Q: You were recently nominated by President Bush to serve on the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace, which was founded in the wake of the Vietnam War to promote peace. When will the Senate vote on your nomination?  That hasn't been scheduled yet. I think they have bigger fish to fry right now. I think they are more concerned with Alito than Ron Silver.  Are you aware that some people view your nomination as an instance of Bush cronyism, perhaps because you're not a foreign-policy expert but an actor who spoke on the opening night of the 2004 Republican National Convention?  I understand what you are saying about "why." No. 1, I am not a crony of the president. I have never been to Crawford.  Indeed, you're a former liberal Democrat who became a Bush convert only recently. What do you have against the Democrats?  The Democratic Party is becoming the tool of an extreme domestic leftist insurgency led by the Michael Moores and the Cindy Sheehans and other neoreactionary, neoisolationist Americans.  How did you end up as a nominee for the board of the Institute of Peace, a nonpartisan group supported with taxpayer money?  I was talking to a lot of people, and honestly now, I forget exactly how it happened.  Can you try harder to remember who approached you about the job?  If I had to bet on it, I would say Dina Powell. She was the head of White House personnel.  And she was an assistant to the president, whom I assume you know personally?  I see him once a year when I go down to Washington for the Kennedy Center honors. We kibbitz. I don't know if he calls it kibbitzing, but I call it kibbitzing. He is really a likable guy. At one point he said: "You're a good man, Ronnie. It is nice to see you." And I was kidding around, so I said, "Mr. President, only my mother calls me Ronnie." And he looks me in the eye and says, "You're a good man, Ronnie."  What qualifies you to serve as a trustee of the Institute?  I had a nutty background working my way into acting. In college, I studied languages, and I was in R.O.T.C. for a while. I did my master's in Chinese studies. I went to law school for a while. And I have always been attracted to the world of intelligence.  Are you in the C.I.A.?  No, I am not. Are you going to out me? I can't believe this. I only told one person: Bob Woodward. Ask him.  Great idea, especially since he's so forthcoming.  Tell us about your new documentary, "Broken Promises: The United Nations at 60," which portrays the U.N. as the height of incompetence. If you and I put a flag outside our door and we called ourselves a country, we would have a seat at the table.  Is that some sort of cheap shot at third-world countries?  I think that the countries that are democracies need to form a caucus and a coalition to make sure it is not controlled by blocs of authoritarian regimes that are permanently hostile to the United States.  One reason they are hostile is that they feel the Bush administration has marginalized the United Nations.  The United Nations marginalized itself.  Have your political views cost you any jobs in Hollywood?  I think people in Hollywood are not thrilled with me. I have no direct evidence that a crime has been committed against me. At best I can only indict on perjury and obstruction of employment.  You do have a regular television gig, on "The West Wing," on which you play a former Democrat who becomes an ardent Republican operative. Is the character based on your own experiences?  There seems to be a paucity of imagination out here in L.A.; they had to steal from life. I think they made a decision to reinvigorate the show, but not do that kind of stereotypical, mustachioed bad Republican.  Are you considering running for political office?  Not at the moment, unless you know an office you want me to run for.  Why not run for a seat in Congress?  I am 59 years old. I am afraid to lose whatever little influence I now have.
The actor talks about his new appointment to the U.S. Institute of Peace, his problems with the U.N. and Democrats, kibbitzing with the president and life as a Hollywood Republican.