The New York Post reports that actress and liberal activist Susan Sarandon has said she will move to either Italy or Canada if John McCain is elected by says she has “faith in the American people” that they won’t vote the Arizona Senator into the highest office. Sarandon’s comments are reminescent of those made in 2000 by some celebrities who promised to bail on the country if George W. Bush was elected president, sparking a public outcry from conservatives then and in 2004 who started an outcry against what they saw as “liberal Hollywood” invading politics.

Alec Baldwin was famously chastised after a 2000 interview with his then wife Kim Basinger who said her husband vowed to leave the country if George Bush became president. Though Baldwin claims he actually meant to suggest “it would be a good time to leave the country”, he never left. Neither did Robert Altman who did say he would move to Paris, but never did and later tried to suggest he meant “Paris, Texas” though he did not move there either.

So chilling was the backlash from many conservatives against actors in 2000 and again in 2004 that once public celebrity endorsers like George Clooney have been keeping silent this cycle believing their endorsements might actually hurt the candidates in parts of America.

My take? For all the talk of this being a “change” election every day looks and sounds more like those in 2000 and 2004.