Vince Vaughn, who has supported Republican presidential candidates in the past, was chatting a few feet away, so the Bagger asked him, too. Did he think Ms. Streep’s speech was an example of how Hollywood should respond to the politics of our time? “I think people should say what they want to say, and what she said was beautiful,” Mr. Vaughn said.

The Bagger’s eyes then fell on John Corbett, a.k.a. Aidan from “Sex and the City.” Was Hollywood the platform to address politics?

“A whole lot of ‘Apprentice’ watchers just elected the president of the United States,” Mr. Corbett said, breaking into a dazzler of a grin, “so I guess it is!”

The night ended on a high note, with Kerry Washington, who was at the party with her husband, Nnamdi Asomugha, agreeing to weigh in. (“One question!” her manager told the Bagger.)

Ms. Washington said she found Ms. Streep’s speech beautiful too, adding that in a democracy, there’s never a time when citizens, whatever their stripe, shouldn’t speak out.

“I don’t think that people of Hollywood should be silenced because of what we do for a living,” Ms. Washington said. “I don’t think it’s important that she said what she said because she’s an actress. I think it’s important she said what she said because she’s a citizen. We all have a First Amendment right of free speech.”