Ever since Jon Voight went on Access Hollywood back in 2001 and made a tearful plea for his daughter, Angelina Jolie, to get help for her “serious mental problems”, the two have been out of contact. Obviously feeling betrayed, Angelina cut her father out of her life all together and dismissed his claims by saying that he was the one who needed help. Basically, they were the original Michael and Lindsay Lohan.

Jon has made many public statements about how horrible the estrangement from his daughter has been, but Angelina maintained that it was in the best interest of her and her children to continue to stay cut off. According to Jon, she finally has changed her stance.

“We’re in touch, but not regularly.  We love each other and that’s the most important thing,” he said in a recent statement. He also claimed that Angelina was the first one to reach out and that, although they don’t speak often, they both know that maintaining a relationship is important. “Angie made the initial contact.  Brad [Pitt] has been supportive- a key factor in her reaching out.”

I’m thinking that Jon is just looking for some press and that Angelina is more than busy with her family and career. Whenever Jon gets press these days, it’s because he’s speaking out about his daughter in the press, something that I’m sure will continue to keep the two of them apart. Given the nature of their estrangement, I’m sure that every time he mentions her name, he decreases the odds of those phone calls ever becoming regular.

You know what’s weird?  Brad Pitt was married to Jennifer Aniston who is estranged from her mother.  Now he’s with Angelina Jolie who is estranged from her father.  I’m sure there’s some deep psychological reason why Brad selects women who have dysfunctional parent relationships. 

And though I think people should try their hardest to maintain contact with family, I understand that it can’t always be worked out.  Today, I am understanding the rift between Angelina and her father a whole lot more than I did before. 

If you’re at work, and staying awake is a requirement, you may not want to watch eight plus minutes of Jon Voight, on C-span no less.  Oy.  Let me give you the highlight:  Voight called for an end to “this false prophet Obama.”  People are mad and some bloggers are even implying that the bloated actor was calling for Barack’s assassination.  I may not personally agree with Jon Voight’s politics, and I may personally think that he sounds a bit nuts, but I don’t think he was talking about murder…just about the 2010 election.  What say you?

Remember just a couple days ago when Roseanne Barr took to her blog to call Jon Voight a “frightened little girl in a pink ballet tutu,” among other things?

Well, Jon Voight is not going to sit back and take it.

He released a rebuttal today (shown above), accusing Roseanne of being “sick of mind” and suggesting that she is a “psychopathic liar.”

I can’t decide how I feel about this.

Was Voight’s response appropriate or should he not have responded to Roseanne’s comments at all?

Is there anything more wonderful than when totally unqualified celebrities weigh in on matter that are actually important? Jon “Angelina’s Dad” Voight may not be able to have a relationship with any of his six grandchildren, because of what a psychopath he’s been toward Angelina in the past, but that’s not going to stop him from spewing vile political nonsense in the Op-Ed pages of the Washington Post. I don’t talk politics on this site a lot, because I’m probably more informed about the exact shape of Lindsay Lohan’s labia than I am about politics (I can draw it from memory now!), but I have to say I think Mr. Voight crossed one hell of a line with this scathing, presumptuous epistolary. I mean, I don’t know much about Senator Obama’s platform, but I have a feeling he doesn’t plan to create a socialist America. Plus, any established actor who read the script for National Treasure 2 and thought to himself, “Yes, this is something I want to be a part of” clearly needs to rethink all of his opinions.

Some quotes:

Sen. Barack Obama has grown up with the teaching of very angry, militant white and black people: the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Louis Farrakhan, William Ayers and Rev. Michael Pfleger. We cannot say we are not affected by teachers who are militant and angry. We know too well that we become like them, and Mr. Obama will run this country in their mindset.

The Democratic Party, in its quest for power, has managed a propaganda campaign with subliminal messages, creating a God-like figure in a man who falls short in every way. It seems to me that if Mr. Obama wins the presidential election, then Messrs. Farrakhan, Wright, Ayers and Pfleger will gain power for their need to demoralize this country and help create a socialist America.

…

If Mr. Obama had his way, he would have pulled our troops from Iraq years ago and initiated an unprecedented bloodbath, turning over that country to the barbarianism of our enemies. With what he has openly stated about his plans for our military, and his lack of understanding about the true nature of our enemies, there’s not a cell in my body that can accept the idea that Mr. Obama can keep us safe from the terrorists around the world, and from Iran, which is making great strides toward getting the atomic bomb. And while a misleading portrait of Mr. Obama is being perpetrated by a media controlled by the Democrats, the Obama camp has sent out people to attack the greatness of Sen. John McCain, whose suffering and courage in a Hanoi prison camp is an American legend.

…

This is a perilous time, and more than ever, the world needs a united and strong America. If, God forbid, we live to see Mr. Obama president, we will live through a socialist era that America has not seen before, and our country will be weakened in every way.

All together now: Shut up, Jon Voight!

“I find it very heartbreaking that my children want to paint a bad guy portrait of me. I feel it comes from their inability to let go of years of programmed anger from their mother, who understandably felt quite hurt when we divorced. In all truth, I tried to give him and their mother continuous love and support and large sums of money. God knows, for years I’ve tried to mend this relationship. Perhaps the trauma of their mother’s passing has made it worse.”

Angelina Jolie’s estranged father, Jon Voight, in a statement, after son James Haven told Marie Claire that “he put my mom through years of mental abuse.”