Yet more evidence that celebrity does not equal intelligence.

Al, There is a fair amount of truth to your political analysis although being a black Republican is hardly unique to Powell - Jackie Robinson was a Republican.

But Belafonte was hardly a one-hit wonder 50ish years ago. He was a hugely popular recording artist and performer who charted albums from the 50s in to the 70s. He is ranked as the 41st best-selling album artist of all time by Billboard. He was also an actor and film producer. That's why people still listen to him.

In general, the Powell/Belafonte dynamic is far more complex than you imply.

Yeah, I reacted badly to the one-hit-wonder slam, too. Granted, Belafonte's early calypso albums were promoted at the time as an alternative to that nasty ol' rock 'n' roll (so was folk music, in general), but that doesn't take away from the fact that they also included some damn fine singing. Me, I also enjoyed Belafonte's comic acting (doing a black Brando) in the underrated Uptown Saturday Night.

I tend to ignore celebrity political comments: it's more than enough work keeping up with folks who actually know what they're talking about. . .

Of course, you right-wing wackos wouldn't be making all those snide remarks about celebrities if it was Big Chuck Heston or AHHN-old speaking out.

And by the way, it's the *Democratic* party. Call it by the right name, right-wing moron.

Actually, I have commented on Chuck Heston and celeb politics in the past - right here.

Chuck Heston or Ah-nold would never make anything like the vicious personal slurs that Belafonte and other left-wing types routinely do. They wouldn't be allowed to get away with it- nor should they.

I would pile right on, but I wouldn't have to. Think of the grief poor silly Fuzzy Zoeller got for one mild stupid joke about Tiger Woods and fried chicken.

As to Belafonte's music, I may have been unfair to him- not that it's relevant to my point. Bending over backwards for the sake of fairness, I'll admit to not having listened to much Belafonte to make a substantive critical judgment of his singing. However, I'd be just as crappy even if it were Ray Charles Himself talking in such an evil and hateful manner.

Good answer Al, although I wasn't under the impression that any of us are right-wing morons. I happen to love Belafonte's Caribbean-derived stuff - think of all the great songs in Beetlejuice, those are all Harry - but that has nothing to do with what he has to say, as you correctly mentioned.

Nope sorry, don't buy it, Al: you say that Belafonte's musical/creativity is not a part of the point you're trying to make, but you reference it more than once, using the supposed "irrelevance" of his music to bolster your point. (See, nobody'd pay any attention to this has-been if he didn't say something that fed into the hidden wishes of the Democratic leadership.) But you've gotta expect that a site like Blogcritics would have more than a few writers who knew more about the man and his art than a CNN journalist.

I won't argue with your basic construct (don't really have the wherewithal to do so), though I will note that a lot of Dem-leaning commentators that I've read (Josh Michael, for instance) have generally looked to Colin Powell as one of the few measured professionals to step forth from this administration. In the end, I prefer to believe Belafonte was speaking from his own heart and mind - however unfortunate his metaphors may be - an independent thinker, not a "house Negro."

The fact is, Mr. Belafonte really doesn't believe even a word of what he says. Rather, he is trying to punish the Secretary of State for not adhering to his own narrow view of the world.

Belafonte's comments regarding Colin Powell are disgusting. He is one dumb son of a bitch. That is far more disgusting to his race than an Uncle Tom any day in my book. Air head singers and actors like him should keep their mouths shut. They are too damned stupid to comment on anything of substance.