A good friend of mine used to be her guitar player when she had her gig at Caesar's Palace. I think her gig rotated with Cher and Elton John.
Anyway, my buddy Wayne got my wife and I tickets for the show, and some other friends who lived in Vegas came along, as well (at their expense). After the show we were waiting in the lobby and Wayne (the guitarist) comes out and tells us to come with him. One of the women who'd joined us was apoplectic that we were going to get to meet Bette but she was not. She's seriously the world's biggest Bette Midler fan.
Anyway, we go backstage and Wayne brings Bette over. She was absolutely wonderful, asking how we liked Vegas, how long I'd known Wayne, making restaurant recommendations, etc. My wife then commented how we shouldn't say anything to Elaine (the apoplectic chick) about how nice Bette was because it would just upset her. When Bette heard that, she told Wayne and me to go get her. Bette and my wife, presumably, chatted up some small talk.
When we brought Elaine back, she just started crying. Bette came over, hugged her, gave her a kiss on the cheek and said "Honey, I'm not that big a fuckin' deal." Bette took pictures with Elaine (something Bette normally doesn't do), autographed our show programs, etc. She seemed genuinely appreciative that we'd come to see the show. She even gestured towards us, looked at my buddy and said "Wayne, did you get them the good seats?"
(he had).
The bottom line is that she was really, really nice and approachable. No, we didn't talk politics. We just talked ab out meaningless stuff. But she also didn't have to be as accommodating as she was. She sat with us for about ten minutes before going back to her dressing room.
So, politically, yeah, I agree with her on pretty much nothing. But I'm also glad I'm not so myopic as to judge someone solely based on their politics...