Jon Voight Calls Criticisms "Unfortunate"

Shortly after Jon Voight addressed health care protesters on Capitol Hill last week, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed the event by saying rather glibly, "I'm sure there's a Jon Voight joke in here somewhere, given he was one of the featured speakers."

Over the weekend, when a clip of Voight was played on "The Week with George Stephanopoulos," where the actor asked of Obama, "Could it be he has had 20 years of subconscious programming by Reverend Wright to damn America?" Cokie Roberts called it a "cringemaking" moment.

That Voight had drawn so much attention struck me as not at all unusual, as he's a Hollywood figure speaking out for the conservative side, and as we've seen recently, quite provocatively at that.

As such, he's been a frequent presence at many recent GOP functions. Just the day before, he appeared and spoke at an event for Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty's new leadership PAC in Minneapolis, in what is viewed as a first step for a 2012 run for the presidency.

When I asked about the criticism of his speech, Voight said, "Listen, there's no telling what people will say."

What concerned him, he says, was the notion that the protesters on Capitol Hill were being dismissed by some lawmakers. "It is unfortunate that people will not take seriously the response of informed citizens."

Of his own remarks, he said, "They are not taking me on in any substantive way. They are not taking on the issues I am raising. They are simply making slurs and joke or and saying I am crazy.

"I don't have a lot of respect for that stuff. They want to dismiss me, just like they want to dismiss the Tea Party people." 

As much as he has a tendency to make headlines, Voight is tapped by Republican politicians to appear at fund-raising events for the same reason that Democrats want them there: They help draw a crowd, and Voight is actually quite good at working his way through the room.

Voight said he learned of the Capitol Hill protest after hearing Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) talk about it on the radio, and then he reached out to her.

After his speech, he waded into the crowd and chatted up those who trekked to D.C. "I just have so much admiration for them and that they are there expressing themselves as citizens," he says. "I went out into the crowd and wanted to pay my respects to them."

Voight didn't sound especially miffed at Gibbs for the barb. "He didn't know what to do. It is not like he slurred me in any way. He just didn't know how to handle the question."

Voight has been a frequent critic of Obama, and for much of the campaign last year was particularly sharp in pointing attention to his relationship to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright. But he also defends his right to speak out --- and in that he has something in common with outspoken entertainment figures on the left. 

"I think all citizens should be concerned at all times for this country, and should express themselves when they feel the need," he says.

"The things I am saying are serious things," he says. "In my work and in everything I do I do my homework. I did the same thing in this case. I am not talking off the top of my head. I think people can respect that that is my opinion, and let it be."

Voight's speech last Thursday is here.

Photo: WireImage