Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Another reason to dislike Sam Waterston

I never cared for the guy; the affected intensity beaming from those close-set, beady little eyes always suggested "liberal fanatic" from the get-go.

Now he's affording Congress the benefit of his no doubt extraordinarily in-depth knowledge of petroleum technology for the purpose of advocating - what else? - the banning of offshore drilling.

He's doing this, incidentally, as an activist for Oceana, a group founded by actor and unsuccessful blackface comedian Ted Danson.

7 comments:

RebeccaH said...

I have despised Sam Waterston for years, mainly for his portrayal of the insufferably self-righteous Jack McCoy on Law & Order (which I also despise, but Mr. H is a fan). It's no surprise to me that he's out evangelizing for his lefty religion. I always suspected the actor and the character were pretty close to the bone.

richard mcenroe said...

After Capricorn One he already had a lot to atone for.

JeffS said...

Most of the "Law & Order" actors are self-righteous lefties, Rebecca, a primary reason why I stopped watching it a long time. The early episodes were decent, but became quite shrill after a short time.

Sam Waterston is a major example of that. I'd like to maroon him in the Yukon around early spring with a pocket knife, a canteen, and 5 days of food, just to demonstrate to him what "being green" ultimately means within the leftie lexicon. If he can't walk out, we'll pick him a year later.

robbie46 said...

Thank you was going to ask if Sam Waterston was the actor of Law and Order. The show here seems to have to come to a halt, thought it might be out of production, not missed though.

Bob Belvedere said...

Allow me to dissent:

1) SM's politics are idiotic and he should really keep his mouth shut unless someone else is writing his words for him.

2) The character of Jack McCoy [before he became DA and Dick Wolf turned the show over to a rabid French Bolshe] was meant to be insufferably self-righteous like so many Baby Boomer Iish in the Nor'East [I've worked with a bunch of McCoys]. SM took a character written as 2D and breathed some life into him.

3) SM's portrayal of Lincoln was the closest I've seen to the real thing as described by historians of merit.

JeffS said...

Bob, Waterston may be a fine actor in some regards, but his portrayal of an insufferably self-righteous Baby Boomer lawyer is too close to his real persona. I've watched a number of L&O episodes where Waterston not only "breathed life into a 2D character", his performance was such that he apparently embraced the character. These were, invariably, major issues for lefties (e.g., gun control).

Either that, or his testimony before Congress was just another act for money, which reminds me of the old saw about there being some things no whore will do for money, but not so for other people.

And let me say that there are many fine performers whose politics I loathe, and I still enjoy. But there are some who are bats**t crazy, and I simply can't watch them anymore. Waterston went onto that list long ago.

Irobot said...

Never forget that people of his ilk are actors. They are so used to playing fantasy roles that it makes it very difficult to determine when the acting stops, if ever.