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Michelle Obama's Oscar thank-yous

Michelle Obama’s live-feed cameo at the Oscars Sunday night was the night’s big “surprise.” But was it any more of a surprise than, say, a Dubya Bush cameo at a C-PAC convention?

After all, Hollywood is one of this Democratic president’s biggest donors with the First Couple beating a steady path to the Left Coast during campaign season. The surprise was that Michelle didn’t bring her own “thank you list” of donors. Thank you George Clooney, Anne Hathaway, Harvey Weinstein, Steven Spielberg, and a very special thank to. . .

. . . DreamWorks CEO and Obama mega-donor Jeffrey Katzenberg.

Yes, the Hollywood One Percenter was one of  2012’s most prolific donors, giving a handsome $3 million to Obama’s Super PAC, Priorities USA (Obama once called Super PACs a “threat to our democracy” but never mind). Katzenberg last year co-hosted a fundraising dinner at Clooney’s mansion, netting a cool $15 million for the president’s reelection effort.

Star-struck Michigan Republican Senator Randy Richardville is Michigan’s biggest booster of state film tax goodies for Hollywood’s wealthy studios. Maybe he’ll be giving an award next year?

Henry Payne
Henry Payne is a columnist, editorial writer, and award-winning editorial cartoonist for The Detroit News. A twenty-five year newspaper veteran, the Pulitzer Prize-nominated satirist produces 12 cartoons a week for The News and United Feature Syndicate. Payne is also a contributor to National Review, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Post, and other national publications. His News column appears every Tuesday online.

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