Actor, author, and born-again Christian Stephen Baldwin — who Sarah Palin last week referred to as her "favorite Baldwin brother" on "Saturday Night Live" — talks to TODAYshow.com about his faith and support for Republican presidential candidate John McCain. Baldwin's latest project is a work of fiction called "The Death and Life of Gabriel Phillips." [Senseless & paranoid portions set in italics for your convenience; sensible responses set in brackets for your convenience, too]
Q: Why do you think McCain is the best choice for our next president?
A: I think that right now everybody's freakin' out, and for a good reason. The next president of the United States has to look at multiple issues simultaneously. In the prioritization of that, of course it's our economy. We need someone who is prepared and experienced enough to deal with all that's on our plate now.
Q: Is Barack Obama the wrong choice for our country?
A: No, Barack is not the wrong choice. I just don't think he's the right choice. [Interesting distinction] Barack Obama is clearly a smart guy, talented. I think that guys like Obama, like Clinton, have had their eyes on this goal for a long time … becoming President of the United States. I don't believe personally that Barack Obama cares for America as authentically as John McCain. [John McCain said in his autobiography that he did not "decide to run for president to start a national crusade for the political reforms I believed in or to run a campaign as if it were some grand act of patriotism. In truth, I wanted to be president because it had become my ambition to be president. . . . In truth, I'd had the ambition for a long time."]
Q: Why?
A: He's a politician. [So is John McCain - and for a much longer time]
Q: How is McCain more for America than Obama?
A: He served it 24 years longer. [Of course, John McCain is 26 years older than Barack Obama, giving McCain a decided head-start in his ability to serve in the Senate longer. Similarly, these extra 26 years also give McCain a big head-start in the on-set of dementia and Alzheimer's Disease as well as the recurrence of his melanoma or suffering a heart attack.] He is somebody who has demonstrated within his own party that he would rather do what's right for the people who elected him than what is right for his party. People want change. How is Barack going to do it? I think McCain can bring change.
Q: Do you support McCain/Palin because you are a Republican?
A: I'm a registered Independent. But my brother says it's obvious that I'm a Republican sympathizer. Once I get in the voting booth it doesn't matter. I just think in the now. [Sorry, Stephen - so far there is no evidence that you have the ability to think.]
Q: The New York Daily News last week quoted you calling Barack Obama a "cultural terrorist." Can you explain your statement?
A: If you look up the definition of the words, a terrorist is someone who incites violence. The Bible says that "God knew us and formed us in our mother's wombs." Simply the fact that he's pro-abortion — that to me is a form of terrorism based on the dictionary definition. [No, Stephen, Obama is pro-choice, not pro-abortion. Do you "pro-lifers" still not understand the difference? Wow. And, oh, by the way, Stephen: many folks on the religious right believe that Hollywood tv shows and movies incite violence - you know, movies with violence such as The Usual Suspects or Crimetime or Target or Bound By Lies. Does your participation in the production of those movies make you a well-paid terrorist, Stephen?]
Here's what's creepy about Obama: There's something else going on with this dude. That's part of the mystery of Barack Obama. That is probably what will cause him to lose this election. As much as people love the phenomenal aspect of his message, there's a lot of unanswered issues about this dude. Creepy stuff. His birth certificate … you could call it all hokesy stuff. [OK, Stephen, you're starting to ramble incoherently here. Obama is creepy? Is it the huge ears? The lack of bowling skills? Or is it the last name Obama? I don't get the creepy thing: the guy is a nerdy African-American with a wife and two cute little kids - when did this become creepy? And what is this "mystery" of which you speak? What about Obama is mysterious? Is it the completely manufactured birth certificate issue - you know, the one that even the psychotically right-wing World Net Daily has verified as authentic? What questions could you have about Obama that have not already been answered by him in interviews, debates, biographies, auto-biographies and his actions as an Illinois and U.S. senator? Please, just give me one, dude. And whatever "unanswered questions" about Obama that linger for people such as yourself are not going to be what costs Obama the election. No, what might cost Obama the election is the ignorance of people such as yourself combined with the Republican Party's amazing ability to purge young, poor, minority, elderly - you know, perfectly legitimate and usually Democratic - voters from the voter registration rolls.]
John McCain doesn't have anywhere near the amount of questions in his past as Barack Obama. Not even close. He's got Keating Five. He doesn't have things about his record and history and being that are in question. He's a war hero. He's literally one the last of a dying breed of heroes.
Q: Why did you go public with your political views?
A: My No. 1 concern is that we don't have another 9/11. Here's what Americans don't realize … there are 60 million jihadists on the planet who actively are trying to get together to kill Americans and destroy this nation. This is a quote from General [William G.] Boykin, who I work with. This a fact from knowledge of intelligence. This not a fear/scare tactic. [OK, hold on a second: 60 million jihadists around the world? Where did you get that figure? From retired General William Boykin? Oh, yeah, the guy who said that during a battle in Somalia in 1993 he "knew that my God was bigger than his . . . that my God was a real God, and his was an idol." Oh, yeah, that William Boykin! Yes, quite the unprejudiced source is he. This may not be a "fact from knowledge of intelligence" after all, whatever the fuck that means in the first place.]
I believe that with the platform I have, I have an obligation, as someone who is very proud of this country. With the best of my ability, within reason, without stepping outside of my faith, without being slanderous or crazy or stupid I want to just be able to state what I know to be the truth.
It's not Stephen Baldwin saying, "This is what I think and you should think it, too." Forgetting all religion, John McCain should be the next president of the United States. It just makes more sense in these times for that guy to be president.
It doesn't mean Barack can't surround himself with smart people. But I don't think Warren Buffet should be the treasurer or whatever. Warren Buffet's nuts! Just because he's a freaking billionaire doesn't mean he has common sense. [Warren Buffet has been called many things, Stephen, but "nuts" is not one of them. Besides, didn't John McCain mention Mr. Buffet as a possible candidate for Treasury Secretary as well? The evidence continues to pour in, Stephen, and it continues to show an inability to think on your part.]
Q: Who are you trying to reach with your endorsement?
A: I'm trying to reach the common sense people. To me God's in control; God's going to do his thing. [Keep trying, Stephen; the common sense people are very amused by your attempts at voter outreach. And god's in control now - does this mean you're going to believe god's in control when Barack Obama takes the oath of office on January 20, 2009, effectively saying that he was god's choice? Even if there is a god, we are in control, Stephen.] It's not that there's animosity in my attitude about it. At the end of the day, [different parties] should be able to go have a soda pop [together].
Q: So politics are more of a discussion than a war?
A: It shouldn't be [a war]. But that's not to say that there isn't — between the conservative movement and the liberal movement — a cultural war.
I don't think it's right that in 10 or 15 years, potentially, my son goes to a public school and reads a book about the normality of homosexuality. [There are some people who do not think it is right that their child can go to a public school now and not be informed that, however uncommon, homosexuality is completely natural. The religious aspect of homosexuality has no place in public school; the scientific aspect most certainly does.] I don't think that [belongs] in the public education system. In a political sense, I don't agree with that. It doesn't mean that I think personally that making that lifestyle choice is wrong. The Bible says it's wrong and I believe in the Bible and I stand for that. So part of the danger of living the faith I live is that they're going to shoot the messenger.
Q: Is there a danger is being outspoken about religion and conservative politics in liberal Hollywood?
A: Just call me Stevie Kamikaze. In regard to politics and faith, I just want to state my understanding on a simple pure, common-sense level.
Q: Has there been tension with your family over faith and political views?
A: Let's just say this Thanksgiving, I've hired a professional food-taster — so I don't get poisoned.
Q: Do you go to church with your brothers?
A: No. I go to some freaky waily churches. [At my water baptism, March 2002] Alec was like, "Oh my God, he's a Jesus freak." But Alec is a very dedicated Roman Catholic, Billy has Christian leanings, his wife China Phillips is a huge born-again Christian.
Q: Are celebrity endorsements effective?
A: Of course. If tomorrow there was an MTV two-hour hip-hop show in support of Barack Obama, with P. Diddy, Kanye …
Q: Why would it be hip-hop?
A: Why not?
Q: Why not rock or jam bands?
A: Well because demographically, hip-hop appeals largely or more so to African Americans, and it's already obvious that the African American vote is hugely going to Barack Obama, even within the military. Which is another whole bunch of votes that people haven't weighed into the polling system: 75 to 80 percent of all the military is voting for John McCain. That's a lot of votes. [I don't know what poll you're citing there, Stephen. A recent Faux News poll suggested that 67% percent of military voters are going for McCain; Faux News is unlikely to err on the side of Obama, of course.]
Q: Is Governor Sarah Palin ready to be president?
A: Absolutely. I think Sarah Palin is tougher and smarter than Obama or Joe Biden. Just because they jacked her up with freakin' what's her name? Who's the reporter? [Katie Couric.] That was a setup obviously. [Ok, now you're just making up shit, Stephen. What evidence do you have to support the claim that Sarah Palin is tougher and smarter than Barack Obama or Joe Biden? And now the Katie Couric interview was a set-up? Lemme guess - the "liberal media" conspired with the Obama campaign to ask Palin tough, thought-provoking questions that require expertise on the intricacies of international affairs in order to make Palin look like a complete dumbshit? Hence the all-but-unanswerable "What newspapers and magazines do you read" bomb? Stop it, man. Paranoia does not help an argument at all. All the evidence is in, and, sadly, you and Sarah Palin are running neck-and-neck.]
Q: Can Palin keep keep our country safe?
A: Yes. She has an understanding of that reality. Barack Obama and the Democratic party just want America to think Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11, that was the jihadists. [OK, how did Sarah Palin acquire this expertise to keep our country safe? Was it from whatever newspapers her handlers put in front of her? Was it from looking out upon the vast Russian tundra from her front porch? Was it from talking to minimum-wage immigrant hotel employees? WHAT THE FUCK GAVE THIS SMALL-TOWN, SMALL-MINDED BITCH THE MAGICAL UNDERSTANDING OF NATIONAL DEFENSE AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS, DAMMIT?!!? Oh, yeah - John McCain did . . . because he said that she was qualified . . . and he has always been "100% truthful" and because he always puts country first, so he would never have to lie about the qualifications of his running mate because he wouldn't have chosen her if she weren't qualified in the first place . . . because he loves America in a way Barack Obama does not and never could . . . and I think he was a P.O.W. at some point . . . because he loves America in a way Barack Obama does not and never could . . . and because, did I mention McCain was a P.O.W. and that Obama hates America? Oh, yeah, one last thing, Stephen: you are correct that the Democratic party wants America to think Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11 because . . . IRAQ HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11, YOU FUCKING DUMBSHIT! It's a matter of - what did you call it earlier? - "fact from knowledge of intelligence" or something? Yes, Stephen, it is a matter of fact, on the record, etc, etc: IRAQ HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH 9/11 . . . you fucking dumbshit.
Q: What do you think the outcome of this election will be?
A: There's a very good chance that John McCain is going to win this election. [No, there's not a very good chance that John McCain is going to win this election. There's always the good chance that the Republican Party will steal the election on McCain's behalf, but there is absolutely no chance that John McCain will fairly and legitimately win this election. Call it god's will or the people's will, but that's the way it is. Now go make another horrendous, low-budget crime drama, Stephen. Thanks for talking.]
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