Actors Officially Taking Over Washington

Sudden influx of Democrats may be a harbinger of more horrors to come

By SARA K. SMITH

Updated 8:20 PM PDT, Wed, Jul 8, 2009

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Entertainers are supposed to entertain, and everybody knows there's nothing entertaining about politics.

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Once upon a time, people had one job their whole lives. When they were in their late teens they went to work at GM or Ma Bell or some other large company that existed back then, and they only emerged for occasional feedings and conjugal visits until they retired with a decent pension 30 years later.

Nowadays, people change jobs all the time, and this is very confusing to the general public. Take, for example, actors who insist on quitting acting and going into politics because ... they want the pay cut? They have "opinions?" Who knows? But we've got three examples, which officially makes it a trend.

Number one, Al Franken. Not really an actor, exactly, more of a performer-turned-author-turned-politician, but whatever. The point is, he's finally been sworn in as the second senator from Minnesota today, making him officially a sellout. How can he possibly give us his unvarnished opinions on Rush Limbaugh and other things now that he's beholden to common Minnesota voters?

Kal Penn has also joined the ranks of people who used to act but now carry water for lowly citizens. He had a wonderful career ahead of him acting in movies about marijuana and television shows about people with exploding ulcers, but he gave it all up so that he could collect a meager paycheck as some sort of public outreach drone with the Obama administration. Why, Kal Penn? Why?

And last, the beloved liberal actor Alec Baldwin has threatened to leave acting and run for office, who knows where, or for what:

I’ll put it this way. The desire is there; that’s one component. The other component is opportunity. A law firm in a liberal Democratic bastion in Ohio state politics sent me a binder with a cover letter that read, “Mr. Baldwin, here’s who we represent, the kinds of cases we handle, our credentials in Ohio state politics. We want you to move to Ohio and run for governor. We will launch your career."

This insanity has got to stop. Actors: knock it off with this "desire to serve" nonsense and get back to whatever you do, sitting in trailers letting people spray you with fake tans. Otherwise we will be forced to send Harry Reid and an assortment of other withered old hacks to casting calls, and Hollywood will become "DC for ugly people." Nobody wants that. Not even Republicans.

Human resources consultant Sara K. Smith writes for NBC and Wonkette.