Spaceyed Out

Speaking this past week on behalf on continued federal funding for the National Endowment for the Arts (the status of which is unclear at this moment) on Chris Matthews's MSNBC show "Hardball," actor Kevin Spacey eloquently cited the benefits a robustly funded arts establishment provides - namely, by attracting people to urban downtown areas to enjoy ballet, opera, and museums and generating strong economic activity in vital urban centers while creating a sense of community. Spacey also cited the ability of art to broaden our minds and nourish our souls, and how it makes us smarter and sharper. I agree completely. But he lost me when he said that he doesn't believe Republicans who want to cut funding for the NEA dislike highbrow culture.

I believe it.

Look, when was the last time a Republican ever expressed interest in classical music or avant-garde movies? Ever see Newt Gingrich attend an opera performance at the Kennedy Center? Or hear of Sarah Palin take in an underground movie at some art house theater? Of course not! Republicans hate the arts because there's no money in art, art makes you think (can't have any of that in America), and so much of it is so unmanly. Ballerinas fluttering around in tutus? That's so . . . gay! Do I have to repeat the story of Rush Limbaugh saying he'd go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art if he could use a golf cart to get in and out as fast as possible? Where has Kevin Spacey been, anyway?

Well, he was supposed to be at a congressional hearing in Washington with Alec Baldwin to testify for continued arts funding this past Tuesday, but the hearing was called off due to "time constraints."

Spacey's comment that he doesn't believe Republicans hate the arts was funny, but not nearly as side-splitting as Quincy Jones's call for the National Endowment for the Arts be upgraded to a federal department with Cabinet-level status.

I suspect that most rank-and-file Republican voters want to kill arts funding, as many of them go to NASCAR races and watch old action movies on Spike TV. And, they don't read. If the NEA is zeroed out in the 2012 budget, then Americans are blockheads who deserve The Little Fockers instead of The Little Foxes.