Ed Asner is best known as Lou Grant, Mary Tyler Moore's gruff, cynical editor with the soft, gooey center at the fictional WJM-TV newsroom in Minneapolis. In real life, Asner is gruff and cynical, but he has been for decades a crusader for liberal causes—labor rights, the environment, peace and social justice. He visited Las Vegas from LA last week to rally members of the Service Employees International Union, which represents Clark County and health-industry workers. And although he was animated when pitching his issues to about 200 enthusiastic union members—gesturing, gripping the podium, punctuating his points with squints and glares at the Republicans he sees ruining the country—he seemed exhausted when he squeezed his large frame into the back seat of an environmentally friendly Toyota Prius for a ride back to McCarran.
With a sigh and barely a grumble, he consented to an interview on the road.
At 74, Asner has accumulated five Emmy Awards and five Golden Globes and still looks and sounds like the Lou Grant who showed so little patience with Mary Tyler Moore three decades ago—albeit with gray on top and in his bushy eyebrows. He may not have the energy of the leftist warrior who rallied the liberal troops for peace, justice and the environment as the two-term leader of the Screen Actors Guild in the 1980s, but Asner still has the ability to throw a sharp rhetorical spear.
"Piss on George Bush," he said. "[Sen. John Kerry] has to show George Bush for the scheming, conniving dyslexic that he is."
For all the trouble we had getting in, the back seat of the Prius was surprisingly roomy. Two representatives from the union sat up front, and Asner and I chatted for the half-hour ride.
Another Bush term would be a disaster, he said. Economic conditions would worsen while the Republican grip on Washington would break labor unions and progressive organizations.
America is already close to a breaking point, Asner warned as we weaved through traffic. The nation has been close in the past, but the situation is different today.
While the Great Depression ushered in—at least in America—the era of progressive politics personified by four-term President Franklin D. Roosevelt, that would not be the case if a similar catastrophe blanketed the United States and the world now. He noted that in Europe, people responded to the Depression by installing fascist governments in Germany, Italy and elsewhere.
"We were lucky the first time," he said. "Roosevelt knew how to pick and choose and slowly move leftward under the prodding of more leftist candidates. Another Great Depression this time, as in Germany, could produce a fascist government in the seedbed that lied fallow until a man like George Bush came along to fertilize it."
Clearly, this is a man who's given this some serious thought. His distrust of the Republican electoral machine and disgust with President Bush's policies keeps his aim steady, he says, and he considers this election the most important in his lifetime.
"I haven't done enough for the campaign," he said, adding that the American people "are operating out of fear and stupidity."
To combat that problem, Asner and his ideological brethren in Hollywood are taking to the road, targeting swing states such as Nevada, where their presence might get a few more Democratic votes to the polls.
Hollywood, Asner said, is probably as liberal today as it ever was, but conservatives are increasingly visible. Among those who have come to prominence: Bruce Willis, James Woods, Kelsey Grammar and, of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
"There's less fear than usual by the right-wingers to voice their opinions," he said.
Despite the importance of the election, Asner does not echo the sentiments of Democratic Party insiders, who usually deny that the polls (at least before the first debate) put Bush ahead.
"I don't see the polls [as being] that glaringly wrong since '48," when most pollsters and many papers predicted Republican Thomas Dewey would win. [See cover story, page 17.] Despite a notorious headline to the contrary, Truman won the 1948 election. "What I despise about polling is they come out and give their results, and it influences people into voting or not voting, particularly not voting."
He noted that early exit-polling in the 1980 election kept many supporters of President Carter away from the polls in California.
"I don't think the results should be announced until the results are in," Asner said. "I don't care about what people say about freedom of the press. Freedom of democracy is more important." Is that the sound of Lou Grant spontaneously combusting, or did we hit a pothole?
Like Kerry, Asner is a combat veteran. He served one tour in Korea.
"I fought the gooks in France," he joked, prompting a confused silence in the back of the Prius. "Nobody ever gets that joke."
We pulled up to the airport and Lou Grant—gruff, opinionated, and oddly reminiscent of my lefty grandmother—managed to get himself out of the Prius and onto the curb. He headed off alone, bound for Hollywood.