I lived on Rockford Files reruns and beer when I was in college. (And cheese steaks if I’m telling the complete truth.) I’m a huge James Garner fan. So somebody please tell him to shut up before he destroys my appreciation of him.

In his new memoir, Garner disses Reagan as stupid and says he’s pro-choice.

“Too many actors have run for office,” he writes. “There’s one difference between me and them: I know I’m not qualified. In my opinion, Arnold Schwarzenegger wasn’t qualified to be governor of California. Ronald Reagan wasn’t qualified to be governor, let alone president. I was a vice president of the Screen Actors Guild when he was its president. My duties consisted of attending meetings and voting. The only thing I remember is that Ronnie never had an original thought and that we had to tell him what to say. That’s no way to run a union, let along a state or a country.”

Garner writes that he was asked to run for Congress in 1962 as a Republican, and “it didn’t stop them when I told them I was a Democrat. …They just thought I could win.” In 1990, Democratic leaders approached him about running for governor of California, but the discussion got to the issue of abortion and Garner says he answered, “I don’t have an opinion, because that’s up to the woman. It has nothing to do with me.” The conversation pretty much stopped there.

Ack.

Look, I assume actors are all libs but when they start airing it out it bugs me, especially when they start calling certain Republicans, stupid. Or when they start talking about being pro-choice. It just bugs me. So I’m begging James Garner to leave me with my memories.

Now all I’ve got left is beer and cheese steaks. And, at least we’ve still got Tom Selleck.

HT Big Hollywood