The RNC was low on celebrities, but the Creative Coalition, a Hollywood nonpartisan group, flew in a few character actors. Joe Pantoliano, who played Ralph Cifaretto on The Sopranos, showed up at the Coalition bash after Sarah Palin’s speech, impressed with her message about special-needs children. “I have special needs — I suffer from clinical depression,” he said. “Why is it I get diagnosed with clinical depression and I get yelled at for having it?” He also wondered if Rudy Giuliani might be facing some mental issues of his own. “Talk about denial — this guy’s got to get over 9/11,” Pantoliano said. Still, he thought the former mayor played his role to perfection. “They said, ‘Rudy will be the bad guy.’ He plays my part — I play those guys in movies.” At the same event, actor Giancarlo Esposito went a step further. “They were just stirring the pot and getting people fired up. It was almost like a Hitler rally. People were getting a little frenzied on the floor.”
