Jon Voight on John McCain ('amazing guy') and Sarah Palin ('beautiful choice')

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Fully 20% of Hollywood's Republican celebrities are gathered here this week to officially nominate John McCain as their party's presidential nominee and to make Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin his vice presidential running mate.

Jon Voight is that 20% (The other 80% that are out of the closet are Tom Selleck and his wife, Jillie Mack, Jerry Bruckheimer and Patricia Heaton).

The 69-year-old Voight tells The Ticket this afternoon in an exclusive video chat (see below) that he is enjoying himself immensely at the gathering, where the excitement level exploded with Friday's surprise naming of Palin as VP choice.

Voight is outspoken in his support of McCain -- "an amazing guy." He predicts the Arizona senator and former POW is going to keep the country "safe with prosperity" because he knows intimately about war and enemies and carries on his body today the scars of his imprisonment and torture.

Voight calls Palin "a beautiful choice" and praises "the pure simplicity of her poise and experience." He talks about meeting McCain's 95-year-old mother, Roberta -- "tough as nails."

And he gets a couple of shots in on the Democratic nominee, Sen. Barack Obama, as being the "least experienced of anyone who's ever run for president" and performing his Senate job "in a less than mediocre manner."

Oh, and for both Republican and Democratic movie fans, Voight also confirms there's a third "National Treasure" movie in the works.

--Andrew Malcolm

Video by Andrew Malcolm

Comments

[Peter]

Voight, Kelsy Grammer, this is about the extent of the Star Power you will see at the GOP Convention. I cant wait to see the Palin speech, after all, right now she is the biggest star in the world. , Everyone will be watching. If you want to know more about Palins Background, Her Families Background., and Pics and Videos they have an extensive amount of info at http://www.veeppeek.com

[Almost Angeleno]

Wow! Some heavyhitters there.
It's no secret though that both Voight and Patricia Heaton are devote wear-it-on-their-sleeve "Christians."

[Michele John]

The 'beautiful' comment is chauvinistic and patronizing.

Perhaps Angelina (Jolie) will 'play' Palin in the future?

[george]

Hi Andrew, I'm not sure why Hollywood is the baseline for who's the best candidate. So what if there are fewer republicans. McCain is the underdog, and many wishy washy image types don't want to look bad by backing the "wrong" guy. So those "5" hollywood republicans must be true republicans who back their candidate despite the odds. Do folks like Sharon Stone, Diddy, Halle Berry and Q-Tip best represent Obama's entertainment stable of backers?

[Casara]

"Perhaps Angelina (Jolie) will 'play' Palin in the future?"

I doubt it, she's too busy adopting kids from foreign countries. Also she cut off her father and doesn't speak to him. Voight has never even met his grandchildren.