Identifying himself as a political conservative, Klavan has expressed the view that "rightists" are the victims of discrimination in Hollywood. In his view, people in the American arts are not fulfilling their inherent role of 'speaking truth to power' since they are not willing to criticize those of the political left in power. In July 2008, he likened George W. Bush to Batman in
The Dark Knight, starting with their public vilification. The article set off a firestorm of criticism.
Klavan has said,
"Every single one of our soldiers signed up or re-signed up after 9 - 11. The term, the longest one was 6 years, so every single one signed up after 9 - 11, every single one knew where he was going, what was going to happen to him, and has an idea of why it's the right thing to do. Those guys cannot appear in the movies. And you know, it wouldn't bother me so much, the movies that Hollywood makes never bother me so much as the movies they don't make. If there were 8 films attacking our troops, I would still despise them for making them during war time. But if there were 8 films supporting our troops, I know that those films would win out with the audience and I know their arguments would be better and I know the depiction of life would be more realistic."