Jane Fonda endorses Barack Obama; there goes his crossover vote

Jane Fonda, the actress and ardent anti-Vietnam War advocate who visited North Vietnam during those hostilities, has endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president.

There were no formal ceremonies for the endorsement. In fact, the Obama campaign may just be learning about the actress's approval now as word spreads like lit gunpowder via the Internet.

Fonda was eating out last night and exited the restaurant, ignoring as celebrities often do the assembled press contingent.

But a video camera was rolling as she approached the street and someone, perhaps just trying to get her to turn around for a picture, shouted out at her back, "Who are you going to vote for?"

There was a moment of silence. Then, the actress did turn around toward the cameras, paused and with a smile said simply, "Obama!" Then she got into a car and drove away.

Many people question the value of celebrity endorsements, whether they actually....

attract anything other than simply more publicity, not to mention votes. The imprimatur of Fonda, who's been an antiwar activist for decades, certainly supports Obama's antiwar credentials.

Less examined is whether some celebrity endorsements may actually cost a candidate votes. This could be one of those less desirable votes for part of the country, especially if Obama was hoping to attract some crossover Republicans if he's the Democratic candidate come fall.

Obama, who was recently named the most liberal member of the Senate by the nonpartisan National Journal, has sought to portray himself as the earliest anti-Iraq war opponent and tagged his sole remaining opponent, Sen. Hillary Clinton, with voting to authorize the use of force in Iraq.

The problem for those of a certain generation that endured the Vietnam War and the sometimes violent domestic conflict that accompanied it at home is that during Fonda's controversial wartime visit to North Vietnam, she was photographed at a Communist anti-aircraft gun battery.

According to the photo caption distributed at the time, she joined North Vietnamese soldiers there in singing an antiwar song while preparing to shoot at attacking Americans.

This earned her the nickname Hanoi Jane (indeed, that's the TMZ headline this afternoon) and an enduring image as a polarizing figure, especially regarding patriotism.

As it happens, the Republican presidential candidate this time is Sen. John McCain of Arizona, who was one of those American fliers shot down over that same city by those same anti-aircraft forces, tortured and spent nearly six years in a POW cell while Fonda returned home.

--Andrew Malcolm

                                       Photo: Nihon Denpa News / Associated Press

Comments

[SN]

Isn't this getting a little old? In fact, at the time of Jane Fonda's visit to Vietnam, in the seventies, the criticism was relatively muted. Fonda went on to win a second academy award for best actress a few years later and was widely liked and admired. She also became a fitness advocate and used virtually all of the profits from her fitness books and tapes to help groups fighting for average, working people.

It wasn't until the mid-eighties and early nineties that the ultra right-wing started this vicious "hate Fonda" campaign, obsessed with going back in time and stoking the fires of conflict from the Vietnam tragedy. A lot of Republicans, especially, saw the political gain in this, finding a good scapegoat in antiwar activists, 15 years after the war ended. This was useful to the right-wing, since they could no longer openly go after their traditional objects of hatred (blacks and Jews) and now appeared to have a new one that could yield good results on election day.

The deep hatred and vitriol of the ultra conservatives towards Jane Fonda is understandable. In Fonda, they hit all of their targets in one person: female, feminist, liberal, Hollywood, antiwar, etc.

The object for so much of the extremist right-wing, throughout history, has been to create objects of hatred and to gain, politically, by making people hate those groups. And it's important to have individuals that represent those groups and to then zero in on those people with the most vicious and nasty attacks imaginable---even if they're fabricated or greatly exaggerated.

Jane Fonda has been unfairly subject to the most vile attacks any one person should have to endure. I'm sick of the right-wing using her to advance their un-American agenda. It's time that people who disagree with these attacks begin to denounce them for the slanderous, deceitful lies that they are.

[Joseph Eversole]

LogicalSC,

I couldn't have said it any better, except treason has no statute of limitations.

[Nunzio]

YOU ARE DISGUSTING, HANOI JANE! MAY YOU ROT IN HELL WHEN YOU FINALLY DIE

[LogicalUS]

Hal Muskat post:

Who is the fool?

She wasn't anti-war, was on the other side! And guess what, you are as big a war criminal as any of the others in her and her fellow travelers eyes.

In case you weren't aware and it doesn't sound as though you are, we didn't invade Vietnam. We were there at the request of the South Vietnamese or do they not count? They wanted our help to fight off the communist VietCong who were financed by the Communist Chinese and Russians to take over Vietnam in their quest to spread communism.

Fonda and her buddies weren't fighting for you soldiers or the people of Vietnam, you idiot.

They all believed in the "revolution" and that Soviet style Communism was the way of the future. They were upset that America was thwarting the spread.

[SN]

The only people who care about this "Fonda endorsement" (which it really isn't) are the right-wing extremists who wouldn't vote for any Democrat, under any conditions, at any time.

Notice the vicious, cruel, absolutely unhinged anti-Fonda attacks on some of these posts. These people seem obsessed with their hatred for this woman.

Average voters realize that lots of people, with all sorts of histories, are endorsing all three remaining candidates for president. They're not going to care about this---and probably won't even remember it---when it's time to vote.

[James in SB]

Jeez people. Fonda said that stuff when she was 21 or so. It was the 70s, everyone was pissed off, self-righteous, torn apart by the war. And she's admitted that what she said then was stupid and naive. But the hunger for punishment never ends for some of you people. Vietam was nearly 40 years ago, so what, we're supposed to bring Fonda up on treason charges? That would be useful.

Obama hasn't played a single dirty trick in this campaign. Listen to him speak. He's reasoned, extremely intelligent, informed and, perhaps, kind. Good reason to hate him, right? The Republicans may live in the Dark Ages of ideation, but at least they don't eat their own like we Democrats do.

Finally, ever notice that the most ignorant nonsense on this site is always posted by people who can't spell?

[Bradyn]

Jane Fonda might as well be a communist. Great endorsement. Obama should run not walk away from this one. It's madness to think she would be of any help. www.madnessletters.com

[dr dixie]

Subject: I see this one went out in 2005 almost a year and a half ago and it still turns up like a bad penny.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

You know I have always admired Jane Fonda and still do. She was and is one fine actress. Ted Turner used her and dumped her although they have reconciled to some extent. She made a big mistake in going to Hanoi during the Vietnam war and has admitted to her mistake several times in print and in talks. She physically did what multitudes of others were doing in print, verbally, and in demonstration. A lot of what happened while she was there was blown up and as time passed has been blown more. Most of the garbage in the E-mail about her has been proven false by those POWs who were in the Hanoi Hilton. You can find this in fact on the net. Bloggery of course is the dog pack approach. Hit them when they are down, be my guest, join the crowd. This is an E-mail that has been going around since, will you believe, 1999. I'm sure that she regrets doing what she did but sometimes you have to do and what you are driven to do with what you think is right at the time. She was being honored in 1999 and I don't think being "honored" is the proper term for this. Better said, it would be that she was one of the most "recognized 100 woman of that era". She recently, albeit somewhat hesitantly, submitted herself to a roast, the proceeds of which went to charity. Some of the comment and embarassment that she took is posted on the WEB if you care to look it up. The Vietnam war was one great mistake much like Iraq. Maybe we will get another whipping boy or girl out of the Iraq conflict and that will let Jane Fonda off the hook a bit. Rumsfeld seems to be the target for all the "let's blame someone and hit 'em when they're down" folks. How about let's just scotch this never ending letter? Have seen it 1000 times and am a bit weary of it. dixie

[martin]

Every U.S. citizen has the right to protest government policy. What Jane Fonda did wrong -- and later apologized for years later -- was protest U.S. involvement in Viet Nam by standing alongside the so-called enemy (aka Communists). Her passion for her country - our country -- created one bad tactical move.

After this time, she became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars, started her successful aerobics exercise business and became a model American success story.

Vannessa Redgrave's career also was seriously damaged when, in the early 1970s she stood at a podium at the Oscars to protest Israeli treatment of Palestinians. I'll spare everyone those details. However, I was a college intern at the Oscars in 1973 and dinstinctly recall protestors outside the theatre, holding placards reading, "A Vote For Vannessa Redgrave Is A Vote For the Viet Cong."

Obviously, those years in the late 1960s and early 1970s were radical times. However, Jane Fonda merely had misplaced passion that, sadly, caused her good message to be lost.

It's sad today to think we don't have any truly visible voices against our war in Iraq and the "W" Bush policies.

[Rhonda Stanton]

Objection: irrelevant. What a ridiculous story. I'm sure one-third of the people on my street are voting for Obama, too. Why don't you publish a story about them "endorsing" him? I like her as an actress, don't care about something stupid that she did when she was in her 20s, and don't care if she endorses The Maytag Repairman. Times, you are really grasping.

[lduff]

I'm not going to add much to the comments about Jane Fonda except to say that she was right to oppose the war, but as she herself has admitted, made some foolish mistakes in the way she went about it in her youth. The noble reasons given for going to war are rarely the real reasons (WWII may be one of the few exceptions). It's always about big economic interests and maintaining world power. Then, the fears of the American people (anti-communism, anti-terrorism) have to be stirred up to get them to send their youth off to kill and be killed. God bless the vets (of this and previous wars) who have the patriotism and courage to speak out and endure the hatred that will inevitably be directed toward them.

Change of subject: McCain supporters (and everyone else) take note. McCain, who admits he doesn't know much about economics, has chosen former Sen. Phil Graham from Texas to be his chief economics adviser. Graham at the behest of Wall Street, pushed through legislation while he was in office, just before the Christmas break (so no one would read it), that is mostly responsible for the massive economic mess we're facing, which we haven't seen the end of. The legislation deregulated the very institutions that are at the heart of the problem (sub-prime, etc.). McCain is talking about more deregulation as his solution. Listen to an interview with Prof. Michael Greenberger for the analysis of how this all came about on www.npr.org/freshair today.

[martin]

To the person who asked "Who is Jane Fonda?":

You make others feel old when you ask such a question. She is an Oscar-winning, former A-list actress who started appearing in light comedies in the early 1960s ("Barefoot In The Park and "Sunday In New York"). She also was one of the front-runners in the exercise video craze in the U.S. during the 1980s. She is known for her former marriages, most recently to media baron Ted Turner. And she is the daughter (with brother Peter) of a beloved movie star, Henry Fonda.

[Eric Beck]

I'm so sick of this Jane Fonda bashing! FIRST, she only did there what MILLIONS of Americans were doing here, i.e., essentially standing up to the military-industrial complex Eisenhower WARNED us about who profited MIGHTILY in Vietnam. In more accessible terms, she was protesting an idiotic war fought on behalf of politicians who knew they had erred but were too committed politically to get out earlier, and industrial powers who were able to exploit, and possibly encourage, the involvement. Besides, maybe Jane was simply putting safety first. Remember, they were shooting and beating Americans who protested here.

[Druid Dude]

Let's see...endorsements by Ted "Ultra Liberal" Kennedy, Bill "Judas" Richardson and "Hanoi" Jane Fonda, with former President Jimmy "Stagflation/20% interest rate" Carter leaning towards Barack Hussein Obama, it appears the wheels are coming off Barack Hussein's drive for the presidency.

[Steven]

Hey, it gets even better. He now has the support of 'Ludacris' Yes, the foul-mouthed rapper - http://nationalsquib.com/index.php/barack-obama-ludacris/

[Dennis Wise]

Yeah, it ain't 1974. No one cares what Jane Fonda says or does except old, conservative men who secrectly lust for her and hate themselves for it. This is a non-factor in the race. Sorry, Gramps. Go watch Klute.

[Philly]

Easy haters, Hanoi Jane is only hated by old Republican guys who are not going to vote for Obama or Hillary.Most people under 40 have no idea who she is.I think todays endorsement by Jimmy Carter is more newsworthy. By the way don't white folks know that Rev. Wright is pretty much a mainstream guy among blacks.

[LogicalSC]

"Listen to him speak"

How about instead of listening to pretty words, we look at his actions for the past 30 years or so?

Obama's mother who raised him was one of Fonda's fellow travelers from the 60's.

Obama married a women who obviousily has disdain for not only this country but for the people who live here.

His "spiritual mentor" is a America-hating racist-baiter who spends most of his time railing against "whitey" and Obama not only baptized his children into this "faith" but donated more that 25K for its spread.

Read his book where he sees racist white people wherever he looks, from his grandparents who raised him and gave him everything to the kids at school. Or his friendships with leftist criminals like Ayers.

So you will forgive me from not listening to some silly speeches written by his handlers and instead look at the substance of a candidate as shown by his actions.

[A Mom]

I have no problem with Jane opposing the Vietnam war. I have a HUGE problem with her branding 18, 19 and 20 year old young men "baby killers" and disrespecting the kids in the uniform! I'd like to hear what her supporters would say today, if she pulled the same stunt in Iraq - right down to the insulting of our soldiers in uniform. Disagree with the politics all you want. But taking it out on the kids on the ground is cowardly at best.

[SD]

CHAIRMAN MAO DEAN AND HIS BROTHER'S CANDIDATE, BARACK OBAMA.......are trying TO RIP 2 STARS FROM OUR AMERICAN FLAG.

Obama, wants to disenfranchise Florida and Michigan. He is ready to keep 2.3 MILLION Americans from voting. He will count the vote from the Citizen's Living Abroad, but not those LIVING in Florida and Michigan?

NO active duty military serving this country now, or between tours FROM FLORIDA or MICHIGAN CAN VOTE. BECAUSE OF OBAMA'S 48 STAR FLAG.

Why IS ONE MAN--BARACK OBAMA-- TRYING TO RIP 2 STARS FROM OUR AMERCIAN FLAG?

HE'S RIPPING THEM FROM OUR flag, like he ripped that flag pin from his chest. He's ripping 2 STATES OUT OF THIS COUNTRY, WHILE HE depends on the Protectorates's votes of his vacation land the Virgin Islands.

He'll count the Culinary Union. BUT NOT FL AND MICHIGAN UNLESS HE DOESN'T NEED US.

THE SHREDDED, RIPPED 48 STAR FLAG that Hanoi Jane is suddenly ready to salute. G DAMN Oil bama.

[frank carter]

Adolf Hitler could endorse my candidacy what does that mean that I'm a Jew hater etc. Perhaps she is hoping that Obama would loose and Hillary wins, reverse psychology, who knows what goes around those sick minds. I was not for the war either but sure in Hell I was not going to parade for the enemy.

I can't believe her US passport was never pulled and send her back to what ever country her ancestors came from!

[Is Charles Manson his next endorser ?]

To : Nick Nas
Dont you think Hanoi Jane was and is the coward ? And
what do you say about all the other crack-pots,endorsing
the guy who promises to raise your taxes and fraternize
on day one with Kim Jong-Il,Hugo, Raoul and Mahmoud
and Mouamar ? Nuts, traitors and marxists like Hanoi Jane,
Wright,Rhodes,Judas Richardson,Carter and yes Charles
Manson are all pulling for your guy...Ever heard of the
smell test? I smell goulag and Stalinist blood baths and that
too fits with Manson and the rest of your spiritual pestilence advocates.

[garyk]

Great post, sd. You really had me laughing. But aren't you a few days late for April fools day?

[David Ben-Ariel]

Why remain in denial that Barack hasn't chosen to identify with biracials, but has deliberately chosen to identify himself with always angry blacks, even espousing the false gospel of Black Liberation Theology? That way they can always exploit their race and extort foolish white guilt, always playing the victim. Hanoi Jane is just another self-hating white person who enables such madness to continue.

Whites who love to be robbed by Blacks?
http://tinyurl.com/3aczum

[Clay Deschamps]

So what?
George Bush endorses the Iraq war! Hillary endorsed it with her vote!
Obama is not Jane.
Jane is not Obama.
That doesn't keep them from agreeing on certain things.
Hitler built Volkswagens.
That doesn't make Volkswagen drivers Nazis.
It sounds like some journalists out there just LOVE playing on many folks' natural tendency to generalize with cheap associations. Red herring for lunch, anyone...?