LAT: Hollywood Souring on Hillary

[DeepModem Mom]

Hollywood Souring on Hillary
From Madonna to George Clooney, Hollywood's A-list have been making their doubts public.
By Tina Daunt, Times Staff Writer
April 4, 2006

Depending on whom you talk to in Hollywood these days, Hillary Clinton is either too conservative, too polarizing, too famous, too stiff or — keep this to yourself! — too sexy....

***

Once the darling of the industry's liberal set, Clinton has come under attack from some as she starts to line up support for what many feel will be a run for the presidential nomination. But that's not unusual for Hollywood — it's almost like a rite of passage, says veteran Democratic strategist Bill Carrick: You haven't really made it as a politician here until the stars line up to kick your tires....

***

The chatter started quietly last year, when the Hollywood political crowd began speculating that Clinton could be a 2008 contender. Of course her people denied it, saying she's concentrating on her Senate reelection campaign in New York this year. (But it didn't help that she was coming to town a lot, collecting tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions — money that could be used in the presidential election.)

For months, few were willing to say anything negative on the record, for fear of offending Clinton and her husband, Bill, who became Hollywood's favorite during his political career. When Hillary Clinton decided to run for the Senate in 2000, she was greeted with tremendous support from the entertainment industry's power brokers.

But Hollywood is a fickle place; behind-the-scenes feuding and gossiping are just part of the game. In December, the Sunday Times of London quoted George Clooney as saying that he was "frustrated and disappointed" that the Democratic leaders — including Clinton — had "backed themselves into a corner" over the Iraq war. According to the paper, Clooney reportedly called Clinton "the most polarizing figure in American politics."...

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-hillary4apr04,0,4415383.story?coll=la-home-entertainment