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Real politics is getting very tiresome.

In the real world, people are talking about John McCain’s discount flights, Barack Obama’s preacher and Hillary Clinton’s memory lapses.

It’s time to escape the real world and look at the American political process through the eyes of Hollywood.

Politics has always been a topic that has fascinated filmmakers and the subject has inspired some of the greatest films in history… also some of the funniest.

The following is my top 10 list of films dealing with the political process (as opposed to purely “political” films):

10. Election: Though this movie focused on a high school election, Reese Witherspoon manages to channel Hillary Clinton  to perfection. She is the candidate who enters the campaign certain of her victory… certain of her entitlement to victory. When faced with unexpected competition, though, things start getting ugly. 

9. Nixon: We all know the story of Richard Nixon and his Shakespearean downfall, but this one is worth it for the dead-on portrayals by Anthony Hopkins as Nixon and Joan Allen as Pat. It would have been easy to portray Nixon as a buffoon, but Hopkins gives a chilling and nuanced portrait of a very complex character.

8. The Manchurian Candidate(the original):  Long before Karl Rove, Angela Lansbury set the standard for the evil manipulation of the political process.

7. Citizen Kane: I know that Citizen Kane was one of the top three movies of all time, but the film was really about money and power focused on the political process only briefly (though brilliantly). Charles Foster Kane’s run for governor ends with his inability to keep it in his pants… foreshadowing dozens of political scandals to follow.

6. Mr. Smith goes to Washington: OK… I know this is a hokey choice, but I dare you to watch this one without a single tear welling up. Sure, this film was fueled on a heavy load of schmaltz, but it is also filled with a serious dose of political truths… truths that have endured for the seventy years that have followed the release of this movie.

5.  Primary Colors: Aside from being side-splittingly funny, the film captured the essence of Bill Clinton better than any documentary could have. John Travolta made the Clintonesque candidate entirely believable, warts and all.

4. All the President’s Men: As they say, you can’t make this stuff up. The film is a valentine to the fourth estate. It makes us pine for the days when reporters could change the world and there were real consequences for a corrupt presidency.

3. Being There: In these days when a candidate is attacked for words in a kindergarten essay, it might be nice to have a candidate with no personal history at all. Might also be nice to have one who can walk on water.

2. Wag the Dog: What more can you ask for? Life imitates art, with both Robert DeNiro and Dustin Hoffman at the top of their comedic games. Though the movie was released a month before the Monika Lewinsky scandal hit, the plot of the film and the events that soon transpired in the Clinton White House were strikingly similar.

1. Dr. Strangelove: The funniest film about nuclear obliteration ever made. Maybe the funniest movie ever made on any topic. Peter Sellars deserved three Academy Awards for this one (for his three brilliant roles) and had the privilege of uttering the greatest line in movie history: “Gentlemen, you can’t fight here. This is the War Room!”