The Mysterious Right-Turn of Ron Silver

“Of all the names on this convention’s list of speakers,” writes Slate’s William Saletan from the Republican National Convention, “none shocks me more than Ron Silver.”

I know the feeling. When I saw actor Silver, longtime liberal activist and outspoken supporter and apologist for Bill Clinton, speaking at the convention last night, I expected the late Rod Serling to emerge finally from behind a curtain.

“Under the unwavering leadership of President Bush,” Silver said, “the cause of freedom and democracy is being advanced by the courageous men and women serving in our Armed Services. The President is doing exactly the right thing. This is why we need this President at this time! I am grateful for the chance to speak tonight to express my support for our Commander-in-Chief, for our brave troops, and for the vital cause which they have undertaken.”

Surprising right-wing rhetoric from a Hollywood leftie, I thought. So this morning, I did a Google search for media coverage of Silver’s speech. There was very little. In fact, with the exception of a few convention bloggers like Saletan, it was almost nonexistent. Then, with some persistent digging, I discovered that as far back as 18 months ago, Silver had publicly denounced the head of the European parliament for his “anti-Americanism” and had even made an appearance on FOX News’ “Beltway Boys” program to support Bush and the War on Terror.

It’s become old hat to accuse Big Media of bias. But it does occur to me that whenever a Republican sides with Democrats, or even when Ron Reagan, son of the late president, spoke at the Democratic National Convention last month, the press coverage is particularly thorough. So where has the press been during this apparent Right-turn by Ron Silver, once one of Hollywood’s leading liberal activists? Where were they 18 months ago? Where were they last night? Is a Left-to-Right defector less newsworthy than a Right-to-Left turncoat?

Hmm.

A postscript to the above:

I've just found that the Los Angeles Times, which my old comrade J. Neil Schulman used to (and may still) call Pravda West, ran a small story by Elaine Dutka in this morning’s edition headlined “Actor Silver Applauds President’s War Stance.”

It's nestled at the bottom of page 23 in the paper’s front section.