When Hollywood D-lister and political wonk Ben Stein released “Expelled,” his confoundingly misguided movie attacking the whole of Western science, and Evolution in particular, theories abounded as to whether he had always been as crazy as that movie suggested. If not, people wanted to know, what made him go over the edge? Eric Jensen, critic for Melted Reel Online, suggested that it might be the fact that he wanted more attention, since Ferris Bueller’s Day Off was made 20 years ago, and Ben Stein wasn’t on TV anymore.
Today, I can conclude that Jensen is undoubtedly correct. Stein’s pseudo-celebrity status and history of being a part-time speech writer for Republicans 40 years ago apparently earns him the right to be interviewed by CNN.com, and what he had to say was pretty revealing.
First, he said that John McCain needs to hire Karl Rove. Yes, the man responsible for the collapse of the current Republican party. The man credited with not only cheap campaign trickery, but inspiring his candidates to employ a king-to-servants relationship with their supporters. The man who continues to expand the power of the executive branch to such a degree that most constitutional analysts doubt it will ever go back. The man who essentially doomed the Republican party by convincing red staters that voting was about culture, not about governing. The GOP’s own version of Larry the Cable Guy — phenomenal success… through short-term gimmickry.
But that’s not important. What’s actually important is, Stein used this opportunity in a national interview (which he apparently held in a special, super-creepy room filled with past GOP yard signs), to call for a sequel to Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.
Mystery solved. The guy just needs some love.