GOP Dissing the Boss?
An effort by New Jersey's two Democratic senators to honor rock legend Bruce Springsteen was shot down Friday by Republicans who are apparently still miffed a year after he lent his voice to the Kerry campaign.
The chamber's GOP leaders refused to bring up for consideration a resolution, introduced by Sens. Frank Lautenberg and Jon Corzine, that honored Springsteen's long career and the re-release of his 1975 anthem album, "Born to Run."
The GOP refused to comment on why they shot down this largely symbolic gesture.
I, however, will comment.
The GOP shows how petty they are when they demonstrate that they have no appreciation of American culture or the artistic contributions of those who do not share their narrow values.
As they decry political partisanship, they illustrate it on a daily basis. Their pettiness, their stubbornness and their blatant disregard for Americans who do not share their fascist viewpoints are toxic to America.
Just one more reason to disrespect the disrespectful GOP.
What jackasses they are.
15 comments:
not surprising...the GOP often behaves like an Elementary playground clique...First it was "Freedom Fries" at the commissary, the discovery that the Dixie Chicks actually had balls as well as beauty and spoke out against the war, then the uproar over The Boss lending his support to Kerry during his re-election. I caught a soundbite from Rush "Oxycontin Candy" Limbug calling the people who attended the Boss for Kerry concert a bunch of "Maggot infested hippies." (Direct quote...)...twenty years prior, Bruce was a hero...lest we forget "Born In The USA," which if you listen really close sounds an awful lot like an anti war song...
It just sounds to me like the GOP has absolutely no concept of pop culture...or culture in general...
Good point Dog. I remember right after 9/11 how often I kept hearing "Born in the USA" and I kept thinking how moronic it was to play an Anti-Viet Nam song to stir up the people's patriotism.
Then I realized that those stirring the "Patriotism Pot" were probably just too lazy to listen to the lyrics of a song...they just heard the chorus.
How can anyone think this is a patriotic song???
...Got in a little hometown jam
So they put a rifle in my hand
Sent me off to a foreign land
To go and kill the yellow man...
...Come back home to the refinery
Hiring man says "Son if it was up to me"
Went down to see my V.A. man
He said "Son, don't you understand"...
...I had a brother at Khe Sahn fighting off the Viet Cong
They're still there, he's all gone...
...Down in the shadow of the penitentiary
Out by the gas fires of the refinery
I'm ten years burning down the road
Nowhere to run ain't got nowhere to go...
It's a sad lament on how the Viet Nam war vets were affected by the war and how they were treated by their country when they returned.
Sure makes ME want to go to war for oil, er um, I mean to protect the American way from evil terrorists!
Even worse...if anyone bothered to watch the inagural coverage on the news after chimp's second coronation...
There was a shot of Chimp, Mrs Chimp, and the Chimpgirls on a stage, backed by an american flag...playing over the PA was none other than...Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is My Land."
Woodie, as all Eddykateed Uhmurhkinz could tell you...was a rabid antigovernmentalist, writing his songs of Protest to rail against what he saw as governmantal treachery and control. Aside from the title, and not reading too much into what the song actually was about, I can see where it'd be really easy for a simpleton like Bush to be able to co-opt it for his own propagandic purposes...
But then again, a simpleton such as Bush freely admits he doesn't do a whole lot of reading...I think it angries up the blood.
I think I recall the Guthrie family raising all kinds of hell about the GOP ripping off that song.
Ask Arlo Guthrie what he thought.
Hrumph.
Did anyone hear the hour-long show with Bruce Springsteen on NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross? It was a good show. I enjoyed hearing his thoughts about his music and how he has changed over the years.
Here's the link - http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5012820
The trouble with popular culture is that eventually it is co-opted by people with no understanding of its original significance. So it goes.
pop culture is easily co-opted by those who have no understanding of its significance, but are somehow smart enough to be able to make a fast buck by mass marketing it to others who have no understanding of its significance.
Anyone can explain why this is can also attempt to justify Beverly Hillians wearing winter mukluks (Ugg, Steger, etc..thy're intended for WINTER use...I don't even put my Stegers on until the temp is minus 0) down Rodeo Blvd. in the middle of summer.
a couple more fun examples of my youth being slaughtered for the almighty buck:
zeppelin and ozzy tunes being played on car commercials.
aerosmith hawking for some jeans company and dodge vehicles.
these were the ones that hurt me the most
*sigh* i've become so disillusioned.
any more?
What about David Bowie's 'Under Pressure' being used to hawk Zales diamonds?
Oy.
Leave it to a cruise ship line to co-opt a song about shooting heroin for one of their commercials...what the hell does lounging on the deck of an expensive cruise ship have to do with having "Lust for Life?"
Anybody want some smack?
To me, a cruise ship means eating and drinking a lot and mingling with retirees.
The word 'lust' doesn't factor into my image of a cruise.
lmao KZ..somehow that word didn't enter my mind either..
To me, a cruise ship means I can take a few days of vacation in late January because my boss will be on a 2-week cruise... :)
I suspect the Repubs may also be wary because there have been feelers out about Springsteen possibly going into politics. Then again, have they ever denied any sort of honor to Bill Bradley?
but karen...yer forgetting...
The Love Boat,
Soon will be making another run.
The Love Boat,
Promising something for everyone.
Set a course for adventure,
Your heart's on a why the hell do I know the words to this song?
There was 'lust' on the Love Boat, right? I mean, I was but a lad when it was on, but I seem to remember 'lust' being an overtone...
Then again, I don't think the Love Boat was exactly what Lou Reed had in mind...
The Love Boat featured a cast of guests from the dinner theater set who were entirely unfuckable.
I mean, who wanted to do coochie coochie Charro after Xavier Cugat had his old cojones all over her?
Yeecch.
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