Supreme Court's Health Care Ruling Celebrated by Hollywood

A landmark day in Washington, DC made waves across the nation.

The decision was a razor-thin 5-4, and the political parties fired out polar opposite responses. But in Hollywood, the reaction was clear: the Supreme Court's upholding of the Affordable Care Act was a reason to celebrate.
As soon as Chief Justice John Roberts finished reading his decision -- and the news networks all arrived on the correct headline -- celebrities let out tweets of joy. That shouldn't come as much of a surprise; President Obama has been spending a significant amount of time on the left coast, raising money from the left-leaning, deep pocketed big wigs of the entertainment industry.

Here's a sampling of the excitement Hollywood celebrities shared online:

Hollywood celebrities shared online:


Bette Midler

✔@BetteMidler Obama Health Care passes! The wing nuts must be boiling!!!

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Reagan Gomez

@ReaganGomez I have to admit, I really did think the law, or at least key parts of it were going to be struck down. HAPPY #POTUS WON. #AffordableCareAct

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

moby

✔@thelittleidiot A bad day for insurance companies, a good day for the 50,000,000 uninsured: Supreme Court upholds Obama health-care law washingtonpost.com/politics/supre…

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Cher

✔@cher Set alarm 2hear Supreme court decision on pres Obama's health plan! It WAS UP HELD! I literally jumped out of bed started doing snoopy dance

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Michael Moore

✔@MMFlint Most impt part of Obama victory today is that insurance companies can no longer deny coverage because someone has a pre-existing condition

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Michael Moore

✔@MMFlint The right wing has just had their worst smackdown since the day O was elected. The path of history continues to head toward univ health care

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

christina applegate

✔@1capplegate Um for those who want to move to Canada bcuz of obamacare, u may want to look up Canada healthcare on Wikipedia. Just sayin

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Damon Lindelof

✔@DamonLindelof Barack is so smoking a cigarette right now.

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Kal Penn

✔@kalpenn Watching Mitt Romney lying & #trolling on the tv. #ACA

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Jon Lovett

@jonlovett The best part of the Supreme Court decision on #Obamacare is the passage where John Roberts drops the mic.

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Adam McKay

✔@GhostPanther Wow. John Roberts actually practiced good law. I'm shocked. Well done sir.

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Albert Brooks

✔@AlbertBrooks Breaking News: It's a terrific day in America. I'm gonna go out and get wildly sick.

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

AB

✔@alecbaldwin SCOTUS ObamaCare decision: Even a broken clock........

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

AB

✔@alecbaldwin If the right wing had won this, they'd be screaming REVOLUTION in the streets. What ought we do?

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

John Fugelsang

@JohnFugelsang Mitt Romney will not rest until children can again be denied care for Pre-existing Conditions #fullrepeal #obamacare

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Holly Robinson Peete

✔@hollyrpeete We are required to have car insurance. Isn't a mandate to have health insurance a similar concept?? What are your thoughts? #peetepoll

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Roger Ebert

✔@ebertchicago Court says yes, 5-4, to Obamacare. Thanks. We needed that. reut.rs/MsIPCd

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite

Deepak Chopra

✔@DeepakChopra I'm ecstatic over Supreme court upholding Obama care ! Compassion rules

28 Jun 12 ReplyRetweetFavorite.

Hollywood's hate speech

Hollywood's own words were on display on the Sean Hannify show.  Cher and Bill Maher continue to provide Firepower for the right and show America how out of touch they really are with the country. The hypocrisy never ends with the left.
Cher also holds firmly to the belief that "[w]ords are like weapons; they wound sometimes," which is a curious sentiment coming from an apolitical woman who has a tendency to label most Republican politicians "stupid."


It was not long ago that Cher was using hate speak against President George W Bush.

In fact, prior to George W. Bush being elected president, Cher registered an opinion of the Republican candidate in the following way: "I don't like Bush. I don't trust him. I don't like his record. He's stupid. He's lazy."
Usually when one person calls another person "stupid," it's because the name-caller views himself or herself as more intelligent than the callee. Evidently, the way Cher throws around the word "stupid," the high school dropout clearly considers diva brainpower superior to a traditional Yale and Harvard education.

Prior to the 2000 election, Cher felt compelled to perform a public service by sharing with American women and minorities the admonitory view that "[i]f you're black in this country, if you're a woman in this country, if you are any minority in this country at all, what could possibly possess you to vote Republican?"

Ms. "Words ... wound" Cher eloquently cautioned against voting for Bush by saying "[h]as everyone lost their f---ing minds? Doesn't anybody remember the illustrious Reagan-Bush years when people had no money and no jobs? What has happened to people's memories? It's like they have Alzheimer's or something."

Actress Camryn Manheim calls Bush beheading on HBO 'despicable'

Camryn Manheim has been a strong supporter of Democratic ideals over the years, but she was nevertheless disgusted by the recent revelations that the creator’s of the HBO hit “Games of Thrones” had used the likeness of former Republican President George W. Bush as a decapitated figure on an episode of the show.

“(Bush’s head on a stake) and throwing shoes at him, honestly it has gotten despicable. I really think our country is lead by politicians and reporters,” Manheim lamented to FOX411’s

“D.C. can repair that by repairing themselves. People have lost respect in general for our government, that’s why it is raining down on our president,” she said. “I am embarrassed and ashamed when people disrespect the President of the United States regardless. We are losing a lot of our graciousness, politeness and respect as a society so they need to stand up and stop the bickering and be proud to be an American.”

$40,000 a ticket!

Fixing the economy will be put off for a few hours this evening: President Obama will be busy shaking down some celebriguests attending a fundraising dinner hosted by Sarah Jessica Parker and Anna Wintour at Parker's New York City home.

Tickets cost $40,000, about as much as the average person makes in a year. For donating all that money, what kind of party favors do these guests get? We can't afford to attend ourselves to find out firsthand, and even if we could, journalistic principles would bar us from going in the first place.

So we're left to imagine what Obama's uber supporters are paying for:(To be clear -- this is from our imagination.)

For $10,000: Matthew Broderick will sit next to you. For $5,000, you'll share a table with Will Smith. For $50, Joe Biden will watch you eat andtell you it's a "big f***king meal."

For $15,000: You might get a flattering profile in Vogue — though it'll cost another $15,000 for that profile to remain online once the editors kill the link.The standard dinner will be overseen by Michelle Obama and will consist of locally grown herbs, low-fat beet-garnished eggplant and a corn-and-soybean protein shake. For $4.50, you could get a tasty dinner from Burger King.

For $2,000: Obama will give you a personal shout-out at the beginning of his speech. For $4,000, he'll serenade you with three seconds of Al Green. For bundling a half-million dollars for his re-election campaign, he'll make you the ambassador to England.

Donate $30,000, and you'll get the cell phone number of super PAC major domo Bill Burton, but only after working through a series of increasingly complex clues to throw the Federal Election Commission off track.

For $9,000: Mayor Cory Booker will light your table on fire, then carry you out of the house on his shoulders. And for an extra two grand, he'll write you a job recommendation for Bain Capital.

If Fifth Avenue is packed and you're running late, for $5,000 the president will call you in your car and tell you that "the traffic is doing fine."

.President Obama Has Private Meeting with Young Stars at Beverly Hilton




Hollywood actors -- including Jessica Alba, Zach Braff, and Dianna Agron -- join Obama in early-morning meeting at the Beverly Hilton to talk politics.

Before heading off for a breakfast Thursday that officially concluded his two-day fundraising trip to Los Angeles, President Barack Obama met privately at the Beverly Hilton with two dozen of Hollywood’s hottest young stars, urging them to involve themselves in his re-election campaign.

Among those who met with the president were The Avengers star Jeremy Renner, Glee actress Dianna Agron, Star Trek's Zachary Quinto, Southland's Ben McKenzie, Jessica Alba, Bryan Greenberg, Adam Rodriguez, Zach Braff, Brandon Routh, Ian Somerhalder, Jared Leto, Kal Penn and Sophia Bush.


Sources say that the meeting was part of the Obama re-election campaign’s “Young America Effort,” an initiative to build support and turnout among the younger voters who were key to the president’s election four years ago.

Thursday’s private meeting was similar to the one Obama held earlier this year with Weinstein Co. mogul Harvey Weinstein and a clutch of leading entertainment industry executives, as well as talent representatives with access to the music industry’s top stars and musical act. As THR reported then, Obama did not directly solicit contributions, but he talked about how hard he expected the coming campaign to be and how valuable Hollywood support would be to his re-election effort.
Like other young Americans, young Hollywood lives on social media, and shortly after the ostensibly private meeting concluded, participants began sending out Instagrams and tweets documenting the event.

Some of their tweets:


Agron: "Maybe the only man I truly get nervous around. Worth the early wake up call."

Greenberg: "Truly inspirational talking with @BarackObama today"

Bush: "It was amazing to see @iansomerhalder @ZacharyQuinto @DiannaAgron and @BryanGreenberg with the POTUS today. Good peeps. #YoungAmericans."

Alba: "Got up bright & early to hear @BarackObama speak w an awesome group"
Somerhalder: "Totally surreal morning. Met up with some friends, had coffee with President Obama now tweeting.The 21st century... Let's do this." Sooh after, he followed up with, "Just spent my morning w/this man talkn green energy,a better America&being a young American-wow"

Roseanne In The Rose Garden?

“I’m loving it,” said Roseanne Barr, recently announced presidential candidate. “I find that I can be more honest in politics than in Hollywood.”

Not that she’s ever been accused of demurring in either realm.
Seeking to run on the Green Party line, Ms. Barr’s presidential bid, she said, is primarily motivated by her dissatisfaction with both major political parties—in particular their candidates, Mitt Romney and Barack Obama, whom she referred to as “total buffoons.”
“That’s what I say: I’m the only serious comedian in this race,” Ms. Barr added.
In a career spanning more than 40 years, including rollicking standup performances, a watershed sitcom and a memorable performance of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” Ms. Barr has been at turns provocative, endearing, innovative and combative. As of February, she has turned her considerable personality toward the interests of the American electorate. In a pair of lengthy interviews with The Observer, she outlined not only her political aspirations, but the possibility of returning to television—and not necessarily in the way you would expect.
“I feel sorry for the American people who’ve been hoodwinked by both of these parties of nothing but criminals that sit in Congress there enriching themselves,” she began.
As it happens, legalization of marijuana is the first issue in the political platform posted on Ms. Barr’s website. She said she has a prescription to use the drug for glaucoma in California and vowed to smoke a joint at a public press conference if she is victorious in the Golden State’s Green Party primary this week.
“I don’t really smoke it, but I have a salve of it, you know, and if you rub it into your wrists, you don’t get high,” Ms. Barr said. “You’re not getting high but you feel release. I have salve and I have cookies.”
Other issues on Ms. Barr’s platform include ending the Federal Reserve, stopping “debt slavery” by “forgiving all school loans,” withdrawing military support for Israel and making war “obsolete.”
“Wars make the stock market go up and are fueled by profits. Where one puts their money is where one puts their energy,” Ms. Barr explains on her site. “The Military Industrial Complex is our shadow government.”
She also is concerned about preserving the environment, particularly water resources.
“Those that lead us have allowed the corporations to cross over the web of life and they have destroyed the genetic code,” she wrote. “They have befouled our food and water supply.”
She describes her economic policy—if that’s the right word—as a synthesis of free enterprise and the social safety net.
“We can have a really great world. We can have a world that was at peace and was prosperous and efficient and just … I just think, wow. I think we’re really in that cosmic space where we can actually command our group will to make something change very quickly. I think we’re just so on the verge of that,” Ms. Barr said. “I just like to encourage people to jump off, man. Jump off and start thinking clearly.”

President Obama dined last month with 150 guests at George Clooney’s California cottage. He exchanged quips in January with Spike Lee in the director’s New York City townhouse.

Last fall, Obama entertained megastar Lady Gaga, who was seated in the front row of a Silicon Valley fundraiser in six-inch heels and a towering blond bouffant.

Obama’s popularity with Hollywood glitterati is again on display as his campaign mobilizes its vast fundraising apparatus to amass cash in a campaign that is shaping up to be the most expensive in U.S. history.

If Obama was the candidate of cool in 2008, when celebrities such as musician Will.I.Am produced viral campaign videos , he has even more aggressively employed star power to open pocketbooks, build buzz and, perhaps most notably, deploy celebrities to target specific constituencies.

Yet Obama’s glamorous elbow-rubbing carries significant risks as he struggles to convince voters that he is focused single-mindedly on their economic concerns. And it is triggering attacks from his Republican rivals, who contend that the president is more interested in hobnobbing with Hollywood to help his campaign than he is in helping ordinary Americans.

On Monday, the Republican National Committee released a Web video called “Meanwhile,” which flashes unemployment numbers for various groups — women, Latinos, African Americans, youth — under clips from an Obama campaign video from last Friday of Vogue Editor Anna Wintour talking about hanging out with “Sex and the City” star Sarah Jessica Parker and first lady Michelle Obama. The bustling sounds of New York City streets give way to crickets chirping at the end of the RNC version, along with the tag line: “Obama’s focused on keeping his job. But what about yours?”

Although Obama faced similar accusations in 2008, the charges are potentially more dangerous this time given that he is a sitting president responsible for managing the economy, rather than being just one of 100 senators. Yet the Obama campaign sees Hollywood as a powerful and necessary ally, able to both raise large amounts of money and also speak directly to important subgroups of voters who identify with the famous. On Monday, as his celebrity ties became an issue, Obama hosted rock star Jon Bon Jovi on Air Force One on the way to fundraisers in New York.

The fundraiser with Wintour and Parker, for example, is part of an effort to appeal to women; the reelection team next week is offering supporters a chance to win a raffle (entry fee $3) to attend the New York City event. In a fundraising e-mail to supporters Monday, Michelle Obama called Parker “a loving mom, an incredibly hard worker, and a great role model” and added: “She’s one of those people you can’t help but admire.”

The RNC response video mocked the timing of the Obama video’s release. The video “highlights how out of touch President Obama and his campaign are after releasing a glitzy fundraising video featuring Vogue chief Anna Wintour the same day as a dismal jobs report,” RNC spokeswoman Kirsten Kukowski said, referring to a Labor Department report that showed the economy added just 69,000 jobs in May.

The Obama campaign struck back quickly, pointing out that Romney appeared last week with developer Donald Trump, host of the television show “The Apprentice.” Trump’s controversial comments questioning Obama’s birth­place overshadowed the event.

“It’s kind of humorous that they would take that tack,” David Axelrod, Obama’s senior campaign adviser, said Monday. “When Mr. Trump went off the deep end again, [Romney] did not rebuke him because he said he needed to get 50.1 percent of the vote.”

Furthermore, Axelrod added, Romney has sought fundraising help other famous names, including musicians Kid Rock and Ted Nugent.

“I don’t think they have a whole lot of standing on this issue,” Axelrod said.

Still, Romney’s drawing power among Hollywood’s elite pales in comparison to Obama’s. At a Beverly Hills fundraiser last week, Romney’s biggest-name guests were former “Happy Days” star Scott Baio and actor Jon Voight, who is also Angelina Jolie’s father.

Obama has drawn support from Hollywood’s biggest names and biggest bundlers, including moviemaking titans Jeffrey Katz­enberg and Steven Spielberg. The fundraiser last week at Clooney’s house — for which the campaign also held a raffle for ordinary supporters — included actors Tobey Maguire, Jack Black and Salma Hayek and singer Barbra Streisand. The campaign walked away with a whopping $15 million, its largest single-event total, including the raffle and $40,000-per-plate tickets for 150 guests.

In many cases, the Obama campaign has used celebrities to target specific constituencies. Eva Longoria, a campaign bundler who is a constant presence at Obama events, is popular among Hispanic women. Last month, Obama was introduced at a New York event by openly gay singer Ricky Martin, just days after the president expressed support for same-sex marriage.

Martin told the crowd that he admires “the courage he showed last week in affirming his belief in marriage equality. That is the kind of courage we expect from our president and that is why we support him.”

The attacks on Obama’s fascination with celebrities are not new. In 2008, Republican rival John McCain endorsed a video called “Celebrity” that mocked Obama’s popularity and included images of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton.

“He’s the biggest celebrity in the world. But is he ready to lead?” the ad intoned.

That ad did little to damp Obama’s appeal, especially among young voters. John Weaver, a Republican strategist who had called the McCain video “childish,” said Monday that the RNC attack also would have little effect on voters.

“They’re trying to influence opinion leaders and journalists,” Weaver said. “But no voter cares about this issue, and it will not shape the opinion of any voters. What matters is whether the employment situation will improve.”

Yet for the Obama campaign, the need to recapture the enthusiasm of 2008 has grown more urgent with the economy still struggling. Heather Smith, president of the youth-oriented Rock the Vote, said there are 25 million unregistered voters under 30 years old, a far higher number than at the same time four years ago.

“All our polling shows an increased level of frustration with the pace of change, with the control of money and corporate interests in our political process,” she said, citing the Occupy Wall Street and tea party movements as offshoots of that frustration.

“The question for the president will be not whether he uses celebrity spokespeople, but how he uses them and what kind of message they convey,” Smith added. “People are worse off than they were four years ago. So it’s not just a straight to camera ‘go vote’ campaign. They need to leverage celebrities to actually talk about the issues.”

Obama’s celebrity surrogates have begun to help in that regard, a la Martin’s comments on same-sex marriage. But in many cases, the praise has been more effusive the other direction.

“We raised a lot of money because everybody loves George,” Obama told supporters at the Clooney event.

“They like me,” the president said. “They love him.”

US Tax Payers Pick up the Tab for Rocker Jon Bon Jovi

Rocker Jon Bon Jovi got a lift Monday to New York on Air Force One with President Obama.
The Bon Jovi frontman was spotted by reporters rounding a corner at JFK airport in New York City. After he was spotted, the White House acknowledged that he joined the president on the flight. A White House official said he was traveling as a "guest of the President."
Bon Jovi is headlining a campaign event at the Waldorf-Astoria, where he will perform for about 500 supporters. According to a White House official, the campaign paid for Bon Jovi's trip.

Harvey Weinstein Gets Political By Buying Documentary About the Fall of Gaddafi

The Weinstein Co. co-chairman also is expected to pick up "Code Name Geronimo," a movie about the hunt for Osama bin Laden, which could be seen as an effort to boost President Obama's chances of re-election.

Wading into political waters, the Weinstein Co. has acquired U.S. rights to the documentary The Oath of Tobruk, a look at the eight-month conflict that led to the fall of Muammar Gaddafi by French philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Levy. The film is schedule to be screened as part of the official program at the Cannes Film Festival on May 25.
Levy’s film documents the unfolding of the war in Libya and the spontaneous popular revolt that became a revolution through the efforts of the Libyan people in their country and in major cities including Paris, London and New York.

In announcing the acquisition, TWC co-chairman Harvey Weinstein clearly signaled his political intentions. He described the buy as a political move, designed to provide hope for other countries in the region like Syria. In a statement, he said that the film “highlights the invaluable leadership from President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. American audiences will get a behind-the-scenes glimpse of how our government and the French government worked together to stop the slaughter of innocent civilians and brilliantly handled the overthrow of a government.”

In another move that also could have political implications, the Weinstein Company is expected to pick up rights to a dramatic feature Code Name Geronimo, from director John Stockwell,about the hunt for Osama bin Laden. If the Weinstein Co. releases that film before the November elections, it could be seen as an effort to help boost Obama’s re-election chances, while also stealing thunder from Kathryn Bigelow’s own hunt-for-Osama movie Zero Dark Thirty, which Sony has scheduled for release on Dec. 19.

Tobruk will screen as an official selection in Cannes next week. Four key figures of the Libyan revolution, who have been invited by Lévy, will attend the screening to dedicate their achievement in Libya to their Syrian friends.

Levy hailed TWC’s involvement in the film by saying, “For me, Harvey Weinstein is not simply The Artist. He is the producer who helped launch Amnesty International in the United States; the man who fought capital punishment with the weapon of cinema; and the one who defended Roman Polanski in the face of those who wished to lynch him. This Weinstein, I am happy to learn, is joining Studio 37 in the adventure of The Oath of Tobruk.“

The film was produced by Studio 37, a financier of the Academy Award best picture winner The Artist, Margo Cinema and Arté.  Rezo is currently selling remaining territories.

MAY MESS: JOBS +69,000 ...Whie House Blames Bush AGAIN

Job growth braked sharply in May and the unemployment rate rose for the first time since June, putting pressure on the Federal Reserve to ease monetary policy further to shore up the sputtering recovery.

The Labor Department report on Friday, which showed employers added a paltry 69,000 jobs to their payrolls last month, the fewest since May last year, is also troubling news for President Barack Obama ahead of November's elections. The unemployment rate rose to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent partly because people flocked into the labor market.
Economists polled by Reuters had expected nonfarm payrolls to increase 150,000 and the jobless rate to hold steady at 8.1 percent.
While unseasonably warm weather, which brought forward hiring into the winter months, has been blamed for the step back in March and April, the latest report hinted at more fundamental weakness in the economy.
"Some had believed that we had decoupled from China slowing and all the problems in Europe, but that seems to be short-sighted," said Malcolm Polley, president and chief investment officer of Stewart Capital Advisors in Indiana, Pennsylvania. "We're slowing alongside the rest of the world."
Employers added 49,000 fewer jobs than previously estimated in March and April. The report further eroded confidence, coming on the back of a raft of soft regional factory surveys and a worsening of the debt crisis in Europe.
Data on Friday also showed China's vast factory sector lost momentum in May. Economists have blamed Europe's prolonged financial crisis and slowing Chinese growth for sluggish factory activity in May, which has evoked memories of the slackening of job growth in the summer of 2011 when the recovery nearly stalled.
Stock index futures fell sharply after the jobs data. Government debt yields also fell sharply, with the 10-year note below 1.5 percent. The dollar also fell against the yen. However, a survey of households showed stronger employment gains. Though the unemployment rate rose, as more people sought work.
The weak payrolls report could cause the Federal Reserve to move closer to launching a third round of bond purchases.
"This puts the Fed firmly in play and they will likely feel compelled to respond. The missing ingredient preventing the Fed from action had been the equity market, but now we are seeing it softening," said Tom Porcelli, chief economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.
The level of employment is about 5 million jobs below where it was in December 2007, when the economy fell into recession.
Analysts say the economy needs to create roughly 125,000 jobs a month just to keep the unemployment rate steady.
The labor force participation rate - the share of working-age Americans who either have a job or are looking for one - rose to 63.8 percent after dropping to a 30-year low in April.
Job gains were weak across the board last month, with the private sector adding only 82,000 positions. Government payrolls dropped by 13,000, dragged down by ongoing belt-tightening by local governments.
Construction employment fell 28,000 in May, the fourth straight decline. Manufacturing, the recovery's star performer, added 12,000 jobs.
Given the high unemployment rate, average hourly earnings rose only two cents and the average workweek fell to 34.4 hours.
Slower income growth is holding back consumer spending. A report from the Commerce Department showed consumer spending rose 0.3 percent in April after gaining 0.2 percent in March.