Is McAuliffe Behind The Rovak Column?



We wondered in the quiet of our soul about the exquisite weirdness of our favorite Dickensian villain (The three-piece suits, the sour looks, the fidelity to a capital gains tax-cut...), Robert Novak, having the inside scoop in either the Steven Spielberg camp or the Friends-of-Bill camp. Zero fucking percentage, right? Turns out it may just be Terry McAuliffe, Name Dropper, Clinton Moneyman par excellence. Slate's Hollywood insider Kim Masters takes it on:

"As usual, there's some heavy jousting among Democratic hopefuls for bragging rights and access to Hollywood dough. The fact that the powerful triumvirate of Steven Spielberg, David Geffen, and Jeffrey Katzenberg are hosting an upcoming fund-raiser for Barack Obama has generated a ton of ink for the candidate. Much of it was in the vein of, 'Is Hollywood turning its liberal back on Hillary?'

"It was and is well-known in Hollywood that while Geffen and Katzenberg have committed to Obama, Spielberg has not yet promised himself to anyone. It was and is also well-known that Spielberg will host a fund-raiser for Hillary Clinton this spring, in addition to the Obama event this month.

So, it seemed odd to read in a Robert Novak column over the weekend that Spielberg, 'previously listed as a probable supporter' of Obama, would now host a Clinton fund-raiser. This was presented as news, though Novak didn't make it clear who had 'listed' Spielberg as an Obama supporter. Without quite saying so, Novak conveyed the idea that now only Geffen and Katzenberg are hosting the Obama fund-raiser, and that Bill Clinton had prevailed upon Spielberg to back away from Obama and toward Hillary.

"The Novak column is too silly to merit discussion—except, perhaps, about how it illuminates the real state of affairs in deep-pocketed Hollywood.

"If Spielberg had abandoned the upcoming Obama event, that would be news. But he hasn't. Many expect him to commit to Hillary in the future. But one veteran Hollywood Democratic operative said skeptically, 'There is no one on earth that would know that from Steven who would talk to Bob Novak.'

"The suspicion among some in the Obama faction is that this story came from the Clinton camp, eager to put a stop to the 'Hillary Hemorrhages Hollywood Support' stories. In a recent visit to town, Clinton campaign chairman Terry McAuliffe conveyed the notion that folks should pick sides now. Most aren't. In fact, McAuliffe's admonishment prompted Norman Lear, who, like many, is contributing to multiple candidates, to ask a Los Angeles Times reporter, 'What's Hillary going to do? Jail me?'"

Of course not, pudding. Even hacks like Richard Mellon Scaife and Christopher Ruddy have abandoned their Kafkesque narrative of a sinister, "Clintonian Amerika."

More from Kim Masters of Slate.