WEDNESDAY'S LETTERS: E&P Mailbox Overflows With Letters From Bush Supporters Who Don't Like Sean Penn

By: E&P Staff E&P's article yesterday about Sean Penn's comments concerning President Bush certainly inspired readers to write -- readers who support President bush and think Penn is an "idiot," that is. Below is a representative selection.

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Penn Says 'Beelzebub,' Readers Cry Foul

I think Sean Penn is an idiot! Anyone with whom I discuss politics in general agrees that Sean Penn is an idiot. He may know about film making and acting but that is a matter of dubious taste. Judging from what Hollywood has been presenting to the American public it's easy to confuse fact from fiction. Sean Penn has the privilege of having a bully pulpit that the average American does not. When he attacks President Bush, his smears are instantly reported by the willing media accomplices such as your publication. Why is there no rebuttal to his stupid comments? Can't your reporters challenge the idiots they interview? I get it, you don't want to argue with idiots because we then would confuse whom the idiots really are!

Ben Carosi



I heard the audio of Sean Penn's comments concerning politicians, especially President Bush. If Mr. Penn thinks the President is stupid, obviously he has not heard a replay of his own comments. He took forever to form his thoughts and was stammering just like the man he was criticizing.

Henry Trader



Jumping Jehoshaphat! You are rather bolloxed up! Sean Penn is worthy a complete article?! Whilst making an asinine, stupid statement?!

Why don't you editors wake up and turn the wheel to the center? What you published, as stated by "Shawn", New Orleans-shotgun-toting Pennski, puts you right up there with the rest of the Moonbats, along with the rather-pitiful-but-dirtbag-mouthed Cindy Sheehan.

"Lord luv a duck!" Or as Joe Penner, whilst carressing a smooth, defeathered duck, might have remarked, "Yewzoughta drag yewr butts oft duh stage! Yewz ain't redy fer burrlikyew."

James O. Dirden
CSM, U.S. Army
'44-'49/'50-'73



One doesn't need to make a giant leap to consider that Penn maybe -- JUST MAYBE -- is throwing his unsolicited political opinions into appearances relates to his less-than-well-reviewed latest piece of make-believe. As for me, I'll attempt to get my news (political or otherwise) from more credible sources. But thanks anyway, Sean.

Bill Jones
New Orleans, La.



Obviously, Mr. Penn is not interested in his career. If he were, he would not be making such caustic and irresponsible statements that alienate a portion of his audience. He has the advantage of having a forum from which to speak whereas most of us do not. I could be just as tacky as he by mentioning his foray into New Orleans with film crew to record his 'exploits' at helping the disadvantaged for the sake of his own self promotion. Let me predict that he will continue to experience cinematic flops because he is stupid enough to ignore and be disrespectful of his audience.

Gary Cheatham



Just because actors say stupid things, why is it necessary to report on it? "Sean Penn acted in another movie nobody is going to go see. The movie sucks. He held a press conference, nobody went to that either. End of story." See how much paper you could have saved for something important?

Jeff Vandervort
Camp Phoenix
Kabul, Afghanistan



It is quite interesting, this: Sean Penn, whose life is nothing but pretending before the cameras and lights -- true of all entertainers -- has decided that the President is a dumb Beelzebub. The one play-acts, the other has been entrusted by the American people for as long as is Constitutionally possible to govern and protect the nation. ...

It never fails: the less qualified one is to render a comment, the more virulent will be that comment.

Duane Lamers
Troy, Mich.



You writers are too much! Who cares what a Hollywood nutjob thinks about any politician? ... Keep up the great work by making yourselves totally irrelevant!

Jeff Sheaffer



Sean pretty much showed us what he's all about when he was married to Madonna -- not the brightest light in the chandelier -- but his sentence "the level of politician he's at" is about as incorrect as possible ... grammatically. ...

Pat Kennedy
New York, N.Y.



I think Sean Penn thrives upon being infamous, letting others believe that he is all about the pulse of the people around him. Amazing what a couple of Oscar nods can do in increasing the raised level of consciousness. To my thinking, Mr. Penn is an "actor." He may be entertaining, but taking him at his word? I think not. I do believe that people in high-profile careers do need to set and be the example.

It does not however mean they have the freedom nor the luxury of slandering, mischaracterizing, or most importantly, being disrespectful. I do not agree with what is going on with our government or around the world, but since I have not chosen to alter my career, for another one, I am standing behind the people I elected.

Should they let me down, they get replaced. So Sean Penn needs to have his opinions but keep them to himself. They are worth the same as mine and the millions of others. ...

Mike Cohenour



I read your on-line version frequently, finding that it generally consists of articles that are, for the most part, actually reporting news, which in today's world means not disguising opinion in the form of news. That said, I feel compelled to comment on the article contained in the September 12 online issue of Editor & Publisher relating to actor Sean Penn's gratuitous comments concerning President Bush.

My question to you is, and I ask this seriously, why is anything that Sean Penn, (or Charlton Heston, or George Clooney, or Ted Nugent) says about politics, particularly a cheap, gratuitous, and disrespectful comment about the President of the United States, reported as "news"? Why, as a serious public affairs matter, do we care what they say? Similarly, why would a serious publication such as yours waste the valuable space of its pages to publish such drivel?

I am an attorney licensed in two states and in multiple federal courts, I am a decorated former Navy Pilot. I have a degree in Political Science from Vanderbilt University. Sean Penn is an actor -- whose job since he was a teenager has been to pretend that he is a character -- and has a real criminal record. Is it reportable "news" if I say, based on my real experience and qualifications as an attorney and in government service, that Hillary Clinton is self-servingly manipulative, dishonest, and deserved to have been indicted for about 5 different acts which occured prior to and while she was First Lady of the United States? If not, then why is it reportable "news" that Sean Penn or any other totally unqualified actor makes some nonsensical biased statement that serves zero purpose other than to attempt to discredit a sitting President? I just wanted to know.

Richard R. Roland
Seattle, Wash.



If you are trying to let people know that Penn is a two dimensional idiot with an over-inflated, unearned ego, you are do a good job of it.

Tom Sollenbarger
Novato, Calif.