Debbie Schlussel: Hilarious: The Mel Gibson Friends That Keep on Giving; Patrick Swayze, Mid-East Scholar
I really don't think the Mel Gibson anti-Semitism story is that big of a deal. Hardly an earth-shattering event. We know he's an anti-Semite, and that's the end of the story.
But not for Mel. He just can't give it up. He keeps trotting out the worst choices in friends to vouch for him "not being an anti-Semite." Last week, there was "Rabbi" Jodi Foster of Eminem-rapping-lyrics-as-a-graduation-speech fame. As an admirer of Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl, she was hardly the ideal choice as a Gibson defender.
Now, there's "Dirty Dancer" Patrick Swayze, who also insists that Mel Gibson "is not anti-Semitic." That's the biggest acting gig Swayze can get, these days, apparently.
Wait, is this the same Patrick Swayze who criticized President Bush and the War on Terror, claiming "I understand Arabs because I raise Arabian horses"? Why, yes it is. (My column on Middle East "scholar" Patrick Swayze's airheaded comments here.) Is it the same airplane pilot Patrick Swayze who crashed a plane while drunk, then lied to police while he and his buddies tried to empty a 30-pack of Miller Lite? Why, yes it is.
Is it the same pan-Arabist, pan-Islamist Patrick Swayze, who wanted to play "The White Sheik"? (Fortunately, the movie was shelved, permanently.) Based on a book by Sheik Sultan Al Qassimi, ruler of Sharjah (one of the seven United Arab Emirates), the script was about Johannes Herman Poll, an American boy who was "adopted" (a/k/a kidnapped, held hostage, and forcibly converted to Islam) by an Arab couple to become a powerful 19th Century sheik.
Hmmm. . . . Maybe that's how Patrick Swayze is such an expert on anti-Semitism. That and his experience "raising Arabian horses."
Instead of pontificating on Mid-East policy and Mel Gibson's anti-Semitism, Swayze should have stuck to acting. His career went downhill after "Red Dawn" and "North & South" (the Civil War miniseries). Remember "Road House"?
Hilarious. Come on, Mel. Give it up. This sorry lot of defenders is turning a week-long story into a several weeks-long farce.
Posted by Debbie on August 7, 2006 02:11 PM to Debbie Schlussel