Actor Ron Silver Dies

For the last couple of weeks I've been watching reruns of the final season of The West Wing in which Ron Silver played an advisor to the Republican presidential candidate (Alan Alda). He was his Rahm Emanuel, if you will.

Silver was a good actor and a guy who achieved some fame on the Rush Limbaugh show when, while still a die-hard liberal, he was overheard commenting indignantly to another Democrat during Bill Clinton's inauguration celebration "Why are they here!" as military jets flew overhead. He was reminded by another Clinton supporter that "they're ours now".

Silver didn't stay a liberal:

Once a self-identified lifelong Democrat, Silver was a founding member of the liberal-leaning Creative Coalition in 1989. But he made a breathtaking political transformation, going from far left to radical right after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention in New York, enthusiastically backing a second term for President Bush.

“Twelve years ago I was here for the Democratic convention. I was on the platform committee. Zell Miller was the keynote speaker. A lot’s changed since then, I can tell you,” a chuckling Silver told The Washington Post.

“If you asked me on September 10, 2001, would I consider going to the Republican National Convention and speaking, I would have thought you were from another planet and didn’t know who I was.”

According to news reports he has died of cancer at the age of 62. Big loss for Hollywood and a big loss for conservatives.

You can read his address to the 2004 GOP convention here.

And don't look for a lot of heartfelt tributes from the Hollywood community. However, here's one from Roger Simon, another 9/11 Democrat.