‘24′ chief scoffs at Hillary

November 12, 2007 · Filed Under Entertainment, Hollywood, Politics, Republicans, U.S. News

Hollywood producer Joel Surnow dismissed as “nuts” the notion that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton can be elected president and said he and other conservatives in the entertainment industry are leaning toward supporting Republican Rudolph W. Giuliani’s presidential campaign.

The executive producer of Fox’s Emmy-winning counterterrorism thriller “24,” interviewed after a Saturday speech to a conservative student group, also predicted that the current screenwriters’ strike would be “hugely long” and settled to the disadvantage of the writers union.

“I’m not even sure that Hillary is a fait accompli [to win the Democratic Party nomination] as this point,” Mr. Surnow told a group of reporters and bloggers in a wide-ranging interview during the Young America’s Foundation’s (YAF) West Coast Leadership Conference. “Are we nuts thinking Hillary Clinton could be president of this country? Honest to God, just stand back and think about it.”

Saying that he was “probably going to get behind Rudy” for the White House, Mr. Surnow named comedian Dennis Miller as another entertainer who has “come out” as a conservative in the overwhelmingly liberal Hollywood environment and said that another popular comedian, Adam Sandler, “is going to come out and support Rudy Giuliani.”