Janeane Garofalo's passion for politics reigns

By NED O'REILLY

I’ve always thought Janeane Garofalo was funny. I’ve also enjoyed her acting in a number of films, humorous or not. She built her early career on caustic wit and an anti-image profile, but has more recently emerged as an outspoken activist – humor be damned. Ask Janeane Garofalo a straight question, but be ready for an extensive, knowledgeable answer. She knows no other way to reply. I talked to her over the phone on a Saturday morning about the media, the Clinton years, voting by personality type, women in positions of power, and other light-hearted fare.

What we need to recognize about our witty, satirical, contemporary performers, is that these issues fuel them. When Garofalo says that anger in a Republican is called passion, while in a Democrat it’s called instability, she is not being flip. This is her honest, well-informed take on one of the critical issues of our time: the question of reliability of the media. She is greatly concerned with civic duty – the idea that all of us should know what’s going on in our country.

I started by asking Garofalo if she’d be comfortable talking about MoveOn.org and its recent Bush in 30 Seconds contest. Comfortable does not begin to describe her feelings on the subject.

"MoveOn came onto my radar," she explained, "during the Clinton-bashing years." (She repeated this categorization of the1990s frequently during our talk.)

When the activist outfit asked Garofalo to be one of the judges for its contest, the fit was a natural. The contest winner, a 30-second film, "Child’s Play" by Charlie Fisher, was supposed to have aired at halftime of the SuperBowl, but CBS refused to show it due to its content, despite the fact that MoveOn paid for two spots. Had MoveOn known that "Child’s Play" wouldn’t air, Garofalo observed, they’d have gone with a different winner.

"The commercial isn’t even critical of the president," she explained. "It’s about who will pay for the deficit. The judges were looking for air-ability – something palatable and accessible to John and Jane Q. Public."

She noted that a commercial produced by the federal government was OK’d to air. "CBS and its parent company Viacom are just dishonest. Airtime is supposed to be accessible to the public" she said.

The conversation grew more compelling when Garofalo presented her views on the impact the late 1960s has had on recent political events.

"The Clintons were never legit to the right," she explained. "They are products of the enlightened progress of the late ’60s. They believe in the women’s movement, black power, gay rights. The Clintons are the real deal. Bill Clinton moved the Democratic party to the right for political survival."

Garofalo was standing a few feet from presidential hopeful Howard Dean the day of the Iowa caucuses and heard his now infamous speech, to which the media reacted so harshly. "It was a party," she said. "They had been blasting Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir.’ Who wouldn’t react that way? But Dean is from the ’60s and has a modern wife [Dr. Judith Steinberg]. All Americans should have the same opportunities, but conservative/status quo Republicans won’t have it that way."

Nor, she implied, will the American media. It is that media she blames for creating the differing definitions of anger mentioned earlier. When I suggested I don’t know why anyone would go into politics, she agreed. "The media will make it an uphill battle."

"Political affiliations and how you respond to candidates," Garofalo argued, "are nothing more than your personaility type. If you’re narrow-viewed – you do not see a unified society, but a stratified society – you go to the right wing. If privacy issues are automatic for you and you believe that government should spend more on social programs, you’ll vote democratic." Garofalo then offered a sympathetic view of the G.O.P., saying they’re not all racists and misogynists, but that many of their leaders are. "Rich white males have a fragile foothold in the culture," she said. "As culture changes, where’s your status?"

And so we transitioned to the issue of women in the business world, the media, and in political office. "The use of women in a conservative administration is to align them with anti-women causes." She recommended the book Bush Women: Tales of a Cynical Species, by Laura Flanders for more on this subject.

"The pleasant appearance of these women," Garofalo said, "is meant to distract from what they are really saying. Anne Coulter is as alluring and pleasant as cancer. And the media is so behind, they think Mrs. Howard Dean is somehow weird for not wanting to drop her medical practice and go on the campaign trail with her husband. The Bush administration would like to make you think that first ladies should be like Laura Bush."

"The genius of the Reagan/Bush approach is that you can be a jerk, but as long as you’re seen as religious and patriotic, you don’t have to care about your neighbors."

A New York resident, Garofalo cited that the Rev. James A. Forbes of the renowned Riverside Church in Harlem has been saying since 2000 that Bush is as un-Christian as it gets, that his followers are moving farther and farther away from the true tenets of Christianity. Garofalo has family in Texas, where she says Bush’s nickname is "The Texecutioner," due to all of the criminals put to death during his tenure as governor there.

Garofalo doesn’t call herself a pacifist, per se, but a pragmatist – a person of reason. "If you don’t understand how duplicitous your nation is, then the alternative is depressing. It’s nihilist. What we really have is just that – no rules. No accountability. Ever."

So what might be some solutions, Janeane?

"If people are so emphatic about forcing women to have children, then they should pay extra taxes – a baby tax – to take care of those children for 18 years, but it should only apply to pro-lifers," she said. "And those who are so gung ho for war should pay an extra war tax – to show their patriotism. Or you should be required to serve in some way.

"If they’re so concerned about the Iraqi people, they should pay a buddy tax." This tax, she explained, would help an Iraqi recover from having his or her life blown apart by the bombs our forces dropped on Iraq. She believes that anyone made to pay such taxes would back off of their support on these issues. Again, accountability.

The final point of our conversation was another poke at our current president. Garofalo has her preferences among the Democratic candidates, but will vote for whomever wins the nomination. "Bush is not popular. The myth that Bush is unbeatable is based on the public’s ignorance. If the media was really doing its job, you and I could beat Bush tomorrow. Anyone reading this could beat Bush."

Civic duty indeed.