Jon Voight Compared President Obama To Julius Caesar

[DemocratSinceBirth]

He's embarrassing himself.

But I did like his work in 'The Champ'. 'Ali'. and 'Midnight Cowboy'...

[imdjh]

1. He's warlike and fucking an Egyptian?

He's Italian? He wears dresses?

[Blue_Tires]

7. i think he meant Obama's got a lotta Gaul

:evilgrin:

[damntexdem]

9. Did he cross the Potomac with a military troop?

But there's something the rightwing should appreciate -- if he divides France into three parts.

;-)

[onehandle]

2. Are fallen stars still sucking at the teat of the GOP for publicity?

Sorry Mr. Voight, That tactic was crippled in November 2006 and was slaughtered in November 2008.

[Cleita]

3. Actually, Caesar was a populist. He wanted to extend government representation to the plebes.

and thought they should share with the Patricians the spoils of war. In the HBO series "Rome" this is alluded to when he makes the plebian soldier Vorenus a Senator, which doesn't bode too well for Caesar though.

[Zomby Woof]

18. True

Caesar is a very complicated figure, whose dualism is much more stark than most important historical icons. His populist streak is likely because he was from what we might call "the 'hood" in Rome, where his once prominent lineage was consigned to languish, several generations before his birth (family legend cited that he descended from Rome's mythical founders). Certainly, he grew up seeing and knowing what the elites in Rome could not, or did not, want to know.

Hero or villain? Why not both? He lived at least a dozen different lives in one. To paraphrase Whitman: he was large, and he contained multitudes. He was most assuredly self-contradictory.

[Odin2005]

20. Caesar was the archetypal populist dictator.

Right down to being assassinated by reactionaries claiming they were defending "liberty" when in reality they were defending their own interests.

The history of the later Roman Republic, from The Punic Wars to Caesar is fascinating, and disturbing because the historical parallels to the last 100 years of US history. If my intuition is right then Obama is equivalent to Tiberius Gracchus and Outsourcing is equivalent to Roman aristocrats dispossessing family farmers from their land and replacing them with slave-worked plantations. If Obama fails then the last century of the Roman Republic will be our fate, we will have our own Marius, Sulla, Caesar, and Octavian.

Edit: So would Scipio Africanus be part-FDR and part-Eisenhower?

[kestrel91316]

4. Well, I guess I don't ever need to see any more of his movies.

[DJ13]

5. Now I see where his daughter got her insanity from

[Puzzler]

6. Is that the same Jon Voight that once owned George Costanza's car?

{sarcasm}

[JVS]

17. George would be ashamed to drive this pantload's car now.

[Cheap_Trick]

8. I'm comparing Jon Voight to the massive dump I just took.

I gotta say, the pile of feces is winning.

[devilgrrl]

10. John Voight is a testament to the negative effects of long-term cocaine use.

Same goes for Dennis Hopper.

[Catherine Vincent]

11. Well, he has a right to his opinion

He was great in "Rosewood" and countless other movies.

[Sabriel]

12. And Voigt is an honorable man.

O Judgment, thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men (like Voigt) have lost their reason!

[mitchum]

13. Joe Buck is still peddling his ass

[UnseenUndergrad]

14. Well...

Thank Primus he isn't in Revenge of the Fallen.

[Born_A_Truman]

15. Jon Voight made a fool of himself

I turned on CSpan late last night and had to shut it off as it made me physically ill. I can't even listen to these people. Do even they take themselves seriously?

[Uzybone]

16. Another dog whistle from the deranged right wing.

[Zomby Woof]

19. I never liked him

He always had a creepy vibe, and I said that long before I ever saw "Midnight Cowboy" (which captures it effectively, intentionally or not - which makes me question whether he can act) or knew of his politics. One of my very least favorite actors.

I have always had the same creepy vibe concerning his daughter too, although I realize that is a most unpopular opinion hereabouts. I don't care. My opinion of Voight has been vindicated, and I expect one day a similar vindication will likewise occur concerning his mutant offspring. And no, I don't necessarily mean politically. Let's think in more than two dimensions, DUers.