Has Robert Downey Jr. joined playwright David Mamet in embracing the love that dare not speak its name—the love of liberty, order, and personal responsibility—you know, conservatism?

National Review, May 19, 2008

Has Robert Downey Jr. joined playwright David Mamet in embracing the love that dare not speak its name--the love of liberty, order, and personal responsibility--you know, conservatism? Here's what the Iron Man star told the New York Times: "I have a really interesting political point of view, and it's not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can't go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal." Perhaps his roles have also influenced him: His star turn in Less Than Zero was taken as an indictment of the 1980s, and he is now playing Iron Man hero Tony Stark, a talented capitalist who spent the Cold War combating Communists in the pages of Marvel Comics.

Whatever his politics, we're happy to see Mr. Downey out of the pokey.