Connoisseurs of bad 90's cinema may remember a 1998 film called Girl, which starred Dominique Swain as a high schooler bent on losing her virginity. Soon enough, Swain falls for Sean Patrick Flanery, a rocker who's totally into her until he finds out that she's smart and planning to go to college at Brown -- a revelation that renders him impotent and their budding relationship doomed. Also, when her best friend Selma Blair gets raped, Swain's character says in voiceover, "I guess that I'm just better at picking guys."
Guess what, guys! The director is a tea party hero now!
So says the Wall Street Journal in a front page article profiling the 42-year-old Jonathan Kahn, who's spent the last few months performing at Tea Party rallies in disguise and under a fake name. "It's for protective reasons," he told the WSJ. "In Hollywood, being a conservative is the kiss of death." This is definitely true, and a situation that will not be rectified until some brave executive decides to pay Kelsey Grammer, Patricia Heaton, and Jon Cryer millions of dollars to star in popular sitcoms. But there's more!
"I don't believe in handouts," the Pacific Palisades-born son of a doctor continued. "I believe in personal responsibility." Hence his refashioned career as a conservative troubadour:
He debuted his song on stage in Quincy, Ill., at a tea-party rally in September. "All those flags, those good folks," he says. "It moved me beyond belief."
He went on to open for [Sarah] Palin, the former Alaska governor, at the Tea Party Convention last February in Nashville. He was the main musical act two weeks later at the $275-a-seat Presidential Banquet at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington. "American Heart" now has its own website and is big on YouTube.
Ms. Palin called the tune "an amazing love song for America." Red Sox pitching legend Curt Schilling said it's "as powerful and moving as anything I've ever heard." Former United Nations Ambassador John Bolton recommends it to foreigners "who want to know how the real America feels."
Mr. Kahn's older brother, Bob, isn't sure how he feels. The 8th-grade science teacher says he is proud of his brother, but concedes this new career path has caused distress at home. "Jon came back from one rally with a picture of him with Palin and my wife flat out refused to look at it," he says. "She ran into the other room."
"She thinks I'm a right-wing nut job," Mr. Kahn says of his sister-in-law.
Still, Kahn is a brave man. It's been 12 years since he last directed a film, but that's taking into account that people may have assumed or cared that he was a Democrat. Imagine what it'll be like now!
Tea Party Troubadour Sheds Sunglasses, Hat and Fake Name [WSJ]