

Monday night, the Republican party held its first major fundraiser since Obama took office. Before the fundraiser, most of the media was concentrating on the back-and-forth of whether Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin were going to give the keynote speech (Palin first cancelled, then tried to reassert her speaking privileges, only to be denied). Even the initial post-fundraiser reports just focused on the Gingrich-Palin aspect of the night, and what exactly did the $14.5 million raised mean for the party. After that media cycle died out, people started focusing one of the men who hosted the fundraiser – none other than Jon Voight.

Voight got a certain degree of added fame during last year’s primary and general election. First, he whole-heartedly supported Rudy Giuliani. When Giuliani crashed and burned, Voight quickly came out for John McCain (“an amazing guy”) and later, Sarah Palin (“a beautiful choice”). He also wrote a particularly… interesting Washington Times editorial last summer called “My Concerns for America” in which he basically claimed that Obama was winning because he was brainwashing all of the young people.

So, skip ahead a few months into the Obama presidency, and what have we got? Jon Voight, hosting one of the most important Republican events of the year. His speech was a doozy too! He managed to hit all of the hot button issues – Marxism, Israel, and ‘the false prophet’ Barack Obama:

…Democrats fulfilled their mission to paint President Bush as a warmonger and once they were able to reach all the youth, in the colleges and on the internet, with this lie, painting him as the evil one, never giving him credit for keeping our country safe. Once they established that, it would be easy to bring in The One, as Oprah Winfrey crowned him. …It’s no wonder that the Russian newspaper Pravda, the former house organ for the former Soviet Communist regime, has said the American descent into Marxism is happening with breath-taking speed. …I think Obama has no idea that Israel was built on the blood and sweat of the Jewish people… He could not possibly understand this or he would know that the Jewish people are tried time and time again to give the Palestinians land and bring a peaceful solution. But every attempt, every attempt, was returned with violence. As far as I’m concerned, their only agenda is to wipe Israel off the Earth. And he reprimands the Israeli people, Obama. Like he’s a professor and they’re the school children….(Snip)..So how worried [about Iran] are we supposed to be now? Was I hearing things when he said that Iran might have the right to nuclear power? Are we supposed to be sitting and waiting, watching for the possibility of a new Holocaust? Who’s going to take the responsibility to keep Ameri — Israel safe? …We and we alone are the right frame of mind to free this nation from this Obama oppression,” said Voight. “And let’s give thanks to all the great people like Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Bill O’Reilly, Laura Ingraham, Mark Levin, William Bennett, Glenn Beck, Hugh Hewitt, Dennis Prager, Michael Medved, Dennis Miller, Dick Morris, Ann …Coulter, John Kasich, Michael Steele, Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Thomas Sowell, Victor Davis Hanson, Shelby Steele, Charles Krauthammer, Michelle Malkin, Fred Barnes and so many others.” …Let’s give thanks to them for not giving up and staying the course, to bring an end to this false prophet Obama.”

[From Jon Voight’s Republican fundraiser speech]

As you can imagine, people on both sides of the aisle sat up and took notice. Conservative blogger Andrew Breitbart fell all over himself praising Voight as “a great patriot and wonderful friend.” Meanwhile, a blogger on DailyKos is claiming that Voight’s words of “bring an end to this false prophet” equal a call for assassination. Meh – I don’t really think either is true, but there you go. What I find interesting about Voight’s politics today is that he really adheres to this image I have of the aging, ex-hippie boomer who now subscribes to a terrifying, apocalyptic vision of the world. It makes me wonder if this is all really about politics, or if it’s all one bad flashback.