capital officer at Homeland Security is a former senior vice president with NBC Universal.
BuddyTV is wondering about the same thing when it asks whether the 30 Rock season finale hinted at Baldwin’s political future.
I’d have to say that if things keep swinging the Democrats’ way nationally—I’m pretty sure Baldwin’s not a registered Republican—he’d have a decent shot at elected office. He’ll have to put a lot of baggage behind him first, which he may have begun doing in the 60 Minutes piece, which you can view below.
Photo: Baldwin at a press conference about Indian Point in Manhattan in November. (Carucha L. Meuse/The Journal News)
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 4:33 pm by Brian Howard.
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