white house correspondents' dinner weekend

Actors Who Play Scandal-Prone Characters Believe in Political Comebacks

WASHINGTON, DC - APRIL 27: Kerry Washington and Tony Goldwyn attend ABC News, Yahoo! News, Univision Pre-White House Correspondents Dinner cocktail reception at Washington Hilton on April 27, 2013 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Leigh Vogel/Getty Images for Yahoo! News)
Washington and Goldwyn. Photo: Leigh Vogel/2013 Getty Images

There are two interesting comeback efforts happening in the political world right now: Former South Carolina governor, admitted adulterer, and occasional trespasser Mark Sanford’s attempt to return via Congress seems to be failing, while the jury is still out on whether former congressman and prolific sexter Anthony Weiner has a chance of beating Christine Quinn in New York’s upcoming mayoral race. However, actor Tony Goldwyn, who plays trouble-courting President Fitzgerald Grant on ABC’s Scandal, thinks that there’s some hope for both men. “We all get ourselves into messes in life. In public life, all your wrinkles are exposed. And some wrinkles are more, sort of, shocking,” he said at a pre-party for Saturday night’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner. “But these are people with tremendous gifts and extreme intelligence, so yeah [they can come back]. 

Meanwhile, Kerry Washington gave an answer straight out of her Scandal character Olivia Pope’s crisis management firm when asked about Weiner and Sanford’s prospects. “I think time will tell. It’s up to the public, not me,” she said before dashing off to appear in a photo. Finally, Morena Baccarin — best known as the wife of Homeland’s congressman and terrorist sympathizer Nicholas Brody — reminded us that TV stars might not be the best people to ask about this. “It’s a world that I’m very unfamiliar with. You see actors have sex scandals and things like that and rebound pretty quickly. In fact, sometimes it helps their career,” she said. “So, it shouldn’t be too different in politics, I guess.” 

Scandal Stars on Political Comebacks