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By AndrewHyman Posted in Senate Rules — Comments () / Email this page » / Leave a comment »

Lest anyone have any doubt about the politics of Jimmy Stewart (the star of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"), here's a synopsis:

In later years, he was a leading spokesman for conservative political and economic causes and a frequent campaigner for Republican political friends like George Murphy, the actor turned U.S. senator, Richard M. Nixon, and Ronald Reagan.

Nevertheless, his image and likeness are now being used in a nationwide liberal campaign supporting the unprecedented use of filibusters to derail majority-supported judicial nominations. Rush Limbaugh comments:

The Democrats can't even go to their own people in Hollywood when it comes time to make an ad; they've gotta take one of our guys! Jimmy Stewart was a huge Reaganite, big friend of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, big conservative Republican. And of course they have to distort the whole meaning of the movie, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington in order to make this ad. Here is the audio of the ad. I don't know if they got permission from Jimmy Stewart's family for this, but I do remember how they screamed bloody murder when the Republicans used JFK in an ad for tax cuts....This was a filibuster, this movie, about legislation. It's what filibusters are always about, and he actually filibustered. He stayed on the Senate floor, starving, thirsting, didn't go to the bathroom for hours, hours and hours. The Democrats are not doing what Jimmy Stewart did. They're not really filibustering. They're not really taking the floor of the Senate. They're not debating anything.