The hypersensitive righteous-wing of the Tea Bag brigade is up in arms over the casting of Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan in an upcoming movie about a butler. The true story of Eugene Allen, who worked in the White House from 1952 to 1986, is being brought to the screen by the Weinstein Company for release this fall. Fonda’s role is not much more than a cameo, and it is in no way political.
Nevertheless, cranky conservatives are whipping up a tempest over the casting because forty years ago Fonda visited North Vietnam, a trip for which she has apologized numerous times. This past week Fox News hosted a veteran with an anti-Fonda Facebook page at least twice (on Megyn Kelly’s America Live and on Fox & Friends), and bloggers from WorldNetDaily to Breitbart have piled on.
So F**king What?
The small-minded grudge-holders fanning these ancient embers are abnormally obsessed with a minor historical event that has no bearing on the present. What’s more, they are only helping the film’s producers to publicize the project and generate more interest and box office.
Fonda’s advice that they “Get a life,” couldn’t be more appropriate. Is their time so pitifully worthless that this is all they can think of to spend it on? Aren’t there some needy children or wounded warriors that they can attend to? They might want to consider that their irrational outrage far exceeds that of Mrs. Reagan, who has given Fonda her blessing:
Fonda: “I was very happy to hear that she was pleased that I was playing her. Which shows how smart she is. She’s smarter than all those extreme right-wingers who are angry that I’m playing a woman whose politics are different than mine. Come on, it’s a movie!”
The casting of Fonda in the Reagan role ought not to stir much controversy from a creative perspective. She is an accomplished actress and bears some resemblance to the former First Lady. Who would these wingnuts prefer for the part, Victoria Jackson? Susan Lucci? Do they believe that every role in cinema must be played by an actor who shares the same political ideology as the subject? Were that the case we would forever be deprived of seeing Tony Danza tackle the role of Jimmy Carter.
And lest you think that the veteran hosting the Facebook page calling for a boycott of “Hanoi Jane” is simply is a concerned citizen with a rational complaint, be aware that he has posted a picture of Fonda with a noose around her neck and described it as his “fantasy.” Apparently lynching women for things they did four decades ago is fair game for these cretins.
Good god. I can’t imagine someone holding a grudge that long and so obstinately. It’s so strange that they hold Fonda to some arbitrary “Patriot” standard, yet let the Kennedy/Johnson/Nixon governments off the hook. A stupid youthful indiscretion is no where near the outrage of the Viet Nam war. Did Fonda cross a line? Sure. But she didn’t napalm an entire country in a war that she admitted before she started she’d lose. I think they’re just angry because in so many ways Fonda and the “Peace-niks” were right.
No kidding. The number of them who say they wanted more and more war just pisses me off. I’m glad my father came home from that war, and I wouldn’t want more to die for it.
But yet these guys call it treason to say a war should stop? And that this is ‘bad’ for the soldiers?
I will never understand the people who say it is good for soldiers to die, and the fault of those who don’t want them to fight… That the soldiers died. WTF.
It is not the fact that she protested the war, it’s the fact that she vilified the soldiers who fought in it. And I agree with you, it’s not good for soldiers to die, so maybe you should take a look at this clip of Fonda speaking at Berkeley where she received a round of roaring applause when she talked about the Vietcong shooting down American B52’s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzK4umQR6AU
Crissa,
Tell us what your Dad has to say about Jane Fonda.
That should be something worth listening to.
Your uneducated prattle is meaningless.
As for the claim about apologies …
Jane Fonda has on several occasions admitted that she regrets having sat for the photograph of her on the AA gun. If you had taken as much grief over one picture, you would regret it, too.
But, she has NEVER ‘apologized’ for any of her actions during the Vietnam War.
After the huge defeat of their forces during the 1968 Tet Offensive, the North Vietnamese were almost unable to continue their fight over control of the south.
The encouragement of their people by the actions of Jane Fonda, John Kerry, and others gave them the resolve to regroup and press forward.
Seen in this light, Fonda provided ‘the enemy’ with the means to continue. That (in my mind) is ‘aiding and abetting’ the enemy … the enemy that I was locked in a death struggle with.
What was your Dad doing in Vietnam, Crissa?
I will never forgive Hanoi Jane. Has your Dad forgiven her?
Jane Fonda’s right. These bitter whiners really do need to get a life.
When that bitch visited the Hanoi Hilton, one of the most brutal prisons the world has ever seen, to see American POWs, each man she talked to slipped her a piece of paper with their service numbers on it, because that was the only way to get word back home that they were still alive. After meeting with each of them, she handed all those pieces of paper to the base commander in front of the whole camp. Several men died from the beatings that insured as soon as she and her TV cameras were out the gates! Until she is tried for her role in the killing of these Americans, don’t ask me to forgive her for her TREASON! Furthermore, until she apologizes for her role in the deaths of nearly two million Cambodians, by her side, after we pulled out of SE Asia, don’t expect me to forgive her for anything. I’ll die holding that grudge! This abortion supporting bitch spent the entire 60s and 70s calling our troops “Baby Killers!” Ironic Huh?
The first part of your post (about Jane Fonda giving identifying papers that US soldiers gave to her to the enemy company commander) has been proved to be blatantly false. The soldiers at the place where this allegedly happened have publicly stated that this did not happen. So your main reason for hating Jane Fonda is a known lie. It was made up by people who hate Jane Fonda over her general left-wing politics more than over her anti-war activity. The fabricated story is political smearing is all it is.
Secondly, how may Cambodians did she kill? Show me the videotape. And don’t try to convince me you give a rat’s @ss about the Cambodians. You’re just looking for excuses to hate-on her because her politics are the other side of the political spectrum from yours because you yourself complain about “her side” in your post. So you’re just one of the war-mongering, right-wing, whackos that Jane Fonda warned the rest of us about.
Thirdly, I do not believe Jane Fonda ever killed anyone. She voiced an opinion is all she did. If everything had unfurled exactly as she had wanted then some people probably would have died as a result but by the same token if everything had unfurled exactly as she wanted then some people would have been saved as a result.
And if her side of the political aisle had not been active against the war then there is no telling where the Viet Nam War could have led. It could possibly have led to armed and even nuclear conflict with Russia and China since the Viet Nam War was basically the US vs Russia and China. And lastly the people you likely admired, the US leaders who got us into that war, without wondering one bit how many people these US leaders may have needlessly caused the deaths of. You don’t care about this issue of who caused however many deaths; you just hate Jane Fonda because she’s on the opposite side of the political aisle.
Lastly, if we are to have equality between the sexes then women will have to have the right to terminate their pregnancies. I understand that your religious convictions may not allow abortions but you can adhere to that by you yourself not getting an abortion. But when you try to stop other people from getting an abortion you are imposing your religious beliefs on other people and that is un-American. The US constitution affords us all our own religious beliefs. None of us is supposed to have to live in accordance with the religious beliefs of someone else. I am not supposed to have to live in accordance with your religious beliefs and you are not supposed to have to live in accordance with my religious beliefs, but you try to impose your religious beliefs on other people. You are clearly no patriot of the USA or its’ constitution.
I’m done with you. And you can shove your religious where the sun does not shine fella.
The issue is that she has never been truly apologetic. Her “apologies” have been no better than political back peddling. She knows she screwed the pooch and spit on everyone who fought over there. But not once has any of her apologetic statements have been truthful or sincere. She’s only apologizing to try and save face. THAT’S why the vets are still pissed at her.
Their hatred runs deep. Fonda is a symbol of progressive causes so they must continue to hate and attack her, even after 40 years! She was right about the war and about these losers getting a life. I didn’t hear anyone of her critics defend the disaster of Vietnam, at least not in anyway anyone could understand.
Nothing about John Cusack as Nixon? Or Robin Williams as Eisenhower?
Those two got top billing. Seems to me that they are the real threat to RW history.
Why would their casting rewrite history? They are actors playing roles. The screenwriter might rewrite history if his script is in accurate (and no one has alleged that), but not the actors.
These are talented, popular artists who would likely help the film at the box office. Would you rather some hack with no fans play these roles and doom the film to failure?
I can’t believe this nonsense. Jane Fonda really is right that these people need to get a life. I concur 100%. I can’t believe this nonsense is going on for over 40 years. Look she made a couple mistakes and she apologized for them already. Enough already. If she really did the really bad stuff that they are accusing her of it might be a little understandable but the really bad stuff that she has been accused of is NOT even true. This is ridiculous. The few over-the-top looking stuff that she actually did could be chalked up to youthful poor judgment, misunderstandings, and the times she was living in. Keep in mind that there was a military draft back then and a lot of people were being ordered to go to a Viet Nam war that they rightfully disbelieved in and they rightfully thought was unnecessary. She was trying to stop people from needlessly dying and suffering.
I read with GREAT disappointment that there are US military buildings where pictures of Jane Fonda in a target sign are put inside the urinals. I think we should start a petition asking President Obama to ORDER the commanders of those US military buildings to take those pictures out of those urinals.
I read with GREAT disappointment that there are US military buildings where pictures of Jane Fonda in a target sign are put inside the urinals. I think we should start a petition asking President Obama to ORDER the commanders of those US military buildings to take those pictures out of those urinals.
Obviously the author of this article and the vast majority of people posting have never served in the military. Every bit of hatred for Fonda is completely justifiable, and predictably people who never had the stones to serve their country are trying to impose their civilian perspective on a world they don’t understand. Although what Fonda did is somewhat forgivable because she was a young stupid girl at the time, the sentiment she stirred up at home that caused so much anguish for returning veterans is despicable and unforgivable. If you don’t get it or think it’s overblown or that she only pisses off right wingers, you simply lack the perspective gained by those who have suffered and bled for all the rights you take for granted. Enjoy your freedoms.
If you hate Jane Fonda, then you don’t understand what you were supposedly fight for. It was 40 years ago and she gave a complete, heartfelt apology. Your obsessive grudge-holding is hurting you more than her. Like she says: Get a life.
Actually, veterans understand what they were fighting for better than anybody. Yes, you have the right to say asinine things in this country, and I have the right to consider you a complete tool when you do.
A Real Vet, you say you have the right to call someone a complete fool but a lot of the things being said about Jane Fonda go well beyond calling her a fool. They are calling her worse names than they call Hitler. They are wishing for her to die. They are threatening her with death. One of her critics spit in her face. You can say she spat in soldiers faces when they came back from Nam but there was not even one proved incident of Jane Fonda spitting in anyone’s face ever. Her image is put in a target sign inside of urinals inside of mainstream military or psuedo-military buildings.
If her critics were only saying that she did some foolish things over there then this could be a reasonable discussion but her critics are taking it well beyond that. Her critics are taking this way too far. I feel sad for her. No human being should be treated this badly, especially considering that not one person got hurt by way of the things she did and after she has apologized. You may not want to hear this but her anti-war activity probably actually saved some lives, including some American lives.
Firstly, I said tool, not fool. Secondly I was addressing the poster above me, not Jane Fonda. Thirdly, what names worse than Hitler is she being called? I hear Hanoi Jane and traitor bitch a lot, I don’t think that’s worse than Hitler. Also, I do not presume to speak for every veteran, just myself. And please point out where I said she spat in people’s faces? I know she didn’t, I do my homework. Apparently you people don’t know how to read because you’re implying that I said things that I didn’t. With hurt that runs that deep, you are totally naive to think that an apology makes it better. If Vietnam and communism were so wonderful, I wonder why she decided to stay here in the US to acquire her wealth…
OK you said tool instead of fool. Fine. I misread it. But you would not believe the things that she is being called. Please spend a few hours and read the things they are calling her at this site below and not just the first things said. Go through the threads and read a lot of this stuff:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-any-Movie-starring-Jane-Fonda/255946147831097
Also, note that they are calling for her death and even threatening to kill her. They are calling her @cunt and every other imaginable insult that you could possibly call a person. It would be impossible to insult Hitler any worse than they are insulting Jane Fonda because every nasty, vulgar, and bad thing that could possibly be said about a human being is being said about her. You could not possibly say anything worse about Hitler because there are no worse words in language. And I have never seen a site where Hitler is talked about as badly as Jane Fonda is talked about. Also, keep in mind that you yourself admit that she never spat in anyone’s face, but it’s public knowledge that a veteran did spit in her face.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,154063,00.html
And there doing a lot more. They are talking about urinating on her grave. They are already installing target Jane Fonda signs in toilets to urinate on her. This is ridiculous. It’s being taken way too far. Look she did some very controversial stuff and I understand that some of the thing she said/did could offend people but to hear her critics tell it she is literally the worse person in the history of the world. Give me a break. I WISH Jane Fonda was the worse person to ever walk this planet. We should be so lucky for Jane Fonda to have been the worse person to have ever walked this planet. Look, at the time she was doing her anti-war activity most Americans agreed with her general position if not her optics/PR. She made some mistakes, but no reasonable fair-minded person would say that Jane Fonda said/did the things she did in an effort to hurt or kill people. In fact, in her own way she was trying to do something good. Her intentions were noble no matter how bad some of the things she did looked. She was trying to stop people from suffering and dying.
I understand that you’re not saying and doing the worse things that are being said and done to her, but with so much outrageously terrible stuff being done to her, said to her, and said about her don’t you think that every last person who adds even a reasonable insult is piling his/her insult on top of all of the totally unfair and terrible insults that are also being done to her.
I don’t understand how a good man could treat a human being in this manner. I don’t hate anyone but there are people I dislike but if I saw a person I disliked treated in this manner I would not be able to find it inside of myself to add even a reasonable insult to the pile of cruel things being hurled at the person. A good man would not add to the pile of cruelty she is living with because there is already too much cruelty aimed at her. I don’t get it.
It’s as though you think that you have to add your one insult to the pile because those other people who are calling her the worse things possible, spitting in her face, urinating on her image in urinals, calling for her death, threatening to kill her just aren’t being cruel enough. Give me a break. A decent man would try to calm down the bullying. Too many people are going too far with this thing. Way too far.
She is not the worse person ever in the world.
I put up the link to the wrong Boycott Jane Fonda movies Facebook page. This is the link I meant to post:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boycott-Hanoi-Jane-Playing-Nancy-Reagan/393518640666420
The other Facebook page is tame by comparison and the one in this post is the one I would like to ask you to spend some time with going through the threads and read this stuff.
Also, I read that there are over 90,000 links to web pages hating-on Jane Fonda. People are taking this way too far. What if she was your daughter? What if she was your sister? She does not deserve this. The punishment is way out of proportion. I don’t know Jane Fonda. I’m just a regular bloke. But I do believe that other people who are saying much worse things about her than you are saying about her have cut such a deep wound into her that even a reasonable complaint against her at this point piles on top of the totally outrageous stuff that has already been said and cuts just a little bit deeper.
A good man could not watch this kind of cruel bulling and actually pile on.
Check out the polls in the link below. When Jane Fonda went to Nam where her infamous picture seated on an enemy artillery weapon it was 1972. Look at the polls at how the American people felt about the war in 1971. The American people were getting sicker and sicker of the war as you can tell by the steady decline in support for the war from 1965 to 1971. Support for the war was dropping like a rock as people, including Jane Fonda, were getting sicker and sicker and sicker of the war. Is it any wonder that by 1972 she was so sick of the war that she was ready to go out on a limb to protest it. Most of the country was fed up with the war so why not understand that Jane Fonda was at the end of her rope with it?
Wow, that looks like a long, boring post, so I won’t read it. It cracks me up that Jane Fonda tells us it’s “us” that need to get a life.
OK.
I can’t believe the casting of Jane Fonda as Nancy Reagan. She is a traitor and should have been tried as a criminal. I refuse to go see any movie she is in.
while I defended the orders of the president of the u.s.a. jane fonda was on the other side strapped into a anti aircraft mechine gun laughing for the camera. She looks like a target to me.Third squadron 5th armored cav. 1967 1968, and still alive to nremember the bitch.
By the way, FOX NEWS.COM article above mine, you have no idea what all viet nam veterans feel you werent affected at all. ask the veterans. YOU must write your article as if jane fonda is still sleeoing with the owner of the company!
get a life
Her methods were controversial but so was the war that she was trying to stop. I do not believe that she was trying to hurt the country – I think her primary objective was to stop the needless human death and injury.
There’s really no way around the basic common sense fact that in the end America lost that war, freedom and democracy did not perish from the planet when that war was lost, and this proves that the war was unnecessary from the beginning. Jane Fonda was right all along.
It’s amazing that you sad bitter people are still mad at her even though the true bad guys in the Viet Nam War were the people who were pursuing the unnecessary war. Some bastards pursue a war that isn’t necessary and you admire those bastards even as you hate the person who tried to stop that same unnecessary war. You people just love war and death so much that you don’t even care if a war is necessary or not. No wonder Jane Fonda doesn’t care what you think. Why would any reasonable person care what a bunch of sad bitter war-mongers think?