In this business, there are a million different reasons people don't want to work with you. You're too Jewish, you're not Jewish enough, they want a bigger star, they think you cost too much money. Most people are very economical with the truth out here, so it's very hard to determine cause and effect.

There have been a few occasions when people have said, 'I won't work with that S.O.B.' It has happened, but on an individual basis. It is not in any way, shape or form a blacklist.

Often when I walked onto the set of The West Wing (1999) some of my colleagues would greet me with a chanting of "Ron, Ron, the neo-con." It was all done in fun but it had an edge.

[on his support for George W. Bush] It's affected me very badly. I can't point to a person or a job I've lost, but this community is not very pluralistic. I haven't worked for 10 months.

[on actors getting involved in politics] I think there's almost an obligation. Many of us are very well compensated for work which a lot of people would love to do. And we also have a lot of leisure time in between jobs... They say that Hollywood is sex without substance, and Washington is substance without sex, so maybe the marriage of the two is mutually intriguing.

By inclination I am more of a politician than I am an actor. I care more about public policy. I care more about pro-choice, the environment, homelessness, and nuclear issues than I do about any part.