The Arizona senator won Tuesday's Republican primary in part thanks to his journey from calling for comprehensive immigration reform, even co-sponsoring a bill with the late Ted Kennedy, to becoming a spokesman for building the rest of the "danged" fence and endorsing Arizona's Senate Bill 1070. Result: Gets to keep the seat he's had since 1987.
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Ask Conan O'Brien about this guy. First, he showed much class by giving up The Tonight Show when NBC shoved him aside for O'Brien. Then, his prime-time spot bombed, and Jay Leno decided he wanted his old show back. And...out went O'Brien. Result: jabs from Letterman, savage imitation by Kimmel, but got the gig back.
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Morris was one of the Clintons’ key White House advisers before he became a Fox News analyst and morphed into one of the Clintons’ most nagging antagonists. Result: a lifetime of spots on Hannity.
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Move over, Benedict Arnold: Before World War II, Wernher von Braun designed rocket technology for the Nazis in Germany. Afterward, von Braun packed up his squad of engineers and helped develop missile systems for the United States. He became the director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and played a lead role in creating the launch vehicle which powered the first moon mission. Result: American celebrity.
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The Oscar-nominated actress formerly known as Natalie Hershlag is openly Jewish, but once said, “I’ve always tried to stay away from playing Jews. I get like 20 Holocaust scripts a month, but I hate the genre.” However, that hasn’t stopped the Jerusalem-born screen siren from playing a Jew on numerous occasions, including in the 2005 Israeli film Free Zone and as a Hasidic bride in 2009’s ensemble flick New York, I Love You. Plus, she starred in over 200 performances of The Diary of Anne Frank on Broadway in, you guessed it, the title role. Result: Beloved by Jews and Gentiles alike.
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The founder of the liberal media watchdog group, Media Matters, first made his bones on the right as an American Spectator writer and Anita Hill attack dog. Result: he's a lefty icon.
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One of the greats at being both for and against the same thing. He's been dinged in the press for attacking Obama's health-care plan when its roots are in his own program in Massachusetts. His position on abortion has famously traveled since he was pictured at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser in 1994. Result: in the running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2012.
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The novelist Anne Rice was born and raised Catholic, but abandoned the religion when she turned 18. Later in life, she converted back to Christianity. Despite her conversion, she insisted she departed from the religion on certain issues, especially gay rights and abortion. Her conversion was short-lived: In July, she announced on her Facebook page she had “ quit Christianity,” due to the church's positions on gay rights, women's rights, and science. Result: "pick a new religion for Rice" parlor game.
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A lifelong member of the Democratic Party, former Georgia Sen. Zell Miller showed up at the Republican National Convention in 2004 to say of his party's nominee, John Kerry, and Ted Kennedy, "No pair has been more wrong, more loudly, more often than the two senators from Massachusetts." Result: Sold some books and briefly enjoyed a Fox-hyped retirement.
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The Friday Night Lights writer and Pulitzer Prize winner used to be one of the most vociferous old-media voices aimed at the online press. He imagined a future, dominated by blogs, where information was "going to be glib," "profane," and "quick." Today, Bissinger has become of the most eager practitioners on Twitter, showing himself very capable of being all of those things at once. Result: a David Carr profile, and further infamy in the sports blogosphere.
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Here's an athlete who was a literal two-face: One season he was growing his hair out like Jesus, sporting a mangy beard, and throwing down shots of Jack Daniels with the idiots of the Boston Red Sox. The next season, he took the money and bolted, signing up to play centerfield for the New York Yankees. He ditched the beard, cut the hair, and lost a city of fans in the process. Result: New York love and Boston hatred.
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Chuck Colson was one of Richard Nixon's top henchmen as he targeted enemies. Facing arrest charges for covering up the Watergate break-in, Colson found his way to evangelical Christianity. Following his time in the pokey, Colson founded Prison Fellowship and became not only a leading minister but an advocate for prisoner's rights. Result: a reasonably respected place in the Christian right firmament.
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From Soviet spy to communist snitch, during his 60 years on earth, the Alger Hiss witness showed at least two faces. Result: righty icon.
