Roger L Simon thinks because he was a Hollywood writer for 20 years he knows how actors "really think" and so he disagrees with VDH. It doesn't dawn on him that all actors tell people what they want to hear so they can get jobs later. As an actor for 20 years let me tell all of you that one of the problems all actors have is that they DO believe they are the characters they are playing. In fact Method Acting, which is calling upon your inner experiences to create a character, makes this connection almost automatic. I once actually started behaving like a Mafia hit man, not that I had guns, but I actually believed that I could kill anybody I wanted to. I stopped believing that when I got a part as a ruthless business owner on Serpico and I believed in that also. This is aided by the recognition of people on the street grabbing you and thinking you are the character you play. People who play continuing parts on series become that character. Period.

If you don't think that Martin Sheen didn't think he was actually the President you miss the reality. Actors also view the people they are playing through the PC Hollywood lens. All businessmen are bad, ditto all Republicans, social workers are good, and so on.

That's Stanislavsky for you.