Stacy Dash and the Republican addiction to conservative celebrities

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Stacey Dash at the Oscars in February, 2016. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)

As if. Dionne from “Clueless” is running for Congress.

Stacey Dash, best known for her role in the ‘90s flick — and for awkwardly appearing as her own punchline at the 2016 Academy Awards — has filed paperwork to run in California’s 44th District in South Los Angeles, a seat currently held by a Democrat.

OPINION

She inexplicably became a conservative thing when, in 2012, she switched from Democrat to Republican and endorsed Mitt Romney.

Her endorsement should have gone totally unnoticed. But left-wing nuts on Twitter blasted her for it, thus propelling her into the Fox News stratosphere, where being a left-wing punching bag is often all it takes to become a conservalebrity.

Of course, anyone can run for office, and I wish her luck — though her hopes are slim to none in a district Hillary Clinton won in 2016 with 83 percent of the vote.

More to the point, the embarrassing phenomenon of Republicans latching onto dimwitted D-listers who bring little to the table but unmeditated blurting about the culture wars is, well, a bad look.

To wit, Dash’s political resume includes:

Calling for an end to Black History Month because “We’re Americans. Period.”

Pining for toxic masculinity: “I wish we could go back to Mad Men days. I love those days. Men were men.”

Telling transgender Americans to “go in the bushes” rather than public restrooms.

Here’s her platform on college rape, as she outlined on Fox’s “Outnumbered”:

“Bad girls — bad women — are the ones who like to be naughty, might go out and play and get hurt and then, you know . . . But the other thing about this is that it then blames the alcohol instead of the person who over-drinks.”

Got that?

To be sure, there’s an audience for this sort of pablum. These barking grievances are all things Fox News is happy to spoon-feed its viewers, and plenty of them just feel relieved to know there are still people out there who see the world like they do — or at least can convincingly pretend to.

Dash will undoubtedly find GOP support for her run. After President Trump endorsed accused child molester Roy Moore for Senate, is it unfathomable to think he hops on Twitter to sing Dash’s praises?

Dash is hardly the first pseudo-celeb the party has glommed onto. I’ve found myself at countless conservative events with the likes of Fabio, Chuck Woolery and Victoria Jackson, author of “Is My Bow Too Big? How I went from ‘Saturday Night Live’ to the Tea Party.”

They all may make interesting and compelling cases for voting Republican — but shaping policy? Probably not.

Especially given that Republicans are often most vocal in telling liberal celebrities to shut up and sing, or act, or whatever, rather than always stick their noses in public policy debates.

To be clear, that Dash was an actor is not the disqualifying part. From Ronald Reagan to Fred Thompson, plenty of actors have done the party proud. It’s that her only qualification appears to be her ability parrot the worst and basest impulses of the conservative underbelly, and not even all that creatively.

Perhaps she’s not really interesting in actually governing, but merely in boosting her profile. We all know that’s also a thing on both sides of the aisle.

Which reminds me. Years ago I was summoned to dinner with Roger Stone, the infamous Nixon “dirty trickster” and Trump casino lobbyist.

We’d never met. Midway through our steaks, he told me he wanted me to run for mayor of New York City, and he was going to help me do it. Why? Not because I was eminently qualified — I wasn’t, not in the least. But because it could make me famous. Then he reminded me of William F. Buckley’s 1965 run for mayor, saying, “See? Look what it did for him.”

Needless to say, I declined.

Though I might have known I wasn’t qualified, I don’t blame Dash for believing she is. Some of our party’s most influential voices gave her the praise and the platform to boost her into a national spotlight, if for all the wrong reasons.

That is disappointing — but at this point in our reality television conservalebrity culture, not at all surprising.

Contact Cupp at thesecupp.com.

This column first appeared in the New York Daily News.

Send letters to: letters@suntimes.com

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