Clooney: Playing a pol as far as he goes

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 (UPI) -- George Clooney says he has no plans to get into U.S. politics despite his convincing role as a presidential candidate in the new movie "The Ides of March."

Clooney had plenty of insights about the current state of partisan politics and national campaigning in an interview with ABC News, but he said being a movie star beats running for office.

"I look at my life and look at everybody else's life in politics," Clooney said. "Why would I ever want to do that? I'm having a very good time."

Clooney wrote, directed and starred in "Ides," which opened this month as the presidential race picks up heads of steam and acrimony. He said he drew on his personal experiences as the son of a one-time candidate in Ohio and as a supporter of President Obama in the 2008 election.

Clooney said he was "disillusioned" by Obama supporters who would jump off the bandwagon over a single issue, and the increasingly partisan television networks.

"When I was growing up, you had three networks," Clooney told ABC. "Whether you were a Republican or a Democrat, you took basically the same facts in and you digested them and you came up with your own opinions. Now we tend to go to the place that best represents what we believe in; Fox News if you're conservative, MSNBC if you're liberal, what have you."