Kathleen Turner

NPR Cues Up Norman Lear and Kathleen Turner to Attack Romney, Bork, and Pro-Lifers
By Tim Graham | June 21, 2012 | 10:59 PM EDT

NPR’s Diane Rehm Show on Wednesday featured an hour with two liberal Hollywood activists – TV producer Norman Lear and actress Kathleen Turner, both in Washington for a People For The American Way event. Guest host Terence Smith (formerly a correspondent with CBS and PBS) honored them both by offering softball questions and opportunities for them to bash Mitt Romney, his adviser Robert Bork, and pro-life advocates.

Smith ran several clips of old Lear sitcoms from the Seventies, including the seminal abortion episode of "Maude," including the actress Adrienne Barbeau lecturing her mother (the title character) that abortion is no longer a dirty word and it’s as easy as going to the dentist:

‘The Perfect Family’ Mocks Devout Catholics as Unthinking Bigots
By Paul Wilson | May 2, 2012 | 9:18 PM EDT

Mockery of religion in general and Catholicism in particular is commonplace in Hollywood– from Showtime’s “The Borgias” to the recent “Three Stooges” movie which features Kate Upton wearing a “nun-kini.” The latest installment of Catholic-bashing, “The Perfect Family,” is slated to come out May 4 – and predictably stereotypes Catholics who believe and practice what their Church teaches as unfeeling busybodies.

The About section for the “The Perfect Family” declares: “Suburban supermom Eileen Cleary (Academy Award® nominee Kathleen Turner) is the ultimate Catholic.” And indeed, the trailer for the movie perfectly reflects Hollywood’s twisted conception of Catholicism. One quote from Turner’s character reflects the view that faithful Catholics are heartless drones: “Well who cares if you’re happy? You’re living in sin!” Another quote is even more explicitly anti-Catholic: “I don’t have to think! I’m a Catholic!”

No WashPost Liberal Labels As Kathleen Turner Play Honors Molly Ivins
By Tim Graham | May 2, 2012 | 8:02 AM EDT

First came the play honoring liberal Texas Gov. Ann Richards. Now comes the play honoring leftist Texas columnist Molly Ivins, played by....Kathleen Turner? She’ll be getting her frump on. But The Washington Post couldn’t put an L word on either of these ladies.

“Kathleen Turner will star in Arena Stage’s production of ‘Red Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins,’ by Margaret and Allison Engel,” the Post’s Jessica Goldstein announced. It’s “patriotic” to “kick ass” against conservatives, apparently.

Former WaPo Staffer Cooks Up Molly Ivins Tribute Show for Kathleen Turner
By Tim Graham | March 23, 2010 | 7:45 AM EDT

Kathleen Turner is starring on stage in Philadelphia as the leftist writer Molly Ivins, and The Washington Post promoted the show on Sunday -- and noted that one of the Ivins-adoring playwrights was a former Post staffer:

"Red-Hot Patriot: The Kick-Ass Wit of Molly Ivins" is a 75-minute foray into the psyche of a sassy commentator perhaps most celebrated for a single word: "Shrub," the withering nickname she gave to George W. Bush, a politician who symbolized for her all that seemed wacky in the reward system of American politics.

Written by a pair of newspaperwomen -- Bethesda-based Margaret Engel, a former Washington Post staffer, and her twin sister Allison, communications director at the University of Southern California -- the play styles Ivins as a live-wire wit who, in her profane, folksy way juiced up the public discourse. (You may recall that the first of her books was titled, "Molly Ivins Can't Say That, Can She?") And she accomplished this from a perspective honed far from the Beltway.