Warren Beatty Talks 2008

A rumor had been swirling that John McCain told actor and friend Warren Beatty that he didn't vote for George W. Bush in 2004, so the Atlantic's Marc Ambinder called the actor to see what it was all about.

"Mystifying," Beatty told Ambinder.

"I don’t understand the ridiculousness of this process that makes that a subject of your work. Isn't it clear that the McCain campaigned for the Republican candidate?"

"It seems to me that the reason why people are doing this is to attempt to dramatize some sort of duplicity in a man who... I’ve known John McCain for a long time. He always said he was a conservative. He was a conservative. He is a conservative. It seems that people should take John McCain for what he says he is."

Beatty, one of Hollywood's best-known liberals, has long been friends with McCain, but he hasn't stated who he is backing in 2008.

He told Ambinder, "I like Obama. I like Hillary I like McCain, and when I get ready to say something publicly, I will do it."