Legendary Liberal Norman Lear: ‘I Think of Myself as a Bleeding-Heart Conservative’

Legendary Liberal Norman Lear: ‘I Think of Myself as a Bleeding-Heart Conservative’

by Daniel Nussbaum 2 Aug 2015

http://www.breitbart.com/big-hollywood/2015/08/02/legendary-liberal-norman-lear-i-think-of-myself-as-a-bleeding-heart-conservative/

Legendary TV creator and prominent progressive Norman Lear must have shocked journalists at the Television Critics Association press tour in Beverly Hills this weekend when he declared himself to be a “total social conservative.”

The 93-year-old creator of television hits like All in the Family, The Jeffersons, and Good Times was on hand to promote an upcoming PBS documentary about his career when he unloaded with both barrels on politics, the state of America, and the importance of people.

“Everybody knows me to be a progressive or a liberal or lefty or whatever. I think of myself as a bleeding-heart conservative,” Lear said, according to Entertainment Weekly. “You will not f*** with my Bill of Rights, my Constitution, my guarantees of political justice for all. But does my heart bleed for those who need help and aren’t getting the justice that the country promises them and the equal opportunity the country promises? Yes. I’m a bleeding heart, but I think myself to be a total social conservative.”

Lear continued:

The people who are running just don’t seem to have America on their minds, not the America I think about. When I was a kid we were in love with America. As early as I can remember, there was a civics class in my public school. And I was in love with those things that guaranteed freedom before I learned that there were people who hated me because I was Jewish. I had a Bill of Rights and a Constitution, those words out of the Declaration that protected me. And I knew about that because we had civics in class. We don’t have that much in the country anymore. So before World War II or shortly after, we were in love with America because we understood what it was about and that’s what we were in love with. I believe everybody’s patriotic today. Everybody loves America. But I don’t need their flag plans to prove it. I’d like to go back to civics lessons.

Of course, Lear has long been a champion of progressive ideology; he created the left-wing People for the American Way in the 80s, helped fight to overturn California’s Prop 8 in 2012, and just this year presented an ACLU civil liberties award to liberal hero Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) 15^%.

At the TCA press tour, Lear also discussed American “excess,” calling it the country’s “greatest export.”

We are so excessive,” he said. “There is so much to watch, so much to buy, so much they’re selling. I wish they would sell the value of the country as hard as they sell the rest of it.”

Lear also touched on living in the moment and the current “Golden Age of television” during the interview. Check out the rest here.

Norman Lear

Norman Lear is a director at the People for the American Way, married to Lyn Davis Lear, the president of the Lear Family Foundation, made the National Rifle Association enemies list listed in 2013, and a donor for The Climate Project.

Note: Foundation to Promote Open Society was a funder for the People for the American Way, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sundance Institute, the Center for International Policy, and the Climate Reality Project.

George Soros was the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society, and is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations.

Open Society Foundations was a funder for the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Constitution Society, and the Center for International Policy.

Lyn Davis Lear is married to Norman Lear, a director at the Lear Family Foundation, a trustee at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and a trustee at the Sundance Institute.

Lear Family Foundation was a funder for the People for the American Way.

Barbra Streisand is a trustee at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the founder of the Barbra Streisand Foundation, and made the National Rifle Association enemies list listed in 2013.

Margery Tabankin is the treasurer for the Barbra Streisand Foundation, and a director at the People for the American Way.

Barbra Streisand Foundation was a funder for the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the American Constitution Society, and the Center for International Policy.

Robert Redford is a trustee at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the founder & president for the Sundance Institute.

Patricia E. Mitchell is the vice chair for the Sundance Institute, and was the president & CEO for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Geoffrey K. Sands is a trustee at the Sundance Institute, a director at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and a director at the PBS Foundation.

Kenneth D. Cole is a trustee at the Sundance Institute, and married to Maria Cuomo Cole.

Maria Cuomo Cole is married to Kenneth D. Cole, a trustee at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and Mario M. Cuomo’s daughter.

Mario M. Cuomo was Maria Cuomo Cole’s father, and a board of adviser’s member for the American Constitution Society.

Kathleen Kennedy Townsend was a trustee at the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, and a director at the Center for International Policy.

Mike Farrell is an advisory board member for the Center for International Policy, and made the National Rifle Association enemies list listed in 2013.

Norman Lear made the National Rifle Association enemies list listed in 2013, a donor for The Climate Project, is a board of councilor’s member for the Annenberg School for Communication, a director at the People for the American Way, married to Lyn Davis Lear, and the president of the Lear Family Foundation.

Larry Irving was a board of councilor’s member for the Annenberg School for Communication, and is a director at the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

Louise H. Bryson is a board of councilor’s member for the Annenberg School for Communication, and was a board member for the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS).

The Climate Project is a merged organization with the Climate Reality Project.

Cindy Harrell-Horn is a director at the Climate Reality Project, and a trustee at the Sundance Institute.

Lyn Davis Lear is a trustee at the Sundance Institute, married to Norman Lear, a trustee at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and a director at the Lear Family Foundation.

Lear Family Foundation was a funder for the People for the American Way.