Speech to Washington Press Club

[IrishHand]

I used to think he and his partner were little more than peacenik hippies using their celebrity to further their tree-hugging. Turns out he might actually be a bright guy. If nothing else, I figure brad would appreciate some support for his opposition of Patriot Act II.

-----------------------------------------------------------
Transcript of the speech given by actor Tim Robbins to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on April 15, 2003.

TIM ROBBINS: Thank you. And thanks for the invitation. I had originally been asked here to talk about the war and our current political situation, but I have instead chosen to hijack this opportunity and talk about baseball and show business. (Laughter.) Just kidding. Sort of.

I can't tell you how moved I have been at the overwhelming support I have received from newspapers throughout the country in these past few days. I hold no illusions that all of these journalists agree with me on my views against the war. While the journalists' outrage at the cancellation of our appearance in Cooperstown is not about my views, it is about my right to express these views. I am extremely grateful that there are those of you out there still with a fierce belief in constitutionally guaranteed rights. We need you, the press, now more than ever. This is a crucial moment for all of us.

For all of the ugliness and tragedy of 9-11, there was a brief period afterward where I held a great hope, in the midst of the tears and shocked faces of New Yorkers, in the midst of the lethal air we breathed as we worked at Ground Zero, in the midst of my children's terror at being so close to this crime against humanity, in the midst of all this, I held on to a glimmer of hope in the naive assumption that something good could come out of it.

I imagined our leaders seizing upon this moment of unity in America, this moment when no one wanted to talk about Democrat versus Republican, white versus black, or any of the other ridiculous divisions that dominate our public discourse. I imagined our leaders going on television telling the citizens that although we all want to be at Ground Zero, we can't, but there is work that is needed to be done all over America. Our help is needed at community centers to tutor children, to teach them to read. Our work is needed at old-age homes to visit the lonely and infirmed; in gutted neighborhoods to rebuild housing and clean up parks, and convert abandoned lots to baseball fields.

I imagined leadership that would take this incredible energy, this generosity of spirit and create a new unity in America born out of the chaos and tragedy of 9/11, a new unity that would send a message to terrorists everywhere: If you attack us, we will become stronger, cleaner, better educated, and more unified. You will strengthen our commitment to justice and democracy by your inhumane attacks on us. Like a Phoenix out of the fire, we will be reborn.

And then came the speech: You are either with us or against us. And the bombing began. And the old paradigm was restored as our leader encouraged us to show our patriotism by shopping and by volunteering to join groups that would turn in their neighbor for any suspicious behavior.

In the 19 months since 9-11, we have seen our democracy compromised by fear and hatred. Basic inalienable rights, due process, the sanctity of the home have been quickly compromised in a climate of fear. A unified American public has grown bitterly divided, and a world population that had profound sympathy and support for us has grown contemptuous and distrustful, viewing us as we once viewed the Soviet Union, as a rogue state.

This past weekend, Susan [Sarandon] and I and the three kids went to Florida for a family reunion of sorts. Amidst the alcohol and the dancing, sugar-rushing children, there was, of course, talk of the war. And the most frightening thing about the weekend was the amount of times we were thanked for speaking out against the war because that individual speaking thought it unsafe to do so in their own community, in their own life. Keep talking, they said; I haven't been able to open my mouth.

A relative tells me that a history teacher tells his 11-year-old son, my nephew, that Susan Sarandon is endangering the troops by her opposition to the war. Another teacher in a different school asks our niece if we are coming to the school play. They're not welcome here, said the molder of young minds.

Another relative tells me of a school board decision to cancel a civics event that was proposing to have a moment of silence for those who have died in the war because the students were including dead Iraqi civilians in their silent prayer.

A teacher in another nephew's school is fired for wearing a T- shirt with a peace sign on it. And a friend of the family tells of listening to the radio down South as the talk radio host calls for the murder of a prominent anti-war activist. Death threats have appeared on other prominent anti-war activists' doorsteps for their views. Relatives of ours have received threatening e-mails and phone calls. And my 13-year-old boy, who has done nothing to anybody, has recently been embarrassed and humiliated by a sadistic creep who writes -- or, rather, scratches -- his column with his fingernails in dirt.

Susan and I have been listed as traitors, as supporters of Saddam, and various other epithets by the Aussie gossip rags masquerading as newspapers, and by their fair and balanced electronic media cousins, 19th Century Fox. (Laughter.) Apologies to Gore Vidal. (Applause.)

Two weeks ago, the United Way canceled Susan's appearance at a conference on women's leadership. And both of us last week were told that both we and the First Amendment were not welcome at the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A famous middle-aged rock-and-roller called me last week to thank me for speaking out against the war, only to go on to tell me that he could not speak himself because he fears repercussions from Clear Channel. "They promote our concert appearances," he said. "They own most of the stations that play our music. I can't come out against this war."

And here in Washington, Helen Thomas finds herself banished to the back of the room and uncalled on after asking Ari Fleischer whether our showing prisoners of war at Guantanamo Bay on television violated the Geneva Convention.

A chill wind is blowing in this nation. A message is being sent through the White House and its allies in talk radio and Clear Channel and Cooperstown. If you oppose this administration, there can and will be ramifications.

Every day, the air waves are filled with warnings, veiled and unveiled threats, spewed invective and hatred directed at any voice of dissent. And the public, like so many relatives and friends that I saw this weekend, sit in mute opposition and fear.

I am sick of hearing about Hollywood being against this war. Hollywood's heavy hitters, the real power brokers and cover-of-the- magazine stars, have been largely silent on this issue. But Hollywood, the concept, has always been a popular target.

I remember when the Columbine High School shootings happened. President Clinton criticized Hollywood for contributing to this terrible tragedy -- this, as we were dropping bombs over Kosovo. Could the violent actions of our leaders contribute somewhat to the violent fantasies of our teenagers? Or is it all just Hollywood and rock and roll?

I remember reading at the time that one of the shooters had tried to enlist to fight the real war a week before he acted out his war in real life at Columbine. I talked about this in the press at the time. And curiously, no one accused me of being unpatriotic for criticizing Clinton. In fact, the same radio patriots that call us traitors today engaged in daily personal attacks on their president during the war in Kosovo.

Today, prominent politicians who have decried violence in movies -- the "Blame Hollywooders," if you will -- recently voted to give our current president the power to unleash real violence in our current war. They want us to stop the fictional violence but are okay with the real kind.

And these same people that tolerate the real violence of war don't want to see the result of it on the nightly news. Unlike the rest of the world, our news coverage of this war remains sanitized, without a glimpse of the blood and gore inflicted upon our soldiers or the women and children in Iraq. Violence as a concept, an abstraction -- it's very strange.

As we applaud the hard-edged realism of the opening battle scene of "Saving Private Ryan," we cringe at the thought of seeing the same on the nightly news. We are told it would be pornographic. We want no part of reality in real life. We demand that war be painstakingly realized on the screen, but that war remain imagined and conceptualized in real life.

And in the midst of all this madness, where is the political opposition? Where have all the Democrats gone? Long time passing, long time ago. (Applause.) With apologies to Robert Byrd, I have to say it is pretty embarrassing to live in a country where a five-foot- one comedian has more guts than most politicians. (Applause.)

We need leaders, not pragmatists that cower before the spin zones of former entertainment journalists. We need leaders who can understand the Constitution, congressman who don't in a moment of fear abdicate their most important power, the right to declare war to the executive branch. And, please, can we please stop the congressional sing-a- longs? (Laughter.)

In this time when a citizenry applauds the liberation of a country as it lives in fear of its own freedom, when an administration official releases an attack ad questioning the patriotism of a legless Vietnam veteran running for Congress, when people all over the country fear reprisal if they use their right to free speech, it is time to get angry. It is time to get fierce.

And it doesn't take much to shift the tide. My 11-year-old nephew, mentioned earlier, a shy kid who never talks in class, stood up to his history teacher who was questioning Susan's patriotism. "That's my aunt you're talking about. Stop it." And the stunned teacher backtracks and began stammering compliments in embarrassment.

Sportswriters across the country reacted with such overwhelming fury at the Hall of Fame that the president of the Hall admitted he made a mistake and Major League Baseball disavowed any connection to the actions of the Hall's president. A bully can be stopped, and so can a mob. It takes one person with the courage and a resolute voice.

The journalists in this country can battle back at those who would rewrite our Constitution in Patriot Act II, or "Patriot, The Sequel," as we would call it in Hollywood. We are counting on you to star in that movie. Journalists can insist that they not be used as publicists by this administration. (Applause.) The next White House correspondent to be called on by Ari Fleischer should defer their question to the back of the room, to the banished journalist du jour. (Applause.)

And any instance of intimidation to free speech should be battled against. Any acquiescence or intimidation at this point will only lead to more intimidation. You have, whether you like it or not, an awesome responsibility and an awesome power: the fate of discourse, the health of this republic is in your hands, whether you write on the left or the right. This is your time, and the destiny you have chosen.

We lay the continuance of our democracy on your desks, and count on your pens to be mightier. Millions are watching and waiting in mute frustration and hope - hoping for someone to defend the spirit and letter of our Constitution, and to defy the intimidation that is visited upon us daily in the name of national security and warped notions of patriotism.

Our ability to disagree, and our inherent right to question our leaders and criticize their actions define who we are. To allow those rights to be taken away out of fear, to punish people for their beliefs, to limit access in the news media to differing opinions is to acknowledge our democracy's defeat. These are challenging times. There is a wave of hate that seeks to divide us -- right and left, pro-war and anti-war.

In the name of my 11-year-old nephew, and all the other unreported victims of this hostile and unproductive environment of fear, let us try to find our common ground as a nation. Let us celebrate this grand and glorious experiment that has survived for 227 years. To do so we must honor and fight vigilantly for the things that unite us -- like freedom, the First Amendment and, yes, baseball. (Applause.)

[Clarkmeister]

I actually saw this on C-SPAN the day he delivered it and it totally changed my opinion of the man. Glad you found a copy of the transcript, because I tried and was unsuccessful, and I wanted to post it here.

Very good stuff IMO.

[IrishHand]

That's pretty much how I felt after I read it. My impression of him will be forever linked to Nuke LaLoosh, but he's come a long way. [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[Easy E]

I always thought that the comments when the Iraq invasion started, about it being unpatriotic (much less threatening lives in some way) to criticize the war were about the STUPIDEST things I had heard in a while...

[Easy E]

from www.rushlimbaugh.com
Robbins Feels Like a Conservative In Hollywood

April 16, 2003

We covered Tim Robbins' National Press Club speech on Tuesday – and since
then, this speech has been replayed all over the place. In case you missed it,
you can hear some choice sound bites in the audio links below, along with my
insightful commentary.

Robbins is all wadded up here, folks. He's angry. You can hear Robbins'
paranoia. He's in his Bob Roberts character here, with the perfection in his
pronunciation, and the dramatic presentation that he gives us. He thinks he's
the victim of censorship. He thinks he's the victim of talk radio and the
administration and Clear Channel and God knows what else. By the way, keep your
eyes on the left's attack on Clear Channel, especially the Hollywood people.
This is a new strategery they're trying.

Tim Robbins somehow thinks he's being silenced, because of what he hasn't even
said, only what he might say. The Baseball Hall of Fame didn't want him and
Susan Sarandon up in Cooperstown because they were afraid they'd turn it into
an anti-American platform. It's okay to be anti-war. I've said on my program
countless times, some people are anti-war going back to the rites of spring and
passage they went through during the Vietnam era. But you don't stop there,
Tim, you and your cronies don't stop at anti-war. In speech after speech after
speech you are anti-America. You come off as criticizing the country. You don't
stop at criticizing the war. You don't stop at criticizing the president. You
criticize the country. That's what people object to, and that's why the
baseball Hall of Fame doesn't want to take the chance that you might start
mouthing off.

He talks of a unified American public which has grown bitterly divided. Look at
the polls, Tim – 73% is bitterly divided? He talks about all this fear in
America, and rights that have been trampled upon. Somebody ought to ask Tim
Robbins what he thinks of what Abraham Lincoln did to due process back in 1860
in the Civil War era or what FDR did to due process in the midst of World War
II.

Tim, maybe you now know exactly what it's like to be a conservative in
Hollywood. You want to talk about a chill wind blowing? Tim, that chill wind
has been blowing in Hollywood for decades. It blows through the heart of any
conservative in the acting profession. There are people in Hollywood, who are
conservatives and live in fear for their careers, if they speak out. You, sir,
have never once been prevented from speaking out. You've merely been un-invited
to one event.

(end of comments)

[Parmenides]

Is this going to be your defense at the preliminary hearing, Mssr. Alger?

[adios]

>>For all of the ugliness and tragedy of 9-11, there was a brief period afterward where I held a great hope, in the midst of the tears and shocked faces of New Yorkers, in the midst of the lethal air we breathed as we worked at Ground Zero, in the midst of my children's terror at being so close to this crime against humanity, in the midst of all this, I held on to a glimmer of hope in the naive assumption that something good could come out of it.<<

According to Robbins nothing good has come out of 9/11. Ok I wonder what he expected? Needless to say I disagree.

“I imagined our leaders seizing upon this moment of unity in America, this moment when no one wanted to talk about Democrat versus Republican, white versus black, or any of the other ridiculous divisions that dominate our public discourse.”

I hardly think that Robbins believes that the division between Republicans and Democrats is ridiculous.

“ I imagined our leaders going on television telling the citizens that although we all want to be at Ground Zero, we can't, but there is work that is needed to be done all over America.”

Wrong, they did.

“ Our help is needed at community centers to tutor children, to teach them to read. Our work is needed at old-age homes to visit the lonely and infirmed; in gutted neighborhoods to rebuild housing and clean up parks, and convert abandoned lots to baseball fields.”

Why did this change with 9/11? I wonder where this came from? Is he saying that if we would have devoted more time to this work 9/11 would not have happened? Is this his prescription for preventing another 9/11? Does he realize who was responsible for 9/11?

“I imagined leadership that would take this incredible energy, this generosity of spirit and create a new unity in America born out of the chaos and tragedy of 9/11, a new unity that would send a message to terrorists everywhere: If you attack us, we will become stronger, cleaner, better educated, and more unified. You will strengthen our commitment to justice and democracy by your inhumane attacks on us. Like a Phoenix out of the fire, we will be reborn.”

Is he on drugs or something? First of all it’s open to debate whether or not we have as Robbins put’s it, “become stronger, cleaner, better educated, and more unified.” Apparently Robbins doesn’t think so and apparently Robbins believes that “our commitment to justice and democracy” has been lessened somehow. Funny how he’s in the vast MINORITY of US citizens who tacitly supported Saddam Hussein and his oppression which was a far cry from a democratic government. Second of all does Robbins honestly believe that a military response against al-Qaeda was ill advised? Does he honestly believe that if Bush would have come out after 9/11 and stated that we will devote more resources to education, to urban renewal, and to the environment without a military response that it would be a deterrent to further terrorist attacks by groups like al-Qaeda who are a product of state sponsored terrorism?

“And then came the speech: You are either with us or against us.”

I'm not sure what speech he's referring to but if it was one that Bush gave to a joint session of Congress that speech was widely praised by both Democrats and Republicans. Ok according to Robbins the Republicans led by Bush are responsible for what Robbins refers to as the lost opportunity for a more unified nation. He must be on drugs! Has he seen the polls lately? The Democrats bear no responisbility for devisive statements and actions? Could he honestly say that Democratics leaders like Daschle, Bird and Kennedy have not promoted class warfare and offered nothing but criticism for the Bush administration regarding Iraq while offering nothing positive themselves? One can only note that the Democratic leadership has been strangely silent recently about the war's outcome.

“And the bombing began. And the old paradigm was restored as our leader encouraged us to show our patriotism by shopping and by volunteering to join groups that would turn in their neighbor for any suspicious behavior.”

Ok so in an earlier part of his speech Robbins mentions the ridiculous dividing lines between the political parties and now takes a gratuitous shot at Bush basically calling him a Nazi. Is this an example how Robbins would promote unity? I used to think these kind of statements were incredible but I’ve become anaesthetized to them now.

“In the 19 months since 9-11, we have seen our democracy compromised by fear and hatred.”

A rather subjective, divisive, and politically motivated comment I would say.

“ Basic inalienable rights, due process, the sanctity of the home have been quickly compromised in a climate of fear. A unified American public has grown bitterly divided, and a world population that had profound sympathy and support for us has grown contemptuous and distrustful, viewing us as we once viewed the Soviet Union, as a rogue state.”

Has Tim seen the polls lately? Wait until November of 2004 Tim and you’ll see how unified the country really is.

[John Cole]

Re: November 2004

Tom, yes, I think we'll see how unified the country is; let's see if even 50% of the electorate turn out this time. There's the real difference of opinion. Only half the eligible voters even care to turn out--talk about splitting along party lines.

John

[IrishHand]

I've always thought it interesting that the champion of democracy has one of the lowest voter turnouts of any democracy. Most would have to agree we'd have a vastly different government and country if even 75% of eligibles voted.

[Vehn]

Most would have to agree we'd have a vastly different government and country if even 75% of eligibles voted.

Congratulations on saying the dumbest thing ever said on the internet.